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This collaborative research project developed in three distinct phases. Initially, we wanted to investigate the possibilities of revitalising and refreshing the Christmas Carol (potentially a depleted resource) through drawing on folk-tradition models. By researching early carols and Anglo-Saxon poetry, I developed a contemporary lyric which also retained elements of folk-lore and incorporated medieval tropes. This concern with reinvigoration gave rise to The Rose in the Middle of Winter, The Sparrow’s Carol, As the Bells Ring, and The Advent Candle.

During this process of re-examination and discovery I simultaneously explored various aspects of medieval imagery which might develop and refine my environmental writing. The lyrical content of The Rose in the Middle of Winter and The Sparrow’s Carol generated other songs, allowing me to use startling ecological imagery. Through my engagement, I was able to present the central themes in unusual and powerful ways: the ‘greening’ of London (in Swimming over London); the fertility imagery inherent in the narrative aspects of The Seeds of Stars; and the more rural aspects of village life in the Furosato pieces.

Finally, I became conscious that I was elevating the natural landscape at the expense of humanity. I was therefore drawn to the concept of a series of songs which might, through their lyrics, reposition the activity of humans in a positive (rather than an ecologically negative) light. Rather than focus my work on the wonders of the natural environment, I wanted to shift the balance away from ecology to humanity, and in Five Days that Changed the World I was able to explore five moments of affirmative human experience which represent universal benefits and advances: the invention of printing, the abolition of slavery, the invention of powered flight, the discovery of penicillin and the first man in space.