Wordsworth's gardens and flowers : the spirit of paradise / Peter Dale and Brandon C. Yen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dale, Peter (Teacher), author.

Yen, Brandon Chao-Chi, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850--Knowledge and learning--Natural history.

Wordsworth, William.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850.

Natural history.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850--Knowledge and learning--Gardening.

Gardening.

Landscape gardening--England--History--19th century.

Landscape gardening.

Gardening--England--History--19th century.

Gardens in literature.

Plants in literature.

History.

England.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

232 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Woodbridge, Suffolk : ACC Art Books, [2018]

Summary:

A book that debunks the popular myth that William Wordsworth was, first and foremost, a poet of daffodils, 'Wordsworth's Gardens and Flowers' provides a vivid account of Wordsworth as a gardening poet who not only wrote about gardens and flowers but also designed - and physically worked in - his gardens. The first section focuses on the gardens that Wordsworth made at Grasmere and Rydal in the English Lake District, and also in Leicestershire, at Coleorton. The gardens are explored via his poetry and prose and the journals of his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth. In the second half of the book, the reader learns more of Wordsworth's use of flowers in his poetry, exploring the vital importance of British flowers and other 'unassuming things' to his work, as well as their wider cultural, religious and political meaning. Throughout, the text is woven around illustrations that bring Wordsworth's gardens and flowers to life, including rare botanical prints, many reproduced here for the first time in several decades.

Contents:

Part 1: The gardens and their maker. Racedown : early digging ; Home at Grasmere : the garden at Dove Cottage ; Fingerprints, green or inky ; Weeding out the difficulties ; Denominations, but not factions ; The winter garden for Sir George and Lady Beaumont ; Wordsworth as landscape theorist ; Ideas on the ground : the garden at Coleorton ; Coleorton in retrospect ; Rydal Mount... idle mount

Part 2: The flowers and the poetry. The daisy and 'unassuming things' ; Rose ; Bluebell and harebell ; Harebells and Dorothy Wordsworth ; Rude and mean things ; Wild flowers and ruins ; Ruins, weeds and florists' flowers ; 'Relics of Eden-land' ; Botany ; 'Of a poetic kind' ; 'An excellent botanist' ; 'William's favourite' ; Celandines pressed and sculpted ; Primroses and glow-worms.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1851498958

9781851498956

OCLC:

1012770877