In the poems 'Deep and dangerous' explore how two poets convey, respect for nature. The poet Charlotte Mew conveys a respect for nature in her poem, "The Trees Are Down

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

In the poems ‘Deep and dangerous’ explore how two poets convey, respect for nature.

The poet Charlotte Mew conveys a respect for nature in her poem, “The Trees Are Down”. The entire poem emphasizes the greatness of trees to the common man.

The first line of the poem is a biblical quote. This feeling that the biblical part of the quote puts forth, is that people should respect what it says. The quote is, “hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees”. So we see this as someone crying out not to hurt nature/environment as it is important. Here the poet is clearly showing respect for nature. Then it goes on to say, “They are cutting down the great plane-trees”. Firstly the poet uses the word ‘they’ to differentiate the poet from the others, that are committing the wrongful acts. She also describes the plane trees as ‘great’. This emphasizes the greatness of the environment. It seems here that nature is almost divinity. Here the poet shows an appreciation for nature by comparing it to something holy. The poet then goes on to represent people as “loud common”. Mew here compares the vulgarity of the loud common humans to the superior environment.

Later on in the poem the trees are described again as ‘great’. Hence, reinforcing the greatness of environment. “When the men with the ‘Whoops’ and the ’Whoas’ have carted the whole of the whispering loveliness away. Half the spring, for me, will have gone with them.” In this line, the poet personifies the trees as whispering. The meaning of the line is that if the common people take the loveliness of the trees away, then a part of me will also be taken. So the trees mean a great deal to the poet, thus showing her respect for nature.

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“Half my life it has beat with these, in the sun, in the rains, In the March wind, the May breeze.” This is a line from the last stanza of the poem. The significance of this line is that it shows that half of her life depends on the sun, rain, wind and breeze. Basically, a part of the poet depends on nature. This clearly shows the respect that mew has for nature. The last stanza enforces the point that everything depends on trees, the environment and nature. “I heard an angel crying: ‘Hurt not the trees’ ”. This is the last line of the poem and the poet has used a specific diction here, by using the word ‘angel’. An angel is from the bible and represents the idea of divinity and god’s creation. And the angel is telling us the leave the trees alone. So we take this more seriously and see the quote from the angel as, wise.

In the poem ‘Kankaria Lake’, the poet Sujata Bhatt conveys a respect for nature. The theme of the poem is environmental decay and its relationship with Kankaria Lake.

There is a mass relationship with the water in the poem. The poet compares the water to skin of a reptile, “Bacterial green, decomposed, green – opaque and dull”. This means that the water is dirty, showing the environmental decay. The word ‘bacterial’ makes the lake seem almost toxic. Then there is the brutal idea of a crocodile (that lives in the lake) eating a man. This yet again enforces the idea that the lake is ruined. It also shows us that there is a conflict between nature and men. The idea that the lake has become a common place for suicide brings the thought that because of the years of environmental decay (that has occurred because the humans ignored the lake) there has also been an effect on humans. This is because, if the lake was not left to rot, there would not have been any crocodiles there. This means there would have been no deaths. So there is a relationship between men and nature.

The innocent boy in the poem imagines the lake “overpopulated with crocodiles who never have enough to eat – for he doesn’t believe any fish could live in such water”. Here we see the lake has no fish in the water, which we see again as environmental decay. “There are hardly any trees near the lake”. This yet again shows that the environment around Kankaria Lake has been ruined over the years.

We can see that in both poems, the two poets convey a respect for nature. They both show how nature plays an important role in life. They also give us the idea that nature has a high importance in our lives. Both poets, in their poems have conveyed the idea that they have a respect for nature.

Zain Khan