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The Poems of Wendell Berry
Although Wendell Berry has dabbled in several different types of literature, many would argue that his poetry is some of his best work. The way he is able to concisely paint a vivid picture of a landscape and truly capture the pulchritude of the peace that exists in rural American nature is unparalleled. These poems include, but are not limited to The Peace of Wild Things, To Think of the Life of a Man, and The Vacation. In all of these poems, Berry perfectly articulates what all green literature should aim to capture. The Peace of Wild Things perfectly illustrates how deeply he is worried throughout his life about the longevity of this planet. Berry speaks about nature and the environment with such perfection that, in his mind, is fading away right before our eyes. In his poem To Think of the Life of a Man, Berry reflects on how materialistic and wasteful mainstream American culture has become. He lived the exact opposite way. He did not feel the need to over consume, and this was apparent because of the kind of lifestyle that he lived. In his poem The Vacation, Berry reflects on society’s need to use technology while also trying to experience nature by taking videos and vast amounts of photographs. This once again demonstrates how simplistic of a lifestyle he leads. He believes to truly experience nature, you must completely immerse yourself in it with no distractions. Because of these extremely consistent themes throughout not only his writing but also his day-to-day living, a vast majority of his literary works would fall under the category green literature.
The Poems of Wendell Berry
Many of Wendell Berry’s poems, essays, short stories and novels perfectly embody several different aspects of green literature. Although Berry is known for his many different writing styles, his poems often talk about what exactly it means to be an environmentalist. He does this by addressing three different aspects of environmentalism in the poems The Peace of Wild Things written in 1968, To Think of the Life of a Man written in 1967, and The Vacation written decades later in 2012. All three of these poems are classified green literature, but all three for different reasons. However, they all set out to accomplish one main goal: a call to action. They are stressing to the reader the importance of nature and the environment and how much trouble our planet is in. By effectively doing so, most of Berry’s poetry and various other writings are labeled as green literature.The Peace of Wild Things[4] by Wendell Berry was written in the summer of 1968 and is one of his most famous pieces of literature. At the very beginning, Berry brings forth a question that many environmentalists, including myself, think about on a daily basis. He says, “When despair for the world grows in me / and I wake in the night at the least sound / in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,” (Berry 1-3). This is very clearly a call to action. Are parents ever more motivated than when their own child might be in danger? To millions and millions of people in the world, their children are the most important part of their lives. Berry tries to use this to his advantage in discussing his own contemplations about the future. By making it personal for the reader, he is able to effectively draw them into the poem right away. But why should he be worried about what his children’s life could be like, it was 1968? Perhaps things aren’t as bad as he imagined they would be, but there is no doubt anymore that the children of the millennial generation will not have nearly as fruitful of a planet that their parents and grandparents did. Sea levels all across the globe are rising because of warmer temperatures melting the ice caps, carbon and methane emissions are both doing irreversible damage to our atmosphere, deforestation is increasing at an alarming rate due to demand for palm oil and beef products, and clean water is becoming more and more scarce in regions all over the globe. Now, ask yourself, is that the type of planet that you want to leave for your children?
The second half of The Peace of Wild Things is a lot more directly related to nature and the environment. Berry says that when he feels disturbed about thinking about his children’s future, he heads down to an area that calms him down greatly. He lived most of his life on a farm, where one could assume consisted of a large amount of land where one could wander and contemplate. Berry seems to find some sort of peace of mind when distancing himself from modern life. He writes, “I go and lie down where the wood drake / rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. / I come into the peace of wild things / who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. / I come into the presence of still water.” (Berry 4-8). It is very clear that Berry holds this particular place in high regard because it brings him to a place of peace and serenity. By both encouraging deep thought about our children’s futures and efficiently articulating how beautiful and peaceful nature can be, it is clear that The Peace of Wild Things would qualify as green literature.
In To Think of the Life of a Man[5], Wendell Berry begins by pointing a finger at Western culture and how materialistic it has become. He says, “when men, voiceless / against thing-ridden men, / set themselves on fire, it seems / too difficult and rate / to think of the life of a man / grown whole in the world / at peace and in place.” (Berry 3-9). In the 20th century after the Industrial Revolution, the American economy relied totally and completely around excessive consumption. He is extremely aware of this, and seems to think that environmentalists like him are “voiceless” and cannot do anything to combat a materialistic society simply because they are outnumbered. Additionally, he seems to think that in a society that is as materialistic as ours is and has been, it is difficult for any man, materialistic or not, it’s nearly impossible to grow fully as a natural being. By stressing the severity of the consumption habits of society, Berry calls the reader to not be a “thing-ridden” person and truly understand the long-term repercussions of their actions.
In the second half of To Think of the Life of a Man, Berry shifts his focus from consumption habits and materialism to how he thinks one should spend their life. He says, “I might have sold my hands / or sold my voice and mind / to the arguments of power / that go blind against / what they would destroy. / I leave all that behind.” (Berry 11-17). Berry is expressing that he could have sold out to make money and give into societal pressure, and not to think about the impact that he would end up having on the environment. It would seem that he is implying that too many people chose to turn a blind eye to the impact that their life’s work has. There are far too many people that have dedicated their lives to practices that are selfish and are not working towards a sustainable future. For example, people who work in the beef industry and oil industry know the impact that their actions are having. The facts are out there, and they have been. Carbon emissions caused from our dependency that we have developed on oil and gas are having an overwhelming impact on the environment in countless ways. The beef industry is causing more deforestation than any other industry on the planet. Additionally, the methane emitted from cattle and the resources that are dedicated to the industry are simply immoral and unsustainable. Because of the fact that Berry lived life as an environmentalist, he felt as if he had a positive impact on the planet. On top of that, he is calling the reader to dedicate their life towards sustainable practices and goals in their work life, clearly making this poem green literature.
The Vacation[6] was written much later in Wendell Berry’s life than the previous poems discussed. In fact, there was nearly a 50-year gap between The Peace of Wild Things, To Think of the Life of a Man and The Vacation. This shows the extreme dedication to living a sustainable and fulfilled life that Wendell Berry possessed. He was passionate about the environment and experiencing it to the fullest, as discussed in The Vacation. In this poem, Berry talks about the modern phenomenon that is cameras. To him, having a cell phone or camera out when experiencing any sort of event is absurd. This is because if you are taking pictures and videos, you are not really living in the moment and taking in everything that the place or event has to offer. The poem reads, “He showed / his vacation to his camera, / which pictured it, / preserving it forever: the river, the trees, / the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat / behind which he stood with his camera / preserving his vacation even as he was having it / so that after he had had it he would still / have it. It would be there. With a flick / of a switch, there it would be. But he / would not be in it. He would never be in it.” (Berry 6-15). He says that the man is not seeing the vacation with his own eyes, but rather showing it to his camera. By writing this poem the way that he did, Berry effectively illustrates how many miss out on vacations and other experiences because they are distracted by technology. By putting down your phone or your camera, you have the chance to really experience and become one with what is right in front of you.
In conclusion, many of Wendell Berry’s works of literature are considered to be green literature, including The Peace of Wild Things, To Think of the Life of a Man, and The Vacation. There are several reasons as to why these three poems qualify as green literature. One reason is because Berry relates to readers on an extremely personal level by asking them what kind of world they want to leave for their children. By doing so, Berry tries to influence the reader to live more of a sustainable lifestyle. A second reason why these three poems by Berry are considered green literature is because he calls out the everyday habits of the reader. He makes the reader ask himself or herself, “How am I being influenced to live my life and what impact is that having on the planet?” By doing this, he forces the reader to reflect on their job and the consumption habits that they have. Lastly, Berry’s poems ask us to put down our cameras and really experience life. If we as a society are able to distance ourselves from technology and distractions, only then will we be able to become one with nature again. All three of these examples can be viewed as a call to action, to change habits and to defy the norm. By effectively implementing these strategies and many others in his writings, it is easy to see why Wendell Berry’s writings are considered to be green literature and that they are likely to impact generations to come
[1] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/wendell-berry#poet
[2] http://www.wendellberrybooks.com/author.html
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry
[4] Berry, Wendell "The Peace of Wild Things."
[5] Berry, Wendell. “To Think of the Life of a Man”
[6] Berry, Wendell. "The Vacation."
Media retrieved from: National Environment for the Humanities. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.