William Blake once said that ‘the tree which moves some to tears of joy is, in the eyes of others, only a Green thing that stands in the way’. The latter perception is all too true in Britain and Ireland. HS2 alone has accounted for the 250-year-old Cubbington Pear Tree and the 300-year-old Hunningham Oak, both felled in 2020 despite the opposition of thousands of protesters. Then of course there was the Sycamore Gap Tree. In this illustrated talk James will argue that only if we recapture the sacred vision of trees and landscapes prevalent in ancient times – when trees were believed to house hamadryads – will we value them enough not to destroy them. Using mythic material from Ovid’s tale of Erysichthon, and poems by John Clare, Edward Thomas, Pierre de Ronsard, GM Hopkins, Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Mew, he will explore whether the poetic imagination can act as a positive force-field against vandalism and bureaucratic despoliation.

One of the finest poets writing in Ireland’ (Dublin Review of Books), James Harpur has published ten books of poetry with Anvil Press, Carcanet and Two Rivers Press. He was won numerous awards and prizes, including the 1995 National Poetry Prize, an Eric Gregory Award, the Vincent Buckley Award, and the Michael Hartnett Award. He is also a prize-winning novelist, with his debut book, The Pathless Country, winnning the JG Farrell Award and being shortlisted for the John McGahern Prize.

Venue & Admission

Rudolf Steiner House, 35 Park Road, London, NW1 6XT

£10 General Admission

FREE for Temenos Academy Members/Full-time students with ID card

Image Credit - Clementp.fr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons