John Holmes’s book Darwin’s Bards: British and American Poetry in the Age of Evolution (2009) has just come out in paperback with Edinburgh University Press. John’s book examines how poets have responded to Darwinism and other evolutionary theories from the 1860s to the present day. It includes a wide range of poets, from Tennyson and Browning, through Hardy and Frost, to Ted Hughes, Amy Clampitt and other contemporary poets. John says ‘I wanted to write a book that would show people how poetry can help us grasp what evolution means to us as living creatures in the world described by Darwin and modern biology. So readers can experience the poetry for themselves, I’ve also included around 50 poems and sections of poems whole, along with many other long extracts, so the book is a sort of anthology too. I am delighted that it has now appeared in paperback, as at last individual readers who want to explore this topic for themselves can afford to buy it and to enjoy the poetry, as well as (hopefully!) what I have to say about it.’
To read more about John’s book, click here:
