The RHS Book of Flower Poetry and Prose

An RHS curated collection of the finest writing on more than 60 evocative flowers, from anemone to auricala and jasmine to wisteria by poets and authors including Milton and John Clare. Selected by Charles Elliott and featuring illustrations from the world-famous Lindley Library.

Artists and writers alike have always been drawn to flowers. As sources of inspiration or simple enjoyment, flowers have been responsible over the centuries for many of our greatest and most memorable works of art, works that echo and preserve - in words and in line and colour - the particular beauties of their subjects. This volume brings together a personal selection of poetry and prose from a broad range of writers, from Shakespeare and Milton, to Reginald Farrer and Edward Augustus Bowles, to twentieth-century poets such as Marianne Moore and Theodore Roethke. Familiar wild and garden flowers are here explored in all their moods and mysteries. The poems and extracts are illustrated with botanical prints from the remarkable collection of artworks at the Royal Horticultural Societys Lindley Library, acknowledged as the worlds finest horticultural library.

About the Author

Charles Elliott is an editor and writer who lives in London and gardens in Monmouth near the Welsh border. He is a regular contributor to Horticulture magazine, and has been a magazine editor and senior editor for Alfred A. Knopf in New York. He has written several books, including The Potting Shed Papers and More Papers from the Potting Shed. He lives in Monmouthshire and West London.