Natural World Mini Essay
The poem follows a couple as they move through their different stages of life, where the world around them changes to reflect these stages. Modern urbanisation begins to darken the poem right from the beginning, when the mention of “two towers rose up from the east island of commerce and touched the sky”. This foreshadows that these towers will block the perception of what can be seen by this couple, as these towers tower over them. The towers represent urbanisation, the growth of the economy as they arose from commerce. The verse goes on to describe how cities expanded and grew because of financial and economic growth due to the capitalism on harvesting the natural world. As “oil was sucked dry by two brothers”, emphasising the consumeristic nature of Harjo’s representation of the natural world as humans continued to cease control. This is evident further in the poem where a cumulative sentence begins listing how the hunger for power brought wanting to have ownership over the natural world used war to “own the trees, stones and everything else that moved about the earth, inside the earth and above it”. Symbolising the representation of the natural world is something to own. As modern urbanisation came to be because of power hungry individuals who believed ownership, expansion, destruction and power would be best for humanity and to disregard the natural world for what it really is the source of all life, something that should be respected and protected.
Evolution of the nature of all things is another strong representation of the natural world in this poem. The poem follows the evolution of humanity, economy and the environment. The evolution in the poem compares the past with the present, parallel to each other. The poem begins with describing the people in the poem living on an island away from the tremors of “a trembling nation when it went down”. Which is contrasted with the evolution of the rebuilding of a new on the island. Joy cleverly utilises the evolution of humanity from cooking, and changing diapers to highlight the passing of time. The couple describe the environment around them and how it changes, evolves before their eyes out of “the window”. The symbolism Joy uses in the end of the poem where she states, “But then there were the seeds to plant and the babies who needed milk and comforting” emphasises that the growth and the evolution of life cannot be done on its own, they need to help these babies grow, they need to plant the seeds for a brighter future. What evolution revolves around, the planting the seeds to change and develop for a better future for all life. The last sentence of the poem alludes to giving birth to a new, as the “song being born between the legs of her” symbolises new life. The natural world is represented as a place that will continue to grow and change for the better, with a little help from the things that inhabit it.
The strongest representation of natural world within this poem is the illustration of nature, as it is being hidden in plain sight and changing right in front of the eyes of the people this poem focuses on. The couple the poem follows along with describe the world they inhabit and the things they have witnessed themselves, the change in the structure of their family and time passing seemed to be reflected in the natural world. For example the repetition of “We saw it” towards the beginning of the poem emphasises that the world before them is changing, as they themselves change too. The couple reflects on the things they have seen before and the things they see now. The poem has a way of blending past, present and future through the representation of the natural world. This is evident where the poem states, “…this world we had grown to love for its sweet grasses, for the many-coloured horses and fishes, for the shimmering possibilities while dreaming”. This symbolises that in the past the couple had pure hope for the world, for good possibilities. However, this quote seems to possess a reflective tone as it seems like how they thought they saw the world is not what it really was. The second last passage illustrates the reality of the natural world the people chose to ignore. They chose to ignore how much work goes in to plants to grow and thrive, Joy compares planting the seeds of a plant to raising a baby. This highlights the amount of care and effort the natural world requires in order to grow and thrive. The people in the poem finally understand their connection to the natural world. This is evident where it states, “the kick beneath the skin of the earth we felt there, beneath us a warm animal a song being born between the legs of her”. Symbolising the connection they feel to nature, that new life which represents hope can be born from even the most unlikely places.
Joy Harjo’s poem represents the natural world by comparing human life to nature. Modern urbanisation, evolution and the relationship humans possess with how they perceive nature are some of the representations Harjo includes within her poem. The poem as a whole represents that nature represents hope of a better future with a little watering of the plants.
Link to the poem:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49619/when-the-world-as-we-knew-it-ended
Written by Nyia Vassilopoulos