Yorkshire’s Simon Armitage (Poet Laureate) on Nature

Simon Armitage is England’s present Poet Laureate, who grew up in (and still lives) in Yorkshire. A former probation officer, he has been a poet in residence at several universities, and often uses his poems to celebrate and help the natural world.

He surprisingly lost when appearing on Celebrity Mastermind on his chosen subject of the poetry of Ted Hughes, as they asked very difficult questions that threw him! The winner answered questions about a popular soap opera. He says next time he will choose the specialist subject of ‘What I watched on telly last night!’

Dwell is a beautifully illustrated collection of poems, also from Simon Armitage, inspired by the living creatures around us, and written at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, a landscape of woods, meadows and jungle.

Using riddle and folklore to animate a series of dwellings (from a squirrel’s drey to a beaver’s lodge), the distinction between human and animal are blurred, to create a vibrant account of non-stop stop-motion life’.

Also warning of the fragile nature of these spaces and their dwellers, due to familiar environmental threats. This book looks at the natural world that provides lasting homes, just as gardens can offer refuge for wildlife.

Simon Armitage’s Poems on Spring

Blossomise is a collaboration between England’s poet Laureate and a talented printmaker, offering 21 beautiful poems to celebrate the spring and its blossom.

The book also has a serious note, looking at the demise of orchards which has led to less blossoming trees, so important for our planet, birds and wildlife. And our apples and pears!

Poetry is in debt to the environment, having had its money’s worth as a byword for beauty or a pretty backdrop. And poetry must speak up for nature, when it cannot speak for itself.