Spiritual Connection Between People and the Natural World in Poetry
Poets have used nature as a potent instrument to investigate the human experience and to express their ideas about life, love, and death throughout history. Examples of poetry that employs nature to express the poet’s ideas about the human experience include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, John Keats’s collected poems, and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” To analyze the human condition, this article will look at how Shelley, Keats, and Eliot use the strength of nature as a metaphor for emancipation and a source of inspiration. This essay will show how the authors use nature to express a sense of power and freedom and to investigate the spiritual connection between people and the natural world through an analysis of how they use it.
Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s Guilt and Isolation Themes
Since its release in 1818, Mary Shelley’s iconic novel Frankenstein has received a lot of reading and academic attention. The work dealt with guilt and loneliness, was written at the start of the Romantic era, and centers on the tale of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he creates (Botting). This article will examine how Shelley employs these two ideas to direct the storyline and foster a tense, ominous mood.
Victor Frankenstein travels alone in the Arctic after escaping from his creation in the novel’s opening scene, which is loneliness and guilt (Botting). Victor is overtaken with emotion and guilt-ridden thoughts about his product, which immediately clarifies his sense of remorse and solitude. He thinks back on his part in the creature’s creation and how it led to his loved ones’ agony and deaths. As he struggles to accept his role in the creature’s birth, Victor’s feelings of shame and solitude are further explored in the story.
The tale also examines the creature’s emotions of shame and loneliness. The beast is forced to dwell in the bush after being abandoned by his creator, where he is despised and feared by the locals (Botting). The creature constantly faces rejection, mistrust, and hatred despite trying to fit in and find company.
As the beast examines his deeds and tries to comprehend why his creator abandoned him, this sense of shame and solitude is further developed throughout the book (Botting). As the creature and Victor struggle to accept their separate roles in the creature’s birth, guilt and solitude are further emphasized in the book. Victor is overcome with shame and regret as the monster tries to defend his behavior (Botting). This struggle between the two protagonists is further addressed in the book as they work to comprehend one another’s viewpoints and accept their shame and loneliness.
Through symbolism, the story further explores the themes of guilt and loneliness. As Victor faces his inner anguish and the repercussions of his actions, the frigid terrain he travels through is a metaphor for his remorse and loneliness. The creature’s quest for a friend to share his loneliness also represents his attempt to fit in and find friendship (Botting).
The fact that the beast is frequently referred to as a “monster,” which emphasizes his sense of shame and isolation, accentuates this even more. In summary, isolation and guilt are significant elements in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. As the protagonists struggle to accept their respective parts in the creature’s birth, Shelley can evoke a sense of anxiety and dread using symbolism and characterization (Botting). As Victor and the monster try to comprehend one another’s viewpoints and come to grips with their shame and solitude, the themes of guilt and isolation are further explored in the book.
Analyzing the Use of Nature in Selected Poems by John Keats
In his sensual poetry, John Keats, a famous Romantic poet, used nature as a metaphor for the human experience. In his poems, Keats frequently draws inspiration from nature for his reflections on life, love, and death. Keats employs nature to investigate and communicate his thoughts about life, love, and death in a number of his poems, including “Ode to a Nightingale,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” and “To Autumn,” which will all be examined in this essay (Keats).
The use of nature by Keats in his poetry reflects his Romantic sensibility and faith in the creative potential of the mind. According to Romanticism, the spiritual power of nature can be accessed through the imagination. This is evident in Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale,” where he imagines the delight of being able to join the nightingale in its song to escape the suffering of the human world.
“Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget / What thou among the leaves hast never known, the weariness, the fever, and the fret / Here, where men sit and hear each other groan” is what Keats says (Keats, 333). Here, Keats employs the nightingale’s singing to convey his need for release from the suffering of the human condition.
Finally, Keats explores the concept of mortality through nature. In “To Autumn,” Keats explores the idea of death and mortality using imagery from the autumnal season. The author describes the season as a “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun” (Keats 12). This implies that fall is a time of death and renewal as the old season dies and is replaced by the new.
The Power of Nature in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
The idea of nature as an all-pervasive force that can be a calming or overwhelming force is prevalent. The poem says, for instance, “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, / The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” (Eliot, lines 7-8). This striking artwork illustrates how nature can wrap people, giving them a feeling of security and comfort while simultaneously being an uncontrollable, strong force.
In addition, nature is portrayed as a timeless force that causes people to halt and consider their mortality and creative potential. The line “Time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse” (Eliot, line 87) in the poem expresses this thought. This phrase highlights how fleeting life is, representing the opportunity to create and live completely while people still have it. The poem ultimately highlights the ability of nature to comfort and reflect us while also serving as a reminder of our mortality and potential.
Furthermore, Eliot emphasizes the strength of the natural world throughout the poem to convey a sense of power and independence. This is clear from Prufrock’s statement in the last stanza, “When the wind blows the water white and black” (Eliot, line 3). In this passage, Prufrock is allowed to witness nature’s power and experience awe and reverence, as Eliot uses the character to give him a sense of freedom and authority. Prufrock can look up at the oceans and experience a sense of spiritual amazement and wonder, and Eliot uses nature to give him a sense of strength and freedom in this passage.
Eliot emphasizes the dominance of the natural world over humanity to give the poem a sense of power and freedom. This is seen in the poem’s final lines, where Prufrock states, “The evening is spread out / against the sky” (Eliot, line 2).
Prufrock can stare up at the sky and experience a sense of weakness and insignificance in the presence of the natural world, and Eliot uses nature to give him a sense of freedom and power in this passage. As Prufrock can look out and experience awe and reverence for the control of the natural world over humanity, the imagery of the dawn being “spread out against the sky” further suggests a spiritual link between Prufrock and the force of the natural world (Eliot, line 2). Therefore, there is always an interdependence between human beings and their natural environment.
The poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot uses nature as a symbol of freedom and a source of power. Prufrock gazes at the sea and the sky as he experiences wonder and reverence for the natural world’s control over humanity. Eliot uses nature to investigate the human experience. Eliot also highlights the natural world’s superiority over humans to give the poem a sense of strength and independence. Prufrock is given a sense of power and freedom through Eliot’s symbols, enabling him to investigate the human condition in a peaceful and spiritually connected way.
Works Cited
Botting, Fred. Frankenstein: Mary Shelley. Palgrave, 2002.
Eliot, T. S. “The Love Song of j. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot.” Poetry Foundation. Web.
Keats, John. John Keats – Poems – Poem Hunter, 1-583. Web.