Throughout
this semester we have read, analyzed, and deconstructed several different
works. The ones that seemed to stick out to me the most were the ones
encompassed with nature and natural elements. Probably a little biased toward
these because I have always been in love with nature and the outdoors; even
when I did sketches and drawings, there was usually a presence of nature.
Nature is so serene and magnificent in itself, then added with romanticism it
becomes a multitude of stories about love, loss, betrayal, hope,
self-consciousness, realization and so much more. To begin, I will dive into
nature and gender with ‘To Autumn’ by John Keats; a fellow admirer of nature
and imagery.
First
of all, I would like to point out that a woman, or a female character, in
stories, novels, and most of all poetry often symbolize nature, as I, and other
readers in class like Owls are awsome and kmj9127 have noticed throughout this semester. The
relationship between the female gender and nature in poetry is often one of
reason, emotion, belief, and experience – all of which are so boldly
represented by powerful and intense imagery. For instance, in John Keats’ poem
‘To Autumn’ he mentions a woman who appears to be carelessly sitting on a granary
floor, taking a nap, and who is a gleaner during this time of autumn; preparing
for the harvest. The detailed description Keats gives of this woman, in lines
13-16 in the second stanza, (‘Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee
sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing
wind; Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep…’) shows this relationship
between nature and gender. While the woman is harvesting and preparing for
winter, she is enjoying the natural setting around her. Keats, who has been
intently watching her, uses this scenery to his advantage; using bold and
powerful imagery of nature to paint the colorful persona of this particular
woman. Keats’ technique really allows the reader to vividly picture each scene
in his poetry, as also seen in his ballad ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci.’ As BIGred13 stated, again we have a beautiful lady –
fairy like – who has drawn to her a distressed knight. She brought him to her
elf like home. She then gave “roots of relish sweet, and honey wild, and manna
dew,” and sang him to sleep, where he dreamt for the first time in a long time.
All of this portrays the fairy like woman as Mother Nature in a sense. She took
care of him, provided for him, and gave him a sense of divine purity, love and
company; all of which are nurturing acts of a mother, which are better produced
and received from a woman. The beautiful lady appears to have a connection to
the natural world around her, and is able to use this connection to help the
distressed knight. The detail and imagery used in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’
was not as symbolic of nature as some of Keats’ other works, yet it still
provided a strong sense of understanding and closeness to nature and real life.
Similarly,
and agreed upon by BIGred13 and kmj9127 in “The Poetry of Nature, this correlation
between nature and gender (sometimes more than gender, but humanity in general)
is seen again in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,’ which uses the combination
of natures’ sun and moonlight to portray “the poetry of nature.” Specifically
noticed was the use of moonlight, (a single focal point of brightness and
‘light’ in the depths of the dark night) which shined down revealing the
Mariner in prayer for help during this dark time, for all of his mistakes and
suffering. Then, by that same moonlight, angels descended to rescue him.
Clearly, Coleridge’s use of light and dark are obvious; lightness is symbolic
of good, and darkness is symbolic of bad or evil, which is the standard balance
of nature. In terms of gender I related the Mariner to the darkness for his
wrongdoing, and the angels to the light that saves him. Everyone has their own
interpretation of religion and religious symbols and figures; however, several
people and myself would say that angels are usually depicted as a beautiful
woman. With this interpretation in mind, the order of salvation would seem to
be a little backward, considering women during this time were usually the ones
in distress and in need of saving by the men. However, in this instance, it is
the angel, the female equivalent of nature, who rescues the Mariner, allowing
him to love and repent. The woman in the poem is referred to as ‘Life-in-Death’
after killing all the Mariner’s shipmates, then taking him for herself. This
could not be more perfect. Not only is the woman symbolized through the naturalistic
facts of life by her reference of ‘Life-in-Death’ due to her actions, but this
too is the way of nature and life itself (i.e. the ‘Seasonal Transitions; as
summer ends, autumn approaches’). Like the rise of the sun, things live, and
things grow; and just like the rise, there is the fall of the sun – the dying
of a day – things fade, things wither, and things die. ‘Life-in-Death.’
There
are countless poems that bring life and meaning to nature, such as ‘To Autumn,’
‘The Thorn,’ ‘To the Lily,’ and ‘Ode to the West Wind.’ In order to personify
nature, one must achieve the state of awe that poetry imposes. To do this, we
have to cross the boundaries of the regular senses; anything our imagination
concocts, it is possible to describe in poetry. This is the truly amazing thing
about poetry, what it allows us to create. Personification, especially in
poetry, illuminates a strong interconnectedness for the reader between the character(s)
and nature. It allows nature to take on human characteristics in that moment,
giving it emotion and depth. I believe this enables another side of the story
to be told, natures side. As supported by Urizen in “The Symbol of the Thorn”, the ‘thorn’ represents
everything Martha is going through; her lover’s betrayal, the loss of her
child, and being completely alone. Martha and the ‘thorn’ are compared to one
another because they are both bound to the hill, for different reasons yes, but
there is a strong pull preventing their release; also like the thorn, which is
never living nor dying, so too is Martha’s pain for her loss.
VII
“At all times of the day and night
This wretched Woman thither goes;
And she is known to every star,
And every wind that blows;
And there, beside the Thorn, she sits
When the blue daylight’s in the skies,
And when the whirlwind’s on the hill,
Or frosty air is keen and still,
And to herself she cries,
‘_Oh misery! oh misery!
Oh woe is me! oh misery!’ ”
VIII
“Now wherefore, thus, by day and night,
In rain, in tempest, and in snow,
Thus to the dreary mountain-top
Does this poor Woman go?
And why sits she beside the Thorn
When the blue daylight’s in the sky
Or when the whirlwind’s on the hill,
Or frosty air is keen and still,
And wherefore does she cry?—
O wherefore? wherefore? tell me why
Does she repeat that doleful cry?”
And
like the hill, she is undying and unchanging – giving a sense that both Martha
and the hill are immortal. It comes as no surprise that the ‘thorn’ and the
hill personify the emotions of Martha, after all she has been through,
considering she has sat upon that same hill for twenty years crying in woe,
with no one to listen except the vacantly present ears of nature that
surrounded her. Nature does not only absorb the characteristics and emotions of
human beings, but can also extend out those very same characteristics and
emotions to us, as revealed by Maposa, in
Radcliffe’s ‘Sonnet to the Lily,’ he conveys a ‘Romantic idea of finding
comfort in nature.’ Here we have Adeline alone singing in the forest because
she has lost the only comfort in her life, the affection of another. However,
it is because she is in this beautiful environment of natural sounds and smells
that she is able to find hope and comfort again. The forest did not whisper to
her how sorry it was or say everything will be okay, wrapping its twig branches
around her for a hug. The forest did not bombard her ears with things it
thought she wanted to hear; it simply was as it always has been, calm and
serene, while all the time rushing with life. In just one short time spent
together, the forest gave to Adeline what takes years to obtain and keep from
person to person. Simple, yet so powerful is the relationship between nature
and us; how easily each can feel and share as the other does. It is no mystery
why time after time, poets use nature and the personification of nature in
their works. It really does leave you in that amazing state of awe.
A
slightly different view of the personification of nature is seen in ‘The Thorn
and the Moss,’ presented by Bill Murray.
Instead of nature fulfilling humanistic attributes, like emotion for example,
it is shown to be about its energy to resist change. As time passed year after
year, the ‘thorn’ never died, nor did it change; it fought the natural way of
things; subtly hinting at mortality maybe. Personification of nature can be
bold, or it can be subtle. In Keats’ ‘To Autumn,’ as pointed out by BIGred13, there is a subtle sense of the
conspiratorial tone between the sun and autumn in the first stanza since they
are both responsible for the growth of the harvest. How awesome is that, to
have the sun and the autumn season talking back and fourth about who needs to
do what basically for this harvest to go off without a hitch. Now when it is
stated in this way it sounds impossible and unrealistic. However, when in one
of Keats’ poems it does not sound impossible; nothing is. He describes the
relationship between the sun and autumn in a way that is beautifully normal
and, I will say it, natural. Poetry in nature, or nature in poetry, no matter
how you perceive it you arrive at the same ideal – that you cannot have one
without the other (in most cases) because they go hand in hand – or stem in
stem in this case. The personification of nature truly brings out the life
within that nature maybe could not do itself. It allows us to communicate and
connect with its entire being when maybe there is no one else to turn to. When
nature is personified it enables it to take our pains and sorrows, helping to
lessen any burdens we may be carrying. If you perceive it, if you imagine it,
nature can do all of this; it can come alive in ways we never thought possible.
But like recently stated, anything is possible in poetry.
WORKS CITED
The
Broadview Anthology of British Literature – The Age of Romanticism
“The
Thorn” by William Wordsworth
“To
Autumn” by John Keats
IMAGES
Moonlight
Autumn
Angel
Thorn
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