This page was created by Alison Morgan.
Artist Statement: Claire Schwaba
In her first poem, Claire focuses on busy person caught up in the fast paced city. Claire grew up in the city of Chicago and found it hard to do activities she enjoyed outside without driving to an open field or school to play at. The first poem emphasizes the struggle to enjoy the outdoors in the city. With all the movement and work going on in the city, no one has time to appreciate the gifts nature has to offer. The poem describes a city contributing to pollution without concern for the environment. The city life is looked at from a very extreme viewpoint as the businessman or woman in the poem has a very tight schedule that doesn’t allow his to stop and relax. This is meant to portray the people in the world that don’t seem to care about the environment with protecting it or having an interest in it. Claire believes people should step away from this lifestyle and witness the calm, stunning views nature has provided us with.
In the second poem, it juxtaposes a typical day for a person living in a rural setting compared to a day in an urban setting in the previous poem. The second poem focuses the reader’s attention on experiencing nature and taking in all that’s going on in a rural setting. The reader focuses on the beauty in the night sky and the gracefulness of nature’s creatures. The reader gets a warmer feeling from this poem, as he or she is able to establish a powerful image from these calming details. This poem’s purpose is to describe to the reader what is out there left unseen from a pastoral approach. Claire wants to use this poem to encourage people to go out and experience what nature has to offer. There are beautiful sights, sounds, and smells that leave a lasting memory for the reader. Through her green literature, she hopes to get the point across that nature should be adored and explored. There is nothing better than admiring the world and the amazing sights nature has to offer. It allows the reader to escape from a busy life and relax while appreciating God’s gifts.
In both poems, Claire deliberately chose to start and end each poem with the same line. This cyclical structure allows readers to better understand her message. In the first poem, the choice to use a cyclical structure shows more of a concern that there is not enough time in the day to enjoy everything a person would like to. The reader feels as though the busy day goes by without having a chance to stop and reflect on what is going on around them. In the second poem, the reader is distracted from the time because there is so much going on around him or her. The reader is focused on nature’s beauty and relaxed that the day begins again before he or she knows it. This goes along with the idea that nature has beautiful features that need to be preserved and admired.
In these poems, Claire chose to use the second person to portray her message at a more personal level. This allows the reader to feel with the poem in order to help give him or her a more personal feeling after reading these juxtaposed positions. After analyzing the first poem, the reader is expected to feel unhappy and discontent; while in the second poem, the reader feels more at ease and pleasant. This helps connect Claire’s definition of green literature to her poems as being a piece of writing that portrays the happiness and freedom one feels from the world’s natural beauties. Claire believes that telling her story from the second person help reiterate what nature’s effects have on the reader’s feelings.
Finally, Claire chose to format each poem a unique way in order to help express her feelings about each setting. The first poem is formatted in a block style in groups of two lines. This represents the strict routine people in an urban setting are more likely to follow. There is also less space between the lines representing a crowded urban lifestyle. However, in the second poem, the format is more spaced out. This shows how people in a rural setting has more room to breathe and is less condensed living without skyscrapers and hurried cab drivers. They live a more carefree life style, as they are relaxed and content in their rural landscape. Over all, the format chosen for her poems each offer a unique expression that coincides with their overall message.