It is a time of awakening. In our -fields, hedgerows and woodlands, our beaches, cities and parks, an almost imperceptible shift soon becomes a riot of sound and colour: winter ends, and life surges forth once more. Whether in town or country, we all share in this natural rhythm, in the joy and anticipation of the changing year.; In prose and poetry both old and new, Spring: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons mirrors the unfolding of the season, inviting us to see what's around us with new eyes. Featuring original writing by Rob Cowen, Miriam Darlington and Stephen Moss, classic extracts from the work of George Orwell, Clare Leighton and H. E. Bates, and fresh new voices from across the UK, this is an original and inspiring collection of nature writing that brings the British springtime to life in all its vivid glory.
- Introduction by Melissa Harrison ix
- Annie Worsley 1
- George Orwell 5
- Reverend Gilbert White 10
- Edward Thomas 12
- Shamshad Khan 17
- D. H. Lawrence 18
- Thomas Furly Forster 23
- Jo Sinclair 24
- Adelle Stripe 28
- Alexi Francis 30
- Edward Step 32
- Alan Creedon 35
- Reverend Francis Kilvert 37
- Alice Hunter 39
- Anon. 42
- Dylan Thomas 44
- Rob Cowen 47
- Thomas Hardy 52
- Caroline Greville 53
- Kenneth Grahame 57
- Thomas Furly Forster 60
- Kate Long 61
- Richard Jefferies 64
- Sir John Lister-Kaye 68
- James Common 71
- Felicia Hemans 73
- David North 75
- Thomas Furly Forster 79
- Miriam Darlington 80
- Clare Leighton 85
- Jo Cartmell 89
- H. E. Bates 92
- Vijay Medtia 96
- Jane Austen 99
- Ryan Clark 100
- A. E. Housman 103
- Peter Cooper 104
- Reverend Gilbert White 108
- Will Cohu 110
- Elliot Dowding 114
- Robert Browning 117
- Richard Jefferies 118
- Stephen Moss 124
- Thomas Furly Forster 127
- Ginny Battson 129
- Geoffrey Chaucer 132
- Melissa Spiers 133
- Dorothy Wordsworth 135
- Reverend Francis Kilvert 137
- Melissa Harrison 138
- Peter Tate 140
- Chris Foster 143
- R. D. Blackmore 146
- Sue Croxford 150
- Edward Thomas 153
- Alison Uttley 154
- William Shakespeare 159
- Katie Halsall 160
- Charlotte Bronte 163
- Nicola Chester 165
- Gerard Manley Hopkins 169
- Sir Edward Grey 170
- Reverend Gilbert White 174
- Mary Russell Mitford 177
- Paul Ashton 180
- Philip Larkin 184
- Lucy McRobert 185
- Author Biographies 188
Melissa Harrison won the John Muir Trust's 'Wild Writing' Award in 2010 and was a Writer in Residence at Gladstone's Library in 2014. She delivered one of the inaugural Coleridge Lectures as part of Bristol's Festival of Ideas, spoke about landscape and Englishness at The Southbank's Changing Britain festival, and has appeared on Radio 4's Open Book and The Arts Show on Radio 2. She writes for the Nature Notes column in The Times and blogs about nature at Tales of the City. Her first novel, Clay, was published by Bloomsbury in January 2013, followed by At Hawthorn Time in April 2015. She studied English Literature at Oxford.