Introduction
Considering the history of literature, the conception of Nature seems to be a quite complex question. 'Nature' is not a concept that can be grasped easily and it often requires discussing some great philosophical conceptions like 'Pantheism' or 'Deism'. However, my paper will not deal in detail with such vast enquiries. I rather want to focus more accurately on how 'Nature' is used by Pope and Coleridge, respectively. With other words, I would like to analyse the function of the concept of 'Nature'. The fact is, that even if these poets do not exhaustively characterise Nature' itself, they employ it in a lot of different analogies and metaphors to articulate and embody for example ideas about 'morality' (Pope) or the intimate
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In that context, the poet defends a very specific conception of order' and claims in favour of an idea that was very popular at that time: the Great Chain of Beings. The latter is a philosophical doctrine that, a priori, explains the unity of creation. Of course, all arguments assume the existence of God. In vindicating the perfect unity of creation, this doctrine leads to a sort of theodicy-like conclusion, that is, the claim that the world is the best that God could have created. This is an important point that I will consider again later.
For now, consider the fact that Pope largely deems the idea of a scala naturae. It describes the ladders of the world of observable reality, "Creation's ample range", from the "green myriads in the peopled grass" to "Man's imperial race" (I, 207-10). The Great Chain of Beings implies that all living species are intimately related to each other in a strong hierarchical order. An obvious gradation in the mental and sensual faculties exists among God's creatures. Therefore, each creature is subordinated to an other one and all creatures to man and beyond. God of course is on the top of the Chain. Hence, all beings have a clearly fixed place.
Since man lacks full knowledge of the stations that are beyond him, the hierarchy of the Great Chain of Beings also advocates for some humility in the presence of God's creation. As Pope argues:
Say first, of God above, or man below,
What
Another statement that the book makes is that God stands apart from all other things in the special relationship of creator to creation. And the creation of humankind is the highpoint of all God's work of making and forming.
In the readings of Exodus, Genesis, and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. These three texts explore what it means to follow in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. The teachings from Genesis, Exodus and Plato, demonstrate proof of the fundamental claim, “God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality.” The significance of nature can symbolize everything that appears in the physical world, while the reality represents the truth and human existence in the world.
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our like-ness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”(Gen . 1.26)
Pope is essentially saying that if anyone breaks, or tries to break the great chain of being, they are committing a sin against the “Eternal Cause”, or the cause of God. Also, he is saying that all parts of the chain are necessary. If angels didn’t exist, men would try to
It is God’s very transcendent nature that aims to keep Him inaccessible and remote from His creation. However, his immanent nature works to prompt Him near to His creation and to maintain the universe. It is God’s love for His creation that overshadows His transcendence, thus making it difficult to easily speak about God being transcendent and also related to the world. 2) The Protestant Reformation set the stage for the European Enlightenment by amending the beliefs and
Nature played a major role in this poet's life but it was not all about his physical senses that he took as reality. It was due to the fact that he was a "worshipper of Nature" (152) and he knew that "nature never did betray" (122) him. And those thoughts were what had comforted and encouraged him to connect with nature through his mind. He wanted to affirm to his readers that his mind not only receives sensation and
Nature has always had a role in providing for humanity. However, what does it provide for humanity? The poems that Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and William Williams present touches upon the topic of this. To help support their perspective on how nature provides for humanity, and what it provides, the three of them use both imagery and structure to go into detail as to why their perspective is so.
He indicates that in our attempt to gain more knowledge and wisdom that we press beyond the limits, and that some things mankind is not able to know. Pope suggest to the reader to submit to the laws of nature, and do not think or act beyond mankind. He has the concept that there is a divine order and grand scheme of things and to rest in the place that you are in. Pope states:
Nature has an undefinable meaning as the theme is utilised in literature, and it has been a topic of reflection within the Romanticists since the beginning of the era. Romanticism and nature and inextricably linked ideas. Poets; Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman wrote during the romantic era, and both drew heavily from aspects of nature in their work. Nature can be paralleled against several things, including humanity and the idea of life and death. The contrast between the natural world and the artificial world, and what this means for society, is also strongly eluded to in Dickinson and Whitman’s poems. Each poet uses nature as the backbone to their poetry in several instances. Dickinson’s, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, (Dickinson, 19) and “My Life Has Stood A Loaded Gun”, (Dickinson, 69) are strong examples of this. Whitman’s, “Song of Myself”, (Whitman, 29) and, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, (Whitman, 255) are also poems that show the connection between nature and romanticism. Poets, Dickinson and Whitman engage with romanticism in a creative and constructive manner through the utilisation of the natural world.
Coleridge’s ‘This Lime Tree Bower My Prison’, is a poem describing a man’s changing views as he contemplates the natural word which he has been prevented from seeing. Coleridge’s poem demonstrates the ability of individuals to modify their morals and values upon receiving a cathartic release from their relationship with nature, as predicated almost entirely on the imagination. Through allowing the persona to visualise the encounters his friends are making with nature along their journey, Coleridge first demonstrates the capabilities of the imagination in allowing us to picture things in certain detail, as shown through “now my friends emerge,” which in all exemplifies the presence of imagination in our relationship with nature. Furthermore, the description of their journey demonstrates the liberation received from engaging with nature, as shown where they “wander in gladness,” which relates to the cathartic release obtained from viewing nature that pushes us to reassess our ideas and perceptions. By showing his gradual change in tone, the influence of the persona’s imagination is shown, which when in conjunction with his exclamation of “yes!” reveals our emotional capabilities if becoming engulfed in our imaginations of nature. Also, by choosing to allow the persona to speak in a melodramatic tone, the poet is able to again explicitly demonstrate his
Qualities of "reality," the divine, or divinities may be reflected in nature in Romanticism and we can sense God or the gods through our sensing of nature.While in Neo_classicism there is a concern for "nature"--or the way things are (and should be). This relates back to the distrust of innovation and inherent conservatism of neoclassicism. The artistic rules of old, for instance, Pope describes as having been "discovered, not devised" and are "Nature methodized"; so too, "Nature and Homer" are "the same" (Essay on Criticism 88ff., 135). This belief in "nature" implies a conviction that there is a permanent, universal way things are (and should be), which obviously entails fundamental political and ethical commitments. The focus on natural feeling over conventional rules led to an emphasis on the self over the earlier neoclassical emphasis on society. The individual becomes the source of wisdom and morality, displacing the received set of rules and norms given by society. As a result, emphasis is paced on understanding the individual's subjective state, especially as it relates to the outside world. Works ranging from Rousseau's Confessions and Reveries of a Solitary Walker to Wordsworth's Prelude, Coleridge's «conversation» poems, «Dejection», «Frost at Midnight», «Lime Tree Beauty» are examples of the romantic exploration
God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He created the expanse of the sky down to the tiniest cell. He created man distinct from the rest of His creation. God created man in his own image and likeness and gave him dominion over the rest of His creation. The Bible affirms this in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” Humans were created in God’s image, yet after the fall occurred, this image was severely distorted. The image of God in us will be completely restored when Jesus comes again for His church. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Throughout church history, theologians have debated what being
Such a situation warrants Coleridge the title of visionary, and therefore his poem becomes a vision: a Romantically textual utopia whose realisation was challenged by the rational status quo of its historical origin. Due to this, Coleridge’s work will always seek practical affirmation and will therefore constantly be the source of metaphysically-oriented debate, leaving the dualism that rules it to be decided by the reader and the ideologies he or she brings to the text. This conclusion is supported by the words of John Beer:
Robert Frost’s nature poetry occupies a significant place in the poetic arts; however, it is likely Frost’s use of nature is the most misunderstood aspect of his poetry. While nature is always present in Frost’s writing, it is primarily used in a “pastoral sense” (Lynen 1). This makes sense as Frost did consider himself to be a shepherd.
Nature was a theme factoring in many of his works and Blake associates nature with different elements in these poems and we find that nature is seen in communion with God in the introductory poem and throughout these poems Blake points out the relationship and harmony between Man and Nature, children and Nature and he also talks about sex in Nature in `The Blossom'.