Nature and Humanity, a Comparison of Poems Essay -- Poetry Nowlan Rilk

When humans and nature come together, they either coexist harmoniously because nature's inhabitants and humans share a mutual respect and understanding for each other, or they clash because humans attempt to control and force their ways of life on nature. The poems, "The Bull Moose" by Alden Nowlan, "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke, "Walking the Dog" by Howard Nemerov, and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop, describe what happens when humans and nature come together. I believe that when humans and nature come together they either clash and conflict because individuals destroy and attempt to control nature, which is a reflection of their powerful need to control themselves, or humans live peacefully with nature because not only do they admire and respect nature, but also they can see themselves in nature. The poem "The Bull Moose" illustrates that when humans and nature come together, they clash and conflict because humans attempt to control nature in order fulfill their need to control themselves. In the poem, the moose is on his death march and searching for a place to die peacefully. During his search, after leaving his natural environment of "trees [and] mountain[s]," the moose approaches a "pole-fenced pasture." This "fenced pasture" symbolizes the division between the moose's natural free environment and the environment dominated and controlled by humans. When the moose reaches the environment dominated by humans, he approaches the cattle, and rather than greeting the moose in a friendly manner, the cattle symbolically move "to the other end of the field" because they realize that the moose is not like them and does not belong in their environment. This situation illustrates the clash between the human environment... ...nizes the fish because, just like the fish, people fight daily battles to survive in life. This humanization of the fish enables the speaker to relate and respect him, and therefore, ultimately leads to his release. The poems, "The Bull Moose" by Alden Nowlan, "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke, "Walking the Dog" by Howard Nemerov, and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop, illustrate what happens when people and nature come together, but the way in which the people react to these encounters in these poems is very different. I believe that when humans and nature come together either they clash and conflict because individuals destroy and attempt to control nature, which is a reflection of their powerful need to control themselves, or humans live peacefully with nature because they not only respect and admire nature, but also they can see themselves in the nature.