The sudden felling of the ancient tree at Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s wall on 27th September 2023 gave rise to public outcry which attracted wide-spread media coverage. The response was immediate, deeply felt, and intensely personal, as evidenced by the deluge of messages to the National Trust (NT) and Northumbrian National Park (NNP), the two bodies responsible for the Sycamore Gap site. Both organisations commissioned artwork marking the tree and reactions to its felling. These works of commemoration are analogous to two consolation poems from the late 1300s, the anonymous Pearl and Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess, which look to the natural world for solace. This Colloquium will bring together representatives from the Environmental Humanities, poets and celebrants, and the NT and NNP to explore causes and expressions of eco-grief and consider how institutions and individuals might best respond. Could what we know about human bereavement illuminate grief over the loss the natural world (eco-grief)?
15th May 2025 10:30-3:30
School of the Arts Library, 19 Abercromby Sq, Liverpool