Norman Rowland Gale: Poet of Country Faith and Fairy Whispers
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
March 4, 1862
Dearest reader,
On this day, Norman Rowland Gale was born, an English poet, storyteller, and reviewer who would charm readers with his elegant reflections on nature, folklore, and the delicate ties between human belief and the land.
Born in Kew, Surrey, Gale’s poetry garnered attention for its heartfelt simplicity and occasional cricketing nods, a blend of pastoral grace and subtle wit.
Gale’s best-known poem is undoubtedly The Country Faith, which closes with a verse as steady and nourishing as the land itself:
God comes down in the rain,
And the crop grows tall—
This is the country faith,
And the best of all!
In his collection A Merry-Go-Round of Song, Gale invited readers to peer into the secrets of the garden, where fairies, or “Fairylings,” might flutter unseen in the scent of lavender:
If you could pierce with magic eyes
The secrets of the lavender,
You'd find a thousand Fairylings
A-perching there, with folded wings.
And pouring sweetness into her.
Gale wove gentle fairy tales into humble garden scenes, reminding us that even the tiniest leaf and scent can hold wonders just at the edge of perception—if only we dare to look.
