In Yusef Komunyakaa’s essay “Dark Waters”, the sense of environmental injustice is highlighted, expressed by the conditions that communities with lower socioeconomic status endure. Komunyakaa indicates his disgust in returning with beginning his piece in a harsh tone, which implied reluctance within his return due to the discrimination within his environment, compared to Wordsworth, who felt a sense of nostalgia and inner happiness when returning to Tintern Abbey. This discrimination begins from the very beginning in the youth, where lower economic societies are condemned to “taste the chemicals in the air” (Komunyakaa 106). Compared to the typical pastoral environment that a Romantic poet such as Wordsworth was able to experience and write …show more content…
Through all of this heartbreak that Komunyakaa has seen within his community, the thought that he can come up with a lesson through this turmoil on what should not be done and to convey it to the world gives an idea of how Komunyakaa wants other parts of nature not to end up the way that his did. In his essay, Komunyakaa states that he has “never been sentimental about nature (Komunyakaa 110). Throughout being in Bogalusa, Komunyakaa grew accustomed to the deterioration in which his environment was partaking, and decided to take it in as an unfortunate reality, unlike Wordsworth, who found the beautiful parts of nature and isolated them into appearing as that small part of nature was reality. Komunyakaa, however, in his loss of sentiment for nature, introduces a viewpoint associated with realism, finally at inner peace with the deterioration and pollution, as he figures that there will be justice in the end. Komunyakaa ends his essay with describing how “nature teaches us how to see ourselves within its greater domain”, and how “we cannot wound Mother Nature without wounding ourselves”, describing Mother Nature not being “a pushover” (Komunyakaa
Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.
Throughout all the poems, Komunyakaa describes the lands of Vietnam in a way that could never be forgotten. In “Somewhere Near Phu Bai,” Komunyakaa paints a vivid scene of something we take for granted, being able to look up at the night sky and watch as the moon shines bright through the trees displaying earth’s beauty. Komunyakaa writes, “The moon cuts through the night trees like a circular saw white hot” (Komunyakaa, 193). He describes our everyday ability to see earth’s beauty as a “circular saw” suggesting the fear of being seen and killed in combat during the heat of the night. Another example of the dark side of nature Komunyakaa uses, is in “Starlight Scope Myopia,” he describes the river under Vi Bridge as a “Water God riding his dragon” and refers to the fog as a “Smoke-colored Viet Cong move under our eyelids” (Komunyakaa, 194). My interpretation of this explicit nature scene suggest that while in war the enemy continues to move like fog and all that is seen is the river that is sweeping away the soldiers that have been killed in the fog. Even though I have only provided two examples of the elements of nature, the book is full of nature, and confirming my belief that it is one of the common themes in the
In nature, someone can hear the sounds of a creek flowing and birds chirping and insects buzzing; in civilization, someone can hear engines roaring, people chattering, and buildings being built. In nature, one feels happiness and contentment; in civilization, one feels guilt and misery and sorrow. These simplicities of nature are what appeals to William Cullen Bryant in the poem ‘Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood’. The poem tells the reader that nature is a happier place than civilization and that nature gives one the answers to their existence and problems of life that civilization created. Civilization is ugly and corrupt while nature is beauty and tranquility.
The struggles that many face while experiencing poverty are not like any other. When a person is experiencing poverty, they deal with unbearable hardships as well as numerous tragic events. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s collection of poems teaches readers about labor battles within West Virginian territories, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of these battles include the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. The collection of poems is presented in many different manners, ranging from diary entries to letters to journal entries. These various structures of writing introduce the reader to contrasting images and concepts in an artistic fashion. The reader is able to witness firsthand the hardships and the light and dark times of impoverished people’s lives. He or she also learns about the effects of birth and death on poverty stricken communities. In the collection of poems in Kettle Bottom, Fisher uses imagery and concepts to convey contrast between the positive and negative aspects of the lives of people living in poverty.
The political climate of environmental injustice movement does not seem promising. With a very polarized, divided Congress, and powerful monopoly run corporations, advocates have to battle—harder than ever to better their communities. Vig and Kraft point out the difficulties of getting environmental legislation passed through Congress when gridlock is occurring. They dissected the issue of policy gridlock into these main indicators: the diverging policy views due to partisan differences, separated powers and bicameralism which occurs when there are major disagreements between the House, Congress, and the President, the complexity of environmental problems where the injustice is so complex that
The speaker in “Disillusionment of Ten O’ Clock” (Stevens) places the readers in a position that is crucial to the way that he wants them to perceive of the environment. The poem is written in free verse, a decision made by Stevens to invite his readers to come away from rules; not even writing should be controlled by what thy neighbor thinks.
It is interesting to think that society today can justify or criticize its action with a piece of literature or movie. Today, humans can be blamed for the maltreatment toward nature, as well as all the issues that have resulted from it. These issues, as a result of treating nature as an object that continuously yields necessities for humans, like water, only causes us to approach nature as a symbol of necessity, rather than an entity whom provides the population of the Earth with stable nutrition and habitat for survival. From this, it can be determined that popular culture reflects human treatment and view of nature, mirroring the scarring of nature by human interaction and degradation of nature.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
The barbarous images illustrated in the poems of tortured souls were so harsh to picture and not even experience in real life. In the first poem “Strange Fruit,” we get this image of discrimination
Many of the readings that we have studied in class have discussed the idea of human beings and our relationships with nature. The different authors we’ve studied and the works we’ve analyzed share different views of this relationship – a very interesting aspect to study. Human relationships with nature are truly timeless – nature can have the same effects on humans now as it did millions of years ago. Two of the works in particular which offered differing views on this relationship were “Entrance to the Woods” by Wendell Berry and “The Invented Landscape” by Frederick Turner.
During the industrial revolution of England, humans engaged in monotonous work and lost harmonious unity with nature. In the nineteenth century, when the poet William Wordsworth wrote his sonnet “The world is too much with us,” the aspects of industrialized society had changed a factory worker’s life, leaving no time or the desire to enjoy and take part in nature. In his Petrarchan sonnet, Wordsworth criticizes humans for losing their hearts to materialism and longs for a world where nature is divine.
At Cooloola is a lyrical poem written by a well recognized Australian poet, Judith Wright. This poem creatively describes a beautiful scene of nature. The poet uses highly descriptive language and a diverse range of poetic devices to engage the reader into imagining a picture of how peaceful and serene this exquisite the scenery is down by Lake Cooloola. Underlying the subject matter is the implied theme that the lake is under threat from “conquering people” who will not protect its “white shores of sand, plumreed and paperbark”. This poem reflects Judith Wright’s concern for our special and unique flora and fauna, how fortunate we are to have stunning scenery, how easily mankind can destroy it, and our need to appreciate it.
In William Wordsworth’s poems, the role of nature plays a more reassuring and pivotal r ole within them. To Wordsworth’s poetry, interacting with nature represents the forces of the natural world. Throughout the three poems, Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey, and Michael, which will be discussed in this essay, nature is seen prominently as an everlasting- individual figure, which gives his audience as well as Wordsworth, himself, a sense of console. In all three poems, Wordsworth views nature and human beings as complementary elements of a sum of a whole, recognizing that humans are a sum of nature. Therefore, looking at the world as a soothing being of which he is a part of, Wordsworth looks at nature and sees the benevolence of the divinity aspects behind them. For Wordsworth, the world itself, in all its glory, can be a place of suffering, which surely occurs within the world; Wordsworth is still comforted with the belief that all things happen by the hands of the divinity and the just and divine order of nature, itself.
The poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth is about the poet’s mental journey in nature where he remembers the daffodils that give him joy when he is lonely and bored. The poet is overwhelmed by nature’s beauty where he thought of it while lying alone on his couch. The poem shows the relationship between nature and the poet, and how nature’s motion and beauty influences the poet’s feelings and behaviors for the good. Moreover, the process that the speaker goes through is recollected that shows that he isolated from society, and is mentally in nature while he is physically lying on his couch. Therefore, William Wordsworth uses figurative language and syntax and form throughout the poem to express to the readers the peace and beauty of nature, and to symbolize the adventures that occurred in his mental journey.
Ecocriticism asserts that humans are “peoples of 'place'” (Bressler 231), our lives defined by the environment that we inhabit and the necessities of survival that are dictated by nature. The more we recognize this innate and deep connection—for example, through the reading and analyzing of the nature-human dynamic in literature—the stronger and healthier this relationship will become. We as humans will recognize our dependence on the earth instead of our dominance over it; we will recognize ourselves as “guardians” and learn how to better appreciate and protect the environment for future generations of authors and poets to continue to explore.