The Beautiful Nature Poetry of Archibald Lampman

Why do ye call the poet lonely,

Because he dreams in lonely places?

He is not desolate, but only

Sees, where ye cannot, hidden faces.

I relate so deeply to the above poem - the sense of seeing the faces of nature, of not feeling lonely in places away from other human beings, because those places are full of other kinds of beings. 

This is just one example of the beautiful nature poetry of Archibald Lampman (1861 - 1899), which I have only recently discovered. 

Described as the 'Canadian Keats', Lampman's poetry will perhaps be considered by many today as a little too 'pastoral', yet, while I would agree with that description to a point, there is so much profound beauty to be found in his poems. 

Here is one of my favourites:

Voices of Earth

We have not heard the music of the spheres,

The song of star to star, but there are sounds

More deep than human joy and human tears,

That Nature uses in her common rounds;

The fall of streams, the cry of winds that strain

The oak, the roaring of the sea's surge, might

Of thunder breaking afar off, or rain

That falls by minutes in the summer night.

These are the voices of earth's secret soul,

Uttering the mystery from which she came.

To him who hears them grief beyond control,

Or joy inscrutable without a name,

Wakes in his heart thoughts bedded there, impearled,

Before the birth and making of the world.

What makes Lampman even more compelling to me is the sobering fact that he died at the age of 37 - the age I am currently. Furthermore, he did not consider himself a great poet. Despite finding some success in his lifetime, he once wrote in a letter to a friend:

"I am not a great poet and I never was. Greatness in poetry must proceed from greatness of character - from force, fearlessness, brightness. I have none of those qualities. I am, if anything, the very opposite, I am weak, I am a coward, I am a hypochondriac. I am a minor poet of a superior order, and that is all."

Dear Archibald, I respectfully disagree that you did not possess a brightness. Your poems have brought a certain magic to my life. 

Lampman's poetry collections are available for free from Project Gutenberg.

Alternatively, I've edited a collection of his best nature poems and made it available on Kindle. For Kindle Unlimited members it's free to read, otherwise you can buy it for 99p. 'An Old Lesson From the Fields & Other Nature Poems' by Archibald Lampman is available here.

Published in Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine! :)

Well, it's certainly been a while since I last updated the blog. That's because I've been intensely focussed on writing my master's dissertation over the summer. Now that that's submitted, I'm hoping to write here more regularly. 

An exciting thing that's happened recently is that an excerpt of my writing was published in Resurgence and Ecologist magazine, as part of an article by James Canton about teaching Wild Writing at the University of Essex. 

Bluebells!

Weeleyhall Wood Nature Reserve (Taken by my husband, Tim)

"In the soft light of the wood they glow like phosphorescent waters, casting a misty blue penumbra like the moon's at a change in the weather." 

Roger Deakin

"I do not think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than the bluebell I have been looking at. I know the beauty of our Lord by it. Its inscape is full of strength and grace." 

 Gerard Manley Hopkins 

 

Hillhouse Wood

"Though as a man I inherit great evils and the possibility of great loss and suffering. I know that my life is blessed and graced by the yearly flowering of the bluebells. How perfect they are! In their presence I am humble and joyful. If I were given all the learning and all the methods of my race I could not make one of them, or even imagine one." 

Wendell Berry

"And since to look at things in bloom / Fifty springs are little room..."

I first read the below poem in 2019, during the first year of my creative writing degree. It made a deep impression on me, and I'm reminded of it every springtime when the cherry trees in our neighbour's garden burst into blossom. 

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

 

Now, of my threescore years and ten,

Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score,

It only leaves me fifty more.

 

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow.

A Shropshire Lad 2: Loveliest of trees, the cherry now by A.E. Housman

Our neighbour's cherry trees are large and hang over our garden. Each year, their beautiful blossoms fall like confetti. Likewise, in the summer, the fruit drops onto our side of the fence, and a number of our own cherry trees are shooting up. 

These trees host so much life.  In the spring, the canopy buzzes, as a variety of pollinators float around the white blossoms. Today, for the first time, I noticed blue tits eating pollen from the flowers. I didn't know they did that! Later in the year, when the blossom has become fruit, the canopy again fills with a range of birds, primarily black birds, and bright red juice rains down from their feasting. 

In truth, we can never know how many more springs we will see, how many more blooms along the boughs. So I try to cherish each one. 

Painting with London Clay

The Naze is a fast-eroding headland near my home in north Essex. I'm falling in love with it. In fact, I find it so wonderful I've decided to write my master's dissertation about it. 

The Naze, Essex

When I was walking at the Naze the other day, I had taken a small paintbrush with me. I wanted to experiment with painting with the London Clay. This is my first attempt. 

It worked better than I expected! My hope is to experiment more with it on future walks - maybe try to paint some portraits of the overwintering birds, like this speedy little Turnstone!

Lovely Lichens!

Some beautiful lichens from a recent walk at Wrabness Nature Reserve. Lichens are organisms actually made up of two species - an algae or cyanobacteria, plus a fungus. Their relationships create a variety of delicate structures and textures. A joy to behold!

Gifts of May

Our garden is pretty wild. My husband and I do very little work on it, other than occasionally strimming the grass, or pruning bushes, etc. As a result, we are greeted each year by a range of flowers that pop up. Some are wild, and some have probably spread from other gardens. Some are regular visitors, others are unexpected surprises. I love learning about them all, and love watching the pollinators enjoy them even more. 

This is Aquilegia, sometimes known as Granny's Bonnets. I'm not sure which species this one is. But they seem popular with bees, and I've read that some moth species also like them.

This is Green Alkanet, which is sometimes confused with Forget-me-not's or Borage. They all belong to the same family. It's often thought of as a weed, but I think it's very pretty. And again, the bees like them! In the background, you can see a white Foxglove. 

The name 'foxglove' has been used in England since at least 1000 A.D, and may come from the Anglo Saxon foxes-gleow, gleow meaning a ring of bells. In Norway it's called revbjelde - 'fox bell'. Some legends say that foxes wear the petals on their feet to keep them dry from the dew, others say that foxes wear the bells around their necks, for the ringing sound protects them from hunters. The bells certainly ring when a bee buzzes inside them!

Below, we have what I think is Greater Periwinkle among some Dead Nettle leaves, and the tiny flowers of Herb Robert. Herb Robert smells pretty bad - one of it's common names is Stinking Bob - but the bees don't seem to mind! It is also good for hoverflies and the barred carpet moth.

And I couldn't leave out the wonderful Dandelion. Though I've seen it so many times throughout my life, I am still awed by this incredible seed formation.