The Theme of Nature in Literary Works

The Theme of Nature in Literary Works

In his Poetics, Plato contemplates the nature of aesthetics and

existence. He postulates that for every existing object and idea there is

an absolute "ideal" which transcends human experience. He further

concludes that art, including literature, is an aesthetic representation of

real objects and ideas that is used to better understand their "ideals."

In theory, as an object becomes closer ideal it also becomes a better

subject for the artist. American artists in particular have been given an

invaluable opportunity to explore this realm of the Platonic ideal.

Because the American continent and its wilderness was primarily unsullied

by the ravages of civilization, the natural world found there by early

settlers was much closer to being "ideal" than anywhere else on Earth. For

this reason, nature has become one of the most important subjects of

American art, especially Literature. Specific examples from American

literature including the works Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn, Walden, and "To a Waterfowl" can show how American authors explore

the ideals of human existence through aesthetic representations of nature.

William Cullen Bryant, who has been called "the father of American

poetry," is one of the earliest artists to capture the essence of nature in

America and apply it to the human experience. In his poem "To A Waterfowl"

he uses the example of a waterfowl to reach a better understanding of human

existence. In the poem, the waterfowl is portrayed as a near-perfect

creation, and it is treated with a sense of reverence. The first stanza

demonstrates this:

Whither, midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the la...

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...toic devotion that he has to finding truth in nature. He intends to learn

from it and make himself vulnerable to it.

Clearly Thoreau believes that nature is close to a Platonic ideal,

the truth. He says that nature holds the "essential facts of life" and

through his writing, he becomes closer to nature itself, and therefore

closer to the truth. The same is true in some way also for Twain, Melville,

and Bryant. This is the key to American Literature. If art is truly a

representation of some impalpable ideal made in the hopes of better

understanding existence, then nature has been the greatest vehicle for art

in America. Since the settling of this continent, the authors of America

have been greatly affected by a wild, beautiful, and almost ideal nature.

American Literature, therefore, has taken nature in as it's most important

and loved subject.