Versed in Living Nature

“[In] Peter Dale and Brandon C. Yen’s new book, Versed in Living Nature: Wordsworth’s Trees . . . different trees take turns in complementing the poet at the centre. Here we find not only the living yews of Borrowdale and the birches at Dove Cottage, but also the symbolic Royal Oaks, Liberty Trees and Trees of Corruption that sprang up in the graphic satire of the 1790s . . . Dale and Yen’s previous project, the beautifully illustrated Wordsworth’s Gardens and Flowers, opened the way to this similarly attractive study . . . With the focus now on trees, those gardens are revisited for different reasons, with arboreal planting choices considered aesthetically, imaginatively, practically, politically . . . This book is a mine of information about trees, their origins, the growth of their cultural meanings. It also brings unexpected details into focus, transforming familiar poems into something new . . . Serious thoughts on the politics of tree-planting may be the best legacy of Peter Dale and Brandon C. Yen’s splendid book. -- Fiona Stafford * TLS *
The crucial role trees play in Wordsworth's life, poetry, philosophy and politics . . . is skilfully laid out for us here. Extremely wide-ranging, the book describes not only the trees that Wordsworth planted, wrote poems about or fought to save, but also those he observed on his travels . . . This is a very stimulating book, at once scholarly and very readable, full of fascinating information and insights. -- Peter Parker * Hortus *
I can’t give this book any higher praise than to say that I’m sure Wordsworth would have delighted in it. Versed in Living Nature is profoundly scholarly, but the chapters crackle with life, each one demonstrating that the authors’ love of Wordsworth’s work is undimmed by their command of the field they have surveyed. Dale and Yen respond to prompts both great and apparently small by exploring diverse historical pathways, and every one turns out to be interesting. A wonderful book. * Stephen Gill, Emeritus Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford *
This absorbing study explores the centrality of trees in Wordsworth’s thinking both in poetry and in prose. Compellingly argued, beautifully written and illustrated, and drawing on an extraordinary range of reading, it brings into view a Wordsworth who speaks powerfully of some the most urgent issues of our time. * Heather Glen, Professor Emerita of English Literature, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Murray Edwards College *
In this gorgeously illustrated book, Dale and Yen piece together an arboreal biography which ranges vividly across Wordsworth’s writing and the places that mattered most to him. Versed in Living Nature imaginatively speaks anew to Wordsworth’s sense of rootedness and the workings of personal and poetic growth: it is a love letter to the land and the shaping powers of topography; a book green with the life of horticultural, historical and creative perceptions. * Tom Owens, Assistant Professor of English, Stanford University *
This book makes a major contribution to our understandings of the social and cultural history of trees and their deep importance for Wordsworth. * Charles Watkins, Professor of Rural Geography, University of Nottingham *