Treks and Texts

      Looking back on this semester, I feel like this course allowed me to connect with nature and the people around me in more intentional ways. Within the classroom, I was able to make new friendships and have bonding experiences that impacted my life for the better. I think that going on treks to canoe or the nature center, no matter what circumstances arose, brought our group closer together and allowed us to escape our lives for a while. Everyone in our class came from a different backgrounds and majors and we were all able to come together to work on a single cause. Many people in our class I lived within in Milton freshman year so it was sweet to be able to come together again and make memories in our senior year. We all have changed so much and it is exciting to connect later in our college careers to see where we all ended up. I also got to make new friends through my project group and make connections that extend out of the classroom. I think this course was an ...

  An idea I thought about in class was the division between nature and society. Growing up in the city I have grown to love the comfort of people, busy streets, activity, and the constant desire to do something. I have seen my city grow and develop over the years and never really wished for more. My sister would sometimes say how she wanted to move out to land and how we should all live near each other. My first thought was why would I live far away from everything I need? Why would I not want to live 10 minutes from every hot spot I attend on a daily basis? My world has been overcome by convenience and getting things done.      I feel like I always thought I would not know what to do if I lived out of the city. Would I just raise animals? Would I have to work harder maintaining it? Would it be too quiet? I think the last one is what i reflect on the most. While I do find times in my day to be alone, I am never fully just quiet. My phone buzzing, scrolling aimlessly,...

 Before this class, I always thought of wilderness as the isolated, dangerous, and deserted parts of the world. In every movie growing up the wilderness is the place that the character is never supposed to venture until they finally escape. As I thought about this I reflected on the fact that every movie and adventure starts with stepping out of our world into this unknown wilderness. By the end, the wilderness becomes a place of discovery and appreciation about the world around them.      The wilderness also implies a sense of separation. A split between two world that will never mix and were never meant to. The wilderness if anything tries to draw us away to keep this distance. But what really is it? Is it really just a scary place that no man should touch or did we just make that up? Did our fear of the unknown and undiscovered lead us to believe the wilderness is inherently bad? This made me think back to discussions in class where we talked about how men were al...

 This short poem once again highlight the majesty and beauty of a bird. It seem like a common motif in Oliver's work as she fascinates on the colors and power of the birds. In this poem, she notices a partocular one while looking through the trees. She describes him as, :a ruffle of fire trailing over the shoulders and down the back- color of copper, iron, bronze- lighting up the dark branches of the pine." She practically glorifies the birds for its mere presence. One part that confused me and seemed a bit out of place was her statement, "what misery to be afraid of death. What wretchedness, to believe only in what can be proven." She makes this remark then goes back to the scene of the branches. It makes me think that the bird itself made her reflect on its freedom from logic or worry as it flies through the branches. It simply has to exist in instinct and not of the standards of man. Once the bird notices her, it scarcely thinks twice about it before flying off, ...

 I love how this poem shows how quickly out minds can jump from idea to idea while still being enthralled in our surroundings. Oliver begins writing the opening about the glory of the experiences of nature in everyday life. A few lines later she decides to switch her focus to the song of the meadowlark and praise its simple existence in life. This poem is very sweet and reflective in nature. It reminds me of just laying outside in summer and taking in all the heat, flowers, birds, and the environment as a whole. She personifies the flowers as she describes daisies with, "their small, ecstatic faces" and roses "come to bud then open like little soft sighs." It reflects how delicate and sweet these flowers are as they rest within nature under the song of the meadowlark. The whole poem reminds me of a prayer of thanksgiving for the beauty and splendor of nature. The poem opens and closes with "oh Lord" as she dives into describing the clouds, trees, and other...

      This poem had a way of bringing me into the entire scene of the hawk along the lake. I loved how she was able to see the beauty in the hawk describing it as, "admiral," and "this is not something of the red fire, this is heaven's fistful." I feel like certain animals in nature, especially predators, have a connotation as being mean or bad. Oliver is able to highlight on the power, intent, and freedom of the hawk as it soars on some unknown mission through the lake. You feel the tension of the piece as she describes the, "hawk hooked one exquisite foot onto the last twig to look deeper into the yellow reeds." It had this image of suspense as we watch the next move of the hawk. One line that stuck out to me was, "it cruised along the lake- all the time its eyes fastened harder than love on some unimportant rustling in the yellow reeds." The way she highlights his focuses being "harder than love" both shows the value of his missi...