Gary Snyder’s Turtle Island contains a series of almost fifty poems that mention various issues and complications considered to be luminous, clear, and quite frankly even political. Snyder highlights the idea of naturalism, a movement that attempts to illustrate how every individual should be one with nature and should be able to embrace as well as conform to our natural surroundings. All of these poems take interest in the common foresight and perspective of the fact that we have become natives of this certain place, but instead, we choose not to think or act as though we are newcomers, guests, and invaders; to Gary Snyder, we have practically ruined the true definition of peace with the destruction of the nature around the people. Turtle …show more content…
Island exploits how humans have become uninvolved and inconsiderate to nature, in which humans need to live and delicately balance in harmony with the natural environment. If any of the readers were to search “Turtle Island” on Google Maps, the final outcome of the island’s location would be nonexistent considering that was the name some Indigenous groups called North America. Without actually reading any of his poems, Snyder included in his Introductory Note a brief history about “Turtle Island,” in which the island stood for the continent of North America and originated from the name the Native Americans of North America gave their homeland. This island technically never belonged to anyone else, but to the Native Americans, meaning that “the ‘U.S.A.’ and its states and counties are arbitrary and inaccurate impositions on what is really here” (Snyder). Naming this collection of poems “Turtle Island” proved to be of great importance to Snyder since it suggests a perspective of North America not merely as a piece of land “discovered” and colonized by the Europeans, but as a land inhabited and maintained by a diverse and civilized group of people. The colonial period devastated the true appearance and functionality of what nature provides for every individual. The groups of Indigenous people that previously lived on this land did not quite disrupt the peace and stability of the island since they do not disrespect nature the way we do now. The name “Turtle Island” provides insight on the rich history of how living in nature, without our current futuristic advancements, proves to be more beneficial. Before even analyzing one of the poems included, Gary Snyder named his collection to be “Turtle Island” to emphasize the significance of what North America used to and how the Indigenous people before the Europeans’ arrival dwelled in harmony, civility, and peace with their natural surroundings and environment instead of the toxic, gas-filled world we currently live in. Throughout his poems, Snyder uses various techniques to convey the benefits of nature and the disrespect toward the beautiful scenery that luckily still exists. Each of his poems contains a certain underlying message that contributes to the overall message of the beauty of nature. In “Mother Earth: Her Whales,” the gloomy and melancholy tone as well as the relatable images describe how people are creating and causing the destruction of Mother Earth. With much advancement, people do not tend to consider nature first or at all for that matter, and for that, society would yet to evaluate a copious amount of solutions to preserve our natural surroundings. Snyder questioned, “How can the head-heavy power-hungry politic scientist Government two-world Capitalist-Imperialist Third-World Communist paper-shuffling male non-farmer jet-set bureaucrats speak for the green of the leaf? Speak for the soil?” (Snyder 48). Protecting the “green of the leaf” or the treats that create these beautiful surroundings do not involve all of these world leaders and great minds, who nevertheless do not even consider formulating numerous procedures or contributing continually. The description Snyder presented creates a daunting depiction of the actual reality of who is genuinely caring or respecting nature, in which those characterizations are not accepted in the best possible connotation. Furthering and leaping forward to a dominant future spurs numerous individuals’ minds, but with Snyder’s characterization, people need to simply step back and admire an accurate illustration of peace and beauty. Gary Snyder incorporates his earthy imagery with his straightforward writing style to expose the truth of the destruction of our Mother Earth, and that the opportunity to not only preserve nature, but to actually respect this glorious creation is crucial to civility since a world full of “head-heavy power-hungry politic scientists” would not construct nature or Mother Earth to be the best place for development and maturity. Imagining a marvelous landscape can help convince any individual to finally understand nature’s legitimate grace and to cease the disrespect it has constantly received.
When anyone has the chance to understand what they are attempting to save and respect, they can at last comprehend the dire necessity to display the appropriate affection to nature. Gary Snyder’s “By the Frazier Creek Falls” illustrate a beautiful landscape in a touching and loving matter that reveal the notion of how everything together in a natural environment is alive and just exquisite. He portrays this scenery how “The creek falls to a far valley. Hills beyond that facing, half-forested, dry-clear sky strong wind in the stiff glittering needle clusters of the pine-their brown round trunk bodies straight, still; rustling trembling limbs and twigs. Listen” (Snyder 41). Using the word “trembling” demonstrates how delicate nature is, and basically in other worlds, this all exist in a gentle, graceful balance that Snyder suggests we can dwell with peacefully. If we were to simply “listen” to our environment and sense how peaceful our natural surroundings surely is, respecting and preserving this peace can subsequently be compelling and urgent options. People can change their ways and routines and learn to live without the continual disrespect and destruction of the environment; by then, we can ultimately become part of nature and live in peace and unity with one another as well as …show more content…
nature. Even though Mother Earth is constantly disrespected and treated with much coarseness, determination and early understanding of how much the beautiful surroundings mean to many individuals are crucial to a successful preservation of nature.
The best possible technique to ensure success of anything is by persevering through the hardship and hindrance that obstructs what we truly may want. Snyder wrote “For the Children” towards the end of the book with a more upbeat tone to illuminate a more positive, affirmative outlook in the future. In this poem, he advised,” To climb these coming crests one word to you, to you and your children: stay together, learn the flowers, go light” (Snyder 86). This ending piece of advice creates a positive and uplifting image that pushes the beauty of our natural landscape to the upcoming generations. Snyder encourages the next generations to cooperate together and to “learn the flowers,” or basically to study the elegance and delicacy of nature. With many “crests” and obstacles obscuring and hindering people’s viewpoints and attitudes to nature, early development and learning about nature can potentially solve the environmental problems society is currently facing now, and people can finally experience what nature truly is. The positive outlook into the future from this poem exemplifies how beautiful nature certainly is, and early exposure to this magnificent scene can assist later improvement and preservation of this alluring landscape Snyder is
attempting to prove. Frequent challenges and obstacles are present, but that does not mean defeat or conceding is an option since it could result to a horrible aftermath without peace or harmony. Gary Snyder’s Turtle Island flaunts society’s consistent disrespect and discourtesy towards nature and the immense significance of recognizing how to truly appreciate nature’s grandeur. In order to do so, each poem Snyder composed visualizes the benefits our natural surroundings has to offer. In “Mother Earth: Her Whales,” Snyder discloses the destruction that a mass number of individuals are causing to our environment. Additionally, “By Frazier Creek Falls” creates a beautiful natural landscape imagery that justifies the peace and civility required for a fully function society to operate. With countless intervening obstacles and complications, “For the Children” exposed our unethical act against nature, revealing the beauty that we are decimating, and provided a positive perspective into the future as well as an alternate approach to restore this beautiful planet and its landscapes. Although each poem includes its own message, Snyder’s overall point is that respecting nature and its beautiful surroundings is imperative to our development in our society; without acknowledging the importance of conserving Mother Earth, we may not function as well as desired, especially when peace, harmony, and civility may not exist.
...f the natural” (Abbey 6) then proceeds to personify everything around him from ravens that “croak harsh clanking sounds of smug satisfaction” (Abbey 16), to a Juniper tree that might be mad, or simply suffering “an internal effort at liberation” (Abbey 27). While Abbey explores the contradiction of man and nature merged, yet separate, McCandless frequently re-shapes his paradigm to incorporate discovery. Non-adherence to predetermined configurations allows both men to have the relationships they seek with wilderness and industrial society. We see on close inspection that what at first appears to be a contradiction is actually a purposeful non-conformity that allows each man to tailor his experience.
Cronon, William “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature” ed., Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1995, 69-90
As majority of the narrative in this poem is told through the perspective of a deceased Nishnaabeg native, there is a sense of entitlement to the land present which is evident through the passage: “ breathe we are supposed to be on the lake … we are not supposed to be standing on this desecrated mound looking not looking”. Through this poem, Simpson conveys the point of how natives are the true owners of the land and that colonizers are merely intruders and borrowers of the land. There is an underlying idea that instead of turning a blind eye to the abominations colonizers have created, the natives are supposed to be the ones enjoying and utilising the land. The notion of colonizers simply being visitors is furthered in the conclusion of the poem, in which the colonizers are welcomed to the land but are also told “please don’t stay too long” in the same passage. The conclusion of this poem breaks the colonialistic idea of land belonging to the colonizer once colonized by putting in perspective that colonizers are, in essence, just passerbys on land that is not
Berry explains how art honors nature by depicting it and using it as a starting
Specifically, the grandfather in this poem appears to represent involvement with nature because of his decisions to garden as he “stabs his shears into earth” (line 4). However, he is also representative of urban life too as he “watched the neighborhood” from “a three-story” building (line 10). The author describes the world, which the grandfather has a small “paradise” in, apart from the elements desecrated by humans, which include “a trampled box of Cornflakes,” a “craggy mound of chips,” and “greasy / bags of takeouts” (lines 23, 17, 2, and 14-15). The passive nature of the grandfather’s watching over the neighborhood can be interpreted in a variety of different ways, most of them aligning with the positive versus negative binary created by the authors of these texts. The author wants to show the reader that, through the grandfather’s complexity of character, a man involved in both nature and more human centered ways of life, there is multifaceted relationship that man and nature share. Through the also violent descriptions of the grandfather’s methods of gardening, the connection between destructive human activities and the negative effects on nature is
The wild is a place to push yourself to the limit and take a look at who you truly are inside. “Wilderness areas have value as symbols of unselfishness” (Nash). Roderick Nash’s philosophy states that the wilderness gives people an opportunity to learn humility but they fight this because they do not have a true desire to be humble. Human-kind wants to give out the illusion that they are nature lovers when in reality, they are far from it. “When we go to designated wilderness we are, as the 1964 act says, "visitors" in someone else's home” (Nash). People do not like what they cannot control and nature is uncontrollable. Ecocentrism, the belief that nature is the most important element of life, is not widely accepted. The novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer depicts a young boy who goes on an exploration to teach himself the true concept of humility. Chris McCandless, the protagonist, does not place confidence in the universal ideology that human beings are the most significant species on the planet, anthropocentrism.
When thinking about nature, Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” John Muir and William Wordsworth both expressed through their writings that nature brought them great joy and satisfaction, as it did Andersen. Each author’s text conveyed very similar messages and represented similar experiences but, the writing style and wording used were significantly different. Wordsworth and Muir express their positive and emotional relationships with nature using diction and imagery.
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.
One strength of his article is that it can easily elicit an emotional response from the more sympathetic readers and outdoor enthusiasts. Duane appeals to pathos when first setting the scene of a day in the wilderness. He describes what it would be like if one had the “good fortune” to spot a Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in the wild. He writes, “You unwrap a chocolate bar amid breathtaking views . . . the sight fills you with awe and also with gratitude for the national parks, forests, and yes, environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive” (Duane 1). For the audience that connects to this emotional appeal, this instantly draws them in to the article and can arouse feelings of amazement and wonder toward the sight described. It can likewise leave readers wondering whether or not this scene is truly so perfect. This statement can also appear too dramatic for those less passionate. When Duane writes, “The sight fills you with . . . gratitude for the . . . yes, environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive,” it seems almost untrue, as most people do not think twice about the environmental regulations that keep animals in their
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.
Today, we are a civilized civilization, with new technologies being invented every day. From the computer, to the iphone our innovations have made our lives easier in many ways. However, what we neglect is our attention and noticement of the natural world. Poets Stephen Boyer and William Carlos Williams both address this theme in their poems “#uploading nature” and “The Red Wheelbarrow.” In both of these poems, the poets displays how the separation between the natural, pure world and the modern, materialistic world, affect our actions.
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.
Nature is often a focal point for many author’s works, whether it is expressed through lyrics, short stories, or poetry. Authors are given a cornucopia of pictures and descriptions of nature’s splendor that they can reproduce through words. It is because of this that more often than not a reader is faced with multiple approaches and descriptions to the way nature is portrayed. Some authors tend to look at nature from a deeper and personal observation as in William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, while other authors tend to focus on a more religious beauty within nature as show in Gerard Manley Hopkins “Pied Beauty”, suggesting to the reader that while to each their own there is always a beauty to be found in nature and nature’s beauty can be uplifting for the human spirit both on a visual and spiritual level.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
To understand the nature-society relationship means that humans must also understand the benefits as well as problems that arise within the formation of this relationship. Nature as an essence and natural limits are just two of the ways in which this relationship can be broken down in order to further get an understanding of the ways nature and society both shape one another. These concepts provide useful approaches in defining what nature is and how individuals perceive and treat