Ten Poems about Bluebells

One of the most beloved of British wildflowers, bluebells are a brief glory in our ancient woodlands. They appear in April or May and dazzle us for a short while with their scent and colour, making us think of other blue places such as the sea and the sky. No wonder they are also beloved of poets.

The ten poems gathered here offer heady encounters with bluebells in woods, on hillsides and under hedges. They reflect the fact that even if we go looking for them, bluebells always manage to astonish us:

“there! – a flood of sky in the under-wood,
thousands of cloudless blues on strings.
Wait for a wind to play them. Wait for them to ring –”

from ‘Bluebells’ by Cheryl Pearson

This is an anthology to read when the bluebells are in full bloom – and to return to later in the year when we long to be reminded of the intoxicating beauty of those glorious days of spring.

Selected and introduced by Katharine Towers.

Poems by John Clare, Stanley Cook, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Helen Dunmore, Sylvia Kantaris, Patrick Kavanagh, Cheryl Pearson, Anne Stevenson, Charles Tomlinson and Katharine Towers.

Cover illustration by Jane Burn.