The Recreation of Nature

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Recommended: Nature and poetry

Can words be art? A part of nature? For centuries, people have written stories, poems, and drawn pictures to represent the world around them. However, the question occurs: Is art a form of nature? One possibility, as suggested through symbolism in Wallace Steven’s “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain” is that mankind can recreate nature through art. An alternative, as suggested through personification in “The World is too much With Us“ by Williams Wordsworth is that humans cannot recreate nature through art, and mankind is disconnected from the natural world. Despite the fact these poem’s themes contrast, both of the poems use the natural world as a scene to display these themes. Although both poems utilize the natural world to convey their themes, “The Poem that Took the Place of a Mountain” by Wallace Stevens employs symbolism to suggest humans can recreate nature through art and literature, while “The World is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth criticizes human distance from nature through personification.

Both poems utilize the natural world to showcase their opposing themes. For example, in “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain”, Wallace Stevens mentions several features of a mountain, for example, “pines” (7), “rocks” (8), “clouds” (8), and “the sea” (13). These features are commonly found while hiking a mountain. In Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us”, natural items like, “the sea” (5), “the moon” (5), “winds” (6), and “sleeping flowers” (7) are utilized to build a scene. These words describe a natural scene perhaps at night. Both of these poems describe a beach scene, as they both mention the sea. Another similarity shown by these nouns above may be the serenity of the scene. Both poems pai...

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...Took the Place of a Mountain” and “The World is Too Much With Us” showcase a serene and beautiful landscape, “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain” utilizes the mountain scene to symbolize how art and literature can recreate nature, while “The World is Too Much With Us” uses the stunning landscape to highlight the beauty that mankind overlooks. So the question remains: Is mankind disconnected with nature? “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain” suggest nature’s elegance can be recreated through words and art. However, words and art are not tangible. They only paint a picture in one’s mind, but does this make the mountain any less real?

Works Cited

Stevens, Wallace. “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain.” Poetry Foundation. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2012

Wordsworth, Williams. “The World is Too Much With Us.” Poetry Foundation. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2012

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