Environmentalist and author of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson, wrote, “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter” (Ashoka, 2013). Effective environmental activism and nature preservationism involves trying to convince an audience that nature and the environment are worth protecting. An effective way this is accomplished is through imagery and vivid descriptions. During the Romantic era, poets and artists used descriptions and visual language to portray their thoughts and emotions. Environmental activists and preservationists in the early twentieth century noticed the effectiveness of vivid descriptions used by the Romantic movement and utilized this style of writing for themselves. Through comparing the writing styles of William Wordsworth in his poem, “Composed on Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” and John Muir, in Chapter One, “The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West” in Our National Parks it is clear that John Muir adopts a Romantic style of writing through which he advocates for the protection of nature. Although they differ on their opinions of what is considered ‘naturally beautiful’, while Wordsworth finds beauty in the empty city of London early in the morning, Muir takes issue with human intrusion upon nature and values modern human structures only for their ability to bring Americans closer to National Parks. This will be proven through an analysis of Wordsworth’s poem which demonstrates that even cities have elements of natural beauty. It will also be proven through Muir’s adoption of the Romantic style of writing to demonstrate the value in protecting nature from human development. Finally, it will be proven through noting that while Muir adopts Wordsworth's style of writing including his language and structural features, unlike Wordsworth, he ultimately fails to see any beauty or natural elements in human creations.
In Wordsworth’s poem, Wordsworth looks past the industrializing features of London to take notice of London’s beauty when it is empty and quiet. Wordsworth indicates that London is naturally beautiful when he is alone in the city in the early morning through the quotation,“This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning: silent, bare” (Wordsworth, 1802, lines 4-5). This quotation reveals that Wordsworth has the capacity to find cities, the centres of industrialization, naturally beautiful through adopting qualities of the Romantic movement, such as solitude, reflection, and the power of naturally occurring features of the earth. The keyword used in this quotation is “silent” as Wordsworth suggests that London is beautiful when the city is empty and quiet, such that it allows an onlooker to engage in reflection of what they are seeing. Wordsworth makes use of the simile, “like a garment, wear” in which he compares the city of London in the morning to a perfectly fitting piece of clothing in order to suggest that early morning: when the sun rises, when the city is sleeping, when factories are closed, and when the city is empty - is London’s most beautiful and naturally pleasing time. The rhyming scheme in this poem is structured to be abbaabbacdcdcd. The strict rhyming pattern suggests that even though nature is visible within the city, a city continues to require a distinct structure and order. The fact that Wordsworth uses this rigid structure while accompanying it with words that connote a positive experience in London during the early morning suggests that Wordsworth is able to see how natural beauty and an industrialized city are not mutually exclusive. This is significant because during the Romantic era most poets wrote about nature untouched by cities and used their poetry to voice their opposition to government policy. Here, by regarding London as beautiful Wordsworth suggests that one is capable of viewing nature within a city. Additionally, because London is the capital of Britain, Wordsworth may also be commenting on his agreement with London’s governmental policy. This view is also held by Catholic phenomenologist, philosopher, and former professor at Yale University, Louis Dupré. In his book entitled The Quest of the Absolute: Birth and Decline of European Romanticism Dupré writes “The young Wordsworth had been strongly engaged in politics, but his attitude changed after his return from France. Little or nothing re- mained of his early political radicalism” (Dupré, 2013, 25). Based on this quotation, Wordsworth’s characterization of London as beautiful in 1803, following the French Revolution, could mean that this is the time when Wordsworth stopped being radical and criticizing the government. In the alternative, this quotation could be regarded as an expression of London’s beauty at any time, with no specific time preference other than the fact that morning is when Wordsworth noticed this.
Muir’s writing makes use of the Romantic style to bring awareness to preservationism. Muir praises that Alaska is one spot which is natural, and not touched by humans, “In summer they [the tundras] extend smooth, even, undulating, continuous beds of flowers and leaves from about lat. 62 to the shores of the Arctic Ocean; and in winter sheets of snowflowers make all the country shine, one mass of white radiance like a star” (Muir, 1901, 6). The keywords in this sentence are “one mass of white” which demonstrates that the tundras have continue with no interruption by something like a city or village where humans live. In this respect, the tundras are completely preserved which is Muir’s goal for the rest of the country. Muir makes use of a simile, “one mass of white radiance like a star” which compares the snow covered tundra to a bright star in the night sky. Muir’s inclusion of this simile makes him write in a Romantic style, and demonstrates the beauty of the snow, untouched by humans and development. Harold P. Simonson, an English Professor at the University of Washington agrees that Muir writes in the Romantic style contending that, “I think it correct to call Muir a Romantic… As such, he was committed to discover nature’s transcendent meaning that he believed informed himself as well” (Simonson, 1978, 229). This complex sentence may demonstrate Muir’s complex thought, or stream of consciousness where he takes in the beauty of Alaska. The complexity works to demonstrate the difference between summer and winter and what natural features exist in each which are worth protecting. During the time in which Muir was writing expeditions to the North, and in particular to the Arctic were important. With the Alaska purchase, the United States had a foothold in the Arctic and Muir may be writing this to convince his readers of the value of Alaska being untouched by humanity. In the alternative, it may not be that Muir was a Romantic, so much as Romanticism is associated with vivid descriptions and this is whas Muir needed to do in order to make his point that Alaska should not be developed.
While both Wordsworth’s poem and Muir’s essay are written in the Romantic style, they differ in terms of what they classify as nature and thus beautiful. In Wordsworth’s poem, Wordsworth makes use of metaphors, a writing structure that he is famous for using and is consistent with the Romantic style, “That mighty heart is lying still” (Wordsworth, 1802, line 14). In this quotation London is compared to the “mighty heart” since it is the capital, and it is “lying still” due to it being early in the morning and the city is not yet awake. This quotation is written in the Romantic style as Wordsworth is famous for his use of metaphors, and generally gives a positive representation of the city and finds beauty when London is “lying still”. Wordsworth depiction of “lying still” emcompasses a time when the factories were not running, the people were sleeping, and the streets were empty. While the writing style is similar to Muir, the content is different as Muir finds no value in cities or industrialization, except for the fact that it allows people to travel to be in closer connection with nature. Within his Chapter, Muir recommends that Americans “go to the Flathead Reserve; for it is easily and quickly reached by the Great Northern Railroad” (Muir, 1901, 9) and characterizes humanity as, “This most influential half animal, half angel..rapidly multiplying and spreading, covering the seas and lakes with ships, the land with huts, hotels, cathedrals, and clustered city shops and homes,...we may have to go farther than Nansen to find a good sound solitude” (Muir, 1901, 6). The first quotation reveals that Muir recommends that people visit the Flathead Reserve because it is a preserved, natural place; and, Muir also says that it is easily accessible by the “Great Northern Railroad”. Additionally, the second quotation negatively characterizes humanity through the use of qualities valued by the Romantics like nature and solitude. Both texts make use of language features commonly associated with the Romantic era. In the second quote by Muir, he uses a list to demonstrate the ways in which humanity ruins the seas and land through their buildings. The purpose of this is to demonstrate the many ways in which nature is destroyed to advocate for preservation. Additionally, Muir makes note of man requiring solitude and suggests that the way to find this is in nature. Wordsworth also values this as the basis for the poem is that London is beautiful early in the morning when the city is ‘empty’. Wordsworth also makes use of a list, “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie” (Wordsworth,1802, line 6). The list functions to demonstrate that London is a modern city, and in order to show that in the early morning the city is filled with objects and not people which allows Wordsworth to be alone on Westminster bridge and to reflect on what he is seeing. Structurally, both Muir and Wordsworth make use of complex sentences. In Wordsworth’s poem, this is demonstrated through the use of enjambment. In Wordsworth’s poem, enjambment is used at the end of lines two, four, six, and nine and provides the reader with the feeling of being overwhelmed and racing through what is being seen. In Muir’s essay, complex sentences are also used to provide the reader with an overwhelmed feeling and Muir crafts his sentences to convey his lengthy description in one sentence. This is seen through Muir’s negative portrayal of humanity as “half animal, half angel” and going in depth about how humanity will destroy the land and seas (Muir, 1901, 6). Therefore, both writers make use of the Romantic style of writing and differ in terms of content.
It is apparent that in William Wordsworth’s poem, “Composed on Westminster Bridge, September 2, 1803” and in John Muir’s Chapter, “The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West” in Our National Parks that Muir mirrors Wordsworth’s use of the Romantic style, but diverges on his opinion on the value of industrialization. In Wordsworth’s poem he makes use of the Romantic style, including language features like a simile, in order to convey London’s beauty. By contrast, Muir uses the Romantic style to advocate for the protection of Alaska’s untouched land by Americans in the early twentieth century. Finally, while both writers use similar language features, such as lists, and structural features, such as complex sentences and enjambment in Wordsworth’s poem to convey the complex sentence, Wordsworth and Muir disagree on the value of cities and other industrial features. Wordsworth’s Romantic style is copied by Muir and other authors seeking to protect the environment as it creates a format in which vivid imagery and description prove to be very persuasive concerning the value of the natural world.
Works Cited
Primary Sources
Muir, John. Our National Parks. The Riverside Press, 1901.
Wordsworth, William. “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” Poetry
Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2019, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45514/composed-upon-westminster-bridge-september-3-1802.
Secondary Sources
Ashoka. “9 Great Quotes By Women Environmentalists.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30 Apr. 2013, www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2013/04/30/9-great-quotes-by-women-environmentalists/.
Dupré, Louis. “English Romantic Poetry” in The Quest of the Absolute: Birth and Decline of
European Romanticism, University of Notre Dame Press, 2013, pp 23-63.
Simonson, Harold P. (1978) “The Tempered Romanticism of John Muir” Western American
Literature 13:3, pp 227-241.
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