'The Name Blossomed': Landscapes, Habitats and the Botanical Poetry of South-West Australia

Abstract

Commonly detailing physical interaction with nature, some forms of poetry narrate moments in which the human senses intermesh with ecological processes and phenomena. In the following discussion, I will characterise sense-rich, ecologically networked poetry as 'habitat poetry'. In addition to sensory-fullness, another defining quality of habitat poetry is its representation of the lives of people, plants, animals and fungi within their ecological complexes. Furthermore, habitat poetry also conveys the poet's grappling with scientific discourses. These three aspects of habitat poetry (ecology, sense and science) will be articulated in the context of the South-West of Western Australia. The works of South-West poets Alec Choate (1915-2010) ('Gifts'; 'A Marking'; 'Mind'), Andrew Lansdown (1954-), and John Kinsella (1963-) ('Poems'; 'The New Arcadia') use sensory language to express their experiences of nature and to convey the dynamics between science and poetry. The habitat concept furnishes an interpretative framework for reading Choate, Lansdown and Kinsella. The three could be described not only as landscape poets but, more precisely, as habitat poets, a distinction pursued in this discussion through the analytical frameworks of Cosgrove, Elliott and Giblett in particular. Whereas landscape poetry tends to prioritise visual experiences, habitat poetry demonstrates human engagement with the natural world through sensory plurality and an acute awareness of ecology and science. Focusing on these three South-West poets, this article calls attention to poetic works that address flora through broad ecological understandings, or what will be referred to as habitat awareness.