Ecocriticism is a field of literary study that considers the relationship between humans and the environment. Ecocriticism is a literary response to environmental concerns. It addresses the issues of human responsibility for animals, along with debates over the ethics of their captivity. Therefore, these three poems can be taken as ecocritical studies.
Over the years scientists tried to create awareness about climate change and the human effect on it with documentaries and graphics. However, graphics only stimulates the human brain but it takes more than wit to take action for humans. It has to affect the heart, so to say, the conscience. These poems do not try to give a lesson. They try to make their audience feel guilty, for not taking any action.
For example, The Panther and Caged Bird address the issues of zoos. Zoos are the extent of human desire to hold control over nature. Human desire is to control nature and be superior to it. Zoos are the center of this desire and human hubris. They are the most arrogant way to show that humans are in the center of the ecosystem, even though we are not. Animals in zoos are degraded to be passive objects of wonder and entertainment. Thus, which words describe the pain and the mechanized world of these animals than these lines:
‘’His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.’’
Besides, is there any other effective way to describe the misery of a caged bird than comparing it to a free bird? The caged birds’ wings are clipped, he sings a song of freedom while the free bird lives that song. The poem vividly shows the enormous difference between captivity and freedom.
‘’ But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.’’
Moreover, there is another study within Ecocriticism which is used in the poem A Work of Artifice named Ecofeminism. Ecofeminism draws parallels between the suffering and oppression of women and human treatment towards nature. In this poem, the audience could make two different readings then realize the important resemblance between them. For example, the bonsai tree could be taken as a natural living creature and we could criticize how even trees became an object of the human desire to shape the world to his liking, or we could take the bonsai tree as a metaphor for women’s oppression in the patriarchal society. Male dominance over women’s life can be paralleled with human dominance over natural life. They both suffer from being ‘’ domestic and weak’’. They are both unable to grow out of the ancient customs that keep them tied.
Ecocriticism is an influential study for making its reader feel responsible. One can not read and forget the mentioned poems. It sticks with its reader and that is what the study wants to do: it should either resolve the current environmental issues or at least create an awareness.
Over the years scientists tried to create awareness about climate change and the human effect on it with documentaries and graphics. However, graphics only stimulates the human brain but it takes more than wit to take action for humans. It has to affect the heart, so to say, the conscience. These poems do not try to give a lesson. They try to make their audience feel guilty, for not taking any action.
For example, The Panther and Caged Bird address the issues of zoos. Zoos are the extent of human desire to hold control over nature. Human desire is to control nature and be superior to it. Zoos are the center of this desire and human hubris. They are the most arrogant way to show that humans are in the center of the ecosystem, even though we are not. Animals in zoos are degraded to be passive objects of wonder and entertainment. Thus, which words describe the pain and the mechanized world of these animals than these lines:
‘’His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.’’
Besides, is there any other effective way to describe the misery of a caged bird than comparing it to a free bird? The caged birds’ wings are clipped, he sings a song of freedom while the free bird lives that song. The poem vividly shows the enormous difference between captivity and freedom.
‘’ But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.’’
Moreover, there is another study within Ecocriticism which is used in the poem A Work of Artifice named Ecofeminism. Ecofeminism draws parallels between the suffering and oppression of women and human treatment towards nature. In this poem, the audience could make two different readings then realize the important resemblance between them. For example, the bonsai tree could be taken as a natural living creature and we could criticize how even trees became an object of the human desire to shape the world to his liking, or we could take the bonsai tree as a metaphor for women’s oppression in the patriarchal society. Male dominance over women’s life can be paralleled with human dominance over natural life. They both suffer from being ‘’ domestic and weak’’. They are both unable to grow out of the ancient customs that keep them tied.
Ecocriticism is an influential study for making its reader feel responsible. One can not read and forget the mentioned poems. It sticks with its reader and that is what the study wants to do: it should either resolve the current environmental issues or at least create an awareness.
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