The Plant Revolution and 19th Century American Literature

During the 19th Century, growing international trade and imperialist conquest combined with new technologies to transport and care for flora led to a burgeoning fascination with plant life. American writers, from Emily Dickinson to Frederick Douglass played with plant imagery to make sense of their world and their country and to bolster their political arguments. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Mary Kuhn , Assistant Professor of English at the University of Virginia, and author of The Garden Politic: Global Plants and Botanical Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century America . Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag , composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “ Down by the Salley Gardens ,” performed by Celtic Aire, United States Air Force Band; the composition is traditional, and the lyrics are by Willian Butler Yeats; the recording is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is from Plate VI of Familiar Lectures on Botany , by Almira Phelps, 1838 edition. Additional Sources and References: “ The Wardian Case: How a Simple Box Moved the Plant Kingdom ,” by Luke Keogh, Arnoldia Volume 74, Issue 4, May…