Wild Reckoning: an Anthology Provoked By Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring"

Wild Reckoning is an anthology inspired by the fortieth anniversary of Rachel Carson's controversial and prophetic book Silent Spring, which warned against the indiscriminate use of pesticides and its consequences for the environment. The anthology features new poems commissioned from leading poets — including Seamus Heaney, Andrew Motion and Mark Doty — which are the fruit of discussions with scientists such as Richard Fortey and John Sulston. It also brings to the fore poems, both contemporary and from the past, which, although belonging in the great tradition of English nature poetry, express a concern for the fragility of living things.

Inspired by the 40th anniversary of Rachel Carson's controversial and prophetic book Silent Spring, which warned against the indiscriminate use of pesticides and its consequences for the environment, this title showcases old and new poems that express a concern for the fragility of living things.

Anthology inspired by the fortieth anniversary of Rachel Carson's controversial book "Silent Spring".

John Burnside has published eight books of poetry, of which the most recent is The Light Trap (Jonathan Cape, 2002). His novels include The Dumb House and Living Nowhere (Cape, 1996 and 2003). He teaches creative writing and a course in literature and ecology at the University of St Andrews.

Maurice Riordan has published two collections of poetry, A Word from the Loki and Floods (Faber and Faber, 1995 and 2000). He is the editor, with Jon Turney, of A Quark for Mister Mark: 101 Poems about Science (Faber, 2000)and teaches creative writing at Imperial College London.

Jonathan Bate is Leverhulme Research Professor of English Literature at the University of Warwick, specialising in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, Romanticism and Eco Criticism. His most recent books are The Song of the Earth and John Clare: A Biography (Picador, 2000 and 2003).