On W oods in American Literary Works

萬艷梅 譚 暉

(武漢市新洲區李集中學)

On W oods in American Literary Works

萬艷梅 譚 暉

(武漢市新洲區李集中學)

1.Introduction

With the rapid development of internationization and social economy,men become far away from nature and more and more alien to nature.In cities and metropolitans,anxiety,tension,and exhaustion are becoming the common disease of industrialization.Under such circumstances,it is of great necessity to read American literary works that describe woods and forests,so as to find the lost self in the industrialized society and to seek spiritual health.In the following part,we’ll make a comparison among their works and the images that the woods in theirworks represent.

2.Emerson and W oods in HisW orks

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25,1803-April 27,1882)was an American essayist,philosopher and poet,best remembered for leading the transcendentalistmovement of the early 19thcentury.He is considered one of the greatoratorsof the time,Emerson’senthusiasm and respect forhisaudienceenraptured crowds.

Thinkme notunkind and rude,

That Iwalk alone in grove and glen;

Igo to the god of the wood

To fetch hisword tomen.

Tax notmy sloth that I

Fold my arms beside the brook;

Each cloud that floated in the sky

Writes a letter inmy book.

Chideme not,laborious band,

For the idle flowers Ibrought;

Every aster inmy hand

Goes home loaded with a thought.

Therewas nevermystery,

But’tis figured in the flowers,

Was never secret history,

Butbirds tell it in the bowers.

One harvest from thy field

Homeward brought the oxen strong;

A second crop thine acres yield,

Which Igather in a song.

Thiswas a pastoral lyric poetry.The poet communicated with woods in the first three sentences.A person went along the woods and valleys-his arms overlapped with leisurely flowers.However,in section II,it was another scene.A person in the woods and valleys who was loiteringwas the conductof solitary wilddoing nothing to stand on a small river are distracted performance-an old man threw away an wildflowers.Through the pros and cons of such a description,the author revealed that different person had the different views toward the close relationship between the person and nature.At Emerson’s thought,the respect for nature was an important element.The author believed that as long as human beings’listening to the voice of nature,following nature’s law,people and nature would be integrated.In Section IV it revealed the defendant conclusion：the secret was here.And then he turned to tell the world the secret that was the birds could sing the secrets of theworld.Yes,Nature contained endless rules and secret.We had to deepen into nature in order to find true self.

3.Thoreau and His Nature View

Henry David Thoreau(born David Henry Thoreau;July 12,1817-May 6,1862)was an American author,poet,naturalistcritic,surveyor,historian,philosopher,and leading transcendentalist.He is best known for his book Walden,a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings.

The work First detailed the description the natural environment and the author’s life in Walden.The theme of the book lied in the restoration of human spirituality.Thoreau stayed in the forest alone,and he can calmly observe the society.He found people all day long were busy with the endless pursuit of wealth,and unconsciously,they had been alienated by thematerial and became a slave to wealth,and ultimately he forgot the true meaning of survival.At the beginning of the book,the authorwrote：

I do not propose to write an ode to dejection,but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning,standing on his roost,if only to wakemy neighbors up.

（Thoreau,2004,p116）

A rooster heralding the break of day,the authors attempted to use his own experience in the forest to wake up the sleepy people with the rich spiritual life,to get rid of the monotonous,boring and mediocre life and pursuit the perfect spiritual world,and live a more meaningful life.In the second chapter where I lived and what I lived for,the authors

教育研究與應用describe thismorning’s shower in the forest：Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity,and Imay say innocence,with nature herself.I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeles.Igot up early and bathed in the pond that was religious exercise,and one of the best things Idid.

(Thoreau,2004,p122)

4.M yth-Archetype Criticism

“Myth” in its most ordinary meaning refers to stories of gods or other supernatural beings handed down from ancient times.The word “archetype,” according to Jung,was much used in ancient Greek,archémeaning“root” and “origin” while typos “pattern” or“model.” Themodern conceptof the archetype appeared in the late nineteenth century,referring to the recurring literary phenomena such asmotifs,themes,and narrative designs.

As archetypes usually include myths,so“archetypal criticism” is often used for myth and archetypal criticism.The unconscious,in this sense,is divided into two parts,namely,the personal or the superficial layer of the unconscious,and the supra personal or the deep layer,which is the collective unconscious.The later is much more universal in nature as it represents the primordial types of man’s primitive instincts.

5.A Comparison of the Above Authors

5.1 The similarities between the nature view of Emerson and Thoreau

Emerson and Thoreau’s view of nature were of Transcendentalism.Emerson believed that the universe was the combination of the soul of nature and people.People should be in harmony with nature through the soul.Only close to the natural feelings of nature,the human soul can only be realized the value of surviving.Thoreau and Emerson believed that the spirit of nature was the creation of the universe,and nature and the human spirit are interlinked.Human beings are an integral part of nature,and man and nature must be close tomankind.So Thoreau neighbored with ani-mals and birds as partners,but also survived in such a harmony with each other.Squirrels,birds in his room or in front of the house were in search of food,wild or even sit up in his hand,eating amouthful of cheese in his hand after,and then left.

5.2 Differences between Emerson and Thoreau’nature view

Although Emerson and Thoreau all advocated nature,the nature that they described can be not the same.Ralph Waldo Emerson observed a rational nature,and he naturally adopted await-and-see attitude,while Thoreau was the natural advocate ofa near-wild nature.Therefore Thoreau emphasized the participation and personal experience of nature,which exerted a strong passion to join thewilderness.

6.Conclusion

Through the above analysis,we easily saw that as far as Emerson was concerned this image of the woods appeared to be a symbol of the integration of spiritual and material world,and Thoreau’s description of this image had risen to a higher level,which meant the spirit of regeneration.The prototype not only had positive meaning,but also negative meaning.The images of the above ones just built a structure of prototype with many layers.In the layers the surface infiltrated the natural.In other words,the same images that the meanings deconstructed were like a primeval forest,which had giant trees,bush,grass,where various forms can co-exist,and they remained unchanged for long time to come.They have one thing in common that was they are in a natural surrounding.In today’s era technology changed rapidly,and society continued to advance.At leisure time,it was really enlightening to consider such deep meaning of the image.

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Emerson,the representative of transcendentalism,published his collection of poems in 1847,which mainly dealtwith the concern over the nature.Thoreau,also amember of transcendental club,held that itwas only when people lived in the nature that he found his inner spirit in his novelWalden Pond,or the forestof life published in 1854.Though these authorsdescribed thewoodsdifferently,the imageswere in the same system.

American literature nature view forestwoods