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Final Project

mmorse2 — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:44:59 +0000

Megan Morse

Rough Draft – Enviro. Lit

29, April 2009

As conscious human beings we have the ability to passively observe the world around us as well as actively and deliberately watch aspects of the world in which we live. By observing and watching, many people like Virginia Woolf and Henry David Thoreau find inspiration from the smallest forms of life to the grandest gestures of nature and everywhere in between. Writers like Woolf and Thoreau find their inspiration for “The Death of the Moth” and Walden in nature. They look at and use the ways in which some aspects of life are yet unknown to explore their own lives through the lens that nature provides.

Walking through life, a person is affected by a variety of influences. Writers like Woolf and Thoreau use these influences to help them in their deliberate purpose of learning and writing about that which they do not understand about life and even death. In writing, there is a singular writer who has their own inner thoughts and feelings which are trapped inside an isolated world inside their own head. But at the core of writing there is a need to express one’s inner world to the outside world. Writers must be able to allow one’s self to be influenced by that which surrounds them in order to explain the questions and thoughts that occur on the inside. Many times, what we have not experienced we are unable to understand. By actively watching something we take in information that allows us to make sense of the world around us. Typically, even the most observant person cannot be aware of everything that is going on around them. We cannot be all knowing, but by being active participants we allow ourselves to take in what we can and learn enough to make sense of our own lives in our own way.

In Virginia Woolf’s essay “The Death of the Moth” she writes about a day in which her observation of life led her to hone in on a moth. This moth captures her attention and from then on she says “one could not help watching him” (344) because she is amazed that something so small and insignificant holds the same type of energy as the birds or the people around her also hold. The amazement of the small moth is something that speaks to Woolf as she observes “him” and she begins to apply it to more than just moth-like behavior. By actively observing this moth dying she learns about the ways in which life and death collide. How at one moment we are living and we know that state and then we enter into the unknown world surrounding death.

One of Woolf’s most powerful parts of her essay occurs when she says: “One’s sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life. Also, when there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely” (345). This passage is especially moving because in the life of the moth Woolf realizes the magnitude of life and the even greater force that death must be in order to take away life. Death is something unknown to living things and in Woolf’s inner world she uses the influence of the moth to help her come to terms with her thoughts and views on the powerfulness of death and the unknown that comes with it. Life itself is strange and new everyday but death in itself is altogether unknown by all who live and all who are deceased cannot communicate the feelings of death so a mystery it will always remain.

Thoreau and Woolf differ in the fact that Woolf begins her search for inspiration passively and then gets to the specifics whereas Thoreau starts off with a particular stalking and then releases his mind to allow the waves of inspiration to come to him. This proves that there is no right or wrong way to be inspired. In my own experiences, the best ideas are those that I stumble upon when I am actively thinking about other things. However, this process is different for all people. We can learn about life from many things and in many ways. Scientific research is becoming more aware of this as they are attempting to use smaller forms of life to learn about the lives that we as humans lead. Like Woolf, science is turning to smaller forms of life to observe and watch how the animals respond to different stimuli. While the sympathies are also on the side of life, the research that is being done on small mice and other animals allows us to further our own knowledge about life and death. This becomes a touchy subject because of humane treatment of animals but in some respects it can be our best option as long as life is not harmed in the process.

In our hopes to learn from smaller forms of life we search for inspiration and breakthroughs into the unknown. As science breaks into new ground every day, so too does inspiration in the form of literature and art. From my experience it takes scientific evidence as well as an influence from feeling that writing provides to allow a full understanding of the unknown that we seek answers to. The unknown in life is what causes us to seek inspiration like Woolf and Thoreau do so well. Each of us has our own questions and we seek our answers in different ways but if we share our findings like Woolf and Thoreau were able to do then all are able to benefit on their own path to inspiration.

From passive observation to active watching, inspiration can be found anywhere. When one is open to new elements even the smallest forms of life can be helpful in the writing process. No matter how writers like Virginia Woolf or Henry David Thoreau find inspiration, they use their findings to learn about life and the unknown by applying lessons that they have learned from the outside world to their own inner world. As humans we are blessed with the ability to actively pursue our consciousness and try to share what we make sense of in the world around us. However, we are not autonomous in our learning about the mysteries of life. From nature and other life forms we learn, grow and develop a greater understanding of ourselves based on experieces and findings that nature provides.

Very rough draft

mmorse2 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:58:55 +0000

As conscious human beings we have the ability to passively observe the world around us as well as actively and deliberately watch aspects of the world in which we live. By observing and watching, many people like Virginia Woolf and Henry David Thoreau find inspiration from the smallest forms of life to the grandest gestures of nature and everywhere in between. Writers like Woolf and Thoreau find their inspiration for “The Death of the Moth” and Walden in nature and the ways in which there are aspects of life that are yet unknown to explore through the lens that nature provides for the writers in search of inspiration.

Walking through life, a person is affected by a variety of influences. Writers like Woolf and Thoreau use these influences to help them in their deliberate purpose of learning and writing about that which they do not understand about life and even death. In writing, there is a singular writer who has their own inner thoughts and feelings and is trapped inside an isolated world inside their own head. But at the core of writing there is a need to express one’s inner world to the outside world. Writers must be able to allow one’s self to be influenced by that which surrounds the writer in order to explain the questions and thoughts that occur on the inside. Many times what we have not experienced we are unable to understand. By actively watching something we take in information that allows us to make sense of the world around us. Typically even the most observant person misses something that is happening, we cannot be all knowing, but by being active participants we allow ourselves to take in what we can and learn enough to make sense of our own lives in our own way.

In Virginia Woolf’s essay “The Death of the Moth” she observes the day that she is experiencing and eventually hones in on a specific moth. This moth captures her attention and from then on she says “one could not help watching him” (344) because she is amazed that something so small and insignificant holds the same type of energy as the birds or the people around her also hold. The amazement of the small moth is something that speaks to Woolf as she observes “him” and she begins to apply it to more than just moth-like behavior. By actively observing this moth dying she learns about the ways in which life and death collide. How at one moment we are living and we know that state and then we enter into the unknown world surrounding death.

Woolf describes the moth and its actions “as if someone had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zig-zagging to show us the true nature of life” (344). The beauty of her essay is how she is able to find inspiration about a generalized version of life through something as small as a moth. This goes to prove that inspiration can be found through even the smallest form of life. While a moth is not typically considered beautiful Woolf finds beauty not in his physical build of the moth but rather his dance like movements and the beauty of life itself that it represents.

In my life I find that inspiration comes at random intervals. Like the moth I find myself inspired to relate my experiences to that which I see around me. While often times it is in the differences between me and what I am watching that I learn the most, it is also in the unknown that my thoughts are able to roam and explore potential options for the answers to my many questions. As humans we seem to be of a questioning nature and as a writer looking for inspiration, Virginia Woolf is able to take what she sees as a pure bead of life and search for answers to her most pressing questions of life and death. As she also finds with her questions of death, our questions are not always answered and we must accept the unknown aspects of our life and take them as they come. This does not mean that the unknown is not a heavy weight on our minds but through acceptance we allow ourselves to live in the moment and appreciate what we do know for sure.

Proposal

mmorse2 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:13:25 +0000

Megan Morse

Final Project – Environmental Lit

I want to use this project to look at the ways in which environmental writers look at basic life by way of observing and attempting to relate to animals that they encounter in the animals natural habitat. Writers like Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, Thoreau, and Annie Dillard take time to observe insects and wonder at their ways of being. David Abram also goes on to explore the ways in which magic plays a role in our observations on life and the ways in which we can only guess as to what compels insects and other animals to live the way they do. For my project I would like to spend a bit more time reading Virginia Woolf’s essay “The death of the moth” as well as Nabokov’s essay “Butterflies” and use my previous knowledge while also reviewing further the works of Dillard and Thoreau.

I would like to learn these author’s ways of observing and their views on the basic elements of life that make up the bigger cycle of life and death in nature. Most of these authors use both the scientific as well as poetic devices to describe the phenomenon of life and death as they attempt to make sense of the meaning behind the life that they observe in such animals. I feel strongly that I will find some aspect of each writers scientific thought process in which they have found more of a mystery that can only be described through poetry and feeling. I would like to explore the ways in which they go beyond science and accept the literary to further their knowledge of a particular animal and a particular feeling that they get from observation. I believe there is power in the poetic aspects of environmental writing that writers like Virginia Woolf and company explore so well. I feel that this power is often overlooked by more science driven minds that seek firm and concise answers to questions that at times may more border on the abstract and have more meaning when felt rather than learned.

While this is just my initial assessment of the situation with my view on environmental writing I hope that I can find evidence of my thought process and I think the research that will be required will be the point at which I struggle. This might be too vague of a topic but it was my initial thought when presented with the assignment and I thought I would attempt to explore it further and I am confident I will come out with some kind of conclusion at the end.

With no hope of snakes

mmorse2 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:53:03 +0000

While I understand the desire to look for wildlife in the city, and I do think that is a cool thing to do because it is rare to see something so removed from what one would typically associate with an animal’s natural habitat, I would say that I walk around with the hope of finding no snakes, much like indiana jones. I remember being a young child and coming across a black snake at my grandparents house and crying to my grandfather because I was so scared of it. I have no idea why snakes scare me or why I am not a fan, but I think it is something like we talked about in class today, they are sneaky and you don’t know they are there and then they pop up and you wonder where they have been. This is probably why they can be found almost anywhere even in suburbs because they go around unnoticed for so long but i do think that most people’s natural reaction is one of fear. Maybe we just don’t understand the snakes. Also going with what we talked about in class today along the lines of anthropomorphism I think I fall into the trap of associating animals like snakes with negative characteristics that they don’t even have as animals but it is simply me projecting an image of human characteristics to the animal. I think it is easy to do especially with snakes with all the biblical images that are represented with the snake figure. Snakes have had a bad rep from the start and I just think I’d rather live in Ireland where St. Patrick has driven them all away.

Magic

mmorse2 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:24:18 +0000

In David Abram’s essay “The Ecology of Magic” he discusses the ways in which we interact with different spirits on a daily basis and how the spirits of animals and that of humans are sharing the same realm yet we all have different experiences on earth. My favorite quote was

“we live our own bodies and so know, from within, the possibilities of our form. We cannot know with the same familiarity and intimacy, the lived experience of a grass snake or a snapping turtle…”

In this i was able to think about the ways in which science tries to analyze the way animals do certain things and the lack of credit that we give to such amazing actions. But it also made me think about how science can only go so far once again. While we can observe the hummingbird it is impossible to know the small bird as intimately as we know our own species. Human beings cannot be the only complex animal on this planet yet we assume so because we do not know the ways and reasons of other species, we can only guess. I am just amazed by the way in which Abrams is able to find this observation and then go on to say how much we can learn from such animals and while we can never know their full purpose we can take what they do and use it for our benefit and maybe learn something that was previously unknown by the human world.

Paper 2

mmorse2 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:37:16 +0000

In “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” by Annie Dillard she writes as she views the world. Throughout the novel she takes a scientific stance on the way in which the nature she sees functions. While Dillard’s writing often focuses on the scientific it also crosses into the poetic from time to time. By allowing poetry to take over where science leaves off, Dillard shows that while many things can be explained by science, there are aspects of nature that can only be explained through the feelings and expressions which are better shown from a literary perspective. In this way, Dillard echoes the voice of Thoreau and other environments writers that attempt to explain the unexplainable in the natural world around them.

From the very beginning of the novel Annie Dillard takes a scientific view of nature. By using facts and historical stories of animals and effects of nature she studies the world around Tinker Creek. In this sense she is able to make nature a very commonly understood theme within her novel. However, in her writing she also ventures into the poetic side of nature which suggests that her vision of nature is that it cannot all be proven and scientific but that there is a significant part of nature that is expressed through feeling and emotion. Her descriptions of animals and insects are typically scientific and very factual. But, in her graphic description of a praying mantis giving birth there is also an element of the unknown that is easier to explain using poetic and literary terms that evoke feeling and acceptance of that which we do not understand. Towards the end of her writing, Dillard ventures into the religious side of how nature affects people further explaining her vision in environmental writing. Dillard seems to be aware in her writing of the popular saying that “science only goes so far.” As a writer she seems to feel compelled to explain in detail what she sees and what she knows about her particular subject of the day whether it is an insect or a cat jumping on her in the middle of the night. With her use of detail she goes beyond basic literature and classifies herself among environmental writers such as Thoreau and Emerson.

Much like Thoreau in “Walden”, Dillard’s novel is driven by imagination and experiences. But unlike Thoreau, Dillard does not project her imagination onto her subjects. Dillard’s imagination appears in different aspects of her writing other than her observations of animals but rather in her exploration of the unknown. Especially in regards to insects and animals comparisons may be drawn between Dillard and Thoreau. Dillard tends to state factual evidence about the creatures whereas Thoreau states what he sees and compares it to human nature and imagines what he thinks his subjects are doing. Imagination comes into Dillard’s writing also in her thoughts on things such as light and human interactions with nature. Dillard is also similar to Thoreau in her wandering thoughts. She goes from talking about squirrels to taking about the oatmeal she ate for breakfast all in seemingly the same thought process. Factual Evidence, imagination, humor and exploration are all similarities between the two writers however, their style does contrast in many ways. The ways in which they ultimately reach their vision of nature make them who they are both as writers and environmentalists.

Dillard’s vision of nature seems to come from the ways in which she is able to interact with the setting around her. She seems in awe of nature and what it is able to do on its own. This vision comes through in the way in which she discovers and writes about her discoveries in an almost childlike manner. Dillard’s vision also is of a questioning nature. She states that there are things that she cannot even explain. She often finds that sometimes in her research and observations that there are no answers and that nature has aspects to it that cannot be scientifically proven but rather that she must accept the unknown and must learn to appreciate life for the mysteries as well as the science behind it. At the very beginning of her novel Dillard discusses that which she is unsure about by saying; “We don’t know what is going on here. If these tremendous events are random combinations of matter run amok, the yield of millions of monkeys at millions of typewriters,…”(Tinker Creek; 11). This is her first introduction to an acceptance of a higher power that the reader sees develop over the course of the text in her own way of defining and understanding the unknown. She says that this concept of what the reader sees as her version of a higher power is “taking a wider look”. In taking a wider look she defines what she can and observes the darkness that she cannot explain with words. This is where her environmental writing is supplemented with aspects of poetry to better evoke the feeling that nature provides that cannot be defined in terms or learned from books and years of study.

Grizzly Man

mmorse2 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:38:40 +0000

Watching Grizzly Man in class today made me think. We were all laughing at points because to us he’s insane but really he hits on some true statements in his craziness. The revision part of his documentary was like we said a lot like Thoreau and other writers that consciously edit their work his was just in a different format. Watching that movie made me think about how his craziness is both a liberating experience as well as a trapped one. In once sense he goes off every whim he feels and can do or say whatever he wants because in his mind he’s really accomplishing something worthwhile. He said when he was in his tent with his teddy bear “This is my life. This is what I do.” Some people hate what they do and see no point in it at all. He sees his purpose and he fights everyday in his mind to life by that purpose. But on the other hand, is he really protecting these bears? Is he really living? Many people would say that no he is not really living because he in not contributing to a human society. But what about a Bear’s society? I doubt he is really contributing to their society either, just simply observing and running-a-muck on the flood plains of Alaska. But I think in the end he does inevitably contribute to the greater understanding of these mystic beings. By bringing our human society together with the society of the bears and in his insanity he was free to be himself and live his life the way he wanted to even if he went against everyday rules and laws. I don’t really know what I am trying to say but maybe it gives me hope that there is something out there to be passionate about and even if its “crazy” there is still value in the insanity. Not that I will be doing anything legally insane anytime soon… but to go out of the lines every once in a while might have some value in it.

Reading like Thoreau

mmorse2 — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:26:38 +0000

The beauty of Walden without a doubt is the nature of the setting. Away from civilization and into the wild a common paradoxical theme arises and one gets the feeling that only in nature is the world ever-changing but still the-same In an encroaching modern society we see change on a daily basis and new ground is broken everyday into new horizons. However, in nature every day there is a new horizon to look upon and it is still basically the same as it has been for generations. Within the nature surrounding Walden Pond, Thoreau is able to use a blank canvas and remove himself from the everyday fast paced civilization and return to something inherently continuous and still at the same time. Removed from the town’s unfamiliar changes and thrown into the cycles of the changing seasons of nature and the familiar feeling of going back to one’s roots, Thoreau connects with his creativity by coming to terms with the past, the present, and the future in nature.

The very phrase “going back to one’s roots” is at the core of Thoreau’s writing in Walden. If we think of the phrase in terms of a tree, going down to the roots of a tree means to go back to the beginning. While these roots are the same as when the tree was a sapling, they are now bigger and more expansive. Yet the same tree stands in the same forest. Even when that tree dies, another tree will grow from the remains of the old. Going back to the roots of nature, Thoreau sees that unlike “civilization” the changes within nature are never new changes and he feels the history of the past and opens his mind to the stories that nature can provide.

In the chapter “The Ponds”, Thoreau says “But the pond has risen steadily for two years, and now, in the summer of ’52, is just five feet higher than when I lived there, or as high as it was thirty years ago.” This passage shows the essence of nature. It has been this way before and if left to its own devices it will be the same in years to come. While Thoreau notices the changing of the seasons he also recognizes that to the naked eye nature stays the same to an outside observer. It is only to the person that is fully enveloped in nature that will be able to notice the small changes that occur naturally. Thoreau talks about going west to seek the wild and escape civilization because inspiration lives in the wilderness and is not confined within parlors and villages that feel like cages to the creative soul. In another passage in Walden, Thoreau says

Though the woodchoppers have laid bare first its shore and then that, and the Irish have built their sites by it, and the railroad has infringed upon its border, and the ice-men have skimmed it once, it is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes fell on; all the change is in me (Walden 132)

In this Thoreau shows the consistency of nature and the inconsistency of human beings. So much can be done by humanity around the lake; however, as long as there is water in the pond it will be the same as it has always been. The consistency of nature is what Thoreau is able to use as a creative outlet in his time spent at Walden Pond. Nature can never be at a standstill, yet it will never vastly change without outside influence. Therefore, it allows inspiration through living and observing as well as through growing and the passing of time and the cycles that continue throughout the seasons. The pond itself changes over the years but not as much as it changes Thoreau and the people who encounter it.

While Thoreau only spends two years at Walden Pond and some imagine him staying longer. Some may also say that two years is enough time to experience all that nature has to offer. One can experience the seasons once and then the second time around be able to more fully appreciate them because nothing will be a surprise. The leaves will change and the water will rise and fall and in its consistency one is able to describe everything with more detail and get past the initial beauty and see what is underneath and hidden from plain sight.

It seems that often in Walden Thoreau revels in the cycle of the seasons and the world around him. In the chapter “The Bean-Field”, he “rejoices” in not only his crop but the weeds that feed the birds and he sees the greater picture of the circle of life in his simple bean field. He is able to climb a tree and see new views of trees he has passed and viewed everyday from a different angle. The simplicity of life within nature allows the senses to be open and Thoreau experiences this through the acknowledgement of generations before him and the fact that nature will be there (if humans allow it to) for generations to come.

We spoke in class about how reading Walden does not give a reader a picture of Concord, Massachusetts. However, I would argue that Thoreau is not seeking to describe only Walden Pond specifically but rather nature and the profound effect that it can have on a person. In his writing Thoreau uses Walden not only in a conventional sense as a simple setting but interacts with it like one would with another person or character. People tend to leave an impact on other people when they become familiar with one another. Nature becomes a character within Thoreau’s writing that makes an impact on both his life and his writing. In turn Thoreau leaves his small marks on the nature surrounding Walden Pond. In the chapter “Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors” Thoreau discovers a lilac that does not belong. It is a sign of a previous visitor that left his or her mark many years ago. This is a great example of the cycles that are found all throughout Walden. A generation leaves its mark and nature brings it into its natural state and it becomes part of something bigger than a simple lilac plant, it becomes simply nature.

Throughout Walden, Thoreau is mesmerized with our effect on nature and in turn nature’s effect on us. At first glance he seems to say that nature is a constant unchanging force in a constantly changing world. On the surface this seems to be true, however when one immerses oneself within nature like Thoreau intimate changes can be observed. More like a character than a setting, Walden Pond allows Thoreau to know it intimately and through his writing and journaling the outside world gets to know not only the world surrounding Walden pond but a generic and amazing nature that is often overlooked by the outside civilization.

mmorse2 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:16:22 +0000

When I think about journal writing I immediately think of when I was a young girl and would attempt to write down all the scandalous details of my sheltered pre-teen life, and then how I would come back and re-read what I had written months later and then proceed without fail to rip out every page because God forbid someone would come across my journal and read it. Sometimes when reading Thoreau’s journals and I need to lighten the mood I think of him in this way. I tend to tune out the fact that these journals are intended to be “deliberately” written and will eventually become Walden. The reason I am able to think of Thoreau as a pre-teen girl is because I can see the emotions that change within each entry and somehow those emotional entries had to be cut down and pieces ripped out in order to form a more formal writing style within Walden.

A particular passage that I saw a temper tantrum brewing in was the journal entry in which Thoreau seems frustrated with everyday life and what has come to be known as custom. The footnote says that this was after Thoreau had been arrested and while I have never been arrested Thoreau’s “I love mankind I hate institutions of their forefathers –” is something that I do not need to be thrown in jail to understand.

If only my rants were as well thought out and articulated maybe I would not have ripped out so many pages of my journal back in the day. While it seems that this particular passage was excused from formal entry within Walden, I do see traces of “Better are the physically dead for they more lively rot.” within the final text. So… I still think it is funny to think of Thoreau returning to his journal and thinking about his audience and ripping and editing his entries to tone down the emotion on some level.

Tasting the sweet fruit

mmorse2 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:04:29 +0000

“The fruits do not yield their true flavor to the purchaser of them, nor to him who raises them for the market. There is but one way to obtain it, yet few take that way. If you would know the flavor of huckleberries, ask the cow-boy or the partridge. It is a vulgar error to suppose that you have tasted huckleberries who never plucked them”

In this excerpt from Walden, Thoreau addresses not only the flavor of a huckleberry but the flavor of life. To understand the true meaning of something you must come to terms with it on your own time and in your own way. You cannot purchase or sell the things in life that really matter. You cannot fully enjoy the spirit of life if you do not discover for yourself how it became so. The cow-boy and the partridge are the ones that truly understand the flavor and wonder of a huckleberry because they get them from their natural source. Like before when climbing a tree, true realizations come naturally and occasionally if you just look around.

Sometimes I wonder if Thoreau agrees with college life. I know it sounds crazy but does this passage not remind you that we are paying so much for our four years here? Learning does not come easy to many people and sometimes I find that I have learned more from my peers by just talking with them and seeing their point of view than I have from my professors who lecture and test in certain areas. Is this not sweeter? To live in a community of your peers and learn about life by living it rather than by buying books and listening to lectures. Maybe this is just my senior year stress talking but I would love to live in a time where apprenticeship was still in practice, granted in a modern reinvented way, but apprenticeship none the less. I love to learn by doing and and observing I see value in making something and being able to use what you have made to make life easier for yourself.

Again, Thoreau brings out my imagination of an idealized world. Let us climb trees and learn from the world and people around us. Not from a second or third degree source. Maybe this is not what Thoreau is actually saying because in other cases his love of learning through books and lecturing is evident but I think he also sees some value in observing life (the village) and tasting a berry fresh off a vine out in the wild where berries are meant to be grown and happened upon one in a while by the cow-boy and the partridge.