Frankie Gardner

Life, death and mowing Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower revealed and explained

In 1651, Andrew Marvell described a scythe slicing a bird's breast. In 1979, Philip Larkin's hedgehog.

Lawnmowers are more than tools, they're metaphors for grief, cruelty and care.

Tom Almeroth-Williams reports on research by Frankie Gardner.

Life, death and mowing Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower revealed and explained

He killed a hedgehog with his mower. Then wrote a poem. Larkin wasn’t alone. Poets have long used mowing to confront death, addiction and masculinity.

Tom Almeroth-Williams reports on researches into a hidden literary genre.

Life, death and mowing Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower revealed and explained

“There is still time. We should be kind.”
Larkin’s mower poem gave hope during the pandemic.
New research shows how British poets have long used mowing to wrestle with the mess of being human.

Tom Almeroth-Williams reports

Life, death and mowing Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower revealed and explained

A poet’s father mowed obsessively. Another smoked crack instead. Lawnmower poems span generations and emotions.
Cambridge scholar Francesca Gardner says it’s time for a revival.

Tom Almeroth-Williams reports.

Cambridge study suggests 'poetic obsession' with lawnmowers Academic research suggests British poets have written about mowing the lawn for nearly 375 years.

Francesca Gardner said British poets were "very interested" in the lawn

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cambridge study suggests 'poetic obsession' with lawnmowers Academic research suggests British poets have written about mowing the lawn for nearly 375 years.

BBC News - Cambridge study suggests 'poetic obsession' with lawnmowers
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Life, death and mowing Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower revealed and explained

Lawnmower poetry sounds ridiculous, until you read it.

Larkin. Marvell. Motion. Machines and mortality.

New research uncovers a rich, violent, tender tradition.

Tom Almeroth-Williams tells us of explorations by Francesca Gardner

eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/cu...

Life, death and mowing Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower revealed and explained

Lawnmower poetry sounds slightly ridiculous, until you read it.

Larkin. Marvell. Motion. Machines and mortality.

New research uncovers a rich, violent, tender tradition. | Dr Tom Almeroth-Williams

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @frankiegardner.bsky.social

Lawnmower Poetry and the Poetry of Lawnmowers Click on the article title to read more.

You can read the original article here (early view): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Cambridge study suggests 'poetic obsession' with lawnmowers Academic research suggests British poets have written about mowing the lawn for nearly 375 years.

An essay we published in CQ has made the news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Britain’s poetic obsession with the lawnmower   Research by a postgraduate student at St Catharine's has revealed how British poets over the last 50 years such as Philip Larkin and Andrew Motion have driven a ‘lawnmower poetry microgenre’, using the machine to explore childhood, masculinity, violence, addiction, mortality and much more. Francesca Gardner, an English PhD student, argues in her article published by Critical Quarterly that this tradition goes back to the 17th-century poet Andrew Marvell who used mowing – with a scythe – to comment on the violence of the English Civil War.

Research by the aptly-named @frankiegardner.bsky.social‬ (English PhD student at Catz) reveals British poets over the last 50 years such as Larkin & Motion have driven a ‘lawnmower poetry microgenre’, a tradition rooted in the 17th-century poems of Marvell: www.caths.cam.ac.uk/...

Cambridge study suggests 'poetic obsession' with lawnmowers Academic research suggests British poets have written about mowing the lawn for nearly 375 years.

Nice little piece on it in BBC News too: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewd59r1e18o

Really nice example here for humanists, showing that open access and the inclusion of third-party copyright is doable:

“Lawnmower Poetry and the Poetry of Lawnmowers” by Francesca Gardner. Critical Quarterly https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/criq.12818

Includes:
The Simpsons […]

Cutting lines: How lawnmowers found a place in English poetry A study from Cambridge University reveals how generations of poets have been inspired by the humble lawnmower

Francesca Gardner proposes we recognise a new “micro-genre” of ­English verse: lawnmower poetry.
“They might seem like strange and humdrum subjects, but they have inspired meditations on the grandest of themes, from conflict and death to parenthood & heartbreak”
(£) www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Thanks sm 🫡

Yes please!