From eco-critical lens:
- Talk about how Earth is portrayed as shackled and at the whim of humanity, contrast with anthropocentric views of society – deep ecology
From generic reader lens:
Context: Blake is a romantic poet, thus the tone of the poem tends to be critical of human industrialism/manipulation of environment. Blake also deifies the Earth, further projecting a sense of beauty and importance regarding nature.
“Does the sower? / Sow by night? / Or the plowman in darkness plow?”
- Talk about humans being portrayed as lazy, tending to work in the day and rest at night, or how Blake creates a binary distinction between day and night.
“Starry Jealousy does keep my den / Cold and hoar”
- Humans are portrayed as jealous of nature and its wonders, and thus humanity enslaves nature/the earth, making its beauty diminish to be “Cold and hoar”, i.e. drained, overworked
“Does spring hide its joy / When buds and blossoms grow?”
- Blake adheres to standard romantic-era conventions by making reference to beauty of seasons via strong visual imagery. The audience is further led to explore their own feelings and emotions based on their experiences with nature, i.e. how they see springtime. Using personification to portray spring as feeling “joy / When buds and blossoms grow” informs audiences that the growth and blossoming of nature is beautiful and something that should be enjoyed.
· Literary texts often reflect the tenets of movements at the time. Today my group will be presenting our analysis on William Blake’s “Earth’s Answer”, a 1790 poem detailing a figure alluded to be Earth itself lamenting on being imprisoned by unknown means. Our overall reading is that the poem criticises the greediness of humanity and its misuse of nature’s resources, and humanity’s lack of appreciation of the beauty of nature. I will be analysing through an eco-critical lens, and will comment on how the anthropocentric views of society, both within contextual times and contemporary, result in the degradation of the aesthetic quality of nature, via a negligence of deep ecology in favour for seeing humanity as the superior species.
· Blake describes how Earth as an entity is “Prison’d on watry shore”, and is able to hear the “Selfish father of men”, who Earth labels as “Cruel, jealous, [and] selfish”. Through the use of visual imagery, the audience images a beautiful being of nature at the whim of the greedy humans, who misuse nature for their own benefit. We are further told that “Starry Jealousy does keep my den / Cold and hoar”. Blake implicates humanity as jealous of nature’s beauty and as a result humanity has resorted to extracting and draining nature of it’s vibrant resources. Blake uses visual imagery once again to paint Earth as old and decrepit due to society’s misuse of its resources. Furthermore, the symbolism of describing Earth’s lands as “my den” projects a sense of family, that is Earth sees humanity and other inhabitants as children who share in the land and its resources. Thus Blake describes to audiences the sense of betrayal in that humanity has backstabbed nature for its resources. The audience hears Earth question “Does the sower? / Sow by night?” Once again readers visualise the bright and colourful day contrasted with the dark yet intriguing night, and conclude that humanity rejects nature and its beauty by refusing to experience both day and night. In doing so humanity refutes the concept of deep ecology by neglecting the living beings of the night. Hence, through an eco-critical lens my interpretation is that humanity is portrayed as cruel, greedy and dismissive of nature and it’s beauty while misappropriating nature’s resources for its own benefit.
Imagery:
“I skimmed the smooth thin stone along thy breast”
- The reader sees a youthful individual skipping stones across the river. Strong visual imagery is used to project the river as majestic and dynamic in its flow.
Symbolism:
“Sink the sweet scenes of childhood, that mine eyes / I never shut amid the sunny ray”
- The river is portrayed as a symbol of childhood, innocence, etc. In doing so the river and by extension nature is portrayed in a positive light as a key environmental element as part of a stage in human’s life.
Repetition:
“Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey, / And bedded sand that, veined with various dyes”
- Coleridge gives an exhaustive list of the many features of the river. In doing so the reader imagines the river to be vibrant and colourful with an abundance of intricate subelements that give the river a sense of uniqueness and complexity. Nature is hence conveyed as beautiful in its complexity.
Water motif:
“wild streamlet of the West!”, “Sink the sweet scenes”, “thy waters rise”
- Throughout the poem there is references to water. This symbolises how the river is ever present and flows continuously. Coleridge projects a sense of endurance, indicating that nature is strong and can withstand much resistance.
Structure:
- The structure of the poem is quite like a stream of consciousness, as the narrator expresses their thoughts in a loose, unrefined manner. In constructing the poem as such, Coleridge further alludes to the flow of the river, as the water streams without restraint.
