Robison Jeffers and Nature
Religious3 Class
Jessica Power
Research Paper
3/12/09
In this research paper, the poetry of Robinson Jeffers along with its analysis will help to show his views regarding the spiritual autonomy of animals and nature as well as how it relates to religion. The views that are established will then be compared with contemporary perspectives from Ecological Christianity as defined by Sallie McFague in her article “An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have It?” and Mark Wallace’s “The Wounded Spirit as the Basis of Hope in an Age of Radical Ecology”.
Looking through Jeffers’ many beautiful and reflective poems, many themes arise. One of the most prevalent and reoccurring themes people remark on is his inhumanist outlook on life and society. In Jeffers’ poem “Their Beauty Has More Meaning” he writes:
And when the whole human race/ Has been like me rubbed out, they will still be here: storms, moon, and ocean,/ Dawn and the birds. And I say this: their beauty has more meaning/ Than the whole human race and the race of birds.
It is easy to understand why most people interpret his poems in an inhumanist light. This, however, is a mistake. Although Jeffers openly criticizes man and the civilized world, he does not see it as being inhumanist, but rather anti-anthropocentric. Jeffers argues that man is an animal like any other, and only thinks more highly of himself because of his consciousness. Jeffers goes onto argue that if man wants to truly find himself he needs to look to nature and the world. Radcliffe Squires argues this point in his book The Loyalties of Robinson Jeffers. Squire says Jeffers viewed men as out- of- synch with the natural world and its laws. Because man is distracted by luxuries and personal gains, he has forgotten the original world and is therefore out of harmony with it “He wanted man to deny himself in order to realize himself” (Squire 60, 72). Squire then goes on to say that Jeffers created a path for man to find himself again. He said that by better understanding nature and the world man can finally see his place in it. He can then appreciate his mutual existence with other living beings as part of a larger whole (Squire 126).
Jeffers’ criticisms of mankind also reflect his attitudes towards animals. In his poem “Original Sin”, Jeffers illustrates a scene of cavemen roasting a mammoth alive. He describes the mammoth as suffering at the hands of an ignorant people who were happy to watch him burn.
These are the people./ This is the human dawn. As for me, I would rather/ Be a worm in an apple than a son of man.
Here many would see Jeffers as writing disdainfully of the human race, but in actuality he is not complaining of humans as a whole, but only of peoples’ acts of cruelty, specifically towards animals. That is why in his poem “Hurt Hawks” he says he would rather shoot a man than a hawk. Men are capable of a deeper level of understanding, but can often ignore rational reasoning and act violently and ruthlessly towards the world. In his poems, Jeffers criticizes mans’ behavior and tries to persuade him to act more respectfully to nature. He often does this by enforcing and repeating the fact that although man lives in a society cut off from the natural world, he I still a part of it. He also emphasizes that because man is disconnected to nature, animals have a clearer sense of the natural order of life. Jeffers would argue that man needs to become reconnected to nature and animals because they live life in some ways that humans should. As Robert Zaller put it in his book The Cliffs of Solitude: A Reading of Robinson Jeffers, “The world’s meaning enfolded the meanings of man the way the way earth and sky and ocean enfolded his physical presence, giving him birth, nurture, scope, and rest” (Zaller 225).
Another important aspect to understanding animals’ spiritual autonomy is by seeing Jeffers’ views towards nature, God, and man. In his poems “The Excesses of God” and “The Beauty of Things”, Jeffers acknowledges God as the creator of humans, animals, and nature. He says that God not only created animals, and people but went beyond to show his glory through his works in nature such as waterfalls, sunsets, seashells, and fire. In both poems mankind is a part of nature that has lost its way to “frenzies and passions” and would flow along with nature if it could let go of its distractions.
When it comes to humans and God, Jeffers argues that God can be found in nature and since man is lost in his cities and luxuries he has become disconnected from God. In his poem “Hurt Hawks”, Jeffers says that animals, specifically the hawk, and dying men know God. He therefore sees animals as spiritual agents connected to God. In Rudolph Gilbert’s Shine, Perishing Republic: Robinson Jeffers and the Tragic Sense in Modern Poetry, Gilbert says that in Jeffers’ poems “God walks in the cool of the morning air with Adam and eve among the first flowers, beasts and birds” and that “We look at the grass, the trees, the ever-changing sky through the windows of trains, automobiles, skyscraper offices or city apartments; but we no longer live with these unnatural phenomena” (Gilbert 162). Gilbert also adds later that although Jeffers argued against man and his material nature, he did see all living beings as being connected.
Zaller also emphasizes the point that Jeffers believed man was one with the rest of existence under God, but has become detached from both. In essence God the Father can be found in Mother Earth, but people have turned too inwardly to see it (Zaller 77). Jeffers believed that since God was present in all things, but definable in none man should turn his attention to the world and seek to live in peace with it (Zaller 217).
However Jeffers’ attitudes towards the figure of Jesus and Christianity and the role they play in nature and human life tend to differ to that of the “wild God of the world”. In his poem “Shine, Perishing Republic” Jeffers says that man is a “clever servant” and an “insufferable master” and love for man is a trap that catches people and caught “God when he walked on earth”. Here Jeffers acknowledges God’s human existence through Jesus, but pities Him because he focused more on man than nature and the world as a whole. In his poem “Rock and Hawk” Jeffers says that an emblem that should be looked up to and raised is not the cross or human civilization, but a hawk standing on large mass of stone. Here he argues that religion and society are human inventions that distract from the ultimate goal, which is that of the hawk being one with its surroundings while perceiving the world with “bright power”, “dark peace” and
“fierce consciousness”. Then Jeffers goes a step further in his poem “Advice to Pilgrims” and writes:
Finally I say let demagogues and world-redeemers babble their emptiness to empty ears; twice duped is too much./ Walk on gaunt shores and avoid people; rock and wave are good prophets;/ Wise are the wings of the gull, pleasant her song.
Jeffers finds spiritual affirmation in nature and animals more than in historical religious figures and people offering paths to redemption and salvation.
So how do Jeffers’ views regarding nature, humans, and God compare with modern perspectives on Christian Ecology? Both Sallie McFague and Mark Wallace borrow from Moltmann’s concept of a “crucified God” and apply it to nature and the current state of the environment. In her article “An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have It?”, McFague argues, like Jeffers, that humans have become far too anthropocentric and need to focus more on the environment. However, McFague is more concerned with taking responsibility issues like pollution and deforestation which are directly caused by humans, while Jeffers focuses on nature as being intrinsically good and relatively unaffected by people. McFague argues that since God’s Spirit is in the “spirits of all oppressed” then by seeing the “spirit of the Amazon rainforest” and the “spirits of exploited women and indigenous people” we can conceive that God’s Spirit is present in nature (McFague 33). When Moltmann’s concept of the “crucified God” is then added, we can also see that since God is present in nature he suffers with it. It is therefore mankind’s’ duty towards God to protect and maintain the natural balance of the world (McFague 32, 37).
Mark Wallace argues a similar concept in his article "The Wounded Spirit as the Basis for Hope in an Age of Radical Ecology”. By focusing on the Spirit of God as a healing life force enfleshed by the world that animates all life within it, Wallace claims that the Spirit of God is wounded by acts of damage and abuse to the earth. Both Wallace and McFague’s views provide a religious motivation for people to regard the environment and nature with respect and understanding. However these views do not directly fall in line with Jeffers’ views. Jeffers regarded human’s acts upon the earth, such as war, to be idiotic but natural. He felt that humans would leave their mark on the earth, but it would fade with time and nature would remain a permanent, stable force. And although he saw God in nature, he did not present God as suffering along side it, though maybe at times sympathizing with it. However, if Jeffers was alive today and had come to see the various environmental movements and the facts they raised about the state of the world, his views may have been changed to some degree.
Robinson Jeffers’ poems have been a great contribution to humanity and the world. He helped people to see their place alongside nature and God outside of their inward-facing world. As Gilbert wrote, “We feel joy in knowing that there is something endurable, permanent; something that has not slipped away from us since the beginning of the earth. Jeffers’ nature poetry is of earth and man. He has faith, not in man nor in so-called progress, but in the earth-strong, eternal interchange of birth and death” (Gilbert
156). Jeffers lived a life of freedom in nature that many admire and wish to achieve. Through his poetry and his life we can strive to live in harmony with nature instead of getting caught up in the “bee hive”.
Freedom is poor and laborious; that torch is not safe but hungry, and often requires blood for its fuel./ You will tame it against it burn too clearly, you will hood it like a kept hawk, you will perch it on the wrist of Caesar./ But keep the tradition, conserve the forms, the observances, keep the spot sore. Be great, carve deep your heel-marks/ The states of the next age will no doubt remember you, and edge their love of freedom with contempt of luxury. –Robinson Jeffers, “Shine Republic”
Bibliography
Jeffers, Robinson. Robinson Jeffers: Selected Poems. New York: Vintage. 1965.
Beers, Terry. “… a thousand graceful subtleties” Rhetoric in the Poetry of Robinson Jeffers. New York: Peter lang. 1995.
Monjian, Mercedes Cunningham. Robinson Jeffers: A study in Inhumanism. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 1958
Squires, Radcliffe. The Loyalties of Robinson Jeffers. University of Michigan Press, 1956.
Gilbert, Rudolph. Shine, Perishing Republic: Robinson Jeffers and the Tragic Sense in Modern Poetry. New York: Haskell House, 1965.
Zaller, Robert. The Cliffs of Solitude: A Reading of Robinson Jeffers. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1983.
Wallace, Mark. "The Wounded Spirit as the Basis for Hope in an Age of Radical Ecology”. Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2000. 51-72.
McFague, Sallie. “An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have It?”. Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2000.
Jessica Power
Research Paper
3/12/09
In this research paper, the poetry of Robinson Jeffers along with its analysis will help to show his views regarding the spiritual autonomy of animals and nature as well as how it relates to religion. The views that are established will then be compared with contemporary perspectives from Ecological Christianity as defined by Sallie McFague in her article “An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have It?” and Mark Wallace’s “The Wounded Spirit as the Basis of Hope in an Age of Radical Ecology”.
Looking through Jeffers’ many beautiful and reflective poems, many themes arise. One of the most prevalent and reoccurring themes people remark on is his inhumanist outlook on life and society. In Jeffers’ poem “Their Beauty Has More Meaning” he writes:
And when the whole human race/ Has been like me rubbed out, they will still be here: storms, moon, and ocean,/ Dawn and the birds. And I say this: their beauty has more meaning/ Than the whole human race and the race of birds.
It is easy to understand why most people interpret his poems in an inhumanist light. This, however, is a mistake. Although Jeffers openly criticizes man and the civilized world, he does not see it as being inhumanist, but rather anti-anthropocentric. Jeffers argues that man is an animal like any other, and only thinks more highly of himself because of his consciousness. Jeffers goes onto argue that if man wants to truly find himself he needs to look to nature and the world. Radcliffe Squires argues this point in his book The Loyalties of Robinson Jeffers. Squire says Jeffers viewed men as out- of- synch with the natural world and its laws. Because man is distracted by luxuries and personal gains, he has forgotten the original world and is therefore out of harmony with it “He wanted man to deny himself in order to realize himself” (Squire 60, 72). Squire then goes on to say that Jeffers created a path for man to find himself again. He said that by better understanding nature and the world man can finally see his place in it. He can then appreciate his mutual existence with other living beings as part of a larger whole (Squire 126).
Jeffers’ criticisms of mankind also reflect his attitudes towards animals. In his poem “Original Sin”, Jeffers illustrates a scene of cavemen roasting a mammoth alive. He describes the mammoth as suffering at the hands of an ignorant people who were happy to watch him burn.
These are the people./ This is the human dawn. As for me, I would rather/ Be a worm in an apple than a son of man.
Here many would see Jeffers as writing disdainfully of the human race, but in actuality he is not complaining of humans as a whole, but only of peoples’ acts of cruelty, specifically towards animals. That is why in his poem “Hurt Hawks” he says he would rather shoot a man than a hawk. Men are capable of a deeper level of understanding, but can often ignore rational reasoning and act violently and ruthlessly towards the world. In his poems, Jeffers criticizes mans’ behavior and tries to persuade him to act more respectfully to nature. He often does this by enforcing and repeating the fact that although man lives in a society cut off from the natural world, he I still a part of it. He also emphasizes that because man is disconnected to nature, animals have a clearer sense of the natural order of life. Jeffers would argue that man needs to become reconnected to nature and animals because they live life in some ways that humans should. As Robert Zaller put it in his book The Cliffs of Solitude: A Reading of Robinson Jeffers, “The world’s meaning enfolded the meanings of man the way the way earth and sky and ocean enfolded his physical presence, giving him birth, nurture, scope, and rest” (Zaller 225).
Another important aspect to understanding animals’ spiritual autonomy is by seeing Jeffers’ views towards nature, God, and man. In his poems “The Excesses of God” and “The Beauty of Things”, Jeffers acknowledges God as the creator of humans, animals, and nature. He says that God not only created animals, and people but went beyond to show his glory through his works in nature such as waterfalls, sunsets, seashells, and fire. In both poems mankind is a part of nature that has lost its way to “frenzies and passions” and would flow along with nature if it could let go of its distractions.
When it comes to humans and God, Jeffers argues that God can be found in nature and since man is lost in his cities and luxuries he has become disconnected from God. In his poem “Hurt Hawks”, Jeffers says that animals, specifically the hawk, and dying men know God. He therefore sees animals as spiritual agents connected to God. In Rudolph Gilbert’s Shine, Perishing Republic: Robinson Jeffers and the Tragic Sense in Modern Poetry, Gilbert says that in Jeffers’ poems “God walks in the cool of the morning air with Adam and eve among the first flowers, beasts and birds” and that “We look at the grass, the trees, the ever-changing sky through the windows of trains, automobiles, skyscraper offices or city apartments; but we no longer live with these unnatural phenomena” (Gilbert 162). Gilbert also adds later that although Jeffers argued against man and his material nature, he did see all living beings as being connected.
Zaller also emphasizes the point that Jeffers believed man was one with the rest of existence under God, but has become detached from both. In essence God the Father can be found in Mother Earth, but people have turned too inwardly to see it (Zaller 77). Jeffers believed that since God was present in all things, but definable in none man should turn his attention to the world and seek to live in peace with it (Zaller 217).
However Jeffers’ attitudes towards the figure of Jesus and Christianity and the role they play in nature and human life tend to differ to that of the “wild God of the world”. In his poem “Shine, Perishing Republic” Jeffers says that man is a “clever servant” and an “insufferable master” and love for man is a trap that catches people and caught “God when he walked on earth”. Here Jeffers acknowledges God’s human existence through Jesus, but pities Him because he focused more on man than nature and the world as a whole. In his poem “Rock and Hawk” Jeffers says that an emblem that should be looked up to and raised is not the cross or human civilization, but a hawk standing on large mass of stone. Here he argues that religion and society are human inventions that distract from the ultimate goal, which is that of the hawk being one with its surroundings while perceiving the world with “bright power”, “dark peace” and
“fierce consciousness”. Then Jeffers goes a step further in his poem “Advice to Pilgrims” and writes:
Finally I say let demagogues and world-redeemers babble their emptiness to empty ears; twice duped is too much./ Walk on gaunt shores and avoid people; rock and wave are good prophets;/ Wise are the wings of the gull, pleasant her song.
Jeffers finds spiritual affirmation in nature and animals more than in historical religious figures and people offering paths to redemption and salvation.
So how do Jeffers’ views regarding nature, humans, and God compare with modern perspectives on Christian Ecology? Both Sallie McFague and Mark Wallace borrow from Moltmann’s concept of a “crucified God” and apply it to nature and the current state of the environment. In her article “An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have It?”, McFague argues, like Jeffers, that humans have become far too anthropocentric and need to focus more on the environment. However, McFague is more concerned with taking responsibility issues like pollution and deforestation which are directly caused by humans, while Jeffers focuses on nature as being intrinsically good and relatively unaffected by people. McFague argues that since God’s Spirit is in the “spirits of all oppressed” then by seeing the “spirit of the Amazon rainforest” and the “spirits of exploited women and indigenous people” we can conceive that God’s Spirit is present in nature (McFague 33). When Moltmann’s concept of the “crucified God” is then added, we can also see that since God is present in nature he suffers with it. It is therefore mankind’s’ duty towards God to protect and maintain the natural balance of the world (McFague 32, 37).
Mark Wallace argues a similar concept in his article "The Wounded Spirit as the Basis for Hope in an Age of Radical Ecology”. By focusing on the Spirit of God as a healing life force enfleshed by the world that animates all life within it, Wallace claims that the Spirit of God is wounded by acts of damage and abuse to the earth. Both Wallace and McFague’s views provide a religious motivation for people to regard the environment and nature with respect and understanding. However these views do not directly fall in line with Jeffers’ views. Jeffers regarded human’s acts upon the earth, such as war, to be idiotic but natural. He felt that humans would leave their mark on the earth, but it would fade with time and nature would remain a permanent, stable force. And although he saw God in nature, he did not present God as suffering along side it, though maybe at times sympathizing with it. However, if Jeffers was alive today and had come to see the various environmental movements and the facts they raised about the state of the world, his views may have been changed to some degree.
Robinson Jeffers’ poems have been a great contribution to humanity and the world. He helped people to see their place alongside nature and God outside of their inward-facing world. As Gilbert wrote, “We feel joy in knowing that there is something endurable, permanent; something that has not slipped away from us since the beginning of the earth. Jeffers’ nature poetry is of earth and man. He has faith, not in man nor in so-called progress, but in the earth-strong, eternal interchange of birth and death” (Gilbert
156). Jeffers lived a life of freedom in nature that many admire and wish to achieve. Through his poetry and his life we can strive to live in harmony with nature instead of getting caught up in the “bee hive”.
Freedom is poor and laborious; that torch is not safe but hungry, and often requires blood for its fuel./ You will tame it against it burn too clearly, you will hood it like a kept hawk, you will perch it on the wrist of Caesar./ But keep the tradition, conserve the forms, the observances, keep the spot sore. Be great, carve deep your heel-marks/ The states of the next age will no doubt remember you, and edge their love of freedom with contempt of luxury. –Robinson Jeffers, “Shine Republic”
Bibliography
Jeffers, Robinson. Robinson Jeffers: Selected Poems. New York: Vintage. 1965.
Beers, Terry. “… a thousand graceful subtleties” Rhetoric in the Poetry of Robinson Jeffers. New York: Peter lang. 1995.
Monjian, Mercedes Cunningham. Robinson Jeffers: A study in Inhumanism. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 1958
Squires, Radcliffe. The Loyalties of Robinson Jeffers. University of Michigan Press, 1956.
Gilbert, Rudolph. Shine, Perishing Republic: Robinson Jeffers and the Tragic Sense in Modern Poetry. New York: Haskell House, 1965.
Zaller, Robert. The Cliffs of Solitude: A Reading of Robinson Jeffers. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1983.
Wallace, Mark. "The Wounded Spirit as the Basis for Hope in an Age of Radical Ecology”. Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2000. 51-72.
McFague, Sallie. “An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have It?”. Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2000.
posted by Jessica at
12:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home