New Forest Poetry Project

Can you help? I am creating an online archive of poems—old and contemporary—that have been inspired by the New Forest. I have already sourced poems by Kingsley, Southey, Hardy, Betjeman and others, but there must be more! It will be exciting to view the poems together and see how they collectively represent the forest, and to see what parts of the forest have inspired their content! What is immediately apparent in the poems I have collated, is a strong sense of place and tradition, especially in reference to the original enclosure of the forest, and also the death of King Rufus. Beaulieu also features in several of the poems. And there is even one about the ponies!

In 2021 I would love to be able to produce a beautiful print anthology, collecting all these poems into one volume for what I believe would be the first time! I would love to include poems from the community too. I am going to start crowdfunding the anthology later in the year, but first, the quest is on to seek out as many wonderful poems as I can! Please get involved! At this stage I am only looking for previously published poems. Please email me at newforestpoetryproject@gmail.com