In the European tradition the forest is often a place of confusion and fear. It’s where lovers get lost, children are abandoned, danger lurks everywhere. The forest is a place of difference, where ‘normal’ life is suspended any anything might happen. I get disorientated in woods and forest, and can easily get lost, even in a small, urban wood like London’s Kenwood. Once a friend took me to Ashdown Forest and we might be wandering there still, if we hadn’t come across a clearing, with a cricket club and a match in progress. Following their directions, we eventually found the road, but were some miles away from the car park, in the opposite direction to where I’d expected to emerge. On Hampstead Heath I know I’ll work out where I am at some point, so being disorientated is a pleasure, making you look at a familiar place in a new way, but in a real forest you could be lost forever.
The forest is a place of the imagination. It looms large in folk and fairy tales. Many of our real forests are dissected by roads, scarred by trails, studded with car parks, cafes… and even cricket or other clubs… but they retain remnants of their more potent pasts. Some remain only as ghost forests, evoked by place names. There’s a poignant chapter in the book From the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairy Tales by Sara Maitland, where she walks through the area which was once The Great North Wood, stretching between the Thames and Croydon.
In Arthurian legend the mysterious forest Brocéliande is the setting for some of the most intriguing and evocative stories. Here, after his father’s death, the young Lancelot is raised by the Lady of the Lake. Unfaithful lovers are lured to a rock where they are imprisoned by the fairy Viviane, who is also said to have trapped Merlin in a stone, after learning all his magic. This Arthurian world has been mapped onto the forest of Paimpont in Brittany, the remnants of a much greater ancient forest. You can visit the alluringly named Val sans Retour or conjure up rain at the fountain of Barenton.
Perhaps the archetypal magical forest is found in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night's Dream. Here the defiant lovers seek refuge, but are both confused and enchanted before emerging renewed on Midsummer’s morning. Each is now with the partner they love. The king is appeased. The patriarchal law that allows a father to kill a disobedient daughter is set aside. Balance is restored. Lovers, parents and children, spouses are reconciled. Even the fairy world is temporarily at peace.
The forest can be a protective space. In Sleeping Beauty the briar forest protects the princess until her prince finally comes. It allows only the true love to pass through its many thorns and awaken her with a kiss. For Robin Hood and his Merry Men, it was a place of refuge, a home and a base from which to attack the rich and redistribute wealth to the poor. Once again, it’s a place where truth prevails. The truly noble, the honest and the oppressed are sheltered and protected while the rich and corrupt are frustrated. Robin is a Green Man, a manifestation of the mysterious figure of fertility found in so many churches, so no wonder that he can survive in the forest and outwit the law.
Perhaps this is where forest meets wildwood.
The forest is a place of the imagination. It looms large in folk and fairy tales. Many of our real forests are dissected by roads, scarred by trails, studded with car parks, cafes… and even cricket or other clubs… but they retain remnants of their more potent pasts. Some remain only as ghost forests, evoked by place names. There’s a poignant chapter in the book From the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairy Tales by Sara Maitland, where she walks through the area which was once The Great North Wood, stretching between the Thames and Croydon.
In Arthurian legend the mysterious forest Brocéliande is the setting for some of the most intriguing and evocative stories. Here, after his father’s death, the young Lancelot is raised by the Lady of the Lake. Unfaithful lovers are lured to a rock where they are imprisoned by the fairy Viviane, who is also said to have trapped Merlin in a stone, after learning all his magic. This Arthurian world has been mapped onto the forest of Paimpont in Brittany, the remnants of a much greater ancient forest. You can visit the alluringly named Val sans Retour or conjure up rain at the fountain of Barenton.
Perhaps the archetypal magical forest is found in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night's Dream. Here the defiant lovers seek refuge, but are both confused and enchanted before emerging renewed on Midsummer’s morning. Each is now with the partner they love. The king is appeased. The patriarchal law that allows a father to kill a disobedient daughter is set aside. Balance is restored. Lovers, parents and children, spouses are reconciled. Even the fairy world is temporarily at peace.
The forest can be a protective space. In Sleeping Beauty the briar forest protects the princess until her prince finally comes. It allows only the true love to pass through its many thorns and awaken her with a kiss. For Robin Hood and his Merry Men, it was a place of refuge, a home and a base from which to attack the rich and redistribute wealth to the poor. Once again, it’s a place where truth prevails. The truly noble, the honest and the oppressed are sheltered and protected while the rich and corrupt are frustrated. Robin is a Green Man, a manifestation of the mysterious figure of fertility found in so many churches, so no wonder that he can survive in the forest and outwit the law.
Perhaps this is where forest meets wildwood.