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John Muir's Fascination With Nature

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Wordsworth and Muir express their fascination with nature using imagery and mood. In “Calypso Borealis”, John Muir states that he finds himself “glorying in the fresh cool beauty and charm of the bog and meadow heathworts, grasses, carices, ferns, mosses, liverworts displayed in boundless profusion” (Muir). The words “boundless profusion” appeals to the sense of sight and helps us imagine the scene and all the bountiful natural beauty of the place. The image shows Muir’s relationship with nature because it demonstrates his overwhelming, nearly spiritual, experience with nature. In the poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, Wordsworth also uses imagery to expresses a similar experience. In the first stanza he describes “A host, of golden daffodils; /beside the lake, beneath the trees, /Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” (Wordsworth Ln 4-6). Words such as “host”, “golden”, “Fluttering” and “dancing”, all appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, hearing, and smell. It brings us into the scene. These images show Wordsworth’s relationship with nature because he personifies this flower allowing him to relate it and become one with nature. …show more content…

John Muir states “It seems wonderful that so frail and lovely a plant has such power over human hearts” (Muir). These words create a spiritual mood and make me feel the power of nature. The words “rejoicing”, “glorious” and “cried for joy” add to the mood of the story because they really create the feeling of having joyous revelation when someone is in harmony with nature. Wordsworth, on the other hand, states that “A poet could not but be gay, /In such a jocund company” (Ln 15-16). These words create a happy mood and make me feel comforted. The words “dancing” “pleasure fills” and “glee” add to the mood of the poem because they construct a feeling of optimism and

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John Muir, a naturalist and preservation pioneer of nature took an ethical stand for land ethics when he shared his thoughts that all living things are equally important parts of the land, and animals and plants have as much right to live and survive as people do. In the 1600’s when Europeans began to settle in North America, there were 1037 million acres of forestland. Today, a little over 700 million acres in the United States is forestland—only thanks to preservation laws. In the 1800’s, that number of tress and forests decreased tremendously because expansion and progression recklessly exploited natural resources by clear-cutting forest to use wood for fuel and building supplies.

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“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.” (Abbey) These words, written by Edward Abbey in 1982, resonate the ideas proposed by John Muir nearly a century prior. While both Muir and Abbey both appreciate the natural beauty found in the American Southwest, only Abbey recognized the threat of human intervention on the preservation of the natural beauty of these wilderness areas. In Explorations in the Great Tuolumne Cañon, Muir describes the area that would later become Yosemite National Park in great loving detail.

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Protecting the nature and preserving the forests was a vital part of countless environmentalists in the past. From the godfather of environmentalism, to the woman who pioneered the study of chimpanzees in the wild, many scientists and environmentalists have shown significant importance towards the nature and the beautiful world around them. To name a few, John Muir, Jane Goodall, Ansel Adams, and Rachel Carson are examples of inspiring people who gave importance to forests and natural landscapes for America. One of the vital people in the world who helped develop a movement towards the nature was John Muir. From the article in Source #2, “Is Conservationist Muir Still Important?”, the author states that, “He's a larger-than-life figure

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Naturalistic writers capture the powerful and beautiful essense of the natural world. Through naturalistic writing, authors convey their abstract perspectives and beliefs in order to illuminate the profound benefits that nature holds. Naturalist philosopher John Muir put forth the belief that a connection with nature is integral to the discovery of one identity and that only through nature is one able discover the extraordinary in the ordinary in the existence of life. Muir’s philosophy complements the ideologies of fellow naturalist activist Edward Abbey who accentuated the benefits of isolation through nature. The idea that isolation frees the human conscience was a belief that was steadfast to Abbey’s perspective of the world as the constructs

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President Roosevelt said “The time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone.” is one of the examples how President Roosevelt ’s and John Muir’s camping trip in Yosemite supported their goal to preserve nature. Some of the reasons how they supported their goal to preserve nature are they admired the place. Also, they fought for nature. Finally, they spent time in nature.

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The images that the words create makes it feel as if you were really there looking at everything actually happening. Such as, “They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships. The great ring-giver. Farfetched treasures were piled on him,and precious gear.” This is a great example of imagery.

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Imagery is language evoking one, some, or all of the five senses. It is used in The Veldt in places like page one where it says “The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun.” That was just one example where Ray Bradbury uses imagery to paint a scene into the reader's mind. This type of author's craft is used so much throughout the story that it becomes a vivid trademark. And so, furthermore it is shown that imagery is an important part of Ray Bradbury’s stories, specifically

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one of the many times he uses imagery throughout this story is when the narrator says, “on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows” (Pg 1). By using imagery to compare walking through the neighborhood as walking through a graveyard shows that it is completely silent and there is no activity in any of the houses. Most people wouldn't describe their neighborhood as a graveyard, this also develops the mood. Another time he uses imagery is when the narrator says, “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country” (1). This shows mood because the narrator describes him as a hawk in mid-country, that means that he is all alone in what he feels to be like a barren or abandoned place.

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In the poem “The World Is Too Much with Us”, William Wordsworth seems to be expressing his discontentment with the path society is taking away from the beautiful necessities of nature as it veers into an industrial era. Through the use of specially crafted structure, precise diction, and various allusions, Wordsworth displays his moral disagreement with the new path based on the tragedy of ignoring the tranquil state of humanity present when one is in association with nature. The use of contradictory diction by Wordsworth helps display the extreme variation he sees between the enemy of industry and the ally of nature (Marrero). The phrases “late and soon” and “getting and spending” make it seem as though humanity has been living its life amiss for some time as the focus is on self- indulgence through goods (Wordsworth line 2).

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John Muir’s essay, The Calypso Borealis, and William Wordsworth’s poem, I wandered Lonely as a Cloud, are two wonderfully written works centered towards their love for nature. They were able to create vivd images in the reader’s head through their writing as well as emotional transitions. Both works, inspired by events in the 19th century, have their differences, however, their emotion and love for nature is the same and creates the same impact with the

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“A Short Guide to Imagery, Symbolism, and Figurative Language Imagery” describes imagery as “a writer or speaker’s use of words or figures of speech to create a vivid mental picture or physical sensation”(Clark). In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses nature imagery to portray the journey of emotions that Mrs. Mallard experiences

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Leilah Smith Dr. Cothren English II G March 1, 2018 Behind the Scenes: The Blissfulness of Nature Nature is a pure and natural source of renewal, according to Romantics who frequently emphasized the glory and beauty of nature throughout the Romantic period. Poets, artists, writers, and philosophers all believe the natural world can provide healthy emotions and morals. William Wordsworth, a notorious Romantic poet, circles many of his poems around nature and its power including his “The World is Too Much With Us” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.”

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We as humans are blessed creatures. We have the ability to freely decide what we want to do with our lives. We can choose to be charitable or deceitful, it is our choice in how we live life. Some choose to follow the one true God who created all, while some are misguided by false gods and way of living. Naturalism is one of these types of lifestyle.

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