REVIEW
The Listening Earth: Poems from the Countryside 1400 – 2000
Edited by Jinny Birkbeck

Books can be ordered directly from: The ARC-Addington Fund, The Red Stable Block, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CV8 2LZ. 02476 690587 
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As the countryside erodes under the pressing weight of urbanisation, then we increasingly find ourselves turning to poetry to remind us of its glory. England, of course, has a rich heritage of poetry about the countryside, from much-loved Shakespearean sonnets or well-known lines of the Romantics – first learnt in school and later remembered in moments of glorious nostalgia – to modern poets, such as Ted Hughes’ lines on nature’s brutal inhospitableness:

Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men
Thistles spike the summer air
Or crackle open under a blue-black pressure.
Each one a revengeful burst
Of resurrection, a grasped fistful
Or splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up.

It is a well-trodden heritage and its lines rightly grace the pages of many anthologies. Yet too often hunger for the countryside’s nostalgic beauty blinds us to the forces that have divorced us from such a charmed past. How refreshing it is then to find The Listening Earth, a volume which also looks at the destruction of the countryside, the forces that threaten its future, and our connections to them – with lines such as John Betjeman’s:

Encase your legs in nylons,
Bestride your hills with pylons
O age without a soul.
Away with gentle willows
And all the elmy billows
That through your valleys roll.
Let’s say good-bye to hedges
And roads with grassy edges
And winding country lanes;
Let all things travel faster
Where motor-car is master
Till only speed remains.

This makes The Listening Earth one of the most powerful anthologies on the British countryside today. The nostalgia is still there in all its glory, but this time with an edge that unsettles, and reminds us that the beauty of our countryside cannot simply be treasured – it must be fought for, or if not, it will be lost.
Separated into themes such as remembrance, celebration and destruction, The Listening Earth invites coherent readings, rather than random browsings. There are also brief biographies on each poet, an index of first lines and an index of authors – searching for a few lines of much-loved poetry will not be taxing in this volume. The Listening Earth was put together by Jinny Birkbeck who was born in Norfolk and brought up on what she calls ‘the poetry of the chase’ – a celebration of the English countryside’s glory.

Vicky Bamford
Deputy Editor, Countryside Voice
CPRE