Our shifting attitudes towards nature have been clearly depicted in literature over the centuries. Throughout time, literature has been the unwavering portrayal of our society. Whether it is through novels, poetry, plays, manuscripts or journals, literature has shaped the way we perceive our past and reflects our present in its rawest form. The relationship we share with nature is intimately shown through our writings, which makes reading an unmeasurably useful tool when analysing where we stand as a society now and what we can learn from our past: both our mistakes and successes.
Nature’s role has shifted throughout literature. In Greek times, nature was very much alive, seen in instances of Demeter as the goddess of nature or Poseidon, the god of the sea. The pastoral life was highly esteemed, which can later on be seen as a trait of Renaissance literature too. Shakespeare’s work in this period involved much natural imagery in all of his settings, rather than using it simply as a background, Shakespeare, among other writers of his time, transcended nature into the character’s storyline along with their emotions. There is a noticeable shift in nature’s role with the Enlightenment, a time of reason and science, when nature became an object of curiosity. Through philosophy, “natural laws” were meant to defy the system, using nature as a tool of morality and determination.
It is in the late 18th century that Romanticism steps in, elevating nature’s role in literature to an almost religious stance. With the growth of industrialisation, we can observe through poetry the widespread rejection it conveyed. For instance, William Blake’s “London” depicts this hateful sentiment towards the effects of industrialisation on the man. This was common among writers, who began regarding nature as a safe haven from the monstrosity of life in the city. Woodsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” or “Lines Written a few miles above Tintern Abbey” immerse the reader into the beauty and tranquillity of the setting. The inspiration within the sanctuary of nature is palpable, transmitting through it the intricacies of the author’s thoughts from a mind at rest, these involving: love, fantasy and childhood. Later poets in the Romantic period explored their solitude through nature too, finding in it a place of peace in which they could hide away from the pains of their reality, or express them at their sorest.
“The lightning of the noontide ocean
Is flashing round me, and a tone
Arises from its measured motion,
How sweet! did any heart now share in my emotion.”
“Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Though Romanticism saw a peak in the relationship of man and nature through writing, the two seem to have split since, growing increasingly estranged. The Victorian era found itself disillusioned with a ceasing in faith, which meant an overruling tone of pessimism in writing and a demystification of the beauty of nature through science. Life in the city became more attractive than living in the countryside, which was to be left behind as the foundational grounds of labour rather than the once esteemed country life.
With the passing of time into the modern and postmodern era, the world seems to have been crumbled down by the soul-wrenching events taking place throughout the 20th century, such as World War I and II for instance. The buzzing of the city has proved too loud to leave any clarity of mind from which we can demand to surround ourselves with beauty and stillness out of pure desire. The role of nature in literature today seems to either present itself as a product of fantasy, a meaningless background or as a concern. Nature has turned into something we must protect from the numbness we ourselves have grown towards it. It is an object of the unknown, almost unreachable to those who don’t devotedly seek it and certainly not a protagonistic element of today’s literature, or at least not in the ways it used to be.
Our growing differences with nature are salient in our day-to-day life. Currently, sitting in the park once a week might be our biggest outreach to the natural world. Our feet barely touch earth anymore and unless you live in the countryside, you have to find time to leave the city (which you usually won’t) for a breath of fresh air.
This translates through today’s literature quite strikingly – the only way nature is formatted through text is either superficially, in a study-based manner or through the concern towards the ruining of it. This speaks loudly of how little we contemplate nature as a fundamental part of our lives anymore and more so as a means of survival.
This does not necessarily have to be negative, it does show the growing awareness for the impact we have made on the world beyond ourselves and nature serves immensely as a resource of research. Yet, by looking into the past and the way nature’s role in literature has been persistently portrayed it can be said with certainty that nature does not domain the human heart and soul as it used to.
“Outdoor Reading” by OldOnliner is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.