David Russell Mosley tells the story of his original encounter with the Green Man in 2012. With a group of friends, he was visiting a theologian in Southwell, not far from Nottingham in England. The theologian took the group on a tour of the town, including the cathedral. The chapter house dates to the 10th or 11th century; much of the cathedral dates to the 17th century. The architectural details of the buildings included “foliate heads,” an idea incorporated into many British churches and cathedrals prior to the Reformation.
It wasn’t until 1939 that the familiar foliate head was called the “Green Man,” in an article written for the journal Folklore. The Green Man was an ancient pagan symbol for nature and rebirth, and the image had made its way into Christianity. The foliate head can be found today in numerous churches and cathedrals.
Mosley was taken with the image, but he filed it away in his mind for years, until, like many ideas, it began to force its way out of his head and on to the written page. The Green Man is a collection of 63 formal, and beautiful, poems about the seasons, nature, the church, saints, and creation.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
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