Figurative Language
Most poets use some form of figurative language to convey messages in their poetry because it allows the reader to attach a relatable visual to the emotion. As a result, nature, with its immense web of symbolism and mystery, is often encrypted into poetry. Poetry readers are often confused by a poets reference to nature such as trees, flowers, moons, etc., by assuming that any connection to the beauties of nature implies a positive connotation; however, it can be argued that nature's attributes are mostly associated with negative references such as liminal space, phallic symbols, and death. Both Sylvia Plath in "The Night Dances" and Seamus Heaney in "Ocean's Love to Ireland" use nature to create clear imagery in their poems in a manner that
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associates nature with negative connotations. Because of nature's inexplicable existence, "such moments [in poetry] generate a feeling of respect and wonderment at the infinity of nature of which we are a small part" according to Ales Debeljak in "The Forgotten Language Of Nature And Poetry" (518). This creates a mutually feared and desired attraction for the poet towards nature that influences poets to seek a connection between nature and their deepest feelings. Poetry readers are then left to decode the disguised essence of nature in poetry. Therefore, in order to further understand the function of nature in poetry, it is essential to understand how positive attributes of nature can invoke negative connotations in poetry like in the political and cultural influenced writings of Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney. Before examining the how nature is used in poetry, the role of nature in poetry should be clearly understood. Most poetry critics agree that poets attempt to use nature to draw a connection between the poet's inner world to the outside world. In fact, it seems almost imperative to use nature in poetry because without its inclusion the reader may not have anything to relate the emotion or thought to. However, the problem here is not that poets simply use nature in poetry, but that they relate certain qualities of nature in a manner that can be misunderstood. As Debeljak mentions, the human perception of nature is often so distorted that it "leads us exclusively to rational evidence and renders us incapable of harmony with the dynamics of nature" (516). In other words, nature is not only full of the unknown, but the knowledge humanity has of nature is so broad and vague, that it causes the reader to misunderstand the comparisons between the poetry lines and reference to nature. However, poetry itself is said to have an isomorphic relation, meaning having an almost identical comparison, to nature according to Alexander Spektor in "The Science of Poetry: Poetic Process as Evolution in Mandel′shtam's 'Conversation about Dante'” (474). This isomorphic relationship between poetry and nature is undeniably quite accurate as both have enigmatic qualities that allow for a large range of interpretations, but it is because of this quality that the interpretations are often mislead by the "prettiness" of nature. Therefore, although poetry critics do agree that references to nature in poetry allow the reader to draw connections and conclusions in the poetry because of their analogous relationship, the problem lies where critics disperse in the agreement of how the use of nature affects the interpretation of the poem. The conflict between whether nature in poetry represents positive and spiritual connections or negative connotations is often divided in two. First, according to Norman Foerster in "Nature in American Literature" the prime function of nature in poetry is "to evaluate the extent and correctness of the nature lore and the genuineness of the feeling for nature possessed by the Chief American Poets and prose writers, and to describe their spiritual attitudes" (861). This means, that nature is more than just a way of expressing a feeling for the poet, but that the use of nature is a form of spiritual meditation. This is not to say that poets use nature to literally meditate, but rather poets use nature in their poetry to reflect on the outer world and how that exterior "wilderness" of the unknown influences the poet's inner world, self, and writing. For example, a tree is often used in poetry to represent life and growth because it begins with a seed that blossoms into a trunk that then sprouts branches that grow leaves, fruits, and flowers. Therefore, a tree resembles the process of growth and life which seemingly is a positive reference. Using a tree in a poem may help invoke an ethereal and spiritual connection to the poet's concept and appreciation for life or even the lineage of a family or culture. Another common component of nature that is often incorporated into poetry on the same spiritual level is the moon. The moon is often used to describe femininity, tranquility, or a new beginning because of its role in the cycle of day and night. Once again, using the moon in poetry may render feelings and connections such as the birth of a romance or the pursuit for self peace. In fact, nature is often used to entangle romanticism in poetry because of how nature's attributes are commonly perceived (Foerster 861). On the other hand, nature itself is also tainted with negative, dark, or phallic interpretations that are often neglected and misconceived. According to Debeljak, "even the best intentions of environmental and ecological movements, aiming to defend and protect nature and thus speaking 'on behalf' of nature or 'for' her but never 'with' her, pave the way to hell" (516). In other words, when nature is used in poetry, it is borrowed of its attributes for the benefit of the poem and the poet rather than for the benefit of nature thus generating a misconception of nature itself. In doing this, actual symbols and representations of nature are distorted whether it is by the reader or the poet. What may symbolize death or lust is used to incorrectly describe hope and beauty, or what symbolizes growth and beauty may be used to invoke death or pain. Now, the misinterpretation of poetry may become even more problematic if nature is continually viewed as all beauty and joy when it is certainly guilty of imploring the opposite. Therefore, the symbolism of nature should be carefully examined by both the reader and the author before interpreting a poem. In Sylvia Plath's poem "The Night Dances," nature coats the entire poem with figurative language metaphors that support this problem of misconceiving nature's symbolism. Furthermore, critics claim "Plath’s use of natural imagery is merely instrumental to her personal psychology," which may cause for the nature's symbolism to be misinterpreted according to Scott Knickerbocker in "'Bodied Forth In Words': Sylvia Plath's Ecopoetics" (3). For example, Plath refers to "grass" twice in the poem. She begins the poem with "A smile fell in the grass / Irretrievable!" (1-2).
By stating that the smile is forever lost because it fell in the grass is implying that grass is a symbol of doom, end, death, etc. However, grass is commonly interpreted as symbolizing life, health, growth, and interconnection. Furthermore, when analyzing the existence and characteristics of grass itself, it can be concluded that grass is durable as it survives through every season, including winter, grass is vibrant in color, and grass is usually visualized around pastoral scenery. These are all positive connotations of nature and yet Plath uses grass to describe the loss of happiness. Later in the poem Plath writes, "Of your small breath, the drenched grass / Smell of your sleeps, lilies, lilies" (10-11). Now, the reference to "drenched grass" in these two lines can be interpreted as a negative connotation as well as it could symbolize drowning because the grass is over watered. Then there is the mentioning of "lilies" after sleep (which can also be interpreted as the liminal space between life and death) that may imply that the lilies are drowned in the "drenched grass." Another common reference to nature that Plath uses towards the end of the poem is the reference to the
planets which also convey a negative connotation. Plath's first reference to the wonders of the atmosphere is in lines 15-16 where she writes, "The comets / Have such a space to cross." Comets are commonly described as powerful forces of rock that can potentially pose a threat to earth. Here Plath, makes the connection between nature and negative connotations much clearer than in her reference to grass. This line can be interpreted as the foreshadowing of a coming threat in the far future as she mentions that the comet has a long journey. Then Plath writes the consequence of the comet reaching its destination as she writes, Through the black amnesias of heaven. Why am I given These lamps, these planets Falling like blessings, like flakes (21-24). Here Plath goes back to using a positive attribute of nature in a negative manner as she implies that heaven itself is a holding place for her forgotten memories. In other words, she conveys heaven as a dark prison as opposed to conveying heaven as a divine and beautiful celestial wonder. She proceeds by saying the planets have disintegrated into flakes, which she refers to as "blessings," but if a planet disintegrated it would turn into rock that would burn into ashes, which is associated with death. Here Plath does the opposite as she did with the reference to the grass and has taken something that invokes death and destruction and has made it so it is interpreted as a "blessing." Once again, Plath's obscure use of nature supports what critics argue about her poetry style encompassing solipsism, meaning the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist (3). Seamus Heaney in "Ocean's Love to Ireland" also often uses positive attributes of nature that invoke negative or phallic meaning. Heaney refers to the ocean all throughout the poem in a form that personifies water as a male that is raping a woman. The first problem arises in the choice of using the word ocean to describe a villainous male. The ocean commonly symbolizes power because of its immensity, it symbolizes life and birth because of its literal containment of life, it symbolizes mystery because of its unexplored depths, and it symbolizes tranquility because of its beauty and rhythm. Furthermore, although the ocean is also known to be unpredictable with occasional ravishing waters, it's role is more to use its power and strength to protect the life it encases. Therefore, since the ocean represents serenity and power, the ocean has the ability to protect and bring peace to the abused woman rather than do the abusing as Heaney has posed the ocean to do. Moving on, Heaney continues with "Ralegh has backed the maid to a tree" (2). Here the tree, what is commonly associated with life and growth, is interpreted as a phallic symbol as "Ralegh" has forcefully cornered the woman to an erect "tree." Whether, Heaney has done this intentionally or not, the use of the tree is used in opposition of what a tree commonly represents. As mentioned before, a tree symbolizes life and growth because of its growth process. Furthermore, the tree also symbolizes strength and shelter, as trees endure extreme season conditions as well as supply shelter and safety to animals and humans. However, once again, rather than the tree sheltering the woman, Heaney writes the tree to represent the erect penis of the man who is violating the woman. Heaney's use of nature in this poem contributes to the argument that the misunderstanding of nature produces disconcerting interpretations of both the poem and nature as Debeljak states that "nature does indeed have a fateful impact on modern man's consciousness, an impact which increasingly resists words owing to our alienation from direct communion with the natural world" (516). It is evident that poets not only use nature to add significance to their poetry, but that their use of nature in their poetry also affects the interpretation and understanding of nature. Furthermore, because the symbolism of nature's attributes are not commonly or accurately understood, nature may be used in a manner that invokes a meaning the opposite of what that symbol actually represents. Although critics are not entirely in agreement with the use and role of nature in poetry, but it is indisputable that poetry heavily relies on nature to illustrate the emotion of the poem. Moreover, the two poems of Plath and Heaney support the idea that nature's role in poetry often produces negative connotations despite the positive symbolism of the attributes because of the apparent detachment of the poet to nature.
associates nature with negative connotations. Because of nature's inexplicable existence, "such moments [in poetry] generate a feeling of respect and wonderment at the infinity of nature of which we are a small part" according to Ales Debeljak in "The Forgotten Language Of Nature And Poetry" (518). This creates a mutually feared and desired attraction for the poet towards nature that influences poets to seek a connection between nature and their deepest feelings. Poetry readers are then left to decode the disguised essence of nature in poetry. Therefore, in order to further understand the function of nature in poetry, it is essential to understand how positive attributes of nature can invoke negative connotations in poetry like in the political and cultural influenced writings of Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney. Before examining the how nature is used in poetry, the role of nature in poetry should be clearly understood. Most poetry critics agree that poets attempt to use nature to draw a connection between the poet's inner world to the outside world. In fact, it seems almost imperative to use nature in poetry because without its inclusion the reader may not have anything to relate the emotion or thought to. However, the problem here is not that poets simply use nature in poetry, but that they relate certain qualities of nature in a manner that can be misunderstood. As Debeljak mentions, the human perception of nature is often so distorted that it "leads us exclusively to rational evidence and renders us incapable of harmony with the dynamics of nature" (516). In other words, nature is not only full of the unknown, but the knowledge humanity has of nature is so broad and vague, that it causes the reader to misunderstand the comparisons between the poetry lines and reference to nature. However, poetry itself is said to have an isomorphic relation, meaning having an almost identical comparison, to nature according to Alexander Spektor in "The Science of Poetry: Poetic Process as Evolution in Mandel′shtam's 'Conversation about Dante'” (474). This isomorphic relationship between poetry and nature is undeniably quite accurate as both have enigmatic qualities that allow for a large range of interpretations, but it is because of this quality that the interpretations are often mislead by the "prettiness" of nature. Therefore, although poetry critics do agree that references to nature in poetry allow the reader to draw connections and conclusions in the poetry because of their analogous relationship, the problem lies where critics disperse in the agreement of how the use of nature affects the interpretation of the poem. The conflict between whether nature in poetry represents positive and spiritual connections or negative connotations is often divided in two. First, according to Norman Foerster in "Nature in American Literature" the prime function of nature in poetry is "to evaluate the extent and correctness of the nature lore and the genuineness of the feeling for nature possessed by the Chief American Poets and prose writers, and to describe their spiritual attitudes" (861). This means, that nature is more than just a way of expressing a feeling for the poet, but that the use of nature is a form of spiritual meditation. This is not to say that poets use nature to literally meditate, but rather poets use nature in their poetry to reflect on the outer world and how that exterior "wilderness" of the unknown influences the poet's inner world, self, and writing. For example, a tree is often used in poetry to represent life and growth because it begins with a seed that blossoms into a trunk that then sprouts branches that grow leaves, fruits, and flowers. Therefore, a tree resembles the process of growth and life which seemingly is a positive reference. Using a tree in a poem may help invoke an ethereal and spiritual connection to the poet's concept and appreciation for life or even the lineage of a family or culture. Another common component of nature that is often incorporated into poetry on the same spiritual level is the moon. The moon is often used to describe femininity, tranquility, or a new beginning because of its role in the cycle of day and night. Once again, using the moon in poetry may render feelings and connections such as the birth of a romance or the pursuit for self peace. In fact, nature is often used to entangle romanticism in poetry because of how nature's attributes are commonly perceived (Foerster 861). On the other hand, nature itself is also tainted with negative, dark, or phallic interpretations that are often neglected and misconceived. According to Debeljak, "even the best intentions of environmental and ecological movements, aiming to defend and protect nature and thus speaking 'on behalf' of nature or 'for' her but never 'with' her, pave the way to hell" (516). In other words, when nature is used in poetry, it is borrowed of its attributes for the benefit of the poem and the poet rather than for the benefit of nature thus generating a misconception of nature itself. In doing this, actual symbols and representations of nature are distorted whether it is by the reader or the poet. What may symbolize death or lust is used to incorrectly describe hope and beauty, or what symbolizes growth and beauty may be used to invoke death or pain. Now, the misinterpretation of poetry may become even more problematic if nature is continually viewed as all beauty and joy when it is certainly guilty of imploring the opposite. Therefore, the symbolism of nature should be carefully examined by both the reader and the author before interpreting a poem. In Sylvia Plath's poem "The Night Dances," nature coats the entire poem with figurative language metaphors that support this problem of misconceiving nature's symbolism. Furthermore, critics claim "Plath’s use of natural imagery is merely instrumental to her personal psychology," which may cause for the nature's symbolism to be misinterpreted according to Scott Knickerbocker in "'Bodied Forth In Words': Sylvia Plath's Ecopoetics" (3). For example, Plath refers to "grass" twice in the poem. She begins the poem with "A smile fell in the grass / Irretrievable!" (1-2).
By stating that the smile is forever lost because it fell in the grass is implying that grass is a symbol of doom, end, death, etc. However, grass is commonly interpreted as symbolizing life, health, growth, and interconnection. Furthermore, when analyzing the existence and characteristics of grass itself, it can be concluded that grass is durable as it survives through every season, including winter, grass is vibrant in color, and grass is usually visualized around pastoral scenery. These are all positive connotations of nature and yet Plath uses grass to describe the loss of happiness. Later in the poem Plath writes, "Of your small breath, the drenched grass / Smell of your sleeps, lilies, lilies" (10-11). Now, the reference to "drenched grass" in these two lines can be interpreted as a negative connotation as well as it could symbolize drowning because the grass is over watered. Then there is the mentioning of "lilies" after sleep (which can also be interpreted as the liminal space between life and death) that may imply that the lilies are drowned in the "drenched grass." Another common reference to nature that Plath uses towards the end of the poem is the reference to the
planets which also convey a negative connotation. Plath's first reference to the wonders of the atmosphere is in lines 15-16 where she writes, "The comets / Have such a space to cross." Comets are commonly described as powerful forces of rock that can potentially pose a threat to earth. Here Plath, makes the connection between nature and negative connotations much clearer than in her reference to grass. This line can be interpreted as the foreshadowing of a coming threat in the far future as she mentions that the comet has a long journey. Then Plath writes the consequence of the comet reaching its destination as she writes, Through the black amnesias of heaven. Why am I given These lamps, these planets Falling like blessings, like flakes (21-24). Here Plath goes back to using a positive attribute of nature in a negative manner as she implies that heaven itself is a holding place for her forgotten memories. In other words, she conveys heaven as a dark prison as opposed to conveying heaven as a divine and beautiful celestial wonder. She proceeds by saying the planets have disintegrated into flakes, which she refers to as "blessings," but if a planet disintegrated it would turn into rock that would burn into ashes, which is associated with death. Here Plath does the opposite as she did with the reference to the grass and has taken something that invokes death and destruction and has made it so it is interpreted as a "blessing." Once again, Plath's obscure use of nature supports what critics argue about her poetry style encompassing solipsism, meaning the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist (3). Seamus Heaney in "Ocean's Love to Ireland" also often uses positive attributes of nature that invoke negative or phallic meaning. Heaney refers to the ocean all throughout the poem in a form that personifies water as a male that is raping a woman. The first problem arises in the choice of using the word ocean to describe a villainous male. The ocean commonly symbolizes power because of its immensity, it symbolizes life and birth because of its literal containment of life, it symbolizes mystery because of its unexplored depths, and it symbolizes tranquility because of its beauty and rhythm. Furthermore, although the ocean is also known to be unpredictable with occasional ravishing waters, it's role is more to use its power and strength to protect the life it encases. Therefore, since the ocean represents serenity and power, the ocean has the ability to protect and bring peace to the abused woman rather than do the abusing as Heaney has posed the ocean to do. Moving on, Heaney continues with "Ralegh has backed the maid to a tree" (2). Here the tree, what is commonly associated with life and growth, is interpreted as a phallic symbol as "Ralegh" has forcefully cornered the woman to an erect "tree." Whether, Heaney has done this intentionally or not, the use of the tree is used in opposition of what a tree commonly represents. As mentioned before, a tree symbolizes life and growth because of its growth process. Furthermore, the tree also symbolizes strength and shelter, as trees endure extreme season conditions as well as supply shelter and safety to animals and humans. However, once again, rather than the tree sheltering the woman, Heaney writes the tree to represent the erect penis of the man who is violating the woman. Heaney's use of nature in this poem contributes to the argument that the misunderstanding of nature produces disconcerting interpretations of both the poem and nature as Debeljak states that "nature does indeed have a fateful impact on modern man's consciousness, an impact which increasingly resists words owing to our alienation from direct communion with the natural world" (516). It is evident that poets not only use nature to add significance to their poetry, but that their use of nature in their poetry also affects the interpretation and understanding of nature. Furthermore, because the symbolism of nature's attributes are not commonly or accurately understood, nature may be used in a manner that invokes a meaning the opposite of what that symbol actually represents. Although critics are not entirely in agreement with the use and role of nature in poetry, but it is indisputable that poetry heavily relies on nature to illustrate the emotion of the poem. Moreover, the two poems of Plath and Heaney support the idea that nature's role in poetry often produces negative connotations despite the positive symbolism of the attributes because of the apparent detachment of the poet to nature.