Dilated Sight: A Vision of a New Cultural Identity

The United States, though young by the standards of civilizations, has already accumulated a rich literary tradition. Over the span of its 230 years as an independent nation, it has produced a canon of literature as diverse and varied as the minds from which it sprang. However, common to virtually all of the early American writers that defined the nation's early literary tradition is an appreciation for and fascination with Nature. This interest in the natural world that surrounded writers such as Thoreau, Whitman, Emerson, Freneau, and Bryant, was grounded in the national passion for the physical beauty of this relatively newfound America, and its capability to instill in mankind a reverence and a silent awe. It was this sensation, and the impression that through Nature, one might glimpse the Divine, that drove so many early writers to set pen to paper, thereby defining American literature for years to come.

Though the bulk of the nation's earliest, best-known writers shared an interest in Nature, regardless of the historical period in which they wrote, each had a unique vision and a fascination with different facets of the natural world. For instance, early American writers, such as Freneau and Bryant, who wrote when much of the nation was as yet undiscovered, and shrouded in mystery and romance, were concerned with different aspects of Nature than later, more contemporary writers such as Whitman, or Dickinson. For instance, Philip Freneau's writing is often political in Nature, as evident in his poem, "On the Emigration to America and Peopling the Western Country." In this poem, Freneau addresses the contrast between the Old World of England, and its despotic rule under a monarchy and the New World, a land he perceives to be as rife with opportunity as it is with life: "What wonders there shall freedom show, / What mighty states successive grow!" (Freneau, lines 5-6).

Freneau was a known political activist. Therefore, it is fitting that his interest lies in the nation's vast and virginal beauty, stretching Westward, unsullied by men and unfettered by the corrupt practices of kings and princes that so many immigrants fled. Freneau describes the beauty of the new nation, and its newfound freedom, through the perspective of a fictional traveler: "Forsaking kings and regal state, / With all their pomp and fancied bliss, / The traveller owns, convinced though late, / No realm so free, so blest as this" (Freneau, lines 43-46). In Freneau's mind, the beauty of the new nation is not to be found entirely in its outward, sensory manifestation, but also in its implications for immigrants to it. In its freedom from the perceived tyranny of the monarchs of Europe, and its opportunity to start anew, America seemed to Freneau a bright and beautiful land.

William Cullen Bryant shared a vision of the nation's beauty similar to that of Freneau, in that each held a common interest in the vast and untouched wilderness of America. This interest is exemplified by Bryant's poem, "The Prairies," in which Bryant describes at length the sublime beauty of the American prairie land: "I behold them for the first, / And my heart swells, while the dilated sight / Takes in the encircling vastness" (Bryant, lines 4-6). The poem describes, in images of great beauty that parallel the style of Wordsworth and Coleridge in their almost Romantic bent, the sheer scale and sensual power of the American landscape.

However, Bryant's writing is not entirely anchored in the physical; his poetry lingers in the realm of the metaphysical as well. He explores, in his poem, "Thanatopsis," the ability of Nature to enable mankind to better cope with its own mortality. "Thanatopsis" means, literally, "meditation on death," in Greek (McQuade, 454). The poem proves to be worthy of its namesake; Bryant leads readers along a metaphysical exploration of the nature of death, and the capacity of the beauty of natural forms to ease the fears of one's inevitable departure from life "with a mild / And healing sympathy, that steals away / Their sharpness" (Bryant, lines 6-8). Thus, for Bryant, the value of Nature extends far beyond that of aesthetic beauty to serve as a spiritual guide in times of duress.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, yet another leading literary figure of his time, also wrote prolifically on the subject of Nature. In fact, one of his most renowned essays, itself entitled "Nature," dealt with man's relation to nature, urging readers to live simply, and in harmony with the natural world. Emerson's writing was also unique in that it was among the first to identify man as an intrinsic part of nature, not merely a separate race that was, though capable of appreciating and enjoying it, still set apart from it: "In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature" (Emerson, 489). That is not to say that Emerson did not recognize or place emphasis upon the external beauty of Nature; on the contrary, as did his predecessors, Emerson valued the propensity for the natural world to bring peace and contentment to mankind, "a pleasure arising from outline, color, motion, and grouping" (Emerson, 490). However, Emerson transcends the merely aesthetic, and alludes toward the spiritual boon of natural beauty, going so far as to assert that "a nobler want of man is served by nature, namely, the love of Beauty" (Emerson, 490).

Walt Whitman, a contemporary of Emerson, is almost undisputedly the chief American voice in regard to Nature. Whitman's poetry, most notably his "Leaves of Grass," is a celebration of all things natural. Through his literature, he sought to share with the world his exhilaration with life, and his unsullied, uncomplicated love of Nature and his fellow man; for Whitman, as hinted at by Emerson, the two were truly inextricable. Man was Nature and Nature, man. In his writing, he did not shy away from that which was considered vulgar, or shocking, but rather embraced it. In Whitman's words, "a perfect writer would make words sing, dance, kiss, do the male and female act, bear children... or do anything that man or woman or the natural powers can do" (McQuade, 1148). He loved the human body and its natural processes, and all things libidinal, referring to the scent of his own armpits as "finer than prayer" (Whitman, line 525). As a result of his unfaltering openness, Whitman frequently shocked his contemporaries. However, he was not deterred by criticism, and it is this very confidence in his work that secured him a place at the head of the nation's literary canon.

Henry David Thoreau, a contemporary of both Emerson and Whitman, and lifelong friend to the former, was a staunch believer in living in simplicity and harmony with Nature. His writing reflects this predilection, most notably in his essay, "Walden." Thoreau not only reflected this ideology through his works, but also lived it in his day-to-day life. He preferred not to busy himself with the trivial, day-to-day affairs of civilization, saying that he is sure that he "never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter - we never need read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?" (Emerson, 650). His preference for the simple life was further revealed by his dwelling on Walden Pond in order to immerse himself in the wilderness, and live a lifestyle steeped in the nature and the values he cherished. In fact, Thoreau was in the custom of literally immersing himself in Nature, as he literally plunged into the pond each morning, to awaken himself fully and embrace the day.

It is through the works of brilliant literary minds such as Freneau, Bryant, Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau that American literature came to be so defined. It is through their unique vision of the natural world that the American literary canon came to be marked by such a rich and diverse appreciation for the beauty and value of Nature as both pleasing to sight, and a spiritual guide. Through the labor and "dilated sight" of these select few, the fledgling American nation found its own voice to distinguish itself from its European predecessors, and further establish its distinct cultural identity.

Works Cited

McQuade, Atwan, et.al., eds. The Harper Single Volume American Literature. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1999.