Member Reviews
The poems in this book were lovely, and the pictures are beautiful, but it wasn't quite what I expected. I anticipated a tighter tie-in between the content of the poem and the picture with it. There was some correlation, but it came off a bit random, in my mind, and could have used better editing to cleave the pictures and poems together a bit better.
This is a lovely collection of poetry with an overall theme of the garden. Each poem is accompanied by an illustration, either a botanical print, engraving, or watercolor from the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library, which give a classic feel to the collection. While there are many selections that are older (as in 17th -19th century) poetry, there are some newer poems as well, some of which are pleasant surprises I wouldn't have expected! Just keep an eye out for the slug poem, oh my, I did enjoy that one! And it includes one of my favorites, Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas, so I can't help but love this book. This is perfect for gifting (or treating yourself), and a lovely way to spend an afternoon!
#TheRHSBookofGardenVerse #NetGalley
I loved the writing selections, but it is the botanical prints that accompany them that made me order a physical copy of this book for myself.
This is a wonderful collection of old poems grouped around nature, plants, and gardens. I love such poems, so to be totally honest with everyone here, making me love such a collection is not that hard. Especially when it's combined with the most beautiful horticultural illustrations one can imagine.
This gorgeous book from the Royal Horticultural Society combines poetry and exquisite illustrations to celebrate all things garden. From classic verse to later poetry by Plath and Parker, this compilation makes a fine gift for the gardener in your life who prizes verse. There are poems on the subject of bees and insects, plants, and even the garden of Eden and the accompanying illustrations, from the RHS' own botanical art collection, some of which are colour and some merely black and white, each complement the poems effortlessly and help create an exquisitely designed book that was a pleasure to read and enjoy and if anything it's a reminder of all the beauty we will be able to re-acquaint ourselves with fully when the current situation eventually come to an end.
Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group/White Lion - Francis Lincoln for a temporary digital copy via NetGalley of The RHS Book of Garden Verse in exchange for an honest review.
This is a collection of poetry curated by the RHS that celebrates the garden. The poems are arranged in six themed sections: the seasons, gardening, plants, creatures, gardens, and finally past, present, future. It draws on a wide selection of poems though most are what I would describe as classic poetry, rather than more modern or experimental forms.
Each poem is illustrated with a botanical print, a hand-coloured or black and white engraving, or a watercolour drawing. These all come from the collection of botanical art at the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library, which is acknowledged as the world's finest horticultural library.
I will admit that I often find poetry impenetrable with the result that I shy away from it. Yet I was very pleased to find that this collection proved very accessible.
This really looks to be a beautifully presented book and as a result I have ordered its hardback edition for my home library to encourage myself to explore its poems in greater depth.
This is a book that would make a perfect gift for a gardening enthusiast.
The RHS Book of Garden Verse is a stunning anthology of poetry encompassing pieces from a wide range of talented wordsmiths. A plethora of prominent, much-loved poets grace these pages with their green-fingered and timeless offerings, including contributions from Keats, Alfred Noyes, Ogden Nash, Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath, to name a few. There are poems on the subject of bees and insects, plants and even the garden of Eden and the accompanying illustrations, from the RHS' own botanical art collection, some of which are colour and some merely black and white, each complement the poems effortlessly and help create an exquisitely designed book that was a pleasure to read and enjoy and if anything it's a reminder of all the beauty we will be able to re-acquaint ourselves with fully when the current situation eventually come to an end. It would make the perfect coffee table book or gift to grace the shelves of those keen gardeners and nature lovers among us. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
The RHS Book of Garden Verse is a delightful anthology of poetry for anyone interested in gardening, or nature poetry more generally. The book is divided into sections such as Seasons, Gardens, Creatures, and Plants, and features an array of classic selections alongside the work of some more recent poets.
Here you will find old favourites from W.B. Yeats, John Clare, Christina Rossetti, Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, John Milton and many others. The choices tend toward the buoyant, making this a fitting volume to pick up as we enter spring. A perfect collection to dip in to when you've a quiet moment. And, adding to the charm, colourful botanical illustrations feature on almost every page.
I received an advanced digital copy for review, though if the RHS' previous publications are anything to go by, the physical copy will be beautifully printed. Recommended.
This is a beautifully illustrated poetry book. The poems are very traditional and evocative. It would make a lovely coffee table book, something to enjoy now and again, rather than all in one reading. There are six sections: Seasons; Gardening; Plants; Creatures; Gardens and Past, Present, Future, creating a good, balanced variety. Thank you to the RHS, Net Galley and Quarto Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was better read in the netgalley app rather than a kindle and in real life it would be much better as an actual book.
I really liked the pictures in between the poems it would make a lovely gift for someone who enjoys gardening. However I felt the chosen poems were a little dated and the book didn't feel very accessible. I couldn't tell who the audience was and feel that if you liked poetry and flowers you may have already a lot of these before.
Overall it was a nice collection but it wasn't to my personal taste.
Thank you for the arc.
This gorgeous book from the Royal Horticultural Society combines poetry and exquisite illustrations to celebrate all things garden. From classic verse to later poetry by Plath and Parker, this compilation makes a fine gift for the gardener in your life who prizes verse.
4 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 02 Mar 2021
#TheRHSBookofGardenVerse #NetGalley
Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The RHS Book of Garden Verse is a beautifully curated collection of poetry accompanied by garden related images from the RHS' Lindley Library collection . Due out 2nd March 2021 from Quarto on their Frances Lincoln imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is such a restful and lovely book. The images are varied and beautiful and the poetry is well curated and classic. The selections are arranged roughly thematically: seasons, gardening, plants, creatures, gardens, and past present & future. The poetry and the illustrations represent a broad range of styles, schools, and times. There are selections from incomparably famous poets and writers (Dylan Thomas, Coleridge, Browning, Kipling, the Bible, and many more) as well as ones who were previously unfamiliar to me. The illustrations run the gamut from 14th century woodcuts to 19th century botanical prints, and on to the 20th century.
The book also includes a couple of useful appendices in the form of first lines from the included poem offerings along with an image index.
This would make a superlative gift for a gardening friend (or oneself), as well as a lovely acquisition for public library, and gardening club lending library use.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
This is a wonderful collection of old poems grouped around nature, plants and gardens. I love such poems, so to be totally honest with everyone here, making me love such a collection is not that hard. Especially when it's combined with the most beautiful horticultural illustrations one can imagine. In a way this are two collections for the price of one: one of poems, and one of illustrations.
I feel bad rating this book only two stars, as it is a charming little book with some very nice illustrations. I just found it a bit too twee and cutesy in its range of poetry. But then, I don't know what else I could expect from an RHS verse compilation. My grandmother would probably love it; I'm just not the right audience perhaps.
What a beautiful book!
Structured by theme, including Seasons, Plants, and Gardens, each poem is paired with a stunning illustration from the RHS Lindley Library.
The poets are mainly of the English literary canon. Likewise, the gardens and nature they celebrate will be familiar to British readers.
This collection will appeal to lovers of gardens, poetry and botanical art. A great gift idea.
My thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for the ARC.
This is a lovely poetry book for garden and nature lovers. It's composed of poems about gardens, plants, seasons and creatures from a period of several hundred years. They are decidedly American and British poets with a few rare exceptions. Poets include Shakespeare, Alfred Noyes, Ogden Nash and Sylvia Plath, plus a Bible excerpt or two. Most are in the public domain. Each poem is illustrated with an illustration from the RHS collection, which is a nice touch. Like all collections, the poems will be hit or miss in terms of being enjoyed by the reader. There were many longer ones especially that I didn't care for but I found a few new gems. This will be a good book to own in a physical version and look through on a lazy afternoon, either in the garden or snowed in inside and dreaming of it.
I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.
An absolutely exquisitely crafted book that I intend to buy in hard copy as soon as I can to fully appreciate its beauty. I struggled a little to access it but had very helpful advice from Alicia in the Netgalley team from the other side of the world which kind of added to its charms. It is rather old fashioned in its choices ( Clare, Cowper, for example ), but again that adds to the delight.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Alicia in particular for the opportunity to experience this beautiful book.
I
It is tempting to review this book by simply offering a series of quotes. For everyone’s favourite garden poem is somewhere in here. Plus a good few that will be new to many.
There is humour too as in the poem ‘Capability Brown’ by William Cowper. The owner of the recently made-over garden smiles,
‘‘Tis finish’d, and yet, finish’d as it seems,
Still wants a grace, the loveliest it could show,
A mine to satisfy the’enormous cost.’
Or Vita Sackville-West’s The Garden which sneaks in a put-down of Wordsworth:
‘The sheeny celandine that Wordsworth praised
(He was no gardener, his eyes were raised’)’.
My own favourites are all here: Ecclesiastes ‘To Every Thing there is a season; Browning’s Home Thoughts from Abroad, Keats, To Autumn, Blake’s Ah Sunflower!, Marvell’s The Garden and more.
But I also discovered Gael Turnbull’s A Fragment of Truth and John Agard’s Palm Tree King with its trenchant criticism of the number-crunching, sight-seeing tourist industry:
If 6 straw hat
and half a dozen bikinis
multiply by the same number of coconut tree
equal one postcard
how many square miles of straw hat
you need to make a tourist industry?
This is a five-star collection, beautifully illustrated and organised by seasons, gardening, plants, creatures, gardens, past, present, future.
I highly recommend it as a classic anthology for your reference shelf.
Thematic poems about earthly subjects. I was a bit disappointed to be honest but I think because it was a various collection from romantic poets to modern, and I'm not a big fun of modern, so personal taste really but otherwise a good collection with Keats, Wordsworth, Rossetti and John Clare to name a few.
*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free collection of poetry.*
I am a huge fan of English gardens and poetry, the combination of both thus was quite nice. You find a lot of well known poets but also some lesser known ones. I overall enjoyed most of the poems, I'd say. The illustrations work well with the poems.
The only criticism is that most poems are very old and mostly very white and English. Sure there is more out there?!
4 Stars
this was a lovely little selection of nature poems! as someone who loves nature and poetry (and nature illustrations), this was a wholesome and healing read. the illustrations are all gorgeous and do well to accompany the poems that they are paired with. the poetry ranges from keats to shakespeare to syliva plath, all a plenty reminder of the romantic era of poetry when everything rhymed and nature was a goddess and peonies meant peonies with no deeper meaning. after reading a lot of contemporary poetry, charged with undertones upon undertones, freestyle selections of serious topics (don't get me wrong, i love that kind of poetry but sometimes you need a break every now and again), reading this was like a refreshing breath of morning air in the warm spring. i could see this as a nice coffee table book that you peruse while you wait for your date to get ready, or a book that you find on display in an IKEA on a rustic looking bookshelf in the living room section of the store, or at a small, cozy, plant-filled cafe down the street. i definitely needed this to remind me that romanticism is still alive and well and maybe all is not so bad in the world.