Two Green Poets: A Comparative Ecocritical Study of Sepehri and Emerson
Keywords:
Comparative study, Sepehri, Emerson, ecocriticism, intrinsic value, instrumental value
Abstract
Many similar subjects can be traced in world literature, among them is nature since it belongs to man/nature binary opposition. The American poet and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) employs nature in his works. Throughout his works, he discusses the affinity between man and nature, emphasizing how man takes advantage of it. The contemporary Iranian poet, Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980), also makes intensive use of nature in his poems. Sepehri is proficient in using nature either in philosophical or emotional issues. Due to the significance of nature in the works or the two figures, an ecocritical reading of them is not only applicable but unavoidable. This comparative study aims at investigating different approaches towards nature employed by the two poets, emphasizing their points of difference. Although both poets employ nature in their works with romantic tendencies, the postmodern environmental ethics of Sepehri is in direct contrast to the instrumental value viewpoint held by his American counterpart.Downloads
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References
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Ashouri, D., Emami, K., & Hamedani, H. M. (1992). A message on the way. Tehran: Tahouri.
Atashi, M. (2003). Sohrb: The poet of the painters. Tehran:Amitis.
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Buell, L. (2005). The future of environmental criticism: Environmental crisis and literary imagination. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
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Clary, A. (2010). Mark Twain in the desert. Journal of Ecocriticism, 3(1), 29-39.
Coughran, C. (2010). Sub‐versions of pastoral: Nature, satire and the subject of ecology. Journal of Ecocriticism, 2(2),14-29.
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Love, G. A. (2003). Practical ecocriticism. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
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Manes, C. (1996). Nature and silence. In C. Glotfelty and H. Fromm (Eds.), The Ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology (pp. 15-29). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
McDonald, P. (2009). The funny side of nature: Humor and the reclamation of romantic unity in the 'Dark Poetry' of Bill Hicks. Journal of Ecocriticism 1(2), 104-113.
Meghdadi, B. (1999). Hedayat and Sepehri. Tehran: Hashemi.
Miller, P. (2001). Nature and American nationalism. In D. Mazel (Ed.), A century of early ecocriticism (pp. 314-340). Athens, Georgia: Georgia UP.
Obernesser, S. (2010). Searching for the wild: The changing post-war conceptions of environmentalism and gender (Unpublished master thesis). Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH.
Oelschlaeger, M. (1991). The idea of wilderness: From prehistory to the age of ecology. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Quick, P. S. (2004). An ecocritical approach to the southern novels of Cormac McCarthy (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Rahmani, M. (2003). Sohrab: The green poet. Tehran: Alborz.
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Rothenberg, D. (1989). Ecology, community and lifestyle: Outline of an ecosophy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Savar Sofla, S. (2010). Where is the friend’s home? Tehran: Sokhan.
Sepehri, S. (2007). The eight books. Tehran: Tahouri.
Sepehri, S. (2009). The blue room. Tehran: Soroush.
Seyyedi, S. H. (2005). To the garden of fellow travellers. Mashhad: Ferdowsi University press.
Smith, D. L. (2003). "The Sphinx must solve her own riddle‖: Emerson, secrecy, and the self-reflexive method. Journal of the American Academy of the Religion, 71, 835-861.
Tafreshi, A. R. (2010). Stylistic analysis of a poetic text: A case from Persian. Journal of Language and Translation, 1(1), 75-84.
Taslimi, A. (2008). Some propositions in Iranian contemporary literature. Tehran: Akhtaran.
Travis, C. M. (2010) Huidobro‘s rose: The environmental dialectics of Creacionismo. Hispanic Issues On Line, 6, 93–118. Retrieved from http://hispanicissues.umn.edu/Spring2010/05_Huidobro_Travis.pdf.
Torabi, Z. (2010). Another Sohrab. Tehran: Donya-ye-Now.
Tovey, P. E. (2011). Countless cross-fertilizations: Gary Snyder as a post-romantic poet (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Durham Uni-versity, Durham.
Wang, N. (2009). Toward a literary environmental ethics: A reflection on eco-criticism. Neohelicon, 36, 289–298.
Wilson, E. (2000). Emerson's Nature, paralogy, and the physics of the sublime. Mosaic: a Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 33(1), 39-58.
Ashouri, D., Emami, K., & Hamedani, H. M. (1992). A message on the way. Tehran: Tahouri.
Atashi, M. (2003). Sohrb: The poet of the painters. Tehran:Amitis.
Benjamin, W. (1990). Animism redivivus: Are new visions of nature a threat to homo sapiens? In W. M. Hoffman, R. Frederick, & E. S. Petry, Jr. (Eds.), The corporation, ethics and the environ-ment (pp. 11-24). Westport: Quorum Books.
Buell, L. (1995). The environmental imagination: Thoreau, nature writing, and the formation of American culture. Cambridge: The Belknap Press.
Buell, L. (1973). Literary transcendentalism: Style and vision in the American Renaissance. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Buell, L. (2005). The future of environmental criticism: Environmental crisis and literary imagination. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Cadava, E. (1997). Emerson and the climates of history. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Clary, A. (2010). Mark Twain in the desert. Journal of Ecocriticism, 3(1), 29-39.
Coughran, C. (2010). Sub‐versions of pastoral: Nature, satire and the subject of ecology. Journal of Ecocriticism, 2(2),14-29.
Dastgheyb, A. (2006). The green garden of poetry. Tehran: Amitis.
Dorbin, S. I. & Weisser, C. R. (2002). Breaking ground in ecocomposition: Exploring relation-ships between discourse and environment. College English, 64, 566-589.
Ellis, J. E. (2005). The legacy of John Muir: Writing to promote ecological preservation and change environmental values (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Emerson, R. W. (2010). Nature and other essays. New York: Classic Books International.
Emerson, R. W. (1941). The best of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays, poems, addresses. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.
Esmaeelpour, A. (2010). The reflection of myth in the poetry of Sohrab Sepehri. In S. Savar Sofla (Ed.), Where is the friend’s home? (pp. 61-75). Tehran: Sokhan.
Frazer, J. G. (1996). The golden bough: A study in magic and religion (Abridged ed.) London: Penguin.
Garrard, G. (2004). Ecocriticism. New York: Routledge.
Glotfelty, C. (1996). Introduction. In C. Glotfelty, & H. Fromm (Eds.), The Ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology (pp. xv-xxxvii). Athens: GA UP.
Hosseini, S. (2000). The silent lotus. Tehran: Niloufar.
Ironside, F. (2009). Bloom's how to write about Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Infobase Publi-shing.
Love, G. A. (2003). Practical ecocriticism. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
Lumpkin, G. T. (2006). The promise of technology versus the pastoral ideal: Ralph Waldo Emerson's conflict over the role of mankind in nature. International Journal of Humanities and Peace, 22(1), 45-46.
Manes, C. (1996). Nature and silence. In C. Glotfelty and H. Fromm (Eds.), The Ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology (pp. 15-29). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
McDonald, P. (2009). The funny side of nature: Humor and the reclamation of romantic unity in the 'Dark Poetry' of Bill Hicks. Journal of Ecocriticism 1(2), 104-113.
Meghdadi, B. (1999). Hedayat and Sepehri. Tehran: Hashemi.
Miller, P. (2001). Nature and American nationalism. In D. Mazel (Ed.), A century of early ecocriticism (pp. 314-340). Athens, Georgia: Georgia UP.
Obernesser, S. (2010). Searching for the wild: The changing post-war conceptions of environmentalism and gender (Unpublished master thesis). Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH.
Oelschlaeger, M. (1991). The idea of wilderness: From prehistory to the age of ecology. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Quick, P. S. (2004). An ecocritical approach to the southern novels of Cormac McCarthy (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Rahmani, M. (2003). Sohrab: The green poet. Tehran: Alborz.
Ramshini, M. (2006). Sohrab and Jibran. Mashhad: Farhangsaray-e-Mirdashti.
Reyhani, M. (2006). Sepehri: The interpreter of the old verses. Mashhad: Ahang-e-Ghalam.
Rothenberg, D. (1989). Ecology, community and lifestyle: Outline of an ecosophy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Savar Sofla, S. (2010). Where is the friend’s home? Tehran: Sokhan.
Sepehri, S. (2007). The eight books. Tehran: Tahouri.
Sepehri, S. (2009). The blue room. Tehran: Soroush.
Seyyedi, S. H. (2005). To the garden of fellow travellers. Mashhad: Ferdowsi University press.
Smith, D. L. (2003). "The Sphinx must solve her own riddle‖: Emerson, secrecy, and the self-reflexive method. Journal of the American Academy of the Religion, 71, 835-861.
Tafreshi, A. R. (2010). Stylistic analysis of a poetic text: A case from Persian. Journal of Language and Translation, 1(1), 75-84.
Taslimi, A. (2008). Some propositions in Iranian contemporary literature. Tehran: Akhtaran.
Travis, C. M. (2010) Huidobro‘s rose: The environmental dialectics of Creacionismo. Hispanic Issues On Line, 6, 93–118. Retrieved from http://hispanicissues.umn.edu/Spring2010/05_Huidobro_Travis.pdf.
Torabi, Z. (2010). Another Sohrab. Tehran: Donya-ye-Now.
Tovey, P. E. (2011). Countless cross-fertilizations: Gary Snyder as a post-romantic poet (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Durham Uni-versity, Durham.
Wang, N. (2009). Toward a literary environmental ethics: A reflection on eco-criticism. Neohelicon, 36, 289–298.
Wilson, E. (2000). Emerson's Nature, paralogy, and the physics of the sublime. Mosaic: a Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 33(1), 39-58.
Published
2013-12-01
How to Cite
Fomeshi, B., & Pourgiv, F. (2013). Two Green Poets: A Comparative Ecocritical Study of Sepehri and Emerson. K@ta, 15(2), 109-116. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.15.2.109-116
Section
Articles
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