Contradictions on the idea of the picturesque

After reading Gilpin on Tuesday, the differences between his ideas and thoughts about the picturesque and Wordsworth's really stood out to me. While Gilpin was highly critical of any human interference in nature, Wordsworth seemed more relaxed about it. Wordsworth seemed to enjoy small country towns and the company of country people, and he includes descriptions of their houses and churches as part of the things he likes and enjoys about the country. Wordsworth doesn't think that the orchards or other parts of nature which have been organized and placed in rows ruin the landscape. Gilpin describes hedges as being unsightly in his poetry, but Wordsworth says "Once again I see these hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines of sportive wood run wild; these pastoral farms green to the very door." (p143) Wordsworth seems much more forgiving of humanity in his poetry, although he doesn't enjoy the bustle of a hectic city life. Wordsworth also seems much more spiritual and less critical about nature than Gilpin.

Wordsworths and the idea of powerful memories

A particular quote that stuck out to me while reading Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" comes from lines 138-142:

"...and in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure, when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies..."

From all the texts we have read so far, we've seen authors turn nature personified, sexualized, and exaggerated to get across their appreciation for nature, and the relationship it shares with human beings. Yet the author's feelings in all of those texts were never as explicit or as passionate as it was here in Wordsworth's poem. Here, the poem is not even particularly about nature itself, but how it's profound beauty has affected Wordsworth. The particular quote stuck out to me, because Wordsworth is absolutely right about strong feelings standing the test of time in one's mind. In life, only the greatest of feelings--good or bad--pass the test of time and carry on with you for the rest of your life. Wordsworth's poignant experience probably lingered with him for the rest of his life. More than 200 years later, his beautiful writing has allowed readers to be taken directly into his mind and his heart.

Differences in Beauty and Picturesque

Reading through Wordsworth's poems emphasizes the differences between what can be considered beauty and picturesque.  While the tourists are looking for an unmarked (or minimally marked) landscape, they are still interested in viewing it and the political/ social implications of what they see.  However, in "Poems on the Naming of Places", Wordsworth discusses a place of beauty, "The spot was made by Nature for herself: The travellers know it not, and 'twill remain Unknown to them; but it is beautiful".  While this could possibly also qualify as picturesque, it does not seem related to the equipment and rules of the picturesque observer. 

Distorted Beauty

While reading “Observations on the River Wye” I felt that the line “perfect enough to form the perspective; yet broken enough to destroy the regularity” (49) really embodies the Romantic movement, especially with relation to the various landscapes and collections. Andrews points out the various objects people use in “The Search for the Picturesque” when traveling the countryside and it brought me back to this quote. They capture the scene itself, yet remove the details that make it familiar. I think that is what I find so disturbing about it all, that people had to appreciate the beauty through an altered form instead of taking it all in as a whole. I found it all so unsettling because people “needed” these things to appreciate the natural world, instead of taking it in as a whole.

The Power of Memory

      Lines Composed a few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour.  July 13, 1798. While  the poem is most commonly referred to as simply Tintern Abbey I feel it is quite important to be aware of the entire title. That simple line lets the reader know what to expect of this poem. Wordsworth is not at Tintern Abbey, he is a few miles above it on a hill...and this is not his first visit. To me this poem is all about the power of memory and how it can effect you. Wordsworth said it himself when he said that the memory of Tintern Abbey had "no slight or trivial influence/On that best portion of a good man's life." The idea seems to be presented that the beauty and joy taken in on his first visit gave Wordsworth the ability to be a better human. In times of darkness he could close his eyes and revisit this place to give himself some peace. Another show of the memory of this location is that on this visit he has brought his sister ("friend") with him and he hopes that "Thy memory be as a dwelling-place/For all sweet sounds and harmonies" and when she thinks of him after he is gone that "with what healing thoughts/Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,/And these my exhortations."
      In conclusion....I think Wordsworth is an amazing poet who brings an image to the page with a special mastery. When he writes it I can imagine sitting on that hill above Tintern Abbey seeing, hearing, and feeling all of the things he did at that long ago moment. The love he has for nature is present all throughout this poem.

Loving Dr. Darwin

About 10 years ago, Jenny Uglow wrote an article on Darwin for the Gaurdian, urging a recovery of his poetry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/sep/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

As Uglow argues, when we see Darwin in own historical moment of 1780s Britain, he is quite radical in many of his beliefs, religious scientific and social (and much more liberal than many of his contemporaries, especially in his support of abolition and other reform agendas, including the cause of female education). The poem-treatise combination is itself a radical way of writing, and certainly he used this form to reach a wider audience and to put forward views that went against conventional norms. This is not, however, to say that Darwin conforms to *our* standards or views about relationships between men and women--he was a product of his moment, as were all the poets that we are reading in this course. But it is telling that women poets, novelists and philosophers admired Darwin and used his work to promote their own work. Whatever the content of his poem implies (and as you can see it is not at all easy to determine what his overarching message was), the way women authors used it was to empower themselves and stake a claim for their right to speak and publish on scientific and political subjects.

The Love of Plants

This work was particularly interesting because of the extended use of personification. All of the various plants Darwin wrote about came alive as I was reading the poem. In our society, we do not see many similarities between the human race and plants even though we are both living beings. Darwin seems to believe otherwise as he gives the various plants human like characteristics and speaks of them as sexual beings. Everything must reproduce and he really emphasizes that. Even though plant reproduction is done in a vastly different way than human reproduction, it is still reproduction nonetheless and therefore similar.

Jon: Love of the Plants

It was hard for me to follow what was going on in The Loves of the Plants. Footnotes did help keep things orderly, but it was a lot to digest in one sitting. I thought it was humorous how Darwin made such drama out of something like plants. I don’t see how anything like this would be read today, not even in highbrow magazines. The appeal must have been in bringing the exoticism of botany into the living room. A contemporary version of this type of reporting may be something like National Geographic. It does seem to have a niche readership. 

For the Love of Plants

I found it interesting that a Scientist like Darwin found a way to translate his passion for his profession through a poem but also in a way that allows people to understand the makeup of plants. The sexual references to each plant are interesting when you think about it through a scientific lens. Although, all of this is an afterthought because while I was reading it, I too found it quite daunting. I was planning on trying to give it a full read through without the footnotes but only got halfway. I found the footnotes really helpful while reading because I was more interested in Darwin's role as the writer/viewer/discoverer of this "love" and how he managed to marry his passion with knowledge about them. This poem is very challenging to read but very beautifully written.

Love of the Plants

In this reading, Darwin's personification of these flowers played out interestingly with the emphasis on sexual and warrior like characteristics. Also, his call of the muses and allusions made it feel as if I was reading a collection of tiny mythological stories. Having applied the reading methods that we discussed in class, I found it much easier to read the poem all the way through and then go back to the notes. The notes were very useful but very tedious and dull in comparison to the beauty of the poem.

The Love of Plants.

I personally really enjoyed reading this poem. I thought it was awesome how Darwin personified the plants. At times, I even forgot he was talking about plants. I found the poem to be very beautiful and magically. However, when reading the poem again with the footnotes the magical element is lost and the poem is less enchanting. The footnotes constantly brought me out of the poem and were frankly just taxing to read. It also loses some of the interpretive meaning with the footnotes. However, as a whole I thought the poem was beautifully written and that Darwin did an amazing job making plants interesting and relatable.

Unique Teaching Methods

Darwin's "Loves of the Plants" is a beautiful poem full of imagery, personification and an abundance of adjectives. Although the scientific aspect is a bit boring Darwin compensates for this with his fluidity of words. This poem also shows the multiple aspects of Darwin himself. He is at first a scientist. Detailing the terminology of botany (which was very dry) and giving a history lesson on Linnaeus. I worried with trying to remember the multiple classes, species, families and orders of plants. This caused me to be a little weary of the poem. I was pleasantly surprised however. Darwin is not only a gifted botanist but also a gifted poet. He describes the flowers as not flowers but as people. People who have emotions, sex lives and problems. I think Darwin uses this unique technique in order to get more people interested in botany; a method which I'm positive has worked in Darwin's time and in modern times.   

Oh the Plants

As someone who is not all that familiar with botany and lacks a certain luster for poetry, I found this particular piece a bit daunting. There were more footnotes than poetry which was a bit of a turnoff and took much persistence to finish each read. During my first read through of the poem it was clearly visible that there was an intimate passion present from the writer because of how intricate each description was. I, myself, had to do a little extra research of the poem and some of the plants the second time around to understand what about this poem was so appealing.

The Loves of the Plants

This poem was interesting because the plants had roles in the poems due to the use of personification. Although the footnotes disturbed the pace of the poem, they gave important information that helped characterize the plants. I believe the most important characterization was the labeling of sex . The addition of the gender label gave males and females a role in society that are expected to be natural. There are moments where the female flower seems to be weak in certain situation, but since these are plants-natural resources-maybe the poem is listing female characteristics that  the poet believes are natural (normal).

For the Love of Plants!

I really enjoyed reading Darwin's poem The Love of the Plants, even more so after reading all the footnotes because it helped me understand where Darwin was going with all the sexual connotations. As noted by other posts in the blog, there is a great sense of personification within the poem and it helps the reader see plant reproduction in an even more beautiful and intriguing light by allowing us to believe that these plants have human emotion and actions.

In addition to personification, I loved how Darwin uses mythology and other famous works to describe how some of the plants interact with each other.  The part that really stands out to me is the comparison Darwin makes between the plant Plantago and Shakespeare's characters Desdemona and Othello.  The comparison is written so beautifully that I could hardly believe he was talking about plants!

On a side note, while reading this poem I suddenly remembered Disney's Fantasia which featured dancing mushrooms and flowers during The Nutcracker Suite and instantly had to listen to it while reading this piece.

Here's a link to the song for your listening pleasure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxBJYSU3RJ8

The Loves of the Plants

Throughout this poem (and yes, holy footnotes) Darwin's use of personification is particularly strong. He obviously has some sort of love for the plants he is observing, but also I think he's relating the plants to mankind-especially the stereotypes of women. The sexual connotations are again another parallel between mankind and "plantkind" if you will. Darwin is pointing out that sexual behavior is a part of the natural world. The relationship between the natural world and the human world also emphasizes the theme of evolution, which is suggested in the poem (and is also a topic which Darwin is passionate about).

Darwin's The Loves of the Plants

I found it very interesting that Darwin would use sexual concepts while trying to describe the plants that he observed. While reading the poem, I pictured a very vast collection of plants being carefully inspected by Darwin. He takes his time to distinctly mention each plant and its sexual orientation. I found it very easy to relate to and understand because of the certain personifications he gave to each plant described. The personalities of humans and mating strategies were enforced upon the plants probably to make it easier for the reader to relate to, but then at times it gets in great detail and a bit erotic. All in all, I enjoyed Darwin's attempt to explaining the natural world.

The Loves of the Plants

I found Darwin's poem of "The Loves of the Plants" to be extremely engaging throughout the entire text but it wasn't always pleasant to read. I very much enjoyed his ability to bring the plants to life and assign to them personification. He gave the plants personality, feelings, and characteristics similar to those of people. What I found disturbing about the poem was the intimacy in which he describes the plants with regards to mating. The thought of female and male plants never crossed my mind. Even so, I could accept that concept mildly. However, when he begins to describe the multiple male plants that surround one female plant in an attempt to engage with her sexually and at one point indicated that the dust like substance males produced gave them wings because the dust was carried with the wind was a bit too much to digest. I feel that the poem could have remained engaging with the fantastical theme it carried and didn't need so much of the sexual implications.

HOLY FOOTNOTES

I read the poem the first time around without footnotes and I enjoyed it. I found it a little hard to follow at points, but it was really interesting to see how Darwin personified the plants. Without the footnotes I was reading a love story with the ups and downs of a normal relationship. It's still grabbing my attention how he loves plants so dearly.

Erasmus Darwin's 'Loves of the Plants'

I greatly enjoyed this reading because I've always been one who wonders at the magnificence of the natural world. I also like to personify things that I see in nature so I could absolutely relate to the way Darwin writes about and admires all of these plants, their behaviors, and biological findings. Having the curiosity to explore the natural world and to attempt to explain it as well was such a major theme in this time period, and I think that curiosity to seek and explain is a huge part of human nature as a whole. It rings true in every corner of the world that, typically, humans are curious and want to keep discovering new things. That passion for learning is clear throughout Darwin's writings, and I think that is one reason why it's such an enjoyable read.

Loves of the Plants

I really enjoyed reading The Loves of the Plants. This poem is a really interesting juxtaposition of biology and fantasy. On one hand the author has a very scientific collection of the drawings of the plants, while his poem takes on a very fantastic view of his collection. The thing that struck me most about the poem was the motion Darwin gave the plants. In the poem the plants take on extremely human, very non-plant like characteristics. The plants are sensual and can woo each other, kiss, pull each other into embraces, roll their eyes, flirt, run away, and be murderers. They are given brows, lips, hair, eyes, and arms. Another thing that stood out to me was the use of mythology and the contrast with the supernatural and natural worlds. He turns what could be a very scientific list of types of plants and flowers into a collection of fairies, nymphs, gods, goddesses, monsters, and sirens. I thought this poem read very much like a fairy tale, and I love the fantastic version of nature we are given.

Paige Lollie: The Love of Plants

After the class on Tuesday and the discussion about art and science (how Banks might be considered) and wonder a bit more about the relationship between the two. It feels like there is a need to keep the two separate and that they are from two different classes that should not coincide, especially within the same piece of work. We might (and personally I think should) say that art is personal and is up to each individual on what art is to them. But going by a stereotypical view, not many might see science as art. And I am curious, with something like this out there, why would it be so hard to imagine the two blending well together?

What I wonder is if the nature and name of flowers were taken into account, or if the language of flowers existed at this time. So often, I hear about flowers being a symbol for an emotion or mean something outside the realm of nature (like love, purity, etc.) Does this have any meaning to the poetry itself? And would it alter the view of the poem? Because it was briefly discussed before that this poem was controversial because of a sense of intense intimacy about plant-life. So, I wonder if there could be some other meaning besides it being straight-forward-scientific.

About the notes, I am not sure if I do like them or not. It is useful to have, but there is such a great amount of information that I wonder if it really could take away from the work. Perhaps there is a limit to how many and how much there should be within footnotes? I feel like it almost loses a bit of its poetic magic when there is so much of the footnotes to cover.

The Loves of the Plants

Despite the lengthy footnotes, I really like this poem. The way Darwin personifies each individual plant is beautiful and I found myself picturing each plant as though it were a person with deep emotions. Ironically, this is one of the best love poems I have read, not only based on the love between the plants but also Darwin's love for them. I can only imagine how inspired Darwin felt each time he looked at his plant collection in order to give them such depth.

I admit that I never gave much thought to the differences between the poet Darwin and the scientist Darwin until I read Hanna's post. I read back through the preface (I may have skimmed originally) and became even more impressed with Darwin's ability to have a scientific viewpoint and an artistic one.

Now, about the footnotes, they were very helpful and I appreciated being able to use the artistic descriptions given in order to match the plant with it's scientific qualities.

Sexually Scientific Footnoted Plants

After discussing in class on Tuesday the pros and cons of footnotes, I decided to test out the theory of reading the poem then going back to read the footnotes.  In The Loves of the Plants, the footnotes are a key point to understanding this poem.  Since each of the stanzas start with the name of a plant the best way to comprehend the majority of the poem the best way is through the use of footnotes.  While the poem is structured in a nice way, I found that it was lacking in something.  I didn’t enjoy the blending of poetry and botany because it made the poem appear as more of a textbook than a piece of literature to me.  Once the use of footnotes becomes one of the main components of a poem, it loses the element of being open to interpretation. Also the use of the sexually charged plants seemed unsettling at times.  Such as “two virgins share/Smit with thy starry eye and radiant hair--/on the green margin sits the youth”.  I can’t exactly pinpoint what makes this odd for me, but Erasmus Darwin’s choice of language made it seem like he was more sexually attracted to the plants than the actual plants were.

After reading everyone else's posts, I think I'm the only person who didn't particularly like this poem.. Oops.

The Loves Of The Plants

After reading Darwin's poem, and looking over the previous blog posts for this reading, I would have to agree with everything that has been said thus far. I can particularly relate to what Zombie Princess said about this being a love poem. However, I couldn't help but notice that no one has addressed the sexual undertones of this poem. Maybe I am interpreting the poem incorrectly, but it seems to me that from the title "The Loves of the Plants" and through the poem itself, there is a very strong sense of the sexuality of the plants. The personification seems to give each plant a gender, and then the plants also seem to interact with one other...can anyone expand on this?

Other than that, I think that this poem is beautiful. It certainly serves it's purpose to, "Inlisit Imagination under the banner of Science," as Darwin says at the beginning of the passage. I love how vivid the imagery is. I particularly like lines 27-30, "Glitter, ye Glow-worms, on your mossy beds; Descend, ye spiders, on your lengthen'd threads..."

Darwin and his Love of Plants

         One of the most striking things for me in this work is the anthropomorphic language used for the plants. While it has been pointed out in another post I don't think the use of this technique can be talked about enough. While it could have been a boring work about plants, instead it is intriguing and drew my attention!! From the opening line of "Descend, ye hovering sylphs!" all the way through we are given a description of what these plants are in human terms that we can relate to. My first impression...ignoring the footnotes...was a love poem. The story of lovers who long to be together. There is jealously and envy...all of the human emotions that makes this seem to be about more than just mere plants. Darwin did a fine job of keeping me enthralled; now I've just got to read through and decipher all of those notes <(^_^)>

Two Voices, One Work

     For this Thursday's reading (9/13/12), what stood out to me the most was the differences between Darwin in his Preface and Interlude, and his voice in the actual poem.
     In the poem, while I still saw Darwin as a bit of a scientist (which probably resulted from his insistent use of Linnaean terms and details in his footnotes), he was much more fluid and relaxed in his language. Not only did his personification and metaphors overshadow the work as a whole, but it actually added to it in a way that scientists aren't always able to do - it made it more beautiful and less exact, prolonging the imagery of the poem and enhancing our perceptions on what he was seeing.
     However, when it came to his Preface and Interlude, we easily see the scientist and the observer emerge much more prevalently. Not only can he not focus on anything but the Linnaean classification system in the Preface, but he refers to himself as "Mr. Botanist" before being labelled as "The Poet." The differences between the Preface and Interlude are great, one discussing just about nothing but the importance of proper classification and the other pointing out the fine details that can make art or poetry great, but we can't help but see the connection between the two in the form of his consistent and insistent use of references toward his botanist background, even when discussing the finer things in life.

The Loves of the Plants and Personification

What really impressed me in Darwin's poem is also probably the most obvious aspect, the personification of the plants.  For some reason or another, the way that he gave these plants hands, arms, or eyes to roll resonated with me and the vision that I as a reader gained from these descriptions.  The language that was used created images that actually made me think of old cartoons in which plants and forest sprites interacted without human observation.  These qualities were inevitably used in some way and exuded personality within these actions.  Darwin adds a layer of humanity to the plants by giving them a certain personality whether it is when they "clap'd their rude hands" or the way one "lolls his red tongue".  I almost felt that I could interact with them in the same way they related to each other.   

Comparing "A Nocturnal Reverie" and "Loves of the Plant"

While I was reading Darwin's "Loves of the Plants," I noticed a very prevalent similarity between it and Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie." At first, both stories seemed comparable just by the subject matter: nature, or in Darwin's case, plants. Both authors made heavy use of vivid descriptions to make sure the reader can get a clear picture inside their minds. However, the execution of these two poems are vastly different. While Finch's description of nature was more enchanting and (for a lack of a better word) romanticized, Darwin's description focused more on personifying each plant. Lines such as "O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims/And nerves herculean bend her finewy limbs," used allusions to help the reader find a connection between the plant world and ours. Not only is this clever writing, it's also slightly educational. Darwin, being both a writer and a botanist on the side, decided that this would be a fun way to educate the general public on the studies of famous botanist Carl Linnaeus. Ultimately, both works are satisfying by transporting the reader into the world of nature and letting it consume you for awhile.

A theme I saw in the readings for today (Tuesday, September 11th) is how personal passion ultimately affects the significance of a collection. The entries of this voyage are nothing more than collections of memories and experiences. What each author chooses to divulge and how he chooses to communicate it is highly indicative of their positions. For example, Captain James Cook's entries were all reflective of his role; he wrote about the things that directly affected him. His entries were highly numerical and were littered with short-handed code for cardinal directions and off-handed descriptions of weather, all things a captain should be concerned with. For Banks, his entries were highly descriptive and focused more on the aesthetic quality of the trip; replacing Cook’s numbers were Latin names for plants and romantic, flowing descriptions of the landscape. Lastly, in Parkinson’s journal, there is a similarity with Banks, but there is more of an anthropologic focus. I found it extremely significant that for these three men, their journey becomes their collection. Their perception and what they choose to be significant are what eventually composes their individual collections, collections that each gathered from the same trip and that are ultimately significant only to each individual author.