Literary Criticism 2 assignment

Name: Prakruti Bhatt

Roll Number: 25

Subject: Literary Criticism

Topic: ‘Nature Writing’ and Henry David  Thoreau’s “Walden”

Abstract: According to M.H Abrams, “Ecocriticism designates the critical writings that explore the relationships between literature and the biological and physical environment, conducted with an acute awareness of the damage being wrought on that environment by human activities.” The main argument of ecocriticism lies in the fact that literature has always been antropocentric and that it has been subject to literary descriptions since the birth of language itself. Nature Writing is one such field which studies and understands nature and the natural cycles. The aim of this assignment therefore is to have a brief view on what this field is all about and to analyze Thoreau’s “Walden” as a text of ecocriticism as well as nature writing.

What is Nature Writing?

“Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose or poetry about the natural environment. Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history facts (such as field guides) to those in which philosophical interpretation predominate. It includes natural history essays, poetry, essays of solitude or escape, as well as travel and adventure writing.” (Contributors)

"In critical practice," says Michael P. Branch, "the term 'nature writing' has usually been reserved for a brand of nature representation that is deemed literary, written in the speculative personal voice, and presented in the form of the nonfiction essay. Such nature writing is frequently pastoral or romantic in its philosophical assumptions, tends to be modern or even ecological in its sensibility, and is often in service to an explicit or implicit preservationist agenda" (Nordquist)

Gilbert White is considered as the pioneer of this field, who established the pastoral dimension of nature writing in late 18^th century. Following are some of the examples of nature writing:

1. At the Turn of the Year, by William Sharp
2. The Battle of the Ants, by Henry David Thoreau
3. Hours of Spring, by Richard Jefferies
4. The House-Martin, by Gilbert White
5. In Mammoth Cave, by John Burroughs
6. An Island Garden, by Celia Thaxter
7. January in the Sussex Woods, by Richard Jefferies
8. The Land of Little Rain, by Mary Austin
9. Migration, by Barry Lopez
10. The Passenger Pigeon, by John James Audubon
11. Rural Hours, by Susan Fenimore Cooper
12. Where I Lived, and What I Lived For, by Henry David Thoreau (Nordquist)

The above examples clearly indicate that Thoreau was a prominent figure in the development of Nature writing as it developed in mid-19^th century Amereica. David Rains Wallace in his article “The Nature Of Nature Writing”, published in the New York Times, states that the works under the title of Nature Writing have one thing in common and that is “they are appreciative esthetic responses to a scientific view of nature”. About the beginnings of Nature Writing he writes, “Of course, there was much writing that concerned nature before Linnaeus developed scientific classification in the mid- 18th century, but the fascination with nature itself that science evoked was new. Before Linnaeus, there were hunting stories, fables, herbals, bestiaries, pastorals, lyrics and traveler's tales, but nature generally was seen in only two dimensions. It was a backdrop to a historical cosmos, or a veneer over a religious one. Whether it was admired or scorned, the human figure stood in strong relief against it. After Linnaeus began to give even insects impressive Greco-Latinate names, nature rapidly acquired a new substantiality, and became a subject as well as a setting. By the 1790's, an English country clergyman who a century or two before might have been writing theological treatises or metaphysical poems produced a book (Gilbert White's ''The Natural History of Selborne'') wherein history and religion were interwoven with, sometimes overshadowed by, beech trees and earthworms.”

 He further states something about why Nature Writing beacame so prevalent in America and nwhere else, saying that “European colonists found here a world which was for them (if not for the Indians they displaced) empty of historical or religious association. In this world, they ignored nature itself at their own risk. The early Jamestown and Boston colonists succeeded in ignoring it to some degree, which perhaps is one reason they clung precariously to the coast for the first hundred years, but by Linnaeus's time, Americans had begun to observe nature closely, and to venture into the wilderness with appreciation.”

He also mentions how Nature Writing developed in the hands of Thoreau and his disciple John Muir, stating that, “Although they often are seen as opposed to 19th-century expansionism, Thoreau and Muir were men of their time, inhabiting a planet with about a quarter of today's population. Land speculators saw hope and future in quaking swamps too, although they differed from Thoreau in wanting to see them drained after they'd bought them cheap. One might say that Thoreau and Muir liked the expansive quality of the frontier so much that they wanted to make it permanent, to integrate its challenges and exhilarations with civilization. From this desire, expressed in Thoreau's New England swamp ruminations and Muir's California mountaintop raptures, arose the concept of the wilderness park, America's unique contribution to global culture.”

All these instances are enough to infer that Henry David Thoreau was a prominent figure of Nature Writing and that his works inspired the later nature writers as well. Now, let’s have a brief view of his work Walden as an important text in nature writing and eco criticism.

Walden- a brief introduction:

“Walden, in full Walden; or, Life in the Woods, series of 18 essays by Henry David Thoreau, published in 1854. An important contribution to New England Transcendentalism, the book was a record of Thoreau’s experiment in simple living on the northern shore of Walden Pond in eastern Massachusetts (1845–47). Walden is viewed not only as a philosophical treatise on labour, leisure, self-reliance, and individualism but also as an influential piece of nature writing. It is considered Thoreau’s masterwork.” (Lowne)

“Walden is the product of the two years and two months Thoreau lived in semi-isolation by Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. He built a small cabin on land owned by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson and was almost totally self-sufficient, growing his own vegetables and doing odd jobs. It was his intention at Walden Pond to live simply and have time to contemplate, walk in the woods, write, and commune with nature. As he explained, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.” The resulting book is a series of essays, or meditations, beginning with “Economy,” in which he discussed his experiment and included a detailed account of the construction (and cost) of his cabin. Thoreau extolled the benefits of literature in “Reading,” though in the following essay, “Sounds,” he noted the limits of books and implored the reader to live mindfully, “being forever on the alert” to the sounds and sights in his or her own life. “Solitude” praised the friendliness of nature, which made the “fancied advantages of human neighborhood insignificant.” Later essays included “Visitors,” “Higher Laws,” “Winter Animals,” and “Spring.” Relatively neglected during Thoreau’s lifetime, Walden achieved tremendous popularity in the 20th century. Thoreau’s description of the physical act of living day by day at Walden Pond gave the book authority, while his command of a clear, straightforward, but elegant style helped raise it to the level of a literary classic. Oft-repeated quotes from Walden include: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”; “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes”; and “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” (Lowne)

Elizabeth Witherell in her article titled “ Reflection on Walden” outlines the significance of Thoreau’s work stating, “Thoreau's words expressed the concerns of many of his contemporaries as industrialization and war permanently altered the world around them, just as they struck a chord in a generation of young people in the 1960s and 1970s who opposed the modern military-industrial complex and sought peace and simplicity in their lives. For many, Walden has served as a touchstone.” (Witherell)

Conclusion:

It can be said that both, the genre of nature writing as well Thoreau’s Walden are highly anthropocentric. They deal with our subjective experiences and understanding of nature. Both these instances reflect that nature has always been treated as a place for humans to escape from the struggles of human life and world. But the question which question which ecocriticism asks is, “how far can humans have a monopoly on nature?” “how far can we exert our authority on nature?”

Works Cited

Contributors, Wikipedia. Nature Writing. Vers. 886293289. 5 March 2019. web. 4 April 2019. <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Nature_writing&id=886293289>.

Lowne, Cathy. Walden- Essays by Thoreau. 18 October 2018. web. 4 April 2019. <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Walden>.

Nordquist, Richard. What is Nature Writing. 7 December 2018. web. 4 April 2019. <https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-nature-writing-1691423>.

Witherell, Elizabeth. The Writings of Henry D Thoreau. 1995. web. 4 April 2019. <http://thoreau.library.ucsb.edu/thoreau_walden.html>.