The Theme Of Nature In The Works Of Plato, Bryant, Twain, And Thoreau

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father of American
poetry," is one of the earliest artists to capture the essence of nature in
America and apply it to the human experience. In his poem "To A Waterfowl"
he uses the example of a waterfowl to reach a better understanding of human
existence. In the poem, the waterfowl is portrayed as a near-perfect
creation, and it is treated with a sense of reverence. The first stanza
demonstrates this:

Whither, midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, though their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?
Though it is not curious that a bird would be flying in the
morning, Cullen presents the fowl in flight as being nearly supernatural.
The bird emerges from the "heavens" almost like an angel and the persona
addresses it in an extremely respectful tone. It can be presumed that the
persona would agree that nature, embodied in the fowl, is close to what
Plato would call an "ideal." Bryant, through his ...

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