ECOCRITICISM
Green
Studies
Eco-poetics
Environmental
Literary Criticism
Definition,
Origin, Major Ecocritics, Examples
Different approaches to literature came into existence down the ages. We have feminist point of view (Feminist Criticism), Marxist point of view (Marxist Criticism), structural point of view (Structuralism), and biographical point of view (Biographical Criticism) and so on. Each approach draws its own line of analyzing the text and that analysis is termed as a separate type of criticism. As a result, we come across different types of criticism.
ECOCRITICISM is the latest and the newest types of theory in criticism which has been evolved in the 21st century. Modern scientists are much worried about the very existence of the earth and its resources. Modern science and technology have created dangers for the future generation of mankind. Breaking of the layers of Ozone due to much carbon dioxide and too much consumption of natural gas, crude, oil etc. have made us think seriously on how we can protect the earth and the environment in order to survive ourselves and our future generation.
The
gap between man and nature has been increasing by heaps and bounds in the
modern world of science and technology. Hence, to bring about a balance between
man and nature and ecology has been the dire need of today’s time.
DEFINITION OF ECOCRITICISM:
True literature gives expression to
the most urgent and important challenges of the time. The challenge of the
modern times is to save our mother earth and to save nature. ECOCRITICISM is a
new branch of criticism in which the critics try to find out as to how much
extent the modern literature discusses these issues of ecology. Modern
eco-critics try to examine as to how much extent literature leads mankind to
bring about the balance between the man and the earth. ECOCRITICISM is the
study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view.
ECOCRITICISM
investigates the relation between humans and the natural world in literature.
It deals with how environmental issues, cultural issues concerning the
environment and attitudes towards nature are presented and analyzed. One of the
main goals in ECOCRITICISM is to study how individuals in society behave and
react in relation to nature and ecological aspects. This new study is
often termed as “green (cultural) studies”, “eco-poetics”, and
“environmental literary criticism.”
ORIGIN OF ECOCRITICISM:
The idea of the relationship
between ecology and literature was first heralded by Joseph Meeker as an idea
called “literary ecology” in his work ‘The Comedy of
Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology’ published in 1972.
Later
on, the term 'ECOCRITICISM' was coined in 1978 by William Rueckert in
his essay ‘Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in ECOCRITICISM’.
ECOCRITICISM as a separate approach became popular in the USA in 1980s. It
became widespread in Europe as ‘Green Studies’ in 1990s. But ECOCRITICISM as a
new style or method of understanding literature officially began with the
publication of two works, both published in the mid-1990s:
1. ‘The ECOCRITICISM Reader’, edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold
Fromm
2. ‘The
Environmental Imagination’, by Lawrence Buell.
MAJOR FOLLOWERS OF ECOCRITICISM:
1. Jonathan
Bate (considered as the father of ECOCRITICISM in England)
2.
Cheryll Glotfelty (father of ECOCRITICISM
in the USA)
3.
Laurence Coupe
4. Patrick
D Murphy
IMPORTANT BOOKS ON
ECOCRITICISM:
1. ‘The Green Studies Reader: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism’
by Laurence Coupe
2.
‘The Song of the Earth’
by Jonathan Bate
3.
‘The Ecocriticism Reader:
Landmarks in Literary Ecology’ by Cheryll Glotfelty
4.
‘Literature of Nature: An
International Source-book’ by Patrick D. Murphy
5. ‘What is Nature? Culture, Politics, and the Non-Human’
by Kate Soper
WHAT DO THE ECOCRITICS
DO?
· The
ecocritics examine the works of literature from the ecological point of view.
·
They try to see how human life is
presented in proportion to nature.
·
They examine human civilization
along with nature.
· The
ecocritics study literature to see how it shows the importance of natural
resources in our lives, our deeds which harm the ecological balance, wars and
their adverse effect on our society and so on.
EXAMPLES OF ECOCRITICISM:
1.
One may study Wordsworth’s
‘Daffodils’ from ecological perspectives where the poet gives importance to
nature in his life.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales
and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the
trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the
breeze.
Continuous as the stars that
shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending
line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly
dance.
The waves beside them danced; but
they
Out-did the sparkling waves in
glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little
thought
What wealth the show to me had
brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure
fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
2. We
may study ‘Ode on Solitude’ by Alexander Pope from ecological point of view.
Here too the poet talks of the importance of solace of nature in the hustle and
bustle of modern life of industry and technology.
Happy the man, whose wish and
care
A few paternal
acres bound,
Content to breathe his native
air,
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose
fields with bread,
Whose flocks
supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him
shade,
In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days,
and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and
ease,
Together mixed;
sweet recreation;
And innocence, which most does
please,
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen,
unknown;
Thus unlamented
let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a
stone
Tell where I lie.
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