Oak

Katharine Towers' new sequence of poems accompanies the oak from acorn to grave, rendering it utterly contemporary with an ecocritical awareness that shows how its seven ages echo and rhyme with our own. It accomplishes the most important work of the nature poem: to take the reader out of themselves and into the larger world they also inhabit.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 25 November 2021
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Oaks, our ancient companions, have been deeply intertwined with human imagination and language for countless centuries. These majestic trees have led slow and contemplative lives, requiring our utmost attention and respect. Virginia Woolf's Orlando, for instance, took over three hundred years to unfold its quercian epic, a testament to the oak's enduring significance. In her captivating new sequence of poems, Katharine Towers takes us on a journey from the acorn to the grave, and even beyond, exploring the enigmatic realm of the oak's afterlife. These poems are playful, lyrical, and lucid, seamlessly blending an ecocritical awareness that renders them utterly contemporary. Through Towers's precise eye and knack for sharp comparison, we are invited to immerse ourselves in the life of the tree, its inhabitants—birds, insects, and plants—and the interconnectedness of all living beings. She reveals how the oak's seven ages mirror and resonate with our own, suggesting a profound connection between us and the natural world. By implication, these poems also hint at our potential involvement in the same cycle of death and renewal.

Oak achieves its power through an extraordinary act of imaginative voicing, transcending the boundaries of the nature poem and inviting the reader to step into the broader world they share. It accomplishes the most essential task of a nature poem: to transport the reader beyond their self and into the vast expanse of the natural world. Through Oaks, we are reminded of our profound connection to the natural world and the responsibility we hold to preserve and protect it for generations to come.

Weight: 176g
Dimension: 152 x 196 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529078428