Green Fingers Again by Reginald Arkell
This week saw the arrival of some great new second-hand books courtesy of our eternal book-hoarder, Simon (although we had to prise them out of his reluctant hands). Amongst them was an intriguing edition of gardening poetry called ‘Green Fingers Again’ by Reginald Arkell, published in 1942.
I’m always fascinated by anything published during the Second World War and this one didn’t let me down – the wartime context is referred to directly and indirectly throughout, often through the titles which are comments on events and slogans of the time (‘Digging For Victory’, ‘Defeatist’, ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Battle Dress’, ‘Total War’ etc) but which also hide a double meaning – the war on the garden!
There are a couple of intriguing poems which give a hint as to what was going on at the time – the first is ‘London Railings’, and I think it displays the spirit which we always relate to those times:
London railings are taken down;
The country has come to London town.
Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch
Look like a collar without the starch:
(Twice as comfy and just as clean);
Kensington looks like a village green,
And London’s loss will be London’s gain
If the railings are never brought back again.
Of course, many of the railings never were returned again and sadly it now seems that their removal was largely a propaganda exercise to make Londoners feel they’d contributed to the war effort (there’s an interesting article here.)
