Robinson Jeffers - An Environmental Pioneer

550 Words2 Pages

In his poem The Answer, Robinson Jeffers writes, ."..know that however ugly the parts appear the whole remains beautiful...the greatest beauty is organic wholeness...Love that, not man apart from that." Throughout his life, Robinson Jeffers tries to prove his environmental theories and his beliefs in "inhumanism" and "ecocentricism" and urges everyone to start living a life closer to Nature, the origin of all things on Earth. He has done so by setting himself as the best example - living a life near the sea without even the most essential house appliances like electricity and enjoy most of his time just being close to Nature, where his inspirations for poetry writings come from. All of poems he writes are filled with his attitude towards the dominant world view of Nature and his theory of how we should interact with our environment.

First of all, Jeffers stresses the importance of realizing the beauty of our physical world as a whole; human beings are just a tiny part of it, along with animals and plants. All the complications of our lives can be spared if we can acknowledge how bad we are harming Nature. According to Jeffers, human beings are self-centered and too involved with each other to have any time left to appreciate what Nature has sacrificed for our luxurious lives. Jeffers wrote in Carmel Point that "We must uncenter our minds from ourselves; we must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident as the rock and ocean that we were made from." We find similar message from Sign-Post where Jeffers implies that humans should "Turn outward, love things, not men...now you are free, even to become human, but born of the rock and the air, not of a woman." Through his poems we can also get a sense of feeling that Jeffers believes we can be better, happier person with more successes if our interaction with Nature can be altered from the dominant view where human beings are always the priority in every circumstance.

Even though Jeffers believes all the complications in our lives are pulling us away from Nature, he doesn't deny the fact that understanding science will help us understand the natural world better. However, Jeffers points out that science have its limitation; no matter how advanced it is or will be in the future, it will never be able to explain fully how exactly Nature works unless you experience it on your own.

Show More
Related

  • Into the Wild: Chris McCandless as Role Model

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Robinson Jeffers - Poems, Biography, Quotes." Robinson Jeffers - Poems, Biography, Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 201

    Read More

  • David Brower and the Sierra Club

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    who loved the wilderness. As a skilled mountain climber, he made the first of seventy routes in

    Read More

  • Environmentalist Earth Hero Who Made a Difference

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    As his voice erupts through the broadcast, a quote rings through the nation’s ears. “The human brain now holds the key to our future. We have to recall the image of the planet from outer space: a single entity in which air, water, and continents are interconnected. That is our home.” This quote demonstrates the confident voice of David Suzuki presents his keen identity. The quotation presents the determination as well as the passion that he has on protecting the environment and the glint of hope that relies on humans taking on this responsibility as the key to saving our delicate planet.

    Read More

  • Emerson And Transcendentalism Comparison

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Emerson’s “Nature” nature is referred to as “plantations of god” meaning that nature is sacred. Also mentioned, is that “In the woods is perpetual youth”(#) conveying that nature keeps people young. Therefore, these excerpts show that nature is greatly valued by these transcendentalists. Transcendentalists would likely care significantly about the environment. In contrast, nowadays nature is often and afterthought. Natures’ resources are being depleted for human use, and the beauty of nature is also not as appreciated by modern people as it was by transcendentalists. The threat to nature in modern times contrasts to the great appreciation of nature held by authors like Emerson and

    Read More

  • The Damnation Of A Canyon Summary

    2223 Words  | 5 Pages

    He wrote, in part, about the human condition and man’s role in the disregard and destruction of the natural world. In essence, he favored the environment in its natural state and saw the elimination of its beauty as another means of control by the rich and powerful. To Abbey the damming of Lake Powell was a damn thing, not good for anyone or anything except the “upper-middle-class American slob” (99) and he abhorred the technological society that develops at the expense of nature’s environmental resources. This disdain is captured perfectly in the double entendre used to encapsulate the subject laid out before us by Abbey: The Damnation of a

    Read More

  • The Magnificence Of Nature In The Silent Spring, By Rachel Carson

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    The advent of industrialization and mankind's insatiable quest to devour nature has resulted in a potentially catastrophic chaos. Our race against time to sate the ever-increasing numbers of hungry stomachs has taken toll on the environment. Man has tried to strip every resource Earth has to offer and has ruthlessly tried to eliminate any obstruction he perceived. Nature is an independent entity which has sustained and maintained the balance existing within it. Traditionally, spring season hosts the complete magnificence of nature in full bloom. It is evident in the very first chapter when Rachel Carson talks about a hypothetical village which was the epitome of natural rural beauty and was a delightful scenery for the beholder. The village

    Read More

  • A. R Ammons Cascadilla Falls

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the poem “Cascadilla Falls” by A. R. Ammons, the poet writes about an evening where the narrator visited a stream below the falls. Although, man’s role in nature has always been questioned, humans have always been the center of the universe revolving around us. In the poem, Ammons makes a strong statement against humanism by relating natural occurrences in nature to human beings. The universe is a vast place with endless possibilities and we live on a planet that is teeming with life. Humans, however, have taken over this world and view other life forms as inferior and abuse nature for resources.

    Read More

  • Dillard and Thoreau Comparison

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Need of Being Versed in Country Things and The Old Man and the Sea

    1889 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...s seen in the poem, “The Need of Being Versed in Country Things” and the novel, The Old Man and the Sea. But a question that still remains very important is whether nature and man can ever coexist in a compatible relation?

    Read More

  • William Wordsworth And Wordsworth's Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

    1848 Words  | 4 Pages

    His poetry is written in a natural language that speaks to and demonstrates common human emotions; called forth by readers' experiences in nature. He explains how nature has never betrayed his heart, and that is why he has lived a life full of joy. Therefore, he wishes her sister to indulge in the nature and be a part of it. That way, she will be able to enjoy and understand life and conquer the displeasure of living in a cruel human society.

    Read More

  • Happiness and Drought

    2698 Words  | 6 Pages

    This portrayal of Earth as a natural force can be read in two ways. On one hand, the Earth can be viewed as a natural source that produces the life of a human. But one cannot ignore the fact that Masters deliberately placed the words your and you in these lines. With these words Masters sets up a dialogue between the reader and the speaker of the poem. This dialogue that Master’s puts forth further contributes to the poem’s intent to capture the value of perspective because the purpose of dialogue is to promote a convers...

    Read More

  • The Role Of Nature In Sarah Orne Jewett's A White Heron

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    Flourishing nature is most beauteous in areas which have not been maimed by the human race. The idea that spiritual and philosophical wellness can be found in nature is supported world-wide. Many different cultures use their eco-rich surroundings to become more spiritually/philosophically endowed. In the short story “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett there are two fundamental relationships with society and nature that reflect the author’s point of view in support of this idea. The first is a good example of how nature can positively affect the spiritual/philosophical wellness of a person through an appreciative, loving, and tolerant relationship (Sylvia). The second is a destructive, parasitic relationship that is only beneficial to one party (the hunter). Sylvia struggles with her loyalty to her own innocence and respect of nature because of the exciting new possibilities the hunter promises to her. I will elaborate on topics such as the nature of Sylvia’s relationships, the narrator’s point of view, and the writing style in the text to demonstrate an understanding of how the author saw the relationship of society and nature in “A White Heron”.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Wallace Stevens: The Escape

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Originally published in November 1915 and then included in Harmonium, 1923. The poem is separated into seven parts. The narrator tells a dynamic story of a woman casually having a late breakfast on her porch one Sunday morning, with a surprising absence of guilt for not going to church because of her admiration for the beautiful wildlife around her. The woman then daydreams a visit to Christ’s tomb and compares the value of Christian faith to nature’s ability to give one paradise. The narrator furthers the story by discussing how the causes life and death change, the purpose of life, and nature’s endurance. As a whole, the work is very dynamic and complex; however it is centered around justifying nature’s ability to fulfil one’s need for

    Read More

  • Nature in American Poetry

    1746 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882), the leader of the Transcendentalism in New England, is the first American who wrote prose and poem on nature and the relationship between nature and man Emerson's philosophy of Transcendentalism concerning nature is that nature is only another side of God "the gigantic shadow of God cast our senses." Every law in nature has a counterpart in the intellect. There is a perfect parallel between the laws of nature and the laws of thought. Material elements simply represent an inferior plane: wherever you enumerate a physical law, I hear in it a moral rule. His poem The Rhodora is a typical instance to illustrate his above-mentioned ideas on nature. At the very beginning of the poem, the poet found the fresh rhodora in the woods, spreading its leafless blooms in a deep rock, to please the desert and the sluggish brook, while sea-winds pieced their solitudes in May. It is right because of the rhodora that the desert and the sluggish brook are no longer solitudes. Then the poem goes to develop by comparison between the plumes of the redbird and the rhodora . Although the bird is elegant and brilliant, the flower is much more beautiful than the bird. So the sages can not helping asking why this charm is wasted on the earth and sky. The poet answers beauty is its own cause for being just as eyes are made for seeing. There is no other reason but beauty itsel...

    Read More

  • William Wordsworth's Use of Nature

    1393 Words  | 3 Pages

    In poetry the speaker describes his feelings of what he sees or feels. When Wordsworth wrote he would take everyday occurrences and then compare what was created by that event to man and its affect on him. Wordsworth loved nature for its own sake alone, and the presence of Nature gives beauty to his mind, again only for mind’s sake (Bloom 95). Nature was the teacher and inspirer of a strong and comprehensive love, a deep and purifying joy, and a high and uplifting thought to Wordsworth (Hudson 158). Wordsworth views everything as living. Everything in the world contributes to and sustains life nature in his view.

    Read More

More about Robinson Jeffers - An Environmental Pioneer

Open Document