Nature's Burden: Mankind's Desire to Control Nature

The theme of control has been a longstanding keynote in the history of mankind: humans enjoy the topic of control just as well as they enjoy being in control. For a time, authors like William Blake and William Wordsworth have struggled to set nature ahead of the destructive attitude and institutions of mankind, this being the fundamental principle in many of their pro-nature poems.

Gerard Hopkins, a Victorian poet, often touched on the theme of man controlling and pillaging nature, because he found it to be a malicious jeer at God; nature, to him, being God's gift to man. In contrast, Blake and Wordsworth would have seen nature as an entity in and of itself, perhaps devoid of God, perhaps God embodied, but beautiful all the same. Strangely enough, here lies an instance where a Victorian author (Hopkins) ascents to a Romantic sentiment, which concerns the oppressive hand of man against nature. Though the Victorian Period was a reaction against the nature-bound inclination of the Romantics with a return to human righteousness, Gerard Hopkins, a Victorian poet, would agree with Blake and Wordsworth, Romantic poets, that mankind is bent on controlling nature.

Wordsworth, in his poem "Nutting", explored man's loss of innocence due to his own selfishness, this being the catalytic trait that encourages the need to control. Though the speaker in the poem destroys the "quiet being" (l. 47) of the natural setting, he seems scarred by his attack on nature. At the end, he claims, "...there is a spirit in the woods" (l. 55), as if to acknowledge the realization that he had raped or damaged a living creature, a spirit worthy of much more than such violent disrespect. The poem, at the beginning, develops the contentment and pleasure that is derived from being amidst the beauty and serenity of a specific place in the forest.

He referred to it as "A virgin scene" (l. 20): a view that's untainted by human interference, a naked virgin, the tender earth, lay before him. While "nutting", a term that refers to picking nuts and eating them, the speaker discovers a location that he finds most enjoyable. After he espies a figure approaching, some psychotic episode of jealousy overwhelms him, and he begins tearing down branches, wiping clear the peace that once before existed. This event clearly defines the scope of human insecurity and, therefore, a desperate need to control. The speaker seems enraged at the prospect that someone else might enjoy this place just as he has. He finds that he has the power to change that: to control it.

Similarly, Gerard Hopkins claimed "The world is charged with the grandeur of God" ("God's Grandeur", l. 1) and, therefore, should be respected as a gift from God. Though the often non-religious, but deeply spiritual, perspective of Blake and Wordsworth may have accredited nature's existence more, the theme is still paralleled: nature deserves respect and attention. Hopkins' common comparison, particularly in the poem "God's Grandeur", is that God will punish those who do not respect his gifts. For example, the following lines:

"It [God's Grandeur] will flame out, like shining from shook foil" (l. 2).

He implies here that God's power is just as beautiful as it is graceful and furthermore may strike out. Why would men then "reck [heed] his rod" (l. 4), as if to say how ironic, amusing, that man listens after he has been struck down. In any case, "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod", stamping on the earth without consideration of its relevance to God, "And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil" (ll. 5-6). The capital-driven consumption and trading of man, spread globally, has trampled the grass to death and "the soil is now bare" (ll. 7-8). The main argument is pro-nature, like Blake and Wordsworth, while being pro-God in the same respect. This is hinged primarily on the concept that God's gift is something that should be taken care of and treasured which is in contrast to the more common, societal perception that nature is a resource provided to man for man's consumption only.

Much of the anti-institutional verse during the Romantic Period came from William Blake, who admitted that the government and the church, two major institutions of control, were sources for much of the misery in Britain. In his poem "The GARDEN of LOVE" Blake delineates a story of how the church in particular has controlled both man and nature: "A Chapel was built in the midst/ Where I used to play on the green" (ll. 3-4), which reflects the destruction of his childhood happiness and nature due to the construction of a manmade effigy. This concept mirrors a comparison later in the poem that reveals that the Garden of Love is filled with graves instead of flowers. In essence, the enrichment and happiness that nature provides is being oppressed by, in this case, institutionalized religion.

The theme of control becomes most prominent at the end of the poem where the speaker talks of the priests in black gowns "walking their rounds" (l. 11), as if they were to supervise nature and the speaker. This form of control is explained earlier: "Thou shalt not" is written on the doors of church. Blake conveyed this to reveal that the phrase itself is a statement of control though people surrender to it. Furthermore, the church, in this poem, represents an obstacle that's trying to prevent the speaker, and people in general, from feeling joy or sorrow. By stating that the church is "binding with briars, my joys & desires" he implies that the word briar symbolizes imprisonment (or rejection), a vicious barrier that is used to keep things away or trapped within. In this case, his human emotions, joy and desire, which are natural emotions, are the victims of this control.

Historically, literature has best been seen as a reaction to a particular theme or themes, whether it be a reaction toward the ideals of the previous era, the current era, or a predicted future. Blake and Wordsworth were poets reacting against man's selfishness and disregard toward nature, which includes his need to control it. Susan Wolfson and Peter Manning, who together wrote an introduction to the Romantic period called "The Romantics and Their Contemporaries", provided that the Romantics were people born of revolution and with the tendency to break traditions and customs (Wolfson and Manning, p. 1313). The facts of this era alone explain why the theme of control became such a leading topic in much of Blake's and Wordsworth's poetry, considering not even tradition will be excused for any kind of retention, whether it be on people or nature. The Victorians, on the other hand, were marred by doubt (Henderson and Sharpe, p. 1788). Heather Henderson and William Sharpe, in their analysis, "The Victorian Age", described how England's population had doubled by 1850 (Henderson and Manning, p. 1783). Scientific and industrial technology was quickly advancing, and people were often wandering what the actual truth was as the literal words of religion were becoming faded by scientific proof. A system of currency-based profit was developing during this process, and the land suffered at the hands of industrialization. A devoutly Christian poet, Gerard Hopkins, would return to the romantic sentiment of respecting nature, in reaction to this activity, based on the concept of nature being a gift from God. Nevertheless, all three poets agreed in their work that mankind is a burden on nature, humans being a race relentlessly seeking power and control.

Works Cited

Blake, William. "The GARDEN of LOVE". Damrosh 1405.

Damrosh, David. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. New York, 2000.

Henderson, Heather, and William Sharpe. "The Victorians". Damrosh 1788-1805.

Hopkins, Gerard. "God's Grandeur". Damrosh 2061.

Wolfson, Susan, and Peter Manning. "The Romantics and Their Contemporaries".

Damrosh 1313-1321.

Wordsworth, William. "Nutting". Damrosh 1543-1544.