Elements of Effective Nature Writing
For the vast majority of us, the question is not, “When did you start writing and drawing,” but rather, “when [and/or why] did you stop? Eight year olds jubilantly pronounce themselves to be artists and authors, but somewhere along the way, the majority of us have abandoned these self-definitions. Like riding a bicycle, many of the skills remain in tact years after your last ride. But, as a bicycle that has sat in the shed for years may need its gears greased and its tires inflated, a dormant artist/writer may need to be renewed, refreshed, and reinvigorated.
Why have you made the decision to cradle the pen yet again? It could be the result of a New Year’s Resolution or another promise to yourself. Or your decision could have been sparked by a life-changing event or circumstance. Maybe you were recently sorting through your possessions and came across an old journal and/or sketchpad. Or you could be trying to cultivate a deeper understanding of yourself, or establish a covenant with Mother Nature. Perhaps you are a teacher who requires your students to keep journals, and you are attempting to practice what you preach.If you fall into the final category, having students write and read aloud nature journal entries, along with reading passages and poems from selected naturalists, can help meet the following New York State Learning Standards for English Language Arts:
Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Standard 2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.
Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.
By combining illustrations, Arts standards can also be met. Illustrations and journal entries can also help facilitate scientific communication without feeling too “scientific,” and can be used as a tool for students to demonstrate knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis of Additionally, John Muir’s stories of his Scottish boyhood and musings about the Sierras and Central Park, William T. Davis’ reflections on “The Turnpike Road,” “South Beach,” and other places and perspectives of yesteryear, and Robert Frost’s appreciation of nature amidst the specter of urban industrialization serve as excellent primary source documents and can also be used for comparison, contrast, and historical context.
Effective nature writing combines these elements:
- Capturing the moment for posterity
- Finding beauty among bleakness or tragedy
- Employs literary devices
- Explores patterns and observations
- Promotes the power of a place
- Reveals Personal Observations as Universal Truths
Capturing the Moment for Posterity
By providing vivid detail derived from personal experience, a writer can capture a moment, providing a snapshot of the event. If we do this effectively, we should be able to read journal passages from years ago, and a reader should feel like s/he is experiencing the event you described. In the chapter entitled The Pond-Meadow, William T. Davis transports the reader to a very buggy [and probably muggy] July 3, 1864:“..when the vegetables were left unpicked in the gardens for a week and people wore mosquito net over their hats.”
Finding Beauty among Bleakness or Tragedy
Betty Smith wrote about an ailanthus tree that grew where little else would along the streets of Brooklyn. Despite the bloodshed along the Western Front during the First World War, soldiers noticed and appreciated the poppies that grew near the battlefields. During the Civil War, soldiers penned poems and letters about snow and stars, flowers and friendships.Sometimes, it is the element of unexpected that makes something especially beautiful. A dragonfly near a salt marsh in the summer is nice, but on the day after Thanksgiving, amidst the sepias and siennas, the bleak browns of late November, is particularly remarkable.In the spring of 2008, as I visited a family friend who was recovering from cardiac surgery at Staten Island University Hospital, I was greeted by a wonderfully unexpected menagerie of wildlife. Eastern cottontail rabbits hopped along the grass to greet me as I approached the cardiac tower. Spring peepers and green frogs sang to me as I headed back to my car and home for the evening.
Exercise: Describe an unexpected experience with nature, or time where you found solace rooted in nature.
Employs Literary Devices
We can all draw from a lifetime of education and experience that enriches and enhances our writing. While it is unnecessary to define and list all of the literary devices you had to memorize in high school, refreshing your memory regarding a few of these devices that you can use comfortably and naturally will do wonders for your writing. Nature is full of onomatopoeia [words whose sound suggests its meaning , such as “buzz,” “thud”]. Other devices, such as personification [“the flowers nodded appreciatively,” “the leaf somersaulted”] and alliteration [“bees buzzed brilliantly among the blooming flowers”]
Exercise: Name and practice using two literary devices.
Explores Patterns and Observations
We often find ourselves drawn to the same places, objects, images, colors, symbols, shapes, colors, animals, plants, or time of year. Perhaps you look at swaying tree tops in early March, welcome the return of Orion to the evening sky in early November, or note the first robin, morning cloak, or other favorite sign of spring. Perhaps you walk along the same trail every time you are faced with a major life decision, reflect upon a pond, or look for a butterfly, chipmunk, or other sort of totem or sign. As for myself, I find that I am drawn to things that are my high school colors, black and gold (bees, wasps, compost “black gold”), clouds, stars, and the challenge of finding greenery in a winter forest. I also appreciate math in nature, whether it be the radial symmetry of asters, the Fibonacci series embedded on a whelk shell, or the perfectly hexagonal holes in a bee hive. In 2008, “Year of the Frog,” I find myself paying more attention to amphibians and their habitats.
Exercises: “Connotation” is defined as “all of the emotions or feelings a word can arouse.” For instance, the word “love” is associated with positive or good feelings, whereas “mosquito” may conjure up negative feelings.By exploring and understanding what certain terms mean to you, the terms will become more accessible and fluid for you when you write. What comes to mind when you think of the following terms?
Forest
Stars
Trees
Field
Write about a term you are drawn to.
Promotes the Power of a Place
Effective nature writing comes alive with the spirit of a place. As Henry David Thoreau immortalized Walden Pond in Massachusetts, John Muir celebrates the Sierra Mountains, and Annie Dillard brings the experience of Maryland’s freshwater wetlands to people who have never been to the mid-Atlantic region, John Kieran brings the experience of Van Cortlandt Park to people who have never set foot in the Bronx, and William T. Davis keeps alive a memory of Staten Island different from the one we tend to experience.
Exercise: Describe a place that has significant meaning to you.
Reveals Personal Observations as Universal Truths
An enduring legacy of narrative nature writing is universal truths embedded in personal observations. Often, these truths are philosophical or metaphysical in nature, but sometimes their stark simplicity is what makes them so memorable. Below is a selection of observations from famous naturalists:
William T. Davis [p. 118-119]
“We sometimes get a wider view of our home by going afield.”
“Our enjoyment of a place is often proportioned to the effort we have made to get there.”
Annie Dillard [p. 18-19]
“For nature does reveal as well as conceal: now-you-don’t see it, now you do.”
“It’s all a matter of keeping my eyes open.”
John Kieran [p. 164-165]
“You must humble yourself to scrape any real acquaintance with such lowly forms of plant life as liverworts, lichens, and mosses.”
Jessica Kratz
“In New York City, there are two times of year: baseball season [April-October] and Orion season [November-March]”
Exercise: Discuss a universal truth you have explored in your experience with nature.
