The Destructive power of nature.

The majority of my blogs up to this point have been about the therapeutic, utilizing and life sustaining power of nature, however I have failed to mention the destructive power of nature. This poem brought me back to that particluar reality; whilst nature performs its various processes it sometimes leads to adverse effects on its human kin. Charlotte's Smith's sonnet 44 "Written in the churchyard at Middelton in Sussex" brought me back to this reality. In this sonnet Smith writes about how a small church in Sussex has been destroyed by tidal waves. The tidal waves have even destroyed the grave yard, and consequently,many of the remains of the bodies have been washed into the sea.

Ever so often, we experience a natural disaster, natural phenomenon, or the "warring elements" as Smith puts it which wreaks havoc on the population which has experienced it. Take for example, the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, a natural disaster which led to the death of over 250,000 persons. There are countless examples of such occurences, the 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. It is imperative that we not view these natural phenomena as the wrath of nature but contrarily as the varivous cycles of the same Nature which sustains us. As, we improve our scientific knowledge and understanding of our environmental kin, we may be able to avoid adversity associated with these natural phenomena. For example, it may not have been a wise idea to establish a town/village very near to a sea which has violent tidal waves.

This poem reminded me of how powerful nature is in comparison to human kin and how overwhelming it has the potential to be. "With shells and sea-weed mingled, on the shore..Lo their bones whiten in the frequent wave" (9&10) I related this poem to the 1809 Friedrich painting "Abbey in Oak Forest". In the painting the remains of the abbey, the graveyard and the overwhelming sky in comparion to the miniscule human beings greatly resembles the paradigm of Smith's Sonnet 44.

Forget in thee their cup of sorrow here

Although Charlotte Smith's elegaic sonnets are composed of material involving sorrow or mourning, I surprisingly found her work very intriguing. To the moon, was the sonnet which dealt with the question that man has been wrestling with since the beginning of time; The question that no one really has a completely definite answer to; the question which most religions are formed around; the question that most persons fear; the question that views our world as an interim "holding ground" for everlasting life.

Religions such as Islam, Christianity and indigenous religions such as the Arawaki religion all contain a spiritual/transcendetal heaven aspect, which proclaims that one day followers will be rewarded for their mortal behavior and deeds aligned with their faith in exchange for eternal bliss. Many a time, the work on Earth is percieved as a trial, as Charlotte Smith phrases it "a toiling scene". In To the Moon, I notice that Charlotte Smith seems to share such a transcendalist ethic or a variation of this trascendalist ethic.

"And oft I think, fair planet of the night, that in thy orb the wretched may go" Smith speaks of the dead leaving the earthly fate to enter the celestial realm. Smith suggests that after a life of misery or toil the celestial realm is a favorable place of benevolence, a "serene" world. "The sufferers of the earth perhaps may go, released by death, to thy benignant sphere" Smith desires to reach this benevolent realm, "And, while I gaze, thy mild and placid light sheds a soft calm upon my troubled breast; and oft I think of the fair planet of the night.......Oh! that I soon may reach the world serene, Poor wearied pilgrim!"

Environmentalists and Eco-Theologians have raised concern about such a transecndalist ethic. Such an ethic views the world as a miserable interim, it presribes negativity to the imperfect Earth as it is being compared to a perfect, ideal eternal heaven. The anticipation of a perfect world which is contrary to earthly sorrow may encourage persons to mistreat and exploit Nature.

I made an interesting interpretation of this line in relation to Ecology"And the sad children of despair and woe Forget in thee, their cup of sorrow here". Every person who transcends to this beautiful idealistic heaven leaves their "cup of sorrow": their ecological footprint for generations to inherit. I see no problem with a transcendalist world view if repect for future earthly generations is encompassed in such a view.

This youtube video which you may have to copy and paste into your search engine, illustrates a beautiful heavenly abode, as I imagine heaven to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D00Uv0qGoU

to nature with love

While reading this poem, I couldn't help but allude the character being written about to Mother Nature. When I think of Mother Nature, I think of her in a sensual, physical way. After all she is the abiotic force which nurtures the biotic community of the world. She is the one who is usually ignored and unthought of. Quoting the author in the early stanzas of the poem, "no cold exemption from her pain" All the pollution, toxification and habitat alteration which man's actions cause have to be absorbed and corrected by Mother Nature. "She knows the price of every sigh, the value of a tear".

While attemping to mitigate the anthropocentric damage caused by humans, I visualize Mother Nature "sighing"when she knows the damage is beyond her control. Not sighing for herself, but sighing for the demise that mankind will have to encounter due to her inability to recuperate from wrongs done to her. She probably also sighs as she knows that her human kin, or human dependents will deem her reprehensible for the human inflicted demise. In occurences of epidemics, natural disasters, drought and famine, Mother Nature is oft blamed and cursed for the downfall of man. Cursed for the downfall of man, when she is just doing what she has done for eons to preserve the balance of nature and the Earth's holistic ecosystem.

"She knows the value of a tear" as they fall onto the earth which she comprises. She knows the pain man feels when encountered with the consequences of environmetal destruction. Mother Nature always attempts "to heal the wounded heart". However, eventhough everyone may not come to terms with this, she, too has limits. She too has a carrying capacity that needs to be respected by the same human kin which she sustains every day.

We must respect the vary mother who has given us life, and blessed us with "friendship, sympathy and love, and every finer thought" as without breath, such dispositions could not be realized.

Nature never did betray

Many man made institutions such as religion and culture seek to separate us from the very thing that we are biologically and undeniably a part of, Nature. Nature is the intricate ecological network which we are solely reliant on for our daily sustenance. As Wordsworth says,
Of something far more deeply interfused. Howevwer, Religions such as the Judeo- Christian Religion teach us in Genesis that we are superior to Nature. Genesis 1:28 reads" And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (New American Standard Bible). In addition to this urge to subdue nature, the Judeo Christian Religion, oft emphasizes how the flesh, that of Nature is the carrier of evil, this prompting many Christians to deny their flesh, their nature and aim towards a heavenly, other wordly existence. There is only one problem, with this attempt to deny, subdue and exploit nature. We are dependent on it, and we are a part of it.
Wordsworth in the "Lines written a few miles above tintern abbey" appears to be suffering from his separation from nature. Wodsworth was intimate with nature as a young man, and now has a disconnect with nature. These forms of beauty have not been to me,As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the dinOf towns and cities, I have owed to them. Upon returning to nature, Wodsworth was met with a sense of joy "While here I stand, not only with the sense Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts that in this moment there is life and food.

"That in this moment there is life and food" "That in this moment there is life and food"

This is an amaizng line to read in the 21st century, the eon where humanity is faced with starvation, lack of nutrition, war, overpopulation, deforestation, climate change.

That in this moment there is life and food

Nature provides a closed loop of equilibrium, when we exclude our selves from this loop and render our selves superior to this natural equilibrium, there is no life and no food. We extract from nature more than it can replenish, we massively deplete our soils, pollute our waters, fill our biosphere with carcinogenic and toxic chemicals. We fight natural "checks" with medicine and technology thus increasing our population and decreasing the Earth's resources. The only way in which we will be able to return to equilibrium with nature, is if we see ourselves as a part of nature. Until we understand, as Wordsowrth did the value of nature. Nature serves aesthetic purpose, instrumental purpose and therapeutic purpose. Wadsworth alludes to the therapeutic power of nature, which we often deny and replace with savy technology. The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite: a feeling and a love, Nature provided Wordsworth elevated thoughts; a sense sublime. We need to respect and appreciate nature not only for its instrumental value, but for its therapeutic value to us. The more far removed we come from nature, the more we hurt ourselves. We cannot alienate ourselves from the very thing that sustains us, and allows us to live our "superior human" lives. We replace nature with still, sad music of humanity.”evil tongues,” “rash judgments,” and “the sneers of selfish men, We need to embrace the spoken words of Wadsworth and instill a “cheerful faith” that the world is full of blessings. Separation from MOTHER nature is not natural.

Below is the painting the Haywain 1821 by Constable, painted approximately 2 decades after Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.This painting depicts the "social harmony that has arisen between man and the natural world"(The Hay WAIN, www.icons.org.uk). Constable painted this in response to the vast urbanization of London, which he was not fond of. He preferred the symbiotic relationship with man and nature, than a hiearchy between the two

More People, Less Sheep: Less Sheep for More People.

According to the US Census Bureau, as of February 24th, 2010,The World population is currently 6,804,600,000 and is predicted to reach nine billion by 2040. This increase has a strong probability of having devastating outcomes for the Earth's environment. As we have seen throughout history, increase in populations are usually complemented with environmental degradation. I use environmental degradation as a phrase to encompasses habitat alteration, climatic change, destruction of ecological balance, exploitation of nature and its members and pollution. In the 'Last of the Flock, we see a direct relationship between population growth and the demise of an animal population. In order for the author to feed his six children, he had to sacrifice his sheep, probably for slaughter. "I sold a sheep as they had said, and bought my little children bread"

We as a human population,are currently exceeding the Earth's carrying capacity ;The more persons added to the Earth, the more burden it will be on the Earth's environment to sustain us. When in times of economic struggle,as the author was experiencing "Six Children, Sir! I had to feed,Hard labour in a time of need!", the environment oft pays a heavy price.

Following the anthropocentric ethic, which many adopt, Human beings tend to reject the intrinsic value of our animal kin, but acknowledge and exploit the instrumental value of the animal kin. Surprisingly our author did not seem to genuinely adopt such an anthropocentric ethic, it appeared as if he genuinely cared for, loved and nurtured the sheep. He appeared to have an emotional attachment to the sheep which he bred and reared throughout his life. " Sir, 'twas a precious flock to me, As dear as my own children be"However due to his relatively large family, the author had to sacrifice his "dear" sheep to feed his children. This poem is a specimen on a small scale which depicts the effect of rapid population growth on a given environment(in this case an animal population). The needs of the six children decimated the flock.One can only imagine what the addition of billions of people on our Earth's fragile eco system could mean for the Environment. This poem gives you some perspective on population growth.

The more humans on Earth, the more we exploit, thus the less we have; The less we have, the more we need to exploit, to provide for the 'more' humans. Its a fatal cycle.

"On Earth as it is in Heaven"

"We are Seven" speaks volumes to me. As I have mentioned, as an Environmental studies major I analyze the literature works which I read, with an expected bias. I attempt to understand the poem by relating the relevancy to Environmental concepts and terms. This poem is a very interesting work; The author attempts to convince the little girl that since two of her siblings are deceased they are no longer present with her on Earth. The little girl refused to believe that two of her siblings were not still present with her on Earth. She states, "Seven boys and girls are we;"she even recalls how she "sits and sings to them". She explains that two are in Wales, two are at sea, and two are buried under the churchyard tree.

This view of death is not widely accepted today, the main ideology teaches that there is an acute separation between the living and dead. However, many cultures such as that of particular Native American and Central African tribes believe that their loved ones do not leave them to enter a different world, but they are either reincarnated into the environment as a member of nature, or are ever present with them, and are able to access them freely.

The little girl's response in "We are Seven" reminded me of these indigenous beliefs which are consistent with an eco friendly environmental ethic, which describes nature as a closed loop. We are nature, we come from nature and we return to nature. If we adopted the ideology of the little girl, we would probably adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, in consideration of the "belief" that we will always be present on Earth despite of what mankind consensus' defines as "death". I interpreted her statements as her believing in a "oneness" with nature,I do not think she believes there is any escape to a heavenly paradise but that humanity is a part of nature and will always be. If we adopt such a belief humanity would probably treat the environment better knowing that both us and our loved ones will always abide there, a belief that would suggest that there is no heavenly getaway.

She concludes by stating "Nay, we are seven". I interpreted this in a way which is a long the lines of my preceding analysis. Seven is usually defined as a perfect, heavenly number. We may be the human race, Earth, nature; that which is human, thus I interpret "Nay, we are seven", as Earth is Heaven.

What does a nightingale have in common with a snake, bat and shark?

As an environmental studies major, It was very encouraging to read this poem. The author, Samuel Taylor Coldridge of "The Nightingale A Conversational Poem, Written in April 1798" rejected the greek myth which damned the nightingale as representative of melancholy and gloom. In Greek Mythology, the nightingale was personified through Philoema, who was raped by her brother in law,Tereus. To ensure her silence Tereus proceeded to violently remove her tongue, the story tells that Philoema was then transformed into a nightingale, whose songs are to be of sorrow, songs which Philoema could not utter.

"Most musical, most melancholy"Bird! A melancholy bird? O idle thought, In nature theres is nothing melancholy!" In this line, the author

rejects the notion that nature is melancholy, he believes nature cannot be despondent in and of itself, but rather human beings designate such associations to aspects of nature. The author doesn't only reject the notion, he admires the bird. "Nature's sweet voices always full of love And Joyance!' Tis is merry Nightingale That crowds, and hurries and precipitates" The author believes in the therapeutic power of nature, he believes that the birds are "stirring the air with such an harmony"

I believe that the 18th century nightingale is comparative to the shark, bat and snake genera in today's society. These three types of genus are demonized by biblical literature, cultural ideologies, media and misinformation.The shark genus associated with fear, otherworldliness and predation, partially due to popular movies such as JAWS etc.The Snake genus representative of evil, to many has been generally damned by the Judeo-Christian creation story which presents the snake as an earthly channel for Satan. The Bat genus have been associated with blood sucking vampires in many movies such as Bats and Dusk to Dawn. Just as in the poem, many were unaware or neglectful of the joy the nightingale possessed, Many persons today are also ignorant of or neglectful of the vital importance of such species in their specific ecologies. Bats are very important to many industries and the pollination cycles, Sharks are vital for keeping the oceanic ecology in check which ensures our oxygen source and Snakes are important indicators to the heath of a food chain. I urge everyone to adopt the Coleridge ethic from this poem, we should experience nature for ourselves and not adopt the beliefs of men who have demonized nature for particular reasons. After all, we are a part of Nature :).