What a splendid essay! You quote with a deal of authority, some of my favorite writers, especially Marvell, whose study is probably languishing in the academy.
Trees are, after all, our oldest friends, a far more ancient association than dogs or cats and I rarely beheld a tree I did not like. But the forests can be scary, especially at night, if you travel alone in them. And that fear is ancient as well and somewhat well founded as night is the time when many predators come out to sport. The little marsupial in us remembers that well.
But everywhere we tamed the forests with criss-crossing roads, made parks of them, or worse monocultured commercial forests. So global warming was enhanced, ancient water cycles broken, fires raged, and flooding brought the trees down. All because we broke the bond, the ancient friendship. We must now sit down at a bitter banquet of consequences
Well I've slept in forests with bears in, in the Appalachians it was on my own and those ancestral fears are still in good working order. As for Marvell I'm surprised if he's fallen into neglect as his poems are just so enjoyable! Should have included the link https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44682/the-garden-56d223dec2ced .
I read that Nun Appleton is being allowed to slowly decay and the grounds sequestered behind steel fencing and odious hawthorn hedges. Shameful treatment.
I have never seein a forest without wanting to enter it. Almost 33% of Germany is forest land. Forests suggest the unknown, the unseen--behind which may lie peril or paradise. It's their mystery that draws us in.
"Bears aren't nasty", you say, and maybe correctly, but bears will be bears. When I was up in the Yukon for a couple of years, I used to go off into the backwoods alone, and without a gun. "You're crazy", friends would say, so I bought and started taking my Winchester. To my relief I never needed it, but I must admit I felt safer!
Only met - or I should say, almost met - one bear. We were camped by the Porcupine River hundreds of miles from civilisation, when a bear came floating down, looking at us with interest, perhaps wondering if we were worth the effort. We hoped not as on this trip we only had a .22, a mere peashooter, but happily it decided not to bother and floated on by. Happy days.
Loved this one! From making me laugh to beloved Dante and Milton!
What a splendid essay! You quote with a deal of authority, some of my favorite writers, especially Marvell, whose study is probably languishing in the academy.
Trees are, after all, our oldest friends, a far more ancient association than dogs or cats and I rarely beheld a tree I did not like. But the forests can be scary, especially at night, if you travel alone in them. And that fear is ancient as well and somewhat well founded as night is the time when many predators come out to sport. The little marsupial in us remembers that well.
But everywhere we tamed the forests with criss-crossing roads, made parks of them, or worse monocultured commercial forests. So global warming was enhanced, ancient water cycles broken, fires raged, and flooding brought the trees down. All because we broke the bond, the ancient friendship. We must now sit down at a bitter banquet of consequences
Well I've slept in forests with bears in, in the Appalachians it was on my own and those ancestral fears are still in good working order. As for Marvell I'm surprised if he's fallen into neglect as his poems are just so enjoyable! Should have included the link https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44682/the-garden-56d223dec2ced .
I read that Nun Appleton is being allowed to slowly decay and the grounds sequestered behind steel fencing and odious hawthorn hedges. Shameful treatment.
I have never seein a forest without wanting to enter it. Almost 33% of Germany is forest land. Forests suggest the unknown, the unseen--behind which may lie peril or paradise. It's their mystery that draws us in.
"Bears aren't nasty", you say, and maybe correctly, but bears will be bears. When I was up in the Yukon for a couple of years, I used to go off into the backwoods alone, and without a gun. "You're crazy", friends would say, so I bought and started taking my Winchester. To my relief I never needed it, but I must admit I felt safer!
Three backpack trips through bear country (brown not grizzly) never saw a bear and happy not to. Just one big fresh scary footprint.
Only met - or I should say, almost met - one bear. We were camped by the Porcupine River hundreds of miles from civilisation, when a bear came floating down, looking at us with interest, perhaps wondering if we were worth the effort. We hoped not as on this trip we only had a .22, a mere peashooter, but happily it decided not to bother and floated on by. Happy days.
Thanks Dee! Hard to know how many of us there are still enjoying Milton.