The central idea of the poem, “The Peace of Wild Things”, by Wendell Berry, is that even though the world might have many injustices, you must have hope for good and peace in the world. Berry sometimes feels like he’s lost faith in the future of the world. “ When despair for the world grows in me… I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” When Berry can’t seems to be optimistic about the future, sometimes he relaxes with nature, and doesn’t worry about the dreadful events in the world. Injustice might fill the world with awful things, but it’s important to stop and have confidence in a better
Humankind has been facing and conquering problems, droughts, famines, and wars for instance, since the beginning of its existence. Throughout an individual’s life, obstacles arise and challenges present themselves in an attempt to inhibit the individual from moving forward. In her poem Crossing the Swamp, Mary Oliver utilizes a variety of techniques to expand on this idea, establishing a relationship between the speaker and the swamp as one of determination and realized appreciation.
This poem by e. e. cummings describes the link between age and happiness by relating the two with simplicity. With this simplicity, however, there is a break from reality, and there are consequences. We can only do what is natural for us.
He is unable to understand why they can’t leave nature alone. His frustration stems from the fact that so much valuable land is being destroyed, to accommodate the ways of the lazy. It seems as though he believes that people who are unwilling to enjoy nature as is don’t deserve to experience it at all. He’s indirectly conveying the idea that humans who destroy nature are destroying themselves, as nature is only a mechanism that aids the society. In Desert Solitaire Abbey reminds the audience, of any age and year of the significance of the wild, enlightening and cautioning the human population into consciousness and liability through the use of isolation as material to ponder upon and presenting judgments to aid sheltering of the nature he
When I hear the word “legacy,” I often feel intimidated because I instinctively compare myself with those who have accomplished something significant. In fact, I get the impression that I am disadvantaged, or strictly speaking, useless, compared to those who are leaders. I feel that my fate prevents me from meeting new opportunities, which ultimately impedes me from making great accomplishments. However, after reading “Home of the Free” by Wendell Berry, I am forced to riffle through my life span and smile at the great accomplishments that I, as a “disadvantaged” kid, have taken pride in. Berry’s thesis can be summarized by a quote from the famous existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote, “If you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.” Nietzsche establishes the notion that, in life, we should not avoid “the necessary work of human life” and only seek pleasure and peace. This notion, which is what comprises Berry’s concept of “satisfaction,” makes me ponder everything in life that can make existence prove worthwhile.
The novellas, Train Dreams by Dennis Johnson and Good Will by Jane Smiley, are both infused with elements of the natural world. In both novellas nature is portrayed in different ways. The natural world plays significant roles in both Johnson’s Train Dreams and Smiley’s Good Will; these roles differ between the two novellas. On some points, Train Dreams and Good Will portray nature in the same way, but in others their views contradict. In both novellas nature is depicted as a form of livelihood; Grainier makes a living by conquering nature, and the Millers by working with nature. In Train Dreams nature inspires fear, whereas in Good Will nature equates peace.
The poem “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin is about a person who considers himself a peaceful farmer and how he becomes the opposite of who he was. He is desensitized to the point where he can justify to himself a mass extermination of an entire population of woodchucks, but the writer seems to imply that this is a flaw of humans. The flaw among humans is that you can get so accustomed to violence that it starts to desensitize them to violence. It shows the effect hatred and evil can have on a human’s soul and how that can change their behavior. The poem begins with the man having a general prejudice against one population, the woodchucks, which finally evolves into a personal vendetta to kill the entire species. Kumin uses various literary devices throughout her poem to prove this point. The main literary devices used to help prove the poem’s point are allusion, symbolism, point of view, characterization and alliteration.
We see force attempting to hold the speaker down, looking at this poem from a radical feminist view we see ecofeminist ideas present as “men have used force to maintain their superiority over women and the natural world” (Cirksena and Cuklanz 28). Within this poem the force men have used to “maintain their superiority” is through attempting to silence female voices in spaces that hold paternalistic values. The female identity is connected to nature through the image of the bird. The bird is an image that was also seen in “A Dream”, in “A Dream” the birds seem to represent domineering male voices that claim the space and mock her through their laughter; in “Defiance” the image of the bird represents the poetic thought of the female speaker. The bird, even when threatened to be “covered” or have her “wings beaten” will “shall go on laughing” (Livesay, “Defiance” 5), this shows the speaker's resistance to rejection from male dominated culture. In comparing “A Dream” and “Defiance” it can be seen that Livesay’s writing has changed from submissive to the dominating space to speaking out against the patriarchal structure that attempts to hold her back. Poem “A Dream” is a part of Livesay’s Garden of Childhood poetry that was “previously uncollected and unpublished” (Livesay 1), where “Defiance” is contained in Livesay’s first published collection of poetry entitled From Green Pitcher. In looking at these poems
To Thoreau, life’s progress has halted. It seems people have confused progression with captivity driven by materialism. To Krakaeur, people are indifferent to pursing the sublime in nature. To Christopher McCandles the world around him is forgetting the purpose of life. People are blind to nature. In the eyes of these men the world is victim to commercial imprisonment. People live to achieve statuses that only exist because man made them. Fame, money, and monotonous relationships do not exist in nature; they are the pursuits of soulless fundamentalism. The truth is that people pursue meaningless goals, and people don’t want to hear or know how they are foolish. When exposed, reality is so unsettling that it seems wrong. Yet, to be free of the falseness in life is in essence the point of singularity that people realize if there is no truth in love then it is false, if there is no truth in money then it is worthless, if there is no truth in fame then it is undeserving. Without truth everything is a worthless pursuit of a meaningless glass ceiling.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
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.
Jim is an innocent young man, living on the coast of Queensland. In this peaceful town, everybody is happy and at peace with themselves and with nature. The people enjoy the simple pleasures of life - nature, birds, and friendly neighbourly conversations. Their days are filled with peaceful walks in the bush, bird watching and fishing. Jim and his friends especially enjoy the serenity of the sanctuary and the wonders of nature that it holds.
Regardless of some of the differing views between the two authors, both Berry and Turner seem to share the belief that an unchanging natural landscape with which humans can develop a healthy and peaceful relationship is most ideal. The timelessness, calmness, and welcoming aura that nature brings will forever be there for us, as long as we do not destroy it with carelessness and ignorance.
Since the beginning of time, humans have always had some type of relationship with nature, whether it was negative or positive. Adam & Eve were exiled from paradise for eating from the forbidden tree. Neanderthals flourished living in caves while having constant interactions with nature. And now in this day in age the relationship continues. This ever-changing relationship between man and nature is the main focus of two writers, Wendell Berry and Terry Tempest Williams. Both writers have a similar voice and style in some aspects, yet differ in others.
Upon introduction to Mary Oliver’s poem, titled “Wild Geese”, there appeared to be a skin of geese flying freely in the sky. Furthermore, the poetry is informing people not to spend their lifetime repenting the past and asking for forgiveness. Also, the poet encourages the readers to be strong, it is not the end of the world even they are in the deepest depth of their despair. However, it is the reality that they must face, due to the life is not always perfect. After analysis the poem, Oliver compare the nature’s condition and to the human condition by using elements of poetry, such as the tone, symbolisms, and theme to express the images of freedom and the importance of every human being in the world to follow their heart.
...For Wright the poem was not only a future warning but was much more immediate than that. After the disastrous Australian drought of summer 1942, when the poem was written, and only three years after John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath, which is all about the loss of a sustainable environment and fertile topsoil being turned to dust, it is likely that Wright saw this already occurring around her. Being a strong environmentalist and with a great sense of afflatus, she hoped that Dust would warn people before the “earth turns against the plough”. This poem successfully achieves this goal. It graphically depicts the horrible nature of what the world may well become, causing this message to strongly resonate with the reader. The poem uses a wide range of techniques which would capture the attention of any audience, causing them to have a vested interest in her cause.