The Humble Administrator's Garden

For the garden in Suzhou, China, see Humble Administrator's Garden.

The Humble Administrator's Garden

The Humble Administrator's Garden first edition cover.
Author	Vikram Seth
Cover artist	Stephen Raw
Language	English
Genre	Poetry
Publisher	Carcanet Press Ltd.
Publication date	1985
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print
Pages	62 pp
ISBN	0-85635-583-6
OCLC	60051986
LC Class	MLCS 89/19156 (P)

The Humble Administrator's Garden is a collection of poetry written by Vikram Seth. It is his first collection, ^[1] published in 1985 by Carcanet. ^[2]

Sections

The book has three sections, each containing works on a geography of Seth's life.^{[ citation needed ]} The first section, titled Wutong, ^{[3] [4]} is inspired by his years of study and travel in China.^{[ citation needed ]}Neem, the second section, ^{[3] [4]} has poems with themes from his native India,^{[ citation needed ]} and the last is Live-Oak, with California-based topics. ^{[3] [4]}

Contents

• Wutong
  • A Little Night Music
  • The Master-of-Nets Garden
  • The Humble Administrator's Garden
  • The North Temple Tower
  • The Gentle Waves Pavilion
  • The Tarrying Garden
  • The Great Confucian Temple, Suzhou
  • Nanjing Night
  • Evening Wheat
  • The Accountant's House
  • Research in Jiangsu Province
  • From a Traveller
  • A Little Distance
  • A Hangzhou Garden
  • From an "East is Red" Steamer
• Neem
  • Profiting
  • The They
  • The Comfortable Classes at Work and Play
  • The Gift
  • Homeless
  • From the BaburNama: Memoirs of Babur, First Moghul Emperor of India
• Live-Oak
  • Curious Mishaps
  • Song: "Coast Starlight"
  • From California
  • Song: "Waiting"
  • Between Storms
  • And Some Have Madness Thrust Upon Them
  • Spring of Content
  • Moonlight
  • Abalone Soup
  • Love and Work
  • Ceasing upon the Midnight
  • Unclaimed

References

1. Tonkin, Boyd (July 4, 2009). "An author impossible to confine to a single genre". The Independent . p. 11. Retrieved February 28, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
2. Kennedy, X. J. (April 13, 1986). "Novel in verse is worth the hullabaloo". The Kansas City Star . pp. 8D. Retrieved February 28, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
3. Patel, Devesh (July 15, 2010). "Vikram Seth: Poetry Of An Exile". Contemporary Poetry Review . Retrieved February 28, 2025.
4. Heydari, Mélanie (2024). Vikram Seth’s Poetics of Pastiche. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 10. ISBN   978-3-031-67228-6.