The American Landscape

In the readings for today I think that all of the authors' attitudes towards nature was that it is something beautiful that should be embraced. Even in destruction or overwhelming change nature was something that they all identified with in their own ways. In Sarah Jewett's "A White Heron", she portrays her outlook on nature through a young girl named Sylvia, her grandmother, a cow, a heron, and a hunter. Sylvia came to live with her grandmother and had to adjust to the country life after moving from the city. She had to learn how to adapt to country living and in dong so she became more in tune with nature so to speak. She began to love living in the country and she became so fond of it that she could navigate herself without even seeing where she was going. The text stated, "They were going away from whatever light there was, and striking deep into the woods, but their feet were familiar with the path, and it was no matter whether their eyes could see it or not". This suggests that through her daily walks with the cow, Sylvia has become very familiar with her surroundings. When the hunter came into town and offered money in exchange for the white heron Sylvia decided against the money because she did not want to be any part of contributing to the bird's death. This is seen when the author stated, "...she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away". Sylvia represents the love for nature and everything it holds.

In Robert Frost's poem "After Apple Picking", his attitude towards nature was one that also referenced to his life. I think he used nature in this poem not just to talk about picking apples but also to help express death in a sense. Tn the poem he stated, "For I have had too much / Of apple-picking: I am overtired / Of the great harvest I myself desired" (27-29). In these lines I think he is referring to apple picking as being his life and when he states "For I have had too much" he is expressing that he cannot tolerate life anymore and is ready to die. I don't think that he used nature as a foe, or an evil to his existence but I do think that as he observed nature he related it mostly to death.

In Emily Dickinson's poems I was very confused as to the idea of nature being tied into her works. In "Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church" I think that she is tying to convey the idea that she feels time should be spent at home or in nature rather than in church. She stated, "With a bobolink for a chorister, / And an orchard for a dome" (3-4) which suggests that she uses birds as her choir and the orchards for her "church building". In her next poem, "I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed" I was really confused. I could not see what point she was trying to make. The only thing that I could see her possibly trying to convey is the idea the nature is so untouched and she has tapped into what many people do not take the time to embrace, and so she describes it as tasting liquor never brewed. In "There a Certain Slant of Light" Dickinson focuses on light that comes with the winter season. In this poem I think that she is referring to death just as in Frost's poem. She explains this light as something being oppressing and in my opinion she is also talking about sickness as well.  She stated, "’T is the seal, despair, - / An imperial affliction / Sent us of the air" (10-12).This suggests that maybe she is talking about the sickness and death that comes with the winter season and the slant of light that she notices is just a reminder of the troubles that winter brings.

In the readings for today, I believe that nature played the role of change. Throughout all of the works, nature has helped them to mature, made them reflect on their lives, and have made them reflect on the impact that it has on their lives and those around them. The authors today used nature as a signal of change whether it e good or bad.

I connected Robert Frost's poem with another one of his poems entitled "Birches". In this poem he talks about how the branches of the trees looks as though boys were playing on them but he realizes that it is because of ice storms wearing them down. He then goes on to reflect on the days when he was little and he longs for those days to return. This poem reminded me a lot of "After Apple Picking" because in both poems I believe that Frost is reminiscing on his life.

How do you view nature now, as opposed to when you were younger? Do you appreciate it more now than you did when you were a kid?