In his Poetics, Plato contemplates the nature
of aesthetics and existence. He
postulates that for every existing object and idea there is an absolute
"ideal" which transcends human experience. He further concludes that art, including
literature, is an aesthetic representation of real objects and ideas that is
used to better understand their
"ideals." In theory, as an
object becomes closer ideal it also becomes a better subject for the
artist. American artists in particular
have been given an invaluable opportunity to explore this realm of the Platonic
ideal. Because the American continent
and its wilderness was primarily unsullied by the ravages of civilization, the
natural world found there by early settlers was much closer to being
"ideal" than anywhere else on Earth.
For this reason, nature has become one of the most important subjects of
American art, especially Literature.
Specific examples from American literature including the works Moby
Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Walden, and "To a Waterfowl" can show how American authors
explore the ideals of human existence through aesthetic representations of
nature.
William Cullen Bryant, who has been called
"the father of American poetry," is one of the earliest artists to
capture the essence of nature in America and apply it to the human
experience.
In his poem "To A
Waterfowl" he uses the example of a waterfowl to reach a better
understanding of human existence. In the
poem, the waterfowl is portrayed as a near-perfect creation, and it is treated
with a sense of reverence. The first
stanza demonstrates this:
Whither, midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last
steps of day,
Far, though their rosy depths, dost thou
pursue
Thy solitary way?
Though it is not
curious that a bird would be flying in the morning, Cullen presents the fowl in
flight as being nearly supernatural. The
bird emerges from the "heavens" almost like an angel and the persona
addresses it in an extremely respectful tone.
It can be presumed that the persona would agree that nature, embodied in
the fowl, is close to what Plato would call an "ideal." Bryant, through his aesthetic presentation of
the bird, then deepens his understanding of human experience. The persona and, as an extension, Bryant
eventually conclude, through rumination over the flight of the waterfowl, that
the higher "Power" that guides the fowl also guides them.
This use of nature to better understand certain
"ideals" is not limited to positive examples or the representation of
good forces like the Power in "Waterfowl." Herman Melville illustrates the ambiguity of
nature in his novel Moby Dick by representing certain evil elements of human
existence with comparable elements in nature.
His use of the shark is exemplary of this. He portrays the shark as the epitome of what
a cannibal is. Through the creation of a
well-conceived syllogism, he uses this portrayal of the shark to develop the
character of Ahab.
The first thing
Melville does to accomplish this is placing the shark on a higher plane of
being than man by saying that they are like "angels well
governed." This is very effective
because, ultimately, sharks are closer to being "ideal" cannibals
than any man could be. They kill with no
remorse, eat their own kind dead or alive, and even attack their own bodies
when wounded. This representation of a
cannibal deepens the reader's understanding of what an "ideal"
cannibal is and later used by Melville when Ahab is compared to a shark. This syllogism states that if a shark is the
epitome of a cannibal and Ahab is like a shark, then Ahab must also be like the
epitome of a cannibal. Such use of
specific parts of nature like the shark and the waterfowl are important
elements in American literature, but the use of nature as an entity in itself
is also widely employed.
Mark Twain and
Henry David Thoreau both use nature as an entity to explain certain truths of
human existence. Both stress the
essential role that nature plays in society and the importance of man's
relationship to nature. The fashion in
which each deal with this importance, however, differ greatly. Twain focuses on nature's role as a refuge
and a source of peace when compared to civilization. Thoreau, a transcendentalist, focuses on nature
as a "reflection of an inner spiritual reality."
In Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents nature as a
refuge for Huck and Jim. When they are
alone with nature, they have time to
culture their relationship, relax, and enjoy life. Huck's feelings about nature can be best
summed up when he and Jim are enjoying a rainstorm in the island cave and he
says, "Jim, this is nice. I
wouldn't want to be nowhere else but here." This idyllic state, however,
is disrupted as soon as the two encounter civilization. They then encounter many hardships and must
work harder to survive than when they are with nature. This is a good example of contrast used to
represent an ideal. Twain shows the
serenity of nature and its goodness in direct comparison with the hectic and
far from ideal nature of civilization.
Thoreau takes a more serious approach than
Twain. He believes nature to be the highest physical reality on Earth,
transcending human experience and only by understanding nature can a person
understand himself. He would most likely
agree that aesthetic representations of nature are the key to deepening human
understanding of existence. His novel
Walden is based on such aesthetic representations. He says that "I went into the woods
because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of
life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came
to die, discover that I had not lived."
This shows the almost stoic devotion that he has to finding truth in
nature. He intends to learn from it and
make himself vulnerable to it.
Clearly Thoreau believes that nature is close
to a Platonic ideal, the truth. He says
that nature holds the "essential facts of life" and through his
writing, he becomes closer to nature itself, and therefore closer to the
truth. The same is true in some way also
for Twain, Melville, and Bryant. This is
the key to American Literature. If art
is truly a representation of some impalpable ideal made in the hopes of better
understanding existence, then nature has been the greatest vehicle for art in
America. Since the settling of this
continent, the authors of America have been greatly affected by a wild,
beautiful, and almost ideal nature.
American Literature, therefore, has taken nature in as it's most important
and loved subject.
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