Analysis Of How Authors Use Nature To Effectively Convey Their Thoughts To The Reader
Many of the writers that we were assigned to this semester used nature as a base to convey their messages. During their era, the perception of nature was evolving in a number of ways alongside writing styles. Considering its evolution, it is no surprise that nature was used and perceived in writing pieces in a multitude of ways. For this paper, I will discuss and analyze a few writers perception of nature and the manner it is used to their advantage throughout their stories.
Charles Dickens perceived nature in a unique manner. In his novel, “Hard Times,” he compared nature to nurture and concluded that they are of equal importance. Christina Rossetti's, perception in her poem, “Goblin Market,” closely relates to Dickens'iew; She addresses the sexual desires that nature subjects us to. According to her, this is where nature sometimes fails us, especially women. Contrary to how the two previous authors perceived nature, William Wordsworth used it to convey his thoughts and feelings to the reader. Slightly similar to Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy and William Butler Yeats perceived nature as an important source positivity and beauty in our lives.
The characters in “Hard times” provided an example of what life would be like if there were ever an imbalance between nature and nurture. Mr. Gradgrind was supportive of nurture and believed it had the most impact on one’s life. Due to his belief, the laws of nature were exempt from his children’s lives and there were consequences as a result. Without nature, life is bland and artificial like, this was apparent in the novel when Mr. Gradgrind children expressed their unhappiness to him and each other. Their unhappiness was caused by the lack of a decent and equal balance of nature and nurture. Dickens was emphasizing what we now know to be true, which is that nature and nurture are both necessary. No matter how much Mr. Gradgrind tried to prevent his children from experiencing what nature has to offer they were still naturally longing for it. He taught his children that this longing is only for those who are not intelligent. Throughout the novel, the reader was able to witness the negative effects his ideology had on the lives of others. No matter how hard Mr. Gradgrind tried to deny nature, he could not avoid what was right before his eyes when he was faced with how miserable and deprived his children were because of his perception of life. When his children became adults, he learned that nature is something that is unavoidable by humans. It will always take its course and have its way on our life.
Rossetti was a writer that truly emphasized how unavoidable nature truly is. In, “Goblin market,” her primary message to the reader was that nature is responsible for human’s sexual desires. The goblin men were selling their fruits and the characters, who are women, were trying to resist their temptation. Each of the women were vulnerable to the goblin men and the goblin men knew they were and did not hesitate to try to take advantage of them. Rossetti describes the fruit of the goblin men as “poisonous and addictive,” and the women are well aware that it is. Despite this knowledge, it is still extremely hard for them to not give in. Attraction is in their nature and because of that; the poisonous fruit still appeal to them every time. Thus, nature will always prevail because it is hard to resist.
Wordsworth took advantage of nature in a different way. He used nature to convey his feelings to the reader using it to build imagery. It was used in his poem, “Tintern Abbey,” to create the scene and make the experience personal for the reader. The details he provided within the poem allowed the reader to comprehend the thoughts and feeling he had during that particular moment. Providing the reader with his descriptions allowed the reader to be brought closer to his perceptions and viewpoints. He is visiting Tintern Abbey for the second time and expresses to the reader that he does not view it the same. The reason why he is unable to view it the same is that it was manipulated by his current perception of the natural scene. He believes that the natural world has the ability to influence the human senses. The next two authors I will discuss provided descriptions of scenery, but for a different purpose.
Hardy use of nature is ambiguous and he leaves it up to the reader to decide. In his poem titled, “Darkling Hush,” he provides the reader with a dull scene that he is seemingly unmoved by. All that changed when he heard the song of a bird. The song of the bird brought him joy, which greatly surprised him and made him curious as to why it was able to do so. He is unsure of why the bird is willing to sing during such a gloomy time. It seems as though he accepts it as a sign that there is hope, even though he does not immediately see it. He was infatuated by the bird’s ability to overcome his depressing thoughts as it sung a, “full-hearted evensong.” Hardy ends with stating that he knows there is joy the bird knows of that he does not. Nature served as the source of life to the dead setting before him, which is similar to Yeats perception of nature.
Yeats perceived nature to be our source of positive energy and beauty. In his poem, “The wild swans at Coole,” he used swans as a symbol for nature. The character in the poem is watching wild swans from the distance, which is something he does quite often. Although the character has changed over the years, the swans remained the same. Yeats seems to envy the freedom and innocence of the swans. They have no knowledge of the dark side of the world and the everyday stress a person deals with. He states within the poem that with age the world changes us as we grow older and learn more about the world. The swans are not victims of this inevitable change that humanity face and instead are able to move freely about the world with little to no worries. The joy they effortlessly bring to him fascinates him and he is grateful for those moments.
Each of the authors I analyzed had a unique perception of nature and its contributions to life. They used it to their advantage whenever necessary in their pieces. Charles Dickens is aware that nature and nurture are both crucial components in our lives. According to Rossetti, nature bestows natural desires upon us and we can sometimes be victims of those desires. Nature was used to help the reader perceive things through the eyes of Wordsworth in his poems. Hardy perceived nature to be a source of joy and hope when they are seemingly nonexistent, while Yeats perceived it to be a source of positivity and beauty. All of the authors’ perception and use of nature was a beneficial addition to the poem and helped convey their thoughts to the reader effectively.
