Just a Thought About…..Ecocriticism
How can ecocriticism help better understand poems and other readings?
The poem The Tree Agreement by Elise Paschen written in 2010 is an expressive poem demonstrating ecocriticism. This post is going to take a deep dive into the poem helping to understand it better through a ecocritical lens. This poem is about two neighbors with differing opinions on what should happen with a Siberian Elm tree.
The neighbor calls the Siberian Elm
a “weed” tree, demands we hack
it down, says the leaves overwhelm
his property, the square backyard.
This first stanza of the poem demonstrates the idea of anthropocentrism. Klages says, “ all the living and non living beings in the world- all the animals, all the trees, all the rocks, and all the mountains- are there to serve human interests, even if that comes at the expense of anything else.” This first stanza is a perfect example of anthropocentrism as we see the neighbor wanting to cut down a tree due to his own selfishness. Trees are valued beyond just being there to produce oxygen for humans or look nice for humans. We can see this neighbor has a very anthropocentric view.
He’s collar-and-tie. A weed tree?
Branches screen buildings, subway tracks,
his patch of yard. We disagree,
claim back the sap, heartwood, wild bark.
The second stanza can fall into a term referred to in the book as Biocentrism. Klages says, “ a view that denies that humans, or any single species for that matter, are inherently more important than the entire biotic community or network.” This neighbor does not agree that trees and other parts of nature are here for human use only. This stanza shows that this neighbor honors and cares for nature and she is ecologically aware that the trees sustain our life here on earth. This character has an extremely bio centric view.
He declares the tree “hazardous.”
We shelter under leaf-hoard, crossway
for squirrels, branch house for sparrows, jays.
The balcony soaks up the shade.
Chatter-song drowns out cars below.
Sun branches down. Leaves overwhelm.
The tree will stay. We tell him “no.”
Root deep through pavement, Elm.
The last two stanzas in a way show that humans as a whole need to take responsibility for nature. When the neighbor declared the tree hazardous because nature is in the way of his property it shows how unappreciative we are for the beauty of nature. As people we do what’s in the best interest of ourselves not thinking about the environment, animals or anything harmful that may occur. In these last two stanzas and in the entire poem we see how one person recognizes the importance of trees and how they aren’t just here for us but allow the environment to flourish. We also see how this one person is clearly trying to push someone else to love and appreciate nature as well.
This poem in allows readers to think about how their consumption can be dangerous nature. It allows us to think about the fact that we aren’t the only ones on this planet so we shouldn’t just preserve it for ourselves.
Take a look at your impact on the world. Is it good or bad?
I don’t know, Just a Thought!
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