Poetry for the Earth: A Collection of Poems from Around the World That Celebrates Nature

by Sara Dunn, Alan Scholefield

The poetic concern for nature has been, in the words of Anna Akhmatova, "wild in our breast for centuries." Now, Poetry for the Earth collects an astonishing diversity of poetic response to the environment, from eras and places as diverse as classical Greece, Elizabethan England, seventeenth-century Japan, contemporary Africa,and modern America. In moods that range from urgent to contemplative, euphoric to indignant, here are poems Paula Gunn Allen, Geoffrey Chaucer, Emily Dickinson, Alice Walker and many others.
From haiku and tribal riddles to blank verse, these poems speak anew to a relationship in crisis, propelling us all toward appreciation and reflection of the planet that gives us life.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 1992

Reviews

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always on the hunt for nature poems...

[Tim Nason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Motley collection from a wide range of poets in many styles, with a mostly English slant, divided into categories of Celebration, Loss, Anger, Consolation, Contemplation, Observation and Disquiet. While the subtitle of the collection indicates that it "celebrates" the earth, the opening section, "celebration," feels overwhelmed by the later sections. Reading the book from beginning to end turned difficult as we mired in the sections of loss, anger and disquiet. We liked that the book focused on the earth, and we liked the inclusion of less-familiar poets. Each poet gets only one poem (with a few exceptions), reinforcing the theme of the book rather than particular poets. We liked poems by Anna Akhmatova, William Barnes, John Clare, Emily Dickinson, William Drummond, Ruth Fainlight, Rose Flint, Thomas Hardy, Ivor Gurney, Molly Holden, Mieczyslaw Jastrun, Joyce Isabel Lee, Mary Leapor, Liz Lochhead, Pat Lowther, Norman MacCaig, Claude McKay, Po Chu-I, Sylvia Plath, Sheenagh Pugh, Theodore Roethke, Wallace Stevens, Alfonsina Storni, Edward Thomas, Charles Tomlinson, Robert Penn Warren, William Wordsworth, W.B. Yeats and many others. This brief list shows a representative sample of the book's poet potpourri. Biographies appear at the end, along with useful indexes.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, some of these are just lovely. I was not expecting to see "Loch Thom" by W.S. Graham, and it just proves how diverse and far-reaching the selection is. I quite enjoyed muddling through these. There's a Native American poem in here about the eruption of Mount St Helens that is just biting.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

the perfect read for that mid-year reading slump!!

[Erica Kwiatkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for a camping trip. As with any collection, some were great and some were less so. I liked the organizing by mood, although ending with Disquiet was an odd choice.

[Tanyx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff, some dull stuff, the usual for a collection.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, beautiful and wonderfully organized. Truly diverse and thought-provoking.