(2018 midterm assignment) Model Student Midterm answers 2018 #1: Long Essays (Index)

LITR 4328 American Renaissance

Cynthia Cleveland

Returning to Nature

          During the Romantic and Transcendental period there was a large focus on the importance of nature. For the romantics, nature was awe-inspiring and celebrated the beauty of our natural world. The Transcendentalists took this a step further by insisting that nature was not simply a matter of beauty, but that we were able to learn something from Nature herself. Insistent on a return to nature, we can see in these readings how both the Romantic and the Transcendental connect to gives us an appreciation for the beauty of nature, while also providing us with insight into ourselves via this natural conduit.

          Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” is focused on the concept of achieving higher thought and spiritual awakening through a communion with nature. During this particular time period, there was a distinct focus on the idea that one must live to work, rather than working to live. This is the concept of excess versus achieving the essentials. As Emerson so eloquently put it: “…few adult persons can see nature.” In this we come to understand that the dedication towards production essentially alienates us from nature, and nature is our greatest teacher. Emerson’s work is able to transcend time due to the nature of its subject matter, even today we can see that humans have a fascination with the excesses of life in lieu of simply being present. Man must “…go into solitude.” to access that greater part of himself which is separate from that of the realm of the excess, to find for himself the peace of mind and knowledge that nature has to offer.

          This same solitude can be extracted from Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”, in which the main subject of the story, Rip, is the embodiment of the pastoral, a “hen-pecked man” who does not work too hard and is often chided by Dame Van Winkle for being lazy. He often spends a great deal of his time out in the woods—mostly to escape his shrew of a wife—and takes solace in the quietude of nature by hunting, fishing or whatever other similar activities. Rip has no desire to toil in labor, unless it is to assist a neighbor in good earnest. To add to this matter, Rip frequents the Inn where many matters of philosophy and aimless stories and gossip are discussed, thus we can deduce that he is a man who values thinking and learning, very much a quality of the transcendental movement. By the close of the story, twenty years had come to pass, and he reenters his village to find it changed. It is a wonder that such an occurrence did not have further bearing on his mental state however, since he is a man of the pastoral it stands to reason that though the people have changed he found in his old age solace in permissive idleness, which was a frequent theme throughout this text. In the end, Rip found peace in being able to simply be present and at peace under no certain amount of strain, which Emerson might consider Rip has “[built], therefore, [his] own world.”

          Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sing the Body Electric”, is too a return to nature, but not in the traditional sense. Rather the nature to be seen in this poem is the nature of ourselves—our bodies as nature has formed them. Emerson discusses the beauty of the human form in this poem, “The love of the body of man or woman balks account, the body itself balks account, / That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.” Here Whitman expresses that the form of male and female is perfect no matter what value we ascribe to it, it is a wonder of nature and is priceless. Further, Whitman challenges the issue of commodification of the natural body in his seventh and eighth stanzas, “A man’s body at auction,” and “ A woman’s body at auction,”; he challenges this particular commodification, in reference to the man up for auction by stating, “Gentleman look on this wonder, / Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for it,” and further notes the pricelessness as he states, “ If anything is sacred the human body is sacred.” This poem celebrates the human body in all of its natural forms, of which he describes a multitude, and insists that nature, in her wisdom has imbued a natural sanctity, of which we have seemingly lost this sense.

          Emily Dickinson’s poem “Wild Nights” is another good example of the celebration of body, though not in the most literal context. Instead we have a more romanticized vision of human longing. Women’s sexuality was often seen as immodest and taboo, though here we have a distinct resistance to that in favor of the natural. “Wild nights—Wild nights! / Were I with thee, / Wild nights should be / Our luxury!” descries a longing for someone here, though we do not know who. Her use of language deviates away from the man-made objects, in favor of those of the natural body and soul: “Futile—the winds-- / To a Heart in port-- / Done with the compass-- / Done with the chart—”. After she has eschewed that of the unnatural, she embraces that of the natural: “Rowing in Eden-- / Ah—the Sea!—"; Eden being a natural and heavenly place, the sea being a tumultuous force, which could be said to equate to desire. These elements combined “Might I but moor—tonight-- / In thee!”, indicates that she seeks comfort, spiritually or physically in that of another soul.

          From these readings, we can glean the importance that nature holds in literature and by extension--life. Emerson insists that we must separate from our world—temporarily—to gain knowledge and understanding of life, from which we can then create our own world. Washington Irving also echoes this sentiment, in which we should take time to appreciate the world around us rather than working ourselves furiously, never quite enjoying life. Furthermore, Walt Whitman demands that we appreciate not only nature, but that which nature contains—ourselves! We are part of the natural world and should hold the body as sacred and full of beauty as we consider the natural world to be. Dickinson’s poem is working much in this same way, though it homes in on the need for spiritual and physical connection amongst each other.  All of these perspectives regarding nature agree on one thing: our need to stop and connect with nature, and to realize that we, too, are part of nature in the grand scheme of things.