May 2015
“OH to be in England now that April’s there, and whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware that the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, while the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough in England – now!
And after April, when May follows, and the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows! Hark, where my blossom’d pear-tree in the hedge leans to the field and scatters on the clover blossoms and dewdrops – at the bent spray’s edge – that’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over, lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, all will be gay when noontide wakes anew the buttercups, the little children’s dower – far brighter than this gaudy melon flower.”
Robert Browning’s Home Thoughts, from Abroad captures the essence of spring and early summer in England for which he pines while in Italy in 1845. I presume to say that such words are as true now as they were then, before tarmac and the internal combustion engine were invented. The only flyers were birds, bats and insects then. It is true that humans have changed the world almost beyond recognition since Robert Browning wrote those words 170 years ago. One wonders what the next 170 years will bring? Dutch elm disease reduced England’s population of mature elms, but most elms still exist as the disease only kills the above ground mature stems, the roots remain alive and new shoots soon appear to produce elms that rarely grow taller than about 5 metres before they too submit to the disease. However it has recently been deduced that the English elm is probably not native to England at all, but may have been brought here by (ironically) the Romans from Italy about 2000 years ago! The chaffinch, whitethroat swallow and song thrush mentioned by Browning are also native to Italy. The pear tree too, though probably originating in China, spread through Asia and Europe over many millennia and was certainly a favourite fruit in Italy especially in Roman times. The buttercup also is widespread throughout Europe. We can only suppose that Robert Browning was really yearning for something other than England’s flora and fauna.