The Power, or Powerlessness, of Nature Eliots Preludes and Hardys Afterwards - Literature Essay Samples

The conflict between humanity and the natural world is one that spans back into an ancient past, perhaps beginning with the myth of Prometheus punished for granting the gift of fire to mankind. Due to this, it is unsurprising that both modernist poet T.S Eliot and victorian poet Thomas Hardy are so concerned with the power dynamics of nature in their poems ‘Preludes’ and ‘Afterwards’. Whilst Eliot’s poem moves between claustrophobic settings to portray the natural world as powerless and trapped, humans are characterised as able to choose whether or not they rejuvenate the power of nature. In contrast, Hardy’s perspective of nature is far more powerful, and is shown to transcend the barriers of time, whilst also memorialise the memory of human beings. In ‘Preludes’, Eliot presents nature as powerless to the rising force of industrialism which is shown to suffocate and control both the natural world, and the poem’s city-dwellers. The setting detail of a ‘lonely cab-horse’ moving through the city’s outskirts is used in the first stanza to immediately present ‘natural’ creatures as enslaved by the surrounding cityscape: the compound noun ‘cab-horse’, implies that even powerful creatures such as the horse have been distorted into mere functions of the city’s industrial machine, designed to maximise economic profit through performing unnatural roles such as ‘cabs’. The effects of industrialism on the animal are deepened by the ‘steam’ and ‘stamp’ of the horse- dynamic verbs which draw correlations with the movements of a machine, with the monosyllables also mirroring the utter force of the city-scape on the animal, and by ext ension, the natural environment. If the ‘horse’ is an emblem of diminished ‘power’, Eliot’s later ‘sparrow’ can be seen to symbolise the concept of human and animalistic liberty, which is similarly restricted by the destructive setting: ‘And the light crept up between the shutters,/ And you heard the sparrows in the gutters’. The nouns ‘shutters’ and ‘gutters’ literally trap Eliot’s ‘sparrow’ on the page- and to do this with perfect rhyme suggests the sparrow will ever be overpowered by the claustrophobic city setting, even when shunned to the outskirts. That the traditional natural symbol of hope (‘light’) is characterised here as sinister and invasive through the verb ‘crept’, further underlines the discouraging idea that even natural ‘light’ is not able to illuminate or redeem Eliot’s ruined metropolis. Nonetheless, ‘lightâ⠂¬â„¢ also enjoys more positive description throughout the poem, most notably in its first mention: ’And then the lighting of the lamps’, which might be read as injecting a glimmer of hope into the verse. Whilst the structure of the line as closing the first stanza might promise a future in which the ‘decay’ of the stanza is eclipsed by natural power, it must be noted that the ‘light’ here is manmade, thus holds no semblance to natural authority. Perhaps Eliot is trying to make the point that whilst a hopeful future in which the cityscape is vanquished is an attainable one, this must be sought through human effort rather than any action of the natural world: the alliterated ‘l’ creates a sense of urgency and pace, thus encourages the audience to awake from their ‘dogmatic slumbers’ and take heed to save their landscape before it is too late. In this way, nature is portrayed as having the potential for extreme power, but only if humans are able to establish themselves in opposition to the increasing process of industrialisation, unlike Hardy’s poetry, in which nature is presented as an unstoppable force able to overcome human folly. A lethargic semantic field is used in the first stanza of ‘Preludes’ to describe nature in the city (‘winter†¦settles down’, ‘burnt-out ends’), to foreground a sense of tiredness and lack of action- almost as if the city h as given up on itself. Alternatively, the catalogue of references to commonplace human activity in the first stanza from ‘burnt-out ends of smoky days’, to ‘a gusty shower wraps/ The grimy scraps’ implies that mankind can be held responsible for this natural decay. One critic deemed Eliot’s characters ‘a culture less, faithless mass of people’, which is unsurprising when considering that the ‘grimy scraps’ might refer to all that is left of human lives that fall like ‘withered leaves’, unable to exert authority over the industrialist society they have created, and therefore are unable to rejuvenate the power of the natural landscape. Indeed, Eliot’s frequent enjambments and use of free verse further this sense of disorganisation, conveying a sense of pessimism in which neither humans nor natural forces are able to exert or gain any power. To conclude, it is clear that the natural world, for Eliot, is show n as powerless to the actions of humans and also the limitations of industrialism which Eliot characterises as seeking to destroy any inkling of natural life within the city. Nonetheless, Eliot makes clear that mankind has the capacity to reformulate the power of nature through taking action to quell the destructive effects of 1910s capitalism, marking nature as having the potential to become a powerful force. Whilst Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ warns of the destructive influences humanity is able to have on the environment, Hardy’s ‘Afterwards’, in contrast, is a testament to the union and harmony between nature and the individual. In ‘Afterwards’, the narrator imagines a future following his death in which the romantic beauty and power of the natural world remains intact- arguably conveying a sense of optimism lacking from Eliot’s ‘grimy’ and ‘broken’ landscape. This natural charm is set up from the poem’s first stanza, in which the rich lexical choices used to describe nature are linked through alliteration and internal rhyme to colour nature as a creative and vibrant force able to overcome the human limitations of mortality- a subject matter given little description despite it being the poem’s central theme: such evidence of this is the claim that ’the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings’, which, when juxtaposed with the sparse language used to describe the narrator after death (‘He is a man who used to notice such things’) makes nature seem all the more powerful due to its ability to replace lost human lives with new and more vibrant natural lives. The fluctuating descriptions between that of humanity and the environment throughout the poem mirror this cycle of natural life replacing and invigorating the lives of men, and yet, the poem ends, not on natural imagery, but with the imagined dialogue of the onlookers at the poets death: ‘He hears it not now, he used to notice such things?’. This might imply that it is not nature in itself that is a powerful force, but the human ability to notice and find beauty in nature, which seems likely considering Hardy wrote this to be read out at his funeral, thus would be more concerned with ensuring his imaginative ideas were met with praise by future audiences, rather than how nature is perceived in itself. Alternatively, it could be argued that Hardy’s goal throughout the poem is not to prioritise his ideas about the natural world above the natural world itself, but to mark nature as a medium for carrying on his legacy and commemorating his intellect after death. Such interconnection between the narrator and nature is evident as the poet uses the metaphor of a ‘dewfall-hawk†¦ crossing the shades to alight’ to symbolise the transcendence of the speaker’s soul into a metaphysical afterlife, whilst also departing from the tendency of the romantic poets to place nature on a pedestal far removed from human interaction in suggestions that the power of humanity and that of nature is interlinked. Indeed, this is also a reference to the classical underworld of the Greeks the shades being ghosts that resided in Hades- which reinforces the power of nature as spanning back to an ancient past, whilst simultaneously being able to overcome death in the current day, un like Eliot’s use of classical allusion in ‘Prufrock’- the closing sirens singing used to exaggerate his isolation from nature rather than his connection with it. Hardy wanted to be remembered here as a ‘lover of nature’, writes critic Allingham, a phrase suggesting a beautiful relationship between the pair which is developed through the idyllic imagery used to describe his post-humous landscape, as those commemorating his death ‘Watch the full-starred heavens that winter sees’. The image of a star-scape here might serve to memorialise and sensationalise the public perceptions of the speaker post-death- as people are able to look skywards to remind themselves that his ideas still hold significance and in this way, nature is given full power to preserve memory and remind people of past feelings. Furthermore, the lexis ‘full-starred’ is just one example of the many compound adjectives littered throughout the poem used to prese nt nature as ever-changing and able to adapt into countless different forms, creating an overall message of hope through implying that nature will continue to flourish despite the limitations of time. Overall, it cannot be denied that the natural world is indeed seen as a powerful force in Hardy’s verse, in its capacity to not only transcend the limitations of mortality itself, but also in its ability to commemorate and uphold the ideas of human beings after their death- allowing them to be faintly resurrected, for their loved ones, in natural surroundings. In this way, Hardy subverts Eliot’s message in ‘Preludes’ that human action is able to uphold and secure the power of nature, through suggesting that it is indeed the power of nature which can ossify the power of the human imagination after death. It is clear that both Hardy and Eliot through their verse present the natural world as having the potential for extreme power. In ‘Preludes’, Eliot asserts that this power must be unlocked by human efforts. Yet nature in Hardy’s ‘Afterwards’ is given individual power in its ability to exert force over human perceptions of thought even after death presenting an arguably more powerful portrayal of the natural world as nature prospers regardless of the limitations of human activity.

The Blame Game - Literature Essay Samples

As we encounter obstacles over the course of our lives, we often turn to external sources to justify internal conflict. This tendency to assign responsibility is evident in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793, in which refugees fleeing Santo Domingo are accused of spreading the yellow fever epidemic across Philadelphia. Similarly, in Charles Burns’ Black Hole, teenagers are shamed for having contracted â€Å"the Bug†, a sexually transmitted disease that turns them into social outcasts. In both cases, human carriers are shunned and used as scapegoats for the outbreaks. By appointing an â€Å"otherness† to the infected characters, they are dehumanized. Set in the post-Revolutionary era, Anderson’s Fever 1793 depicts the life of a 14-year-old girl living in Philadelphia during the outbreak of the yellow fever. A work of historical fiction, the novel is a first-person account of the epidemic from the perspective of the young protagonist, Mattie Cook. Mattie’s voice offers readers a fresh and engaging outlook on her experience with the fever and the suffering that she endured. As the plague started to take over the city, the citizens of Philadelphia searched for someone to blame. Rumours, much like the virus itself, quickly began to spread: Philadelphia suffers fevers every August, said Grandfather. This season its those cursed refugees. They brought it, just as the ships from Barbados brought it thirty years ago. The mayor should quarantine them on Hog Island for a few weeks and the fever would pass. He lifted his mug to King George. The parrot drank† (Anderson, 38). The refugees were held responsible, as they were in the midst of evading Santo Domingo as part of the Haitian Revolution. This greatly touches upon the â€Å"epidemic as Eastern† stereotype that is discussed in professor Heather Schell’s article, Outburst! A Chilling True Story about Emerging-Virus Narratives and Pandemic Social Change. Outbreak narratives often insist on a foreign origin for the virus, exempting the West of any responsibility. Over the course of her text, Schell offers an extensive amount of evidence that demonstrates how pandemic science fiction thrives on this stereotype: â€Å"Constructing human accountability may serve as a way of maintaining a narrative of control over ourselves as well as the natural world, even if that control is destructive† (Anderson, 9). While many of the refugees evading Santo Domingo were in fact infected by the fever, the disease was transmitted by misquotes. However, a divide had already been established between the refugee community and the people of Philadelphia: the external versus the internal. The refugees were used as a scapegoat for the spread of the yellow fever. â€Å"They† were responsible for the outbreak, not â€Å"us†: Dont be vile, Jeannine, snapped her mother. Those filthy refugees and creatures who live in the crowded hovels by the river, theyre always sick with something. But it is a gross injustice that my gala should suffer because the lower class falls ill. Dont you agree, Lucille? (Anderson, 51). Anderson employs a great deal of descriptive language to characterize the ill, evoking intense images of sickness and disease within readers. Her usage of imagery effectively supports the underlying themes of hardship and misery that dominate her text. The innate prevalence of blame persists, as the Ogilvies clearly hold the refugee community responsible for the outbreak of the virus, referring to them as â€Å"filthy refugees and creatures†. Mrs. Ogilvie is thereby dehumanizing the foreign population by treating them as less than human. However, assigning blame will not stop the yellow fever: â€Å"The sailors babbled in their own languages, afraid to die on the wrong side of the ocean in a world far away from people who knew their names. The vinegar-soaked cloth tied around my nose could not shield me from the stench of the dying men who baked in the old house† (Anderson, 193). While people may be of different cultures, we are all vulnerable to disease. The city of Philadelphia shamed the refugees and treated them like outsiders, assigning them an â€Å"otherness† that was unjustifiable, ultimately leading to their dehumanization. Set in Seattle during the mid-1970s, Charles Burns’ comic series, Black Hole, is the archetypal high school experience that chronicles a group of teenagers who acquire a sexually transmitted disease commonly referred to as â€Å"the Bug†. Although its origin remains unknown, the virus causes its carriers to undergo strange physical mutations that transform them into social outcasts: â€Å"I couldn’t figure out what it was at first†¦ It looked like one of those cheap, rubber Halloween masks you see in dime stores. It was just too f*cked up to be human, but somehow, deep down inside, I knew it was† (Burns). Despite the obvious ominousness of the graphic novel, it metaphorically highlights the themes of alienation, desire and sexual confusion – elements that are not unfamiliar to the typical teenager. Burns directly assigns a sense of â€Å"otherness† to the characters himself by using physical deformities to strategically and symbolically exemplify the ways in which teenagers are stigmatized within our society. Throughout the text, the more prominently mutated teens set out for an encampment in the woods, seeking refuge and casting themselves out from the rest of society. Besides returning to the city to retrieve food from the dumpsters, the infected have become social outcasts, alienated and exiled from the rest of humanity. When exposed to the public, the infected teenagers are shamed for their condition. They are starred at and criticized: â€Å"Yeah, go ahead†¦ Hide it! Just like you do at school! But you know what? You can’t hide the truth!† (Burns). The story primarily focuses on the two protagonists, Keith and Chris, who fall victim to the virus after sexually interacting with their love interests, Eliza and Rob. The infected, Eliza, sports a tail to which Keith finds very attractive: â€Å"Eliza sitting naked on a pink towel. So beautiful I could die. Concentrating, all focused in on her sketchbook, but aw, god†¦ Her tail. Her cute little tail moving slowly back and forth, making a fan shape in the dirt. She’s the one. She really is. I know that now† (Burns). This illustrates the underlying theme of teenage love, desire and the acceptance that often coincides with it. Keith finds beauty in Eliza’s deformity, while Eliza herself learns to tolerate it. Chris started off as someone who was admired by her peers. However, once infected with â€Å"the Bug†, she falls into a social downward spiral. Chris isolates herself from society and metaphorically lives in her own little â€Å"black hole† out in the woods. Characters in Burns’ Black Hole are quite literally dehumanized, as they are assigned monstrous and bizarre physical attributes once infected with the virus. They are shamed by the rest of the population due to their conditions, forcing them into exile in the woods. This sense of shame and responsibility over their actions that is thrust upon them is unjustifiable. Sexual interaction is part of growing up and teenagers should not be blamed or made to feel guilty for their experimentations. After all, the life of a teen is fairly difficult as it is. They are often misunderstood and judged. Black Hole sends you back in time to your own teenage years and forces you to question what â€Å"bug† you might have had that made you a social outcast. Although you may not have been physically mutated after being infected by a sexually transmitted disease, these mutations represent an â€Å"otherness† that exists within us all. We are all looking for someone to blame when life does not go according to plan. However, often those who are held responsible do not warrant such blame. In Anderson’s Fever 1793, the refugee community is accused of spreading the yellow fever epidemic across Philadelphia, when the mosquitoes were the true carriers. Similarly, in Charles Burns’ Black Hole, teenagers are held responsible for the sexual transmission of â€Å"the Bug†, resulting in bizarre physical mutations and turning them into social outcasts, as they are too sexually careless. In both texts, human carriers are shunned and used as scapegoats for the outbreaks of varying diseases. By appointing an â€Å"otherness† to the infected characters, a divide is constructed between the internal and external, ultimately leading to their dehumanization. Works Cited: Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever, 1793. Simon and Schuster, 2000. Print. Burns, Charles. Black Hole. N.p.: Pantheon, 2008. Print. Schell, Heather. Outburst! A Chilling True Story about Emerging-Virus Narratives and Pandemic Social Change. Configurations 5.1 (1997): 93-133. Web.