Enduring Battles: Environmental Poetry Through the Ages
Igor Kojadinović
My name is Igor Kojadinović, and this portfolio is titled “Enduring Battles: Environmental Poetry through the ages.” This work is published with a CC BY-NC-SA license.
Introduction
When the world is faced with an obstacle for which the usual means of expression are inadequate, society often turns to artists to ascribe meaning. For generations, the global community has been faced with the tragedy that is the destruction of our global environments. This project explores various poets from the 18th century to the present day and the works they have created in response to the struggles of nature against humankind’s neglect. Environmental poetry examines the good, the bad, and the ugly without discrimination to illustrate the impacts we have on our home.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
In William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us,” written in 1802, the writer’s words are reflective and melancholic. Through metaphor, he insists that people have become enthralled by the consumer culture of capitalism, which has stripped us of our connection with nature. Furthermore, he notes that nature has lost the mystically wondrous power it once provided. However, this is not because nature has changed. On the contrary, as Wordsworth states, “little we see in Nature that is ours.” This statement refers to the notion that people have ceased to recognize their inherent connection and dependence upon our environment. In the closing lines, Wordsworth alludes to the reverence with which Paganism regarded nature and longs for such a time.
Yusef Komunyakaa (1947-present)
Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “Crossing a City Highway,” explores environmental impact from the perspective of a coyote. The coyote is said to be evading something that Komunyakaa mentions is an ambiguous “he” who is in pursuit. From the start of the poem, the coyote finds herself enveloped in a human made environment (i.e. a subdivision riddled with “traps”) before being confronted by a city highway running through and out of the forest. Facing certain capture, she darts through the highway and makes it to the other side. She finds herself in Central Park searching for Seneca Village–a 19th century settlement of mostly African Americans upon land that would come to be known as Central park. As the coyote flees in search of wilderness, she is repeatedly confronted by the encroachment of humans on the environment. Ultimately, she settled for a human made respite of nature nestled in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world.
Jenny Gomez
Jenny Gomez’s poem, “Earth’s Downfall,” explores the impact of humans on the planet through the perspective of the Earth. Earth finds itself going through mood swings and a friend suggests a pill that will “introduce new cells” that will make things better. These cells are implied to be human beings. Initially, things fall back into harmony. This describes the many centuries and generations prior to humankind’s advent of mass industrialization. Subsequently, Earth begins to get sick and suffer even more than before feeling “cold as an ice age” and “arid as a concrete street.” We come to find out that the Earth has been diagnosed with stage IV global warming and there is a slim chance of survival.
Themes
One theme present in the works provided is that of Earth as our home. This is a consistent through line from the melancholic longing of Wordsworth, to Komunyakaa’s coyote frantically trying to find a wild refuge amid the hustle and bustle of a concrete jungle, and finally the Earth’s pleas for rehabilitation in Gomez’s piece. While the tone and urgency of the reading differ depending on the speaker or perspective, each piece references the primal connection that beings maintain with the planet as our one and only home.
A second identifiable theme is that of the encroachment of humans on the environment. Whether this encroachment means an elected ignorance to the troubles of nature due to our obsession with consumer culture or the literal expansion of a steel and concrete empire devised to master nature, it is evident that human beings have palpably separated themselves from nature. Instead of viewing the planet and its diverse environments as a treasure to revere and protect, one from which we glean resources and improve our lived experiences, humans continue to bend nature to the will of the consumer.
Analysis
The motivation behind creating poetry that addresses environmental concerns is to elicit a new way of viewing an otherwise old problem. When one reads William Wordsworth’s poem, one is presented with a relic of the time–it is written in a particular form known as a sonnet, which follows a particular rhyme scheme and displays archaic language. However, it remains important because, despite being written in the early 18th century, its warning continues to be relevant. Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem asks the reader to hearken upon the words of Wordsworth through modern, approachable language and the story of an animal trying to exist in an industrialized world. It reminds us that it is not enough to reflect on days past, but that we must act. Lastly, Gomez’s spoken word piece is an example of the times. While spoken word has undoubtedly been an expressive form of poetry for a long time, it has become all the more popular in the digital age. Gomez performs her poem which is a plea from Earth itself. As generations of environmentally minded poets have written works of warning, the Earth herself has written to humanity that we must cease our destructive tendencies. As society and culture have shifted, so too have the mediums, methods, and styles by which poetry addresses the problems we continue to face.
Application
Environmental poetry is an invaluable medium by which to approach environmental change. As politicians, lawmakers, and voters wage the battle of the ballot, poets absorb those impalpable, difficult-to-convey feelings and phenomena and communicate them through the written or spoken word. On occasion, reason and logic fail to elicit the visceral, emotional connection and response sometimes required to motivate one to see or understand the perspective of another. When we feel hopeless and inconsolable, when we are consumed with grief or happiness, when we feel the tempest of life pelting us with all its fury, it is then that we find solace in the cryptic musings of the poet. To understand the full weight and dire urgency of the state of our environment, the poet’s mind and their pen or voice are imperative.
