Preview

Contemporary Poetry And Nature

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
451 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Contemporary Poetry And Nature
Contemporary poetry and Nature
Technically, “Contemporary poetry” is written after the start of the 1920`s, especially poetry is connected with modern literary genres, such as modernism and post-modernism.
Poetry often involves nature in its description. Though inspiration as a poet truly derives from within, nature can act as a tool to enhance imagination and devices used in our poetry. Poets have for ages seen nature as a reflection of the human experience. Poets in their writing usually use two devices to relate to nature: personification and analogy.
Reading modern poems about nature provides a double joy of learning and poetic appreciation. Most modern poets who write about nature are knowledgeable about it. These poets study nature; they don't merely romanticize it. And the more they study, the more they seem to discover its uniqueness and preciousness - at a very deep core.
The types of relationships that human beings have with nature can be sorted out, though these categories often overlap in actual literature because our relationship with nature, like all human relationships, is complex and multi-faceted. But for the sake of analysis, we can look at these relationships between human beings and nature:
Man as a part of nature
Man apart from nature
Man in conflict with nature
Man and nature separate but coexistent
Man and nature separate and adversarial
Nature superior to humanity
Nature subordinate to humanity
Nature and humanity equals
For example, the poem “Daffodils No More”, written by the contemporary ecopoet Gordon J.L. Ramel. This work is a serious parody of an earlier poem Daffodils written by the English poet William Wordsworth in 1804. In that poem, Wordsworth wrote of the beauty of wild daffodils and how they inspired him. He also mentioned seeing large numbers of this plant: "Ten thousand saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in sprightly dance."
In ‘Daffodils No More’, Gordon J.L. Ramel draws our attention to the fact that the number

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The authors of the poems I have chosen use nature to express beauty in the world and relate…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Poetry - Pablo Neruda

    • 279 Words
    • 1 Page

    b) This imagery contributes to our understanding of the speaker's thoughts and feelings when he first encounters poetry, because the reference to nature helps the reader to understand the idea of the poem. Nature is something everybody understands regardless of nation or education.…

    • 279 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poets often use nature as a source of inspiration in their works. Nature, itself, is a very graceful subject and can be used to express an array of human emotion and feeling. One famous poet that uses nature to portray his inner spirits is Matsuo Basho. This is evident in his work Oku no Hosomichi or The Narrow Road to the Deep North. His piece is a travelogue, which captures the pilgrimage through the northern part of Japan he and his travel companion, Sora, took to emulate the experiences and understandings of the places, cherished by poets before him. This masterpiece is much more than merely a travelogue of his journeys though, but also a composition of haikus, conversation, and journal entries that encapsulates the emotions and feelings he experiences. Basho is able to express and reflect these feelings from each new experience in his writings through use nature, as a symbolic image of his inner spirit.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this colorful and passionate essay, "Down the River", Edward Abbey depicts nature as a mysterious and majestic place in order to encourage his open-minded readers to embrace all that it has to offer. He also expresses how both nature and our everyday lives are very similar in that they are mysterious and only understandable in small fractions. His tone of admiration leads the reader to recognize that we as humans tend to not see the reflection of mankind in nature; therefore we stunt our ability to fully appreciate and experience its mystery and beauty. His use of parallel structure and imagery provide the reader with a multitude of reasons to appreciate and adore nature.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the Words of Wordsworth: Explain what Wordsworth means when he calls nature “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, / The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul / Of all my moral being.” Compare your own responses to nature and the natural landscape. To what extent do you share the Romantic view of nature?…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Do you ever forget about the impact nature has on you? Although people do not like to admit it, nature is something many people forget about and, as a result, neglect. Not only does nature keep everyone alive, but it also typically brightens the days of many just by being outside their windows. In the anthology Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World, essays by authors such as Nalini Nadkarni, Al Young, and Jennifer Oladipo explore the importance of nature and growth in human beings. These authors share a common interest in nature, portraying similar messages about nature. In particular, Nadkarni, Young, and Oladipo stress the importance nature has on individuals in their pieces. From reading the essays “A Tapestry of Browns and Greens,” “Silent Parrot Blues,” and “Porphyrin Rings,” we watch the authors grow as people. Through their insight and experiences with nature, the authors show readers how connected people and nature truly are.…

    • 3390 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry essay

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages

    How does the poet vividly convey ideas concerning the influence that nature has upon man?…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nature- to Build a Fire

    • 1826 Words
    • 8 Pages

    From the bitter, cold winters in Antarctica to the blazing, hot summers in Africa and from the ugly, thick swamplands of Louisiana to the beautiful, clean coasts of Hawaii, nature plays a pivotal role in life on this wonderful planet. Nature is extremely dangerous but it is also a beautiful component of the earth. People view nature in unique ways that are displayed through actions and words. Jack London, author of “To Build a Fire”, and Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, both value nature and view it in a unique way that is translated to their works of literature. These two authors apply a unique perspective of how nature can apply to everyday life. The aspects of interacting with nature and human emotions analyzed and examined in the works of Jack London and Henry David Thoreau.…

    • 1826 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, the poem shows several examples of how man should become one with nature. The poem states that nature has a voice of gladness and eloquence of beauty. This excerpt, "The golden sun, the planets, all the infinite host of heaven are shining on the sad abodes of death," is a good example of being a part of nature. Another good example is, "Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim thy growth." Basically, nature is described as a cause of happiness and wise doings.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Explore some of the ways in which Owen presents the natural world in his poems. Refer to two poems from the collection you have studied…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem is about a man who takes a trip to lake and wanders around without a care in the world, like a cloud. Then he sees all these daffodils and compares them to stars. Later he returns to his couch to then realize that the scene was beautiful and that all nature is beautiful.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nature is a place full of mystery waiting to be discovered. The outdoors contains the sky with countless starts at night and the bright sun in the mornings. Nature is filled with crystal watered lakes and lashing waves of blue seas. The green leaves on the trees wonder in the natural world. Three authors by the name Annie Dillard, Mark Twain, and Eudora Welty write about how their interaction with nature and how it influences their character and outlook on life.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dickinson's poems share a theme of the romanticization versus the reality of nature although they contrast in their differing overall messages. She represents in her poetry what humans romantically sense as nature and the natural world while allowing her readers to ponder upon the sensibility found in the analyzing of the works.…

    • 1454 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To express a love and the physical connection associated with it, oftentimes adjectives can depict and describe relationships, or even people. Different aspects of nature can be substituted in place of the adjectives to help covey the same imagery, but often times in a more powerful manner. The use of nature in poems can be very effective when expressing emotions and actions associated with love. Using notions such as barking dogs to convey heartbreak and anger, to hills being a safe haven for goats such as a gods love is to their followers, the use of nature can have a very drastic impact in writing (XXIII. 7-10) (119).…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though Browning needs a human companion, as many people do, to make her happy, Wordsworth finds conclusive happiness in the inanimate things of nature. Thinking back to a time of complete content, Wordsworth describes daffodils "tossing their heads in sprightly dance” (12). In this particular line of the poem, Wordsworth uses personification to describe the daffodils in an upbeat demeanor. He knows that the daffodils and things of nature will stay with him constantly through his life. Therefore, through the simile “continuous as the stars that shine” (7), Wordsworth shows why he depends on nature for his happiness through a careful selection of figurative language. As he describes the beauty and grace of the daffodils, Wordsworth “could not but be gay In such a jocund company”, using enjambment to show that the daffodils bring him a happiness he cannot help nor deny (15-16). Although Browning needs the aid and presence of a human being, Wordsworth relishes in “the bliss of solitude” (22), using only the things of nature to brighten his mood and devote his life. In addition, when in “vacant or pensive mood”(20) he thinks about the daffodils and is immediately consoled just by the memory of their beauty, thus reiterating his infatuation with…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics