생태학적 텍스트로서의 룃키의 시--경외로운 작은 것들의 자극

Abstract

Against the imminent environmental war, there should be an effective device which makes us painfully aware that we, with the ruined environment, are all heading for self-destruction. Non-fictional writing acts as an immediate and direct eye-opener to the war. But seeing the fact that poetry, of which the origin goes back to the prehistoric age, has long been singing nature and men in nature, it can be one of the most powerful devices against the matricidal war. Theodore Roethke loves and sings nature, believing all his poetic inspirations have arisen from it. At first glance his poems look strange to readers. This strangeness comes mainly from the objects of his poems ― what he calls “fearful small” such as slugs, worms, moss and so on. The novelty of his poems arises also from his way of looking at nature. In a way, his poems are a record of his way of looking at nature, just “long looking.” By long looking, he establishes communion with his inner self and the natural world. And as the oneness with nature in his poems is done with humility before nature, it clearly manifests that we human beings are merely a part of nature. The ecological consciousness in his poems extends through regression into a state of intrinsic harmony between man and nature. Even if Roethke sings about the small in nature in a low and humble voice, its nudging is huge and even threatening to us. For the small nudging awakens us from the long-forgotten worth of nature. As nature has been our one and only dwelling place for a long time, there must be a key for us to live in harmony with nature. Any poetry which acts as an ecological text should help us in the search. Roethke’s poetry holds the key.