The English garden : meditation and memorial / David R. Coffin.

Main entry:

Coffin, David R., author.

Title & Author:

The English garden : meditation and memorial / David R. Coffin.

Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [1994]
©1994.

Description:

xiii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-253) and index.
Introduction -- Transience -- Meditation -- Hermits, Goths, and Druids -- Burial in the Garden -- Monuments and Memorials -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index.

Summary:

More so than other Europeans, the English have turned to their gardens or wooded "wildernesses" for contemplative consolation. To explore the meditative aspect of English garden-making, David Coffin combines selected poetry, diary extracts, letters, and more formal writing from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries with charming illustrations and his own perceptive commentary
The English saw the impermanence of life in "weather-beaten heads" of flowers that "not seun dayes before had flourished in their full prime," and their gardens were often decorated with sundials and ruins. Addressing not only admirers of the English garden but students of English cultural history more generally, Coffin shows that the English emphasis on transience was a key to their gardening and their literary style
To nonconformists' seeking a relationship with the deity, for instance, the English garden was a confessional. For a time the concept of the medieval hermit living in solitude in the wilds of nature also became popular, but this notion lost its religious motivation, and garden hermitages were then used as sites for entertainments of various kinds.
The ancient idea of burial in a garden or park was more successfully revived, however, and pyramids, obelisks, and triumphal columns commemorated the rulers, heroes, and friends of those who suffered, or enjoyed, the "English malady" of melancholy.

Resources:
Table of contents
Publisher description
Table of contents

ISBN:

069103432X (acid-free paper)
9780691034324 (acid-free paper)

Subject:

Gardens, English History 17th century.
Gardens, English History 18th century.
Gardens England History 17th century.
Gardens England History 18th century.
Gardens Symbolic aspects England History 17th century.
Gardens Symbolic aspects England History 18th century.
Garden structures England History 17th century.
Garden structures England History 18th century.
Gardens symbolic aspects
Gardens history 17th century
Jardins anglais Histoire 17e siècle.
Jardins anglais Histoire 18e siècle.
Jardins Angleterre Histoire 17e siècle.
Jardins Angleterre Histoire 18e siècle.
Jardins Aspect symbolique Angleterre Histoire 17e siècle.
Jardins Aspect symbolique Angleterre Histoire 18e siècle.
Constructions de jardins Angleterre Histoire 17e siècle.
Constructions de jardins Angleterre Histoire 18e siècle.
Garden structures
Gardens
Gardens, English
Gardens Symbolic aspects
Gartenkunst
Geschichte
Landschaftsgarten
Tuinen.
Letterkunde.
Engels.
Meditatie.
Begrafenissen.
Jardins Grande-Bretagne Angleterre (GB) Aspect symbolique 1500-1800.
Jardins Angleterre (GB) 18e siècle.
England
Großbritannien
Gardens History
Landscaping.
Horticulture.

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 109588
Call No.: ID SB457.6.C64; ID:94-B348
Status: Available

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