In Wendell Berry’s 1968 poem “The Peace of Wild Things” the speaker finds a solution to the anxieties he feels during a sleepless night by going outside to a quiet, peaceful place in nature, near a body of water. In the presence of wildlife, water, and stars, he feels restored to tranquility, his troubles dissolves in the great peace he experiences in nature. He shows a balance between nature and humans and shows how nature can play a vital role in healing our humanly spirts and souls. In “The Peace of Wild Things” The poet conveys an interpretation of what he likes to do when he feels his anxiety is about to kick in and finds a way to keep calm with nature. He describes having a fear for the world and what it may become for his children. He says, “When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be.” Perhaps his worries may be war, economics, and family issues but the only thing that seems to keep him in peace is nature. The poet makes it clear how deep this worry in his mind is, since he will wake up at …show more content…
In lines 10-12 Berry says, “And I feel above me the day-blind stars, waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” In these three stanzas, he describes a feeling of freedom and rest by the stars that light up the sky. The poet explains about how getting out into the natural world cures him of the agitation and worry that he had been experiencing as he lays awake at home. He feels at peace now, and this is because he can sense and share in the way nature and its creatures live. There is peacefulness in nature because the animal kingdoms do not, unlike humans, have the capacity to worry about the future. And in fact, are emotionless and worry free. The author describes as nature being his stress reliever and something he can always lean on at the end of the
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Show MoreIn the creature’s very first spring he was about as lonely as one could possibly be. However, when the creature realized the beauty of the world and of nature it lifted his spirits. He was lonely, but however, he was not completely unhappy because the beauty of nature gave the creature peace.
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.
...otter, disturbing high pitched sounf of the oystercatcher, the cormorant, and the heron all connote the idea of an overwhelming chaotic nature of the world. The first two lines of the second stanza justify this view because we find that the speaker has gone through a personal experience of facing death. However, in the majority of the second stanza, the speaker finds a more peaceful underlying order in the next few images he sees. The butterfly, a couple quietly speaking, and the soothing warmth of nature all appeal to an underlying order, filled with peacefulness and serenity. From the different perspectives of a single experience of the speaker, the author is able to create a world where although chaos can be present through personal experience, the underlying order is still intact, as long as one is able to look at it from a more calm and peaceful vantage point.
It has never been an uncommon thing for one to retreat to nature in an attempt to ‘find one’s self,’ and somewhat cliché these days is the retreat to nature to ‘find God.’ Hundreds of books, essays, seminars, and retreats devote themselves to helping one understand how to find enlightenment and healing through connecting with nature. It is a phenomenon that transcends religious boundaries—everyone, from Buddhists to Christian Mystics to Quakers, seems to think that the key (or, at least, one of the keys) to enlightenment lies in nature. As one may suppose, this is not a new concept. Throughout literary history, there is a distinct trend of authors praising the virtues of nature, singing of the peace that it brings and the enlightening attributes of these places away from the noise and clutter of the cities. Shakespeare tells of finding “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, [and] sermons in stone”(Shakespeare); William Wordsworth implores us to let nature be our teacher; Goethe claims that there is rest and respite on the mountain top; and George Washington Carver admits that he tries commune with nature everyday. It seems that from Henry David Thoreau right down to contemporary authors, no generation or writing period has been devoid of at least one prolific author who takes to nature in order to find the answers.
...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?
We now know that we are in the real world in a natural setting a place where deer’s run. Also we know that the dark is nothing more than the cover of darkness in the night. Now that the dark is painted into our heads it will help us to visualize the poems significance. As we go through the poem he states that he sees a dead deer, “Traveling through the dark I found a deer dead on the edge of the Wilson River road” (1-2). Towards the end of the stanza he says “It is usually best to roll them into the canyon: that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead” (3-4). What he is saying is that one needs to move away from any situation which might not be ideal before harm comes aboard. He is calm and controlled and does not get overly excited thus keeping his emotions intact.
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”.
Terry Tempest Williams’ Refuge is an illustration of human beings deteriorated relationship with nature. Nature is no longer our life source but something for us to own and control. Although we might recognize its life giving potential we do not see it as part of ourselves in that whether we were molded from its clay or evolved from bacteria. We grew from the earth.
Many have said nature is the best medicine for the soul. Have you ever noticed the simple bliss and purity nature holds? Never competing, never degrading, never giving up the purity it holds. Nature can keep its blissful purity untroubled in the moment not convicted by what all society has brought into this world. Furthermore, many find nature as their safe place, the one place they can go too and no one can interfere with their happiness. John Muir and William Wordsworth noticed
In earlier years, observing nature brought happiness. One look around at the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee or at Lindsey’s Rainbow Farm in Arkansas showed everything the world offered—tall grassy fields, magnificent black bears, chilly fall nights, clear streams, slimy trout, and the warmth of the sun on my face at sunset. Breathtaking sights awaited us around every corner. Nature seemed endless. Today, places such as these appear to be found less and less. With the expansion of not only civilization but also its economy, Americans slowly destroy the once symbiotic relationship between nature and community. Americans face such a difficult situation due to the way we live our lives—specifically, the way we obtain our food.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated that “the first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature.” Nature in all its forms parallels with life, death, and the soul. Whether the sunshines or the rain falls, whether a flower blooms or willows, nature will always recreate itself and remain a mystery to mankind. To become one with nature, one must explore oneself and know that the simplicity found in it is both divine and perfect. The theme of nature plays a mayor role throughout Whitman, Dickinson, and Emerson’s writings. Each poet conveys his or her view of nature in a unique and symbolic way by searching for the individual or discovering one-self, and coming to terms with death.
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.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker “thought about the smaller lives that were caught” in the forest fire (Jeffers 3). These “smaller” animals literally refers to the squirrels, raccoons, and other animals of shorter size. But “smaller” also connotes the importance and value of the lives of these animals. Born in their insignificant form, the less fortunate inhabitants of the forest are not able to escape their fiery demises quick enough, supporting the idea of an uncontrollable fate in nature. From the moment one is born, life either traps or blesses that person or animal. A talent or comforting lifestyle could grace one’s life, or a terrible disease or circumstance could befall another. Soon after mentioning the small lives, the speaker notes that “beauty is not always lovely” (Jeffers 4). In this paradox, Jeffers delves into the death of the “smaller lives.” Death is the end to life, yet it can also symbolize change and new beginnings. Although a fire devastates a forest and extinguishes the lives of many creatures, the beauty of new life and renewal will bloom in the aftermath. In short, nature will move towards the idea of a fundamental balance between life and death, using the destinies of the inhabitants as the driving force. Every animal has a basic role to play from birth to death that will drive the course nature will take. Additionally, Jeffers backs up this perplexing claim by detailing the return of an eagle to its nest: “Insolent and gorged, cloaked in the folded storms of his shoulders / He had come from far off for the good hunting” (Jeffers 8-9). Jeffers illustrates a yet another paradoxical situation, where death of others can lead to the life of another, to support his argument of fixed fate. Gaining nourishment from the “good hunting” of the fleeing animals, the eagle’s destiny is to kill and to become
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.
The poems, "The Bull Moose" by Alden Nowlan, "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke, "Walking the Dog" by Howard Nemerov, and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop, illustrate what happens when people and nature come together, but the way in which the people react to these encounters in these poems is very different. I believe that when humans and nature come together either they clash and conflict because individuals destroy and attempt to control nature, which is a reflection of their powerful need to control themselves, or humans live peacefully with nature because they not only respect and admire nature, but also they can see themselves in the nature.