In my perspective, "From observations on the River Wye" sounded like an 18th Century National Geographic article, so I decided to dub the extract as Gilpin Geographic. In Gilpin Geographic, Gilpin describes a picturesque scene in a handbook for tourists, just as the National Geographic authors describe exotic, threatning, rare and unique physical features to us. I am very grateful for the National Geogrpahic's mission of bringing awareness to its readers about the world's land features, water bodies, human populations, animal species, mineral ore and many other aspects of our world which intrigue us. However, just as television channels shape our perspective of many things, the magazine can create a bias in the way which we view the various aspects and features of our world that are presented to us. The magazine creates a paradigm for the various aspects it presents; while reading the convincing literature, one cannot help but adopt the view of the author.
I am not very fond of someone else creating your own perspective, I think Nature and Humanity are essential aspects which one should have an individual experience with and create an individual perspective of, dependent on their experience. The National Geographic categorizes some natural phenomena as scary, horrid, terrible and others as beautiful, placid, quaint; describes some people as primitive and barbaric and others as futuristic and progressive. We as readers view the world through the lens of that particular author, not through our own retinas, and I deem that as problematic. We all have various life experiences and callings which evoke specific and unique emotions from within us. Our unique experience may be very similar or quite contrary to that of the specific author.
Gilpin gives a detailed description of the environment, his love for the ruins, his experience with the beggars, the various scenic views and vantage points among many other accounts. The reader may subconciously adhere to the perspective of Gilpin whilst engaging his literature. I strongly believe that we should experience Nature and Humanity for ourselves, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". We cannot turn our back to Nature and humanity and experience it through oval sepia lenses, we have to experience it for ourselves, thats the only way we will truly understand, appreciate and love!
Very nicely done. There is one comma splice--can you find it? But this is generally very well written. (You might have included a little more about the specific details in Gilpin's guide.)
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