A View of Nature: The Indigenous to The Transcendental

A View of Nature: The Indigenous to the Transcendental

Jarred Robinson

ENG201: American Literature to 1865

Sharon Waldron

June 8th, 2015

        The use of nature is ubiquitous in American literature. American authors from the colonial period up to the 20th century were surrounded by nature in a way that their forefathers on the European continent hadn’t been in centuries Nature has always been used as a literary element. Whether it is the worship of nature and its necessity for survival, the use of nature to define God, or the finding of God within nature, all revolve around the natural world. The perception of nature, and the world around them, is a key point to the writings of both puritanical and transcendentalist movements. It becomes a comparison when the use of nature takes on different forms for different writers. Nature plays a pivotal role in literature from the early puritan evangelical movement to the transcendentalist movement with each movement influencing the next.

        Imagery using nature was prevalent in the writings of people in colonial America.  In the writings of Jonathan Edwards and the Iroquois nation these authors talk about nature directly, but also use images of nature in their writing. Native American culture is of course completely rooted in the natural world.  The language of the Constitution of the Five Nations uses figurative and literal natural imagery. The world that the Native Americans resided in revolved heavily around nature. “Native American tradition is generally assumed to maintain close and respectful links with Nature, more so than the other religions discussed here; this is undoubtedly due to the overwhelming use of nature as metaphor in the tradition” (Brulatour, 1999). It was the foundation for a society that was dependent upon nature, for not only their mere survival, but for worship as well.

        Native American’s have based their lives upon the whim of nature since their inception into the world. Native American’s deified those things that allowed them to survive, and even thrive for a time. This worship of the natural world was necessary to maintain a symbiotic relationship with the world that fed, clothed, and protected them. This is made evident through The Constitution of the Five Nations, where a reverence for nature is portrayed through the laws that the Iroquois instituted for themselves. “I name the tree the Tree of the Great Long Leaves. Under the shade of this Tree of the Great Peace we spread the soft white feathery down of the globe thistle as seats for you, Adodarhoh, and your cousin Lords” (McMichael & Leonard, 2011, pg. 29). Every aspect of their laws is under the guise that the natural world is of top prominence to the Iroquois people.

        The Constitution of the Five Nations opens with The Great Tree of Peace, with The Great White Roots whose nature is Peace and Strength, and the branches which extend out from this tree and the long leaves. (McMichael & Leonard, 2011 p. 29)  In addition to the references to the tree, the constitution of the Five Nations also mentions fire and wind.  There is a reverence for nature in the Native American culture.  In works by Red Jacket and Black Hawk, the British military and the British colonists are chided by the Native Americans for not comprehending the native way of life.  There is also a foreshadowing in these works.  Looking back, we can see the beginnings of the movements that pushed the Native Americans off their ancestral lands so that the colonists could spread out across the country. Although the European colonists in the 18th century did not look at nature at all in the same way as the Native Americans, the reverence that the Native Americans pay to the natural world around them will be emulated by later American poets like Emerson and Thoreau.

        When we think of the English colonists, we don’t necessarily remember that they were also completely at the mercy of the natural world in their new home.  It was not only the threat of man-born disease, fire and war that could kill the colonists.  The harsh climate, both the too hot summers and the too cold winters, coupled with the colonists’ inexperience farming these new lands would kill them faster than the hostile native peoples.  So the world of nature must always be on the mind of the colonists as well, and color their experiences as much as that of the native peoples. However, the difference can be seen through the opposing views of nature. The Puritans sudden immersion into nature was tempered by their need to shape it to their purpose. They were in direct contention with nature. The Native Americans worshipped nature and viewed it as necessary for survival, but felt no need to destroy or change the natural world. The Native Americans’ relationship to nature was symbiotic, rather than the contentious relationship that the Puritans and nature shared.

        However, unlike the Iroquois, Jonathan Edwards, a prominent figure in the evangelical movement, that included the Puritans, saw nature in a different way. Rather than being a force to be worshiped and deified, Edwards saw nature as a construct of God. God created nature, and therefore putting nature one step removed from God. “Edwards also ordered it and governed it [nature]—in the way that a vice-regent could, that is. Finally, Edwards did all of this in the direction for which this world was created, the glory of the Creator-Redeemer, the glory of the Triune God” (Nichols, 2010). The idea that nature was to be a tool used by man in his machinations that has become the norm was started by Edwards and his sermons. He saw the world as a construct of God, and therefore should be used in every way possible to the glory of God. This is all epitomized by Edwards’ view that man is evil and must be made good by the grace of God.

        Jonathan Edwards’s use of language is integral to understanding his relationship with nature; he talks about men in a ‘natural condition’, which can be interpreted to say that these men have not found God yet. (McMichael & Leonard, 2011 p. 152) Edwards goes on at length about the divine light that people experience when they experience God’s Grace, and how Man’s perception is altered by Grace. (McMichael & Leonard, 2011 p. 155) Edwards also quotes from passages in the Bible that make allusions to nature, like Matthew 3:10 and Genesis 19:17. (McMichael & Leonard, 2011 p. 167)

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