Wordsworth, Contemporary Authors, and Ecological Empathy

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1 William Hoffacker 1 Wordsworth, Contemporary Authors, and Ecological Empathy Scientists study the phenomena of nature and can accurately account for the severity of the impact humans have on the environment. The exists then in today s world an need for a servant to advance ecological awareness among the masses. Rather than scientists, artists prove the more effective engines to foster the transformation of society from careless to careful about their interactions with nature. Hoffacker demonstrates how writers of yesterday and today promote ecological awareness. In the modern age, natural resources dwindle as a result of relentless human exploitation of the environment, and debates rage concerning how the proponents of the ecological movement can best raise the levels of awareness and empathy in their opponents and average people who rarely entertain green matters of interest. Many would argue that the drive for environmental activism arises from such feelings of empathy for nature and the world around us feelings which many people nowadays may lack because they are caught up in their own human constructs of society considering themselves distant and separated from nature. Some authors, primarily from the Romantic era but also from our own age, understand the value of and the necessity for a close, deeply personal relationship between each individual and his or her natural surroundings, and they convey this essential understanding through their works of poetry and prose. William Wordsworth provides an excellent example from the genre of Romantic poetry, as a number of his works portray the consequences of taking advantage of nature for humanity s selfish gains, while others show the mutual benefits that humankind and the environment can receive from respect for nature. In the contemporary age, nonfiction writers such as Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, and Barbara Kingsolver have created works that teach the reader how thinking differently about our impact on the environment can change our perception of nature. By looking at selected poems of Wordsworth in connection with modern day writers, we can see that ecological empathy and crucial involvement with one s environment are common themes throughout these literary works, evidence that we can see the influence of the British Romantics in the green movement today. Reading these works and others like them is beneficial and important to anyone at the present because apathy regarding the dangers facing our environment will lead only to more hardships and disaster. First we may look to William Wordsworth s poem entitled Nutting for a lesson regarding the sensitivity with which we ought to treat nature, instead of the exploitation of resources which we so often commit without due consideration of the consequences of our actions. In this poem, the speaker tells an autobiographical tale from his childhood when he once ventured into a forest in the eagerness of boyish hope (279), an opening preparing the reader for the naïve view of the world with which he enters this natural setting. When he arrives at a place ripe for his intention of foraging for nuts, he describes the setting as, Unvisited, where not a broken bough / Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign / Of devastation; but the hazels rose / Tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung, / A virgin scene (279). In these lines Wordsworth aims to make the reader understand that this area of the woods has thus far not been tampered with by any human interference. The speaker uses words such as unvisited and a virgin scene to convey the location s natural, untouched state as well as its enhanced appeal for him as a child, as he says that the trees dangled tempting clusters above him. For a more empathetic figure, this beautiful, undamaged virgin scene would warrant active efforts toward its preservation so that it may remain unspoiled by human tampering, but for a child who has not

2 William Hoffacker 2 yet learned any such empathy, the natural setting presents only the opportunity to make the first mark and take all he wants. As the poem continues, Wordsworth writes, Then up I rose, / And dragged to earth both branch and bough, with crash / And merciless ravage: and the shady nook / Of hazels, and the green and mossy bower, / Deformed and sullied, patiently gave up / Their quiet being (280). The speaker reflects on his own actions as arising out of merciless ravage, leaving the once pristine area instead deformed and sullied, thus conveying his regret and leading the reader to the belief that his actions in the forest were rash and deplorable. When we compare our own exploitation of natural resources with the events of this poem, we may realize that our own behavior is similarly childlike and thoughtless, hopefully causing readers to reevaluate standards for how humans treat the environment. Wordsworth concludes his poem with a message of why nature deserves the sort of empathy lacking in the child s actions: I felt a sense of pain when I beheld / The silent trees, and saw the intruding sky. / Then, dearest Maiden, move along these shades / In gentleness of heart; with gentle hand / Touch for there is a spirit in the woods (280). In these final lines, the speaker imbues the woods a synecdoche for all of nature with a spirit so that we as humans may be more easily moved toward empathy for the environment, because without such a spirit we could hardly relate to it and might continue to treat it without gentleness of heart. This lesson in empathy found in Wordsworth s Nutting is as relevant to our lives today as it was to the poem s child-speaker in the Romantic era, as we can see by the similar message underlying the contemporary work of nonfiction Thinking like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold. As does Wordsworth s speaker, Leopold speaks of past experience with a degree of shame in hindsight, as he writes, In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the pack, but with more excitement than accuracy (177). The excitement with which Leopold and his fellow rangers pick off the wolves evokes the opportunistic child of Nutting who looked upon untouched woods and saw a tempting display of nuts. By using phrases such as in those days, Leopold adopts a reflective tone in his language, reminding the reader that at the time of the story, he was younger and relatively ignorant, on the verge of learning an important life lesson as a result of his own ravenous actions, similar to Wordsworth s speaker. This moral develops in Leopold when the rangers come closer to the dying predators that have become their prey. He writes, We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes something known only to her and to the mountain (177). The fierce green fire which Leopold finds in the eyes of the dying wolf is not merely the life of the creature, but it is also something universally symbolic belonging to the mountain itself. Thus, this fire might be compared with the spirit in the woods which Wordsworth applies to all of nature to portray it as possessing something akin to the human soul, a force more likely to evoke empathy than most inanimate objects. Leopold also goes on to explore the devastating consequences of the nationwide predator control when he writes, I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer (177). By eliminating more and more wolves, deer on the mountains could thrive to the point that ultimately their consuming of the foliage leaves the mountain bare and lifeless, leading to the untimely demise of future generations of deer. When we stop interfering with the environment so thoughtlessly and consider the inevitable consequences of our actions, we will then be truly thinking like a mountain, as Leopold advocates. Furthermore, before we can be expected to interact with nature so conscientiously, we must rise to a new level of empathy with our ecological surroundings, which is achieved by recognizing the fierce green

3 William Hoffacker 3 fire that we read of in works of literature such as the writings of Leopold. In addition to the unfortunate consequences of mistreatment of the environment, works of literature can illuminate the benefits of a close, respectful relationship between humankind and nature, as readers see in another Wordsworth poem, entitled Michael. This pastoral poem tells the story of the titular character, Michael, a shepherd with a wife and beloved son who has lived his whole life working on the rural land that has been passed down in his family through many generations. In his work, Michael has developed a very special, unique relationship with his surroundings, as the speaker explains in saying, And in his shepherd s calling he was prompt / And watchful more than ordinary men. / Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds / Of blasts of every tone (293). Thus Wordsworth sets up Michael as an archetype for all readers to follow, as he is an individual with a deeply rooted understanding of nature. Without a meaningful relationship between man and the environment, he could not make his living as a shepherd. The speaker continues on to describe the depth of this relationship at the end of the stanza: Those fields, those hills what could they less? had laid / Strong hold on his affections, were to him / A pleasurable feeling of blind love, / The pleasure which there is in life itself (293). Here, Wordsworth demonstrates that he cares for nature so deeply not only because of the gains it brings him in his profession but also because of the pleasurable feeling of blind love, awakened in him by nature, a special kind of fulfillment found in life itself, which surrounds him in the fields. We, too, may feel the same strong hold on our affections if we would just take the time to immerse ourselves in nature, learn the details of its beauty, and develop a newfound empathy we cannot form while we are still separated from it. As we read further in this pastoral poem, we find that Michael also derives great joy from his relationship with his son Luke; but even this part of the story carries some of Wordsworth s ecological concerns and can teach us something about nature. About halfway through the poem, the speaker reflects on Michael s relationship with Luke and suggests, [A] child, more than all other gifts / That earth can offer to declining man, / Brings hope with it, and forward-looking thoughts (295). Wordsworth presents hope for the future as a prevailing theme in this poem, and this point may resonate especially for modern day readers of Michael, as for some it must seem much easier to despair in the face of our myriad environmental dilemmas rather than maintain hope. Through Michael and his son, the poet reminds us that a child above all inspires us with hope and forward-thinking thoughts, an idea that may inspire some otherwise apathetic readers to respond to the green call to action, because many will find it easier to care about their fellow human beings than to empathize with nature. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore Wordsworth s view of the value of loving nature for its own sake, not for the sake of our species, as expressed in his poem s critique of city living and, more broadly, society in general. Towards the end of the work, Michael sends his son to make a living in the city once he becomes of age, leading to unfortunate results: Meantime Luke began / To slacken in his duty; and, at length, / He in the dissolute city gave himself / To evil courses (301). In this poem and others, Wordsworth makes no pretense of masking his critical view of urban society, maintaining that it leads to laziness and evil courses. In cities, Wordsworth believes, we isolate ourselves and become corrupted, losing any relationship we might have with the environment in a more rural, natural setting. Therefore, the development of empathy for the environment may require some degree of immersion into such a natural location for some of us a deviation from our daily lives spent largely in cities or suburbs. While some might argue that in our present age many cannot be expected to develop any special relationship with nature like Michael has, others contend that we still have, and must

4 William Hoffacker 4 take, opportunities to educate ourselves about the ways of the land and the environment in order to foster such a healthy relationship. One contemporary proponent of this view is the novelist, poet, essayist, ecological critic, and long-time farmer Wendell Berry, who offers helpful green advice to readers through his nonfiction. A prime example of such an essay is his work entitled The Pleasures of Eating, in which he seeks to make the reader understand that the kind of eating that we practice every day is an economic and industrial act. Berry advocates an escape from this unhealthy kind of eating which hurts our planet and our bodies, and he encourages the reader to care and learn about where our food comes from, using his literature to foster advocacy. After offering this advice, he adds, Many people are now as much estranged from the lives of domestic plants and animals (except for flowers and dogs and cats) as they are from the lives of the wild ones. This is regrettable, for these domestic creatures are in diverse ways attractive; there is much pleasure in knowing them (325). Here Berry talks out of his wealth of experience as a farmer, remarking about the pleasure in understanding domestic plants and animals in much the same way that the speaker in Michael reflects on the shepherd s appreciation of the hills and the winds thanks to his work. If we, the readers of these works, would only open ourselves to the selfsame pleasures of our environment, then the resulting appreciation for nature might drive us to the ecological advocacy and activism necessary to heal our planet s ills. Of course, not everyone can make a living as a farmer like Wendell Berry or a shepherd like Wordsworth s Michael. In our more common situations an ecological empathy arises from a more aesthetic appreciation of natural beauty, a view which readers may discover in Wordsworth s poem entitled I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. The poet composed these lines as he reflected on an experience two years earlier when he and his wife came across a continuous line of daffodils stretching far alongside a lake. The poem begins, I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o er vales and hills, / When all at once I saw a crowd, / A host of golden daffodils; / Beside the lake, beneath the trees, / Fluttering and dancing in the breeze (305). In the first line the speaker sets himself up as feeling lonely, and his movement is described as wandering, which suggests aimlessness. But suddenly this language ceases when he focuses his attention on the daffodils, an image made all the more pleasant by their movement of fluttering and dancing. One stanza later, the speaker goes on to say, The waves beside them danced; but they / Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: / A poet could not but be gay, / In such a jocund company (306). These lines from Wordsworth may help the reader tap in to how any of us might feel about witnessing such a lovely natural sight, as the flowers dance in glee and any observer, not just a poet, cannot help but be gay. If we find that sights of natural beauty can evoke such feelings of happiness and warmth in us, then we may still discover the inspiration to take an active role in preserving such ecological phenomena. Furthermore, the end of the poem indicates that we need not look upon such sights but merely remember them, as Wordsworth writes, For oft, when on my couch I lie / In vacant or in pensive mood, / They flash upon that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude; / And then my heart with pleasure fills, / And dances with the daffodils (306). Readers of these lines will likely take away the lesson that we can feel the pleasures of nature s beauty even as we lie in solitude reflecting on what we have beheld, thus awakening our ecological empathy no matter where we are. Then again, this view of being drawn to nature purely for enjoyment of its aesthetic value does not promote any truly profound relationship between humankind and the environment, and the argument could be made, even by Wordsworth himself, that such a perspective could be dangerous for the natural world. In his own time, Wordsworth s most popular book was not a work of poetry but a Guide to the Lakes, which is in the style of a nonfictional travel writing

5 William Hoffacker 5 piece. As the readership of this book soared, so too did numbers of rich travelers and tourists flocking to the majestic lakes of England s rural landscapes described by Wordsworth in the volume, that ironically compromised the sacredness and solitude of those natural locations as civilization crept in on them more and more. Jonathan Bate describes this paradox of Wordsworth best in his essay entitled The Picturesque Environment, when he writes, He did more than anyone to popularize his native Lakeland landscapes, and in so doing bring in the trainloads of day trippers whom he then said would destroy the place (128). Here Bate points out Wordsworth s recognition that humankind is generally a threat to the natural world, suggesting that humans will destroy the place that they come to admire, thus revealing the dangers of relating to a place purely based on its aesthetic value. Bate continues, [I]t will be suggested that Wordsworth was a subtle critic of the picturesque, but he was at the same time an active participant in the movement and an economic beneficiary of it (128). By saying that Wordsworth might be considered a subtle critic of the picturesque, Bate does not mean to suggest that the poet does not recognize the aesthetic value of the picturesque natural scenes described in many of his works. Instead, Wordsworth becomes this subtle critic when we recognize that his poetry seeks to promote a regard for the environment which reaches far beyond the appreciation of its aesthetic value. The question that still remains, though, is whether or not one can develop ecological empathy through looking at nature as an outsider rather than engaging with as an insider to the extent that a farmer or a shepherd would. To answer this question we may look at another one of Wordsworth s most famous poems, Tintern Abbey. In these lines, Wordsworth describes his feelings upon returning to the banks of the Wye river, an old familiar location for the poet, after having spent five long years away from the place. Here we see the speaker standing on the edge of a sacred place, as a day tripper or a tourist might, taking in the sights from an aesthetic point of view and painting it as the picturesque landscape that it is, and yet Wordsworth derives something even more important from the experience. Speaking of the natural sights surrounding him, Wordsworth writes, But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the din / Of towns and cities, I have owed to them / In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, / Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart (259). In these lines, Wordsworth captures a sense of his relationship with nature similar to that which we discovered in the last stanza of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. Both poems suggest the value of carrying memories of sacred places with you wherever you go, so that even among the din of towns and cities you can experience the sensations sweet which Wordsworth describes as feeling in his blood and in his heart. As the poem continues, however, this primarily aesthetic view of nature turns into something even more profound, when the speaker says, [F]eelings too / Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps, / As have no slight or trivial influence / On that best portion of a good man s life, / His little, nameless, unremembered, acts / Of kindness and of love (259). With these few lines, what was formerly just an account of one man s looking upon a natural scene suddenly turns into a lesson about kindness and being a good man, evidence of Wordsworth s intertwining of the environment and social justice. Ralph Pite offers a similar perspective on this relationship in his essay entitled Wordsworth and the Natural World, in which he writes, In Wordsworth s work the natural world is always social, both in itself and in its relation to man. Consequently, nature does not offer an escape from other people so much as it expresses an alternative mode of relating to them (181). Based on this reading of Tintern Abbey, we can see that an aesthetic appreciation of the natural world can be reconciled with the development of ecological empathy, as long as we remember the importance of social justice as Wordsworth did instead of interacting with the picturesque

6 William Hoffacker 6 environment in a selfish manner. If we can develop sufficient ecological empathy among ourselves by any of the means discussed above, then perhaps the next issue to consider is how the same views and feelings would best be inspired in future generations. The poems of Wordsworth suggest that we have the best chance of instilling ecological empathy in others by starting early, in childhood. We can find specific evidence of this view in The Prelude, Wordsworth s epic autobiographical poem. In his poem s first book, Wordsworth explores, among other things, his earliest childhood memories, in which we can discover the roots of the profound relationship with his natural environment which he cherishes in adulthood. For example, hearkening back to the years of his infanthood, Wordsworth writes, Was it for this / That one, the fairest of all rivers, loved / To blend his murmurs with my Nurse s song; / And, from his alder shades and rocky falls, / And from his fords and shallows, sent a voice / That flowed along my dreams (330). Wordsworth goes to great lengths to anthropomorphize the river nearby his childhood home in these lines, saying that it murmurs, recalling its voice, and even referring to it with a gendered thirdperson pronoun his. These details help to put forth the notion that Wordsworth s environment was much like a person who helped to raise him, a caretaker and a friend, an idea further implied when he says that the sound of the river blended with my Nurse s song. Even as a baby, Wordsworth starts to develop a close, personal relationship with nature merely due to his proximity to the river and his sensory awareness of its presence. Continuing to recall his childhood memories of the river, the speaker says, O many a time have I, a five years Child, / In a small mill-race severed from his stream, / Made one long bathing of a summer s day; / Basked in the sun, and plunged, and basked again (330). Here we see a childhood version of Wordsworth that is decidedly different from the boy-speaker whom we looked at earlier in Nutting. While Nutting indicates that a child would be undeveloped in the area of ecological empathy, in The Prelude we see that to be a child in nature does not necessarily lead to selfish and destructive behavior. On the contrary, here the young Wordsworth seems to have a gentle, harmonious relationship with his environment, bathing in the river and basking in the sun. The two poems hardly contradict one another, however; in combination they demonstrate the complex relationship between humankind and nature. Furthermore, the first book of The Prelude is an invaluable addition to our list because it indicates the importance of promoting an awareness of and interaction with the environment from a very early age. Wordsworth s emphasis on growing up in close proximity to nature in book one of The Prelude calls to mind another contemporary author of nonfiction, Barbara Kingsolver and her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in which she, her husband, and her daughter write about environmental practices in America and tell the tale of how they relocated their family from the bustling city of Tucson, Arizona to a farm in the southern Appalachians. According to Kingsolver s essay within entitled Called Home, the decision to move from the comfort of urban living to the demanding rural landscape was primarily predicated upon understanding their relationship with the environment and with the nutritional materials that they would be consuming. In Kingsolver s own words, We wanted to live in a place that could feed us: where rain falls, crops grow, and drinking water bubbles right up out of the ground (61). This author s discussion of place indicates her understanding that eating is an act with a significant environmental impact, the same point of view encouraged by Wendell Berry in The Pleasures of Eating discussed above. This ecologically green way of thinking continues to be supported as she writes of Tucson, By all accounts it s a bountiful source of everything on the human-need checklist, save for just the one thing the stuff we put in our mouths every few hours to keep us

7 William Hoffacker 7 alive. Like many other modern U.S. cities, it might as well be a space station where human sustenance is concerned (62). Here Kingsolver draws attention to the growing concern among the environmentally minded about the enormous distances that must often be traveled in order to bring food and drinking water to supermarkets in towns and urban centers. Kingsolver s writing reminds us that, like the young Wordsworth and his nearby river, we and our environment would both be better off if only we coexisted in close proximity with the nurturing aspects of our environment. Rather than living in what is virtually a space station, Kingsolver and her family decide that they would much rather live in an area that could feed us. Her story serves as an example that encourages us to do the same. After experiencing her family s new Appalachian farming lifestyle for five months, Kingsolver s daughter, Camille, moved to a college campus and had to readjust to a more conventional American outlook on food, an experience which she wrote about in her own short essay entitled Taking Local on the Road. This piece sets a different kind of example for the reader because it demonstrates how we may act upon our ecological empathy without relocating our whole lives and producing our own food. While dwelling on the challenges of eating well in this new environment, Camille writes, Not having fresh produce at my disposal made me realize how good it is. I also noticed that how I think about food is pretty unusual among my peers (85). Camille s observations here force us to recognize that some of us, depending on our upbringing or our environment, may not recognize fresh produce when we see it, and we may not know how good it is. Indeed, many of us can probably say that we live our lives with the more common mindset about food that Camille notices among her peers, not the unique point of view that makes Camille stand out at her new college. This young author can boast about an ecological understanding of her eating habits due to the environmental advocacy of her parents and just five months of living in a rural home where the family interacted with the land in order to get their nourishment. Camille s story shows us that it does not take a lifetime of interacting with nature the way Wordsworth would have us do in order to develop a significant degree of ecological empathy. The Kingsolver daughter goes on to tell us how she found two on-campus places serving local food products, saying, For the most part, these vendors did not widely advertise the fact that they were participating in the local food economy. I only found them because I cared, and then tried to buy most of my food from those places (86). These words of wisdom express to readers that we, too, can make environmentally conscious decisions if we care enough, and that level of concern begins with feeling empathy for the environment, aided by any of the meaningful relationships between humankind and nature illustrated herein. As our planet s resources dwindle and the call for ecological activism falls on deaf ears in many circles, few would argue that an increase in empathy for our natural environment would benefit the green movement. The examples explored above may help us recognize that various forms of literature from poetry to nonfictional prose, from the works of the Romantic movement to the writings of contemporary authors constitute an invaluable means for evoking such empathy and concern in the apathetic and the ignorant. Indifferent readers of many of Wordsworth s poems, including but not limited to the ones discussed here, will likely be moved to a new appreciation for the natural world thanks to his beautiful depiction of sights like the daffodils in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. Also, his more narrative works such as Michael will bestow an important lesson upon the reader concerning the growing need for a personal, emotional relationship with one s surroundings. For those readers who may not respond to poetry of the works of centuries-old authors, many contemporary writers offer their views on the interaction of humankind and the environment more explicitly through nonfiction. Leopold,

8 William Hoffacker 8 Berry, and Kingsolver are few of many ecologically concerned authors. No matter which ecologically concerned author you choose to read, you will inevitably find the influences of British Romantics like Wordsworth in their arguments for environmental activism and social justice. The poems of William Wordsworth represent an integral step in literary history toward a healthier, more biologically sound view of the relationship between humankind and nature, an empathetic perspective that could help save the world in our own age.

9 William Hoffacker 9 Works Cited Bate, Jonathan. The Picturesque Environment. The Song of the Earth. Cambridge: Harvard P., Print. Berry, Wendell. The Pleasures of Eating. The Art of the Common Place. Berkeley: Counterpoint P., Print. Kingsolver, Barbara. Called Home. A Sustainable Future. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna U., Print. Kingsolver, Camille. Taking Local on the Road. A Sustainable Future. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna U., Print. Leopold, Aldo. Thinking Like a Mountain. A Sustainable Future. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna U., Print. Pite, Ralph. Wordsworth and the Natural World. The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. Ed. Stephen Hill. New York: Cambridge, Print. Wordsworth, William. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D: The Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, Print Michael. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D: The Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, Print Nutting. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D: The Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, Print The Prelude. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D: The Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, Print Tintern Abbey. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. D: The Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, Print.