The King Walks in the Orangerie

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Kathryn Purnell's narrative poem is filled with beautiful, evocative imagery. The reader is taken on a tour of discovery, a wonderful journey in the style of an epic as the ghost of Louis XIV of France, also known as the Sun King, reflects on his life and loves. Emotions spanning joy, anger and remorse are called up as Louis reminisces on many facets of his long life, his wives, mistresses, and children. He talks of the architects with whom he designed and built Versailles and the Orangerie he loved, the animals of his menagerie, the gardeners with whom he sparred, arguing his love for the beauty of flowers against their practical desire to grow more vegetables. Louis' ghost is critical, too, of the failure of great men of the 20th century who negotiated bad treaties in his palace, while acknowledging modern technological developments allowing his music to be reproduced. The Orangerie was his sanctuary from the stresses of both state and family. This wonderful poem will have the reader seeking to know more of this flawed but remarkable man.