Durand Ecology Of Poetry Analysis

Durand, in her essay, Ecology of Poetry, argues that the form and function of poetry, and especially of ecopoetics, should aim to reflect ecological processes rather than follow traditions of earlier nature poetry, which can be characterized by the ‘thingification’ of non-human objects through the view of human-subjects when perceiving natural object-landscapes, -animals, -organisms, etc. While modern human understanding of our interactions and relationship with our environment has cleaved us from belonging within the very categories we ourselves have delineated as ‘natural,’– a separation that can be seen within romantic nature poetry– Durand asserts that we are in fact part of a larger natural system along with everything we conventionally …show more content…
The poem goes even further to consider more abstract concepts such as the economy– which itself is intangible and includes the virtual exchange of virtual wealth¬– as a natural ecosystem. While economic systems themselves may not be natural or tangible, it is undeniable that economic systems interact with and drastically affect real life, tangible ecosystems and environmental processes. The existence of this direct relationship between things we conventionally understand as natural and unnatural is why Durand believes traditional nature poetry, which separates and categorizes non-human objects and occurrences from human subjects and human systems, is no longer a viable form of poetics. Instead, she suggests that ecopoetry should incorporate a wild fusion of poetic structure with the natural structure of matter and energy. Walking the New York Bedrock Alive in the Sea of Information exemplifies this fusion of poetic structure by linking words that relate to natural systems and exploring how certain words and stanzas can be linked to ecological systems of energy and matter. For instance, consider the two consecutive stanzas on page …show more content…
Again, the specific language used to describe unnatural habitats can be maneuvered to make even a cityscape look, act and behave like a natural ecosystem such as a rainforest. Gabriel Gudding’s poem Illinovor-neverivernois– Ivne –MMX, exemplifies what Durand images the leveling of value of subject-object, object-subject relations would look like because of Gudding’s lucidity of ideas and associations from one topic to the next. The poem also does not focus solely on what has traditionally been thought of as natural and wild, as the poet includes topics such as traffic, racism, religion, cars, and industry alongside¬– and often directly in relation to¬– rivers, water, animal species, mud, oceans, what it means to be outside, and other ‘traditional’ natural occurrences and processes, and ties them together under one large system of association. For example, Gudding fluidly goes from speaking about