The Lessons of Nature Poetry

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that for many poets nature has always been a source of material and maintains that nature has always played a big part in the inspiration of many writers. The writer points out that inspiration is drawn from the peacefulness, the majesty, the grandeur, or maybe even the violence. Many people never take the time to reach deeper into the poem and explore the lessons contained within it. The writer discusses that because nature is such an inspiration for writers it is only natural that the writers may tend to project their own thoughts and ideas into the nature described in their poems. The writer looks at particular examples in different poems and concludes that poets tend to try to subtly teach their reader a moral lesson within their poems. It may not be at the forefront of the poem, yet under the exterior layers one begins to see the lesson unfold.

From the Paper:

"Whitman feels that if humans could perhaps be a bit more like animals that many of the world's problems would not be a consideration. We can see that Whitman admires the animals for their lack of dissatisfaction with the problems surrounding them. They simply deal with them and move on; no words of complaint, no attempts to justify or rectify them. Whitman sees much of himself in these animals. He feels more of a kindred-spirit with them than with his fellow man. This can be taken at face value or it can be applied to and looked at in the context of society. Whitman feels that humanity is heading down the wrong path by their actions and feelings. He feels that if we were just a bit more like animals that maybe society would begin to mirror that of nature."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Begiebing, Robert J., and Owen Grumbling. The Literature of Nature: The British and American Traditions. Medford, NJ: Plexus Publishing, 1990.

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