Independence

Through much of Gary Snyder’s poetry I am beginning to see a trend or overall theme. The Earth, and nature, are fairly independent and would easily go on living without humanity as a part of it; whereas humanity is very dependent on the Earth and needs it to continue to survive, yet humanity ignores the needs and spirit of nature itself. “As for Poets” (pg 87) speaks to the beauty of the Earth that human poets attempt to grasp at with words that cannot be translated into such a crude medium. Nature does a perfectly good job of creating beautiful poetry independent of any human. “One Should Not Talk to a Skilled Hunter About What is Forbidden by the Buddha” (pg 66) brings to mind old Native American hunters who have just killed a fox and are gutting it. They take in every detail of the fox as to give proper respect for the spirit of the animal and recognize all of its minor characteristics. This reminds me of the knowledge and reverence the Native Americans had of every creature they ate, and how the world got along just fine when humans were hunter-gatherers. But this poem never revealed how this animal died until the very end. The secret of a piece of aluminum foil stuck inside this animal, poisoning it. Easily a metaphor for what the humans have done to the earth since they’ve begun to ignore nature. And finally “The Dazzle” (pg 65) gives us a sneak peek inside how nature works. How years of evolution have structured the symbiotic relationship between a plant and its pollinators, independent of human tampering. And this process would continue for forever and work smoothly until then without the tampering of human needs.