Birdsong Under The Wisdom Tree

In Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree, Megan Chaskey follows the archetypal poet’s journey, interweaving a lifetime of poems, journal entries, and memoir. Through her deep intimacy with both the inner landscape of imagination and the eloquent worlds of nature and relationship, Megan’s musical voice evolves from her younger years in an artistic family through loss and renewal as a poet, woman, mother, and the beloved wife of fellow poet Scott Chaskey. Megan unites all the elements of her sensibility into a lyrical and profoundly spiritual mosaic. In a world that may try to draw us away from a heart-centered life, Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree stands as a reminder to live our lives from a place of love.

In this book, Richard Hayman traces the different values and virtues people have seen in trees and forests over the course of history, reflecting the changing use of woodland and the effects of deforestation and urbanization. Tacitus, followed by Romantics and historians of liberty, located freedom in the German forests. Medieval forests were both protected hunting parks and the refuge of Robin Hood. Shakespeare contrasted the simplicity of life in the Forest of Arden with the artificial manners of the court. Since the 18th century, poets such as Wordsworth, Clare, and Hardy have drawn inspiration from trees. How we see trees today will dictate how trees are treated in the future.

Illuminating the poetry of birdsong in the Romantic and Victorian periods, this timely study dissects historical attitudes to nonhuman life.

Druidry, Wicca, Shamanism, and other earth-based traditions value trees as a source of spiritual wisdom. This book, the result of eight years of intensive research, presents a fully comprehensive guide to the myth, magic, and healing properties of our powerful arboreal friends. Includes tips on identifying different trees, the customs and legends attached to each, their healing properties and magical applications. Jacqueline Memory Paterson is an arch-druidress and cofounder of the Glastonbury Order of Druids and the Council of British Druid Orders.

As author Gene Logsdon puts it, "We are all tree huggers." But not just for sentimental or even environmental reasons. Humans have always depended on trees for our food, shelter, livelihood, and safety. In many ways, despite the Grimm's fairy-tale version of the dark, menacing forest, most people still hold a deep cultural love of woodland settings, and feel right at home in the woods. In this latest book, A Sanctuary of Trees, Logsdon offers a loving tribute to the woods, tracing the roots of his own home groves in Ohio back to the Native Americans and revealing his own history and experiences living in many locations, each of which was different, yet inextricably linked with trees and the natural world. Whether as an adolescent studying at a seminary or as a journalist living just outside Philadelphia's city limits, Gene has always lived and worked close to the woods, and his curiosity and keen sense of observation have taught him valuable lessons about a wide variety of trees: their distinct characteristics and the multiple benefits and uses they have. In addition to imparting many fascinating practical details of woods wisdom, A Sanctuary of Trees is infused with a philosophy and descriptive lyricism that is born from the author's passionate and lifelong relationship with nature: There is a point at which the tree shudders before it begins its descent. Then slowly it tips, picks up speed, often with a kind of wailing death cry from rending wood fibers, and hits the ground with a whump that literally shakes the earth underfoot. The air, in the aftermath, seems to shimmy and shiver, as if saturated with static electricity. Then follows an eerie silence, the absolute end to a very long life. Fitting squarely into the long and proud tradition of American nature writing, A Sanctuary of Trees also reflects Gene Logsdon's unique personality and perspective, which have marked him over the course of his two dozen previous books as the authentic voice of rural life and traditions.

George Webber has written a successful novel about his family and hometown. When he returns to that town, he is shaken by the force of outrage and hatred that greets him. Family and lifelong friends feel naked and exposed by what they have seen in his books, and their fury drives him from his home. Outcast, George Webber begins a search for his own identity. It takes him to New York and a hectic social whirl; to Paris with an uninhibited group of expatriates; to Berlin, lying cold and sinister under Hitler's shadow.

"Look Homeward, Angel" is an American coming-of-age story. The novel is considered to be autobiographical and the character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Thomas Wolfe himself. Set in the fictional town and state of Altamont, Catawba, it covers the span of time from Eugene's birth to the age of 19. "Of Time and the River" is the continuation of the story of Eugene Gant, detailing his early and mid-twenties. During that time Eugene attends Harvard University, moves to New York City, teaches English at a university there, and travels overseas with his friend Francis Starwick. "You Can't Go Home Again" – George Webber has written a successful novel about his family and hometown. When he returns to that town, he is shaken by the force of outrage and hatred that greets him. Family and lifelong friends feel naked and exposed by what they have seen in his books, and their fury drives him from his home. Outcast, George Webber begins a search for his own identity. It takes him to New York and a hectic social whirl; to Paris with an uninhibited group of expatriates; to Berlin, lying cold and sinister under Hitler's shadow.

"You Can't Go Home Again" – George Webber has written a successful novel about his family and hometown. When he returns to that town, he is shaken by the force of outrage and hatred that greets him. Family and lifelong friends feel naked and exposed by what they have seen in his books, and their fury drives him from his home. Outcast, George Webber begins a search for his own identity. It takes him to New York and a hectic social whirl; to Paris with an uninhibited group of expatriates; to Berlin, lying cold and sinister under Hitler's shadow. "Look Homeward, Angel" is an American coming-of-age story. The novel is considered to be autobiographical and the character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Thomas Wolfe himself. Set in the fictional town and state of Altamont, Catawba, it covers the span of time from Eugene's birth to the age of 19. "Of Time and the River" is the continuation of the story of Eugene Gant, detailing his early and mid-twenties. During that time Eugene attends Harvard University, moves to New York City, teaches English at a university there, and travels overseas with his friend Francis Starwick.