Эссе "Развитие описания пейзажа в американской литературе" - "A Development in How the American Natural Landscape Is Represented"
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A Development in How the American Natural Landscape Is Represented.

        The description of the American natural landscape in the works of American writers is inseparably linked with the process of developing the American continent by Europeans. As the attitude of the Americans to their new native homeland has been changing, the tone and mood in the description of landscape surrounding different characters of literary works also has been changing.

        In The general History of Virginia by Captain John Smith we do not discover any direct description of a landscape, however from the tone of narration it becomes clear, in what conditions Pilgrim Fathers have found themselves. Very hard exhausting troubles fell to their lot. “…this lodging and dyet, our extreame toile in bearing and planting Pallisadoes, so strained and bruised vs, and our continual labour in the extremitie of the heat had so weakened vs…” (Captain John Smith 3).

        American nature is severe (“… as bitter weather as could be of frost and snow...”) (Captain John Smith 6), but it is rich and diverse. The author tells: “And now the winter approaching, the rivers became so covered with swans, geese, ducks, and cranes, that we daily feasted with good bread, Virginia pease, pumpions, and putchamins, fish, fowle, and diverse sorts of wild beasts as fat as we could eate them…” (Captain John Smith 5). But the country is as strange for the settlers, as the aboriginal people Red Indians are.

The aim of the settlers is to seize and to subdue new territories. But it is possible to do in two ways: by force or in a peaceful way. Captain Smith prefers managing by ruse. He gets food for the settlers by exchange of beads, telling Indians different stories and showing “compass Dyall” and “Globe-like Iewell” but gets into trouble when at Powhatan the Emperor. He was nearly executed by the “Salvages” as he calls them. It was Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas who saved him and became his wife. The figure of Pocahontas as a matter of fact could be considered to personify the whole continent, which was submitted to the power of the European settlers.

In the course of time American literature passes from descriptive and narrative essays to romantic art works, such as story and novel. One of the representatives of this trend is Nathaniel Hawthorne. Speaking about his short story “Young Goodman Brown” we can notice that description of natural landscape is woven into the gist of the story.

We see some symbolic interpretations of reality and myth, for example when Hawthorne writes about “the blue arch, and the stars brightening…” (4) we clearly understand what he means. “With heaven above and Faith below, I will stand firm against the devil!” cried Goodman Brown (Hawthorne 4).

“While he (Goodman Brown) still gazed upward into the deep arch of firmament and had lifted his hands to pray, a cloud, though no wind was stirring, hurried across the zenith and hid the brightening stars. The blue sky was still visible, except directly overhead, where this black mass of cloud was sweeping swiftly northward.” (Hawthorne 4). This is the symbolic description of the struggle between the good and the evil, God and devil in the main character’s heart. And to overcome the evil and save his Faith from it Goodman Brown calls her to “look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one” (Hawthorne 7).

In general the pictures of the environment correspond to the spirit of the story especially while depicting the Sabbath scenes. “… blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting” (Hawthorne 7) remind us of the hell itself!

So we can call such descriptions of the natural landscapes romantic symbolism or symbolic Romanticism.

“I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil – to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society” (Thoreau 1). These are the words beginning Thoreau’s essay “Walking”.

Speaking about Henry David Thoreau’s work of literature, we cannot but point to the fact that his essay is dedicated to Nature. Wildness means life itself for him: “Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildness. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him” (Thoreau 10).

        The author is against man’s influence to wildness. He stresses out that “all man’s improvements … simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap” (Thoreau 3). But as the writer states it out it is possible to return the pleasure and completeness of the vital dialogue with Nature taken away by civilization.

        Thoreau’s descriptions of wild life "from within" belong entirely to the kingdom of Nature, as if he is its part, and not a visitor from the world of human civilization. He worships all the living beings, all plants and even bogs and swamps as the creation of Nature in the Universe. As we can see Henry David Thoreau glorifies the Unity of Mankind and Nature. And in our opinion this writer can be considered one of the first environmentalists caring not only of wildness as he calls it, but also of the people, of their pure and unspoiled life in the clean unpolluted environment. The Unity of Mankind and Nature is Henry David Thoreau’s main idea of his life and literary work.

        Speaking about Walt Whitman’s creative work it is necessary to tell that all his poetry and essays are full of the Nature descriptions. And these pictures are inseparable from the author’s personality as a poet and from every man in the country. Everything is merged together in this world, and everything is pierced by the feeling of delight with the surrounding American nature, by its riches and diversity. “His spirit responds to his country’s spirit: he incarnates its geography and natural life and rivers and lakes… On him rise solid growths that offset the growths of pine and cedar and hemlock and live-oak and locust and chestnut and cypress and hickory and lime-tree and cottonwood…” (Whitman 2).

        Walt Whitman, as well as Henry Thoreau, in our opinion, simply deifies all the living creatures on our planet. In his Song of Myself we read:

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than journey work of the stars, And the pismire is

equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,

And the tree-toad is chef-d’oeuvre for the highest,

    And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in

    my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses

    any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.” (Whitman 21).

        In the course of time America has transformed from the free territory, where both people and Nature were free, when the description of natural landscapes in the works of American writers was romantic and underlined the unity of Man and Nature, into the industrial state. In this kind of  a state Nature does not play such an important role in the life of ordinary people any more. The authors pass from the description of natural landscapes to the description of urban ones. Henry Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” can serve a good example for this.

        The author gives the description of the scene of action in this short story only in the several sentences, but they are very significant for comprehension of the contents and idea of his story.

        Instead of the pictures of magnificent nature, parks and gardens, trees and animals, surrounding people, we see only gloomy walls. “At one end they (windows) looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious sky-light shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom … In that direction my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade…” (Melville 23).

        The only reminiscence of something alive we can find in the description of the people in the street “… swan-like sailing down the Mississippi of Broadway” (Melville 43).

        But nature does not forgive those who violate its laws. We can see this for instance in Jack London’s writings. When speaking about the author’s works we should note that his descriptions of Nature are very picturesque and magnificent especially when he writes about the North. We can clearly see all the beauty and severity of the natural landscape. And it is quite clear that opposition of Man and Nature is not in favor of people, especially if these people are too self-assured like the personage from London’s short story To Build a Fire.

Thus having discussed the question we can acknowledge that the description of the American natural landscape in the works of American writers is inseparably linked with the process of developing the American continent by Europeans as it has been stated before.

Works Cited

Captain John Smith. From The General History of Virginia. London: Printed by LD and LH for Michael Sparks, 1624: 1 – 8. Copy.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown: 1 – 8. Copy.

London, Jack. To Build a Fire: 1 – 10. Copy.

Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street. The Piazza Tales. New York: The Modern Library: 23 – 68. Copy.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walking: 1 – 18. Copy.

Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself: 1 – 41. Copy.