Representations of Nature or the Nonhuman Animal World in Poetry - Essay Example

Representations of Nature or the Nonhuman Animal World in Poetry A critical view of the poetry work from both ancient and modern times reveals a common reference to nature. Animals are common aspects of poetry as metaphors, images, and analogies. Moreover, other poets present varied description of landscapes and actual animals. Therefore, non-human representations are a usual feature of poetry. This paper will analyze the reference of nature and non-human representations in four different poems, highlighting the significance of such in enhancing the theme of the poem. Many poets use nature and animal characters as metaphors that serve as symbols of deeper meaning. Animal characters and attributes have formed the basis of metaphors for a long time. In other poems, the animal characters mentioned are actual animals because they do not have any deeper meaning than what appears superficially. Some pets highlight different natural conditions to add sense to their themes. Others will choose to present a detailed description of the landscape serving as the setting of the poem. All these serve to augment the ideas of the poet and enable the reader to establish a full connection with the theme of the poem. The Mouse’s Petition The title of the poem is a metaphorical expression that refers to an animal character, the mouse. The first line of the first stanza highlights that the mouse is caged and is extending its pleas to be accorded freedom. The ‘mouse’ represents the woman in society. Over time, society shunned the cognitive expressions of women and deemed them as lesser individuals with defective cranial capacities. The poet develops an analogy between the infringement done to a mouse through caging and women in society. In the last stanza, the poet mentions destruction as a factor that both mice and men may share (Barbauld 1). It becomes evident that the use of the ‘mouse’s is both a metaphor and an analogue. Just as the mouse on a cage would virtually be making pleas of freedom, women in the society have often found themselves in a similar situation. In the third stanza, the poet gives the mouse an adjective ‘free-born mouse’ suggesting that during birth it was a free creature. Similarly, all human were created free and with certain common gifts. The poet urges society’s oppressive units to refrain from detaining other free creatures. In the ninth stanza of the poem, the poet introduces a different member of the animal kingdom when he says ‘beware, lest in the worm you crush’. The aspect of the worm in this sentence becomes clear after the examination of the second line in the stanza ‘a brother’s soul you may find’. The poet uses the expression of the crushing a worm to represent the despised individuals in society. This expression warns society that it should not consider crushing certain individuals simply because they consider them of minimal value in society (Barbauld 1). William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” From the title of the poem, it becomes evident that the poet adored nature and exhibited a deep sense of appreciation for the beautiful scenarios described in the poem. The poem is a monologue of a narrator expressing the effect of his understanding of nature. For a period of five years, the narrator had not experienced the sight and sound of ‘waters….from Mountain springs. Moreover, he had not seen the ‘steep and lofty cliffs’ (Wordsworth 1). The author goes further to describe his thoughts concerning the ‘the landscape with the quiet of the sky’ and mentions trees such as sycamore, and orchard-tufts. The narrator gives full details of the scenario surrounding him highlighting the numerous ‘hedge-rows’, ‘sportive wood’, ‘houseless woods’ and ‘hermit’s curve’. All these phrases refer to nature and serve to define the landscape as the narrator sees it. The second stanza begins with a focus on the feelings that the memories of nature evoke in the narrator. He describes the sensations, emotions, and serenity that he once experienced emanating from nature. As he continues to retell his story in the following stanzas, he highlights that initially he ‘bounded over the mountains like a roe’. This simile is effective in helping the reader visualize how the mountains, deep rivers, and the lonely streams excited him causing him to act the way a roe would. The animal character roe signifying a certain type of beer helps the reader get a clear picture of how the narrator ‘bounded over the mountains’. The narrator expresses his adoration for nature when he calls it the ‘anchor of the purest thoughts’. This shows a high level of connectivity of the non-human creatures with humans. For the narrator, the serenity of nature brought about thoughts of the highest purity. Through the observation of ‘life in the things’ in nature, the narrator found the motivation to experience a higher sense of ‘livelihood’ (Wordsworth 1). For him, nature held a higher level of significance. The poet here intended to highlight the connection between nature and human life. The narrator admits that adulthood has taught him to interpret nature critically and see its impact on the human characters. He admits that in childhood, he was ‘thoughtless’ of the hills, trees and waters. However, as he is advancing in age, he accords nature a lot of significance to his life. For him, he believes that the memories triggered by his sight of the natural scenario can suffice to give him level of hope to adhere to in the future. Although he pours out some of his thoughts to his sister, the narrator’s preoccupation is the natural aspects around him. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner In this poem, the mariner describes his experience during a past sailing journey. The poem has many representations of nature. The mariner describes a previous voyage that presented challenges to him. In his bid to make his story interesting, the mariner presents numerous descriptions of the sea landscape. The description of the voyage begins in the sixth stanza where the mariner says ‘the ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, below the kirk, below the hill, below the lighthouse top’. After a strong wind compelled the ship to move fast towards the south, the mariner describes the change in natural conditions that they experienced when he says ‘and now there came both mist and snow, and it grew wondrous cold and ice, mast-high, came floating by, as green as emerald’. This is evidence of the multiple references to nature. The mariner presents a detailed description of the ice-cold conditions that they faced (Coleridge 1). In the sixteenth stanza, the mariner mentions ‘albatross’, a bird that they came across in the sea as they were experiencing difficult sea conditions. This bird is a real animal although the sailors associate it with magical powers. Initially, they thought it brought luck upon them because it caused the breakage of the ice layer that had covered the ship. Moreover, the narrator often mentions the sun and its central role in illuminating the earth. As the southern wind kept pushing them to move further south, the mariner says this. ‘The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, we were the first that ever burst, into that silent sea’ (Coleridge 1). Evidently, the mariner seeks to highlight the prevailing conditions and the state of the sea into which they had to spend several days. Moreover, the narrator mentions the sea creatures that they observed in the ice-cold sea, he describes the existence of ‘slimy creatures’ that found their way on the ‘slimy sea’ (Coleridge 1). Towards the end of the poem, the narrator describes the snakes of the sea that became apparent to him. He describes their motion as he witnessed it. The entire poem describes the natural conditions in the sea. Most of the conditions are not common among people and this necessitated the poet to paint vivid images of the sea conditions. The silence of the sea, the abundance of the ice, fog and most as well as the crawling sea creatures explain why the sailors freaked out in the sea. The sea landscaped and conditions form the setting of all the activities that the mariner describes. Ode to a Nightingale Similar to the other texts described above, this poem has multiple references of animal characters and nature. The title indicates that the poet dedicates the text to a nightingale (Keats 1). The poem highlights the freedoms that surround a nightingale. All it does is sing songs that trigger emotions in humans. In stanza one, Keats expresses his feeling of numbness and contrasts it with the happiness experienced by the nightingale. In this stanza, the poet introduces a comparison of the life of the nightingale to that of humans. The nightingale is of a lower rank in the animal kingdom compared to human characters. However, through its daily singing routine and the environment in which it thrives, it experiences happiness contrary to the disappointment experienced by humans. In the stanza that follows, Keats introduces a different idea concerning the habitat of the nightingale. Surprisingly though, the poet wishes to disappear into the ‘dim forest’ where the nightingale lives. According to the poet he prefers the habitat that he describes as ‘cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth, tasting of flora and the country green’ in the stanza that follows, the author develops the idea that in such conditions the nightingale has never experienced the ‘weariness, fever and fret’ that are common conditions among humans (Keats 1). The poet exhibits a fantasy of living in such natural conditions close to the leaves like the nightingale. Upon the realization that he could simply drift to the fantasy world via poetry, the poet crosses over into the dim forest. Being in such an environment, he tries to familiarize himself with the flowers close to him. Although he cannot see them, he manages to describe several species such as grass, thicket, hawthorn, pastoral eglantine, and violet. According to him, the nightingale lives among these species. Although he manages to drift into the forest realms of the nightingale, he introduces a new attribute of the nightingale. The new aspect is immortality. He reasons that since many historical figures reported finding thrill in the tunes of the nightingale, then it must have persisted all the previous generations and will likely surpass death and survive into the future. When he develops this idea, the real nightingale changes into his visualized ‘immortal bird’. In the following lines, he compares the immortal bird to mortal man who expires at the face of death. In a sense, the ‘immortal bird’ idea is a symbol used by Keats to explain why there will always be a nightingale to sing. In the last stanza, the poet introduces a sleep-wakefulness dilemma. In wakefulness, the nightingale is mortal. However, in his sleep fantasy, it appears immortal. Animals are common aspects of poetry as metaphors, images, and analogies. Moreover, the other poets present varied description of landscapes and actual animals. Therefore, non-human representations are a usual feature of poetry. Animal characters and attributes have formed the basis of metaphors for a long time. In other poems, the animal characters mentioned are actual animals because they do not have any deeper meaning than what appears superficially. Such examples have been described above. Some pets highlight different natural conditions to add sense to their themes. For example, the poems analyzed above describe different natural phenomena such as sea conditions, and forest conditions. Others will choose to present a detailed description of the landscape serving as the setting of the poem. All these serve to augment the ideas of the poet and enable the reader to establish a full connection with the theme of the poem. In conclusion, poetry may exhibit a varied representation of nature, and non-human characters such as members of the animal world. Some poets use animal characters as metaphors while other poets use actual animal characters. When used as metaphors, they enhance the wealth of language in the poem. Some poets successfully describe the natural setting and landscape, giving the reader a clear picture. All these serve to augment the ideas of the poet and enable the reader to establish a full connection with the theme of the poem. Work Cited Keats, John. Ode to a Nightingale. Web. 11 March . 2013. Coleridge, Samuel. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Web. 11 March . 2013. Wordsworth, William. “Tintern Abbey”. Web. 11 March . 2013. Barbauld, Anna. The Mouse’s Petition. Web. 11 March . 2013 Read More