American poets Archives

Leslie Young Correthers: The Forgotten Poet of the Garden

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. April 25, 1948 On this day, the garden of earthly delights lost one of its most enchanting cultivators. Leslie Young Correthers, an American poet and artist of remarkable charm, breathed his last, leaving…

From Nosegays to Newbery: The Floral Verses of Elizabeth Coatsworth

Elizabeth Coatsworth and husband by the Iris bed

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 31, 1893 On this day, dear readers and lovers of verse, we celebrate the birth of Elizabeth Coatsworth, that most enchanting American writer of fiction and poetry for both children and adults.…

Sylvia Plath’s “I Am Vertical”: Beauty, Longing, and Garden Metaphors

Sylvia Plath surrounded by books, with a favorite poem for gardeners called I Am Vertical, (colorized and enhanced).

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. March 28, 1961 Dear reader, On this day, the American poet Sylvia Plath penned a stirring meditation on life, beauty, and mortality in her poem I Am Vertical. The opening verse reads: I…

Phyllis McGinley: Pulitzer-Winning Poet and Ode to Garden Obsession

Phyllis McGinley closeup (colorized and enhanced).

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. March 21, 1905 Dearest reader, On this day, Phyllis McGinley was born—an American poet and children’s book author who would win acclaim as the first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for light verse…

Amy Lowell: Imagist Poet and Champion of the Garden’s Voice

Portrait of Amy Lawrence Lowell as a young woman.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. February 9, 1874 Dearest Gardeners, On this day, we remember Amy Lawrence Lowell (books by this author), a titan of early 20th-century American poetry and a leading voice of the Imagist school. Born…

The Poet’s Garden: James Gates Percival and the Language of Flowers

Portrait of James Gates Percival said to be painted by his brother (colorized).

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: September 15, 1795 On this day, we find ourselves transported back to when James Gates Percival, that most fascinating polymath of American letters, drew his first breath. While history may remember him as a surgeon and geologist, it is his poetic musings on the…

Of Blossoms and Birds: Birthday Wishes to Poet Edgar Fawcett

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 26, 1847 On this day, a quietly cherished wordsmith of the American garden, Edgar Fawcett, was born. Though not often front and center in literary salons, his verses waft through the garden…

Theodore Roethke: The Gardener Poet of Life’s Light and Shadows

Theodore Roethke, a prominent American poet of the 20th century.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 25, 1908 On this day, we celebrate the birth of Michigan-born Theodore Roethke (“RETH-key”), a poet whose words root themselves deeply in nature and the American Northwest. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for…

George Cooper: The Poet Who Planted a Garden in Verse

George S. Cooper, an American architect and builder from Washington, D.C.

My Garden May 14, 1840 Today is the birthday of the American poet, lyricist, and hymn-writer George Cooper. Today, George is remembered for his happy song lyrics, which were often set to music written by Stephen Foster. And George wrote a little poem dear to gardeners called, My Garden. When fields are green, and skies…

The legend of the loganberry: Morris Bishop’s playful garden tale

by Morris Bishop A rose once bloomed in a garden, White and dainty and fair, By the garden wall at evenfall It dreamed and nodded there; And a raspberry bush climbed over the wall And hung in a rakish pose; “Haven’t we met somewhere, my pet?” The raspberry said to the rose. The pure white…

A Gardener’s Thanksgiving Abundance: Chestnuts, Cobblers, and Words of Thanks

Today’s Garden Words were featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. A Gardener’s Thanksgiving Abundance. November 26, 2020 As autumn deepens into its final, flavorful days, our senses fill with the season’s…

November Folk Wisdom: Thunder, Snow, and Parker’s Autumn Valentine

Today’s Garden Words were featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Frost covers a November garden. November 4, 2020 As the year deepens into November, the air hums with old weather wisdom—those…

William Cullen Bryant: Poet of Nature and Literary Icon

William Cullen Bryant, a prominent American poet and journalist of the 19th century.

The Poet of Wodenethe November 3, 1794 Today is the birthday of the American Romantic poet and nature-lover William Cullen Bryant. As a young man, William became an attorney. His first job was in Plainfield, Massachusetts – a town seven miles away from his home. In 1815, William was walking to work one day…

The Poetry of Watermelon: Sweet Crimson, Summer Smiles, and Sun-Kissed Rinds

Today’s Garden Words were featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. Words inspired by the garden are the sweetest, most beautiful words of all. Watermelon in the garden. August 3, 2020 Today we celebrate National Watermelon Day—a perfect nod to summer’s juiciest delight. This fruit…