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Mr. Damaso
Aaron Oleson
Honors English 2, Semester 2
2 May 11
Sophomore Research Project: Gary Snyder
“In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to
see, and nobody calls the cops.” -Paul Brooks, The Pursuit of Wilderness, 1971
According to a recent study by the World Watch Institute, “The United States makes up
less than 5 percent of the population on earth, yet we easily consume over 30 percent of its
resources. While we humans would appear to be doing well, spreading our population like wild
fire across the globe, the diminishing resources and other life forms on the planet tell a different
story. We are in the midst of a mass extinction, an event not seen since the disappearance of the
dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.” There have been many different reactions that the united states
has had after hearing statistics like this. The environmental movement is movement that has been
created to directly influence the end of these problems. Many different t groups and cultures have
influenced this movement as well as the Zen Buddhism and native American cultures.
Gary Snyder and his poetry are one of the many things that have also influenced this
movement. Gary Snyder is a beat generation poet writing a lot of his work during the hippie
movement and the beginning of the environmental movement. He choose to focus his works on
what he believed in which was the end of the destruction of nature. Gary Snyder uses the Zen
Buddhism and Native American cultures in his poetry to communicate his negative views on the
destructive factors that humans intentionally impose on nature.
Gary Snyder lived his entire life being close to nature and spending his time in nature.
“Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco on May 8, 1930 and raised in a poor family on a farm
just north of Seattle during the Depression (McGuirk 1)”. “He worked summers as a U.S. Forest
Service lookout from 1952 to 1953, a logging crewman in Oregon in 1954, and a trail crewman
in Yosemite National Park in 1955, experiences that would inform his first published books
(McGuirk 1)”. “Between 1956, when he won a First American Zen Centre scholarship, and 1968,
when he returned to the United States permanently, Snyder spent most of his time in Kyoto,
Japan, where he studied as a lay monk in the rigorous Rinzai sect of Zen under his beloved
teacher Oda Sesso Roshi, who died in 1966(McGuirk 1)”. “In 1951 Snyder hitchhiked east to
attend graduate school at Indiana University but dropped out after one semester, heading west
again to enroll in Japanese and Chinese courses at the University of California at Berkeley in
order to prepare himself for a trip to Japan to study Zen (McGuirk 1)”. “In 1951 Snyder received
a B.A. in anthropology and literature from Reed College and began graduate work at Indiana
University (Batman 1)”. “From 1953 to 1956 he studied Oriental languages at the University of
California, Berkeley (Batman 1)”. Upon winning the First American Zen Centre scholarship he
traveled to japan. “From 1956 until 1968 Snyder spent most of his time in Kyoto, Japan, where
he studied as a lay monk in the rigorous Rinzai sect of Zen under his beloved teacher Oda Sesso
Roshi, who died in 1966(McGuirk 1)”.
As a said earlier Gary Snyder and his poetry had a strong influence on the promotion of
the environmental movement. This is because the majority of the work of Gary Snyder concerns
the imposing threat by humans of the destruction of nature. The strong voice that he has been for
the environmental movement in America has made Gary Snyder along with his poems and books
of poetry famous in America. Snyder has focused on many different themes but all of them were
related to the destruction of nature and the environmental movement. “His first had viewing of
the destruction of nature in the pacific north west and his summers spent in the forest in the
pacific northwest have had a strong influence on his life and his works” (Contemporary Authors
online 1). “These personal experiences along with the influences of Zen Buddhism and the native
American cultures has led to Gary Snyder fighting against the imposed dangers on humans on
nature through poetry”(Galens 7).
Many of the poems and books of poetry on the destruction of nature written by Gary
Snyder took strong influence from the historical context of the life of Gary Snyder. Snyder began
his career in the 1950s as a noted member of the "Beat Generation," and since then he has
explored a wide range of social and spiritual matters in both poetry and prose (Contemporary
Authors online 1). And while it may be easy to place Snyder in the “hippie” category of
1960sAmerica, his personal beliefs and lifestyle existed long before and go well beyond any
cultural fads or pseudo-political movements that came about (Galens 7). The poetry that Snyder
wrote during the 1960sand early 1970s was often didactic, or “preachy, in nature (Galens 8).
Along with these personal experiences many other things were occurring during his time of
work. In 1970 The first “Earth Day” observation washed throughout the world (Galens 7). More
than 20 million people took part, making it the largest organized demonstration in history
(Galens 7).Also In 1970 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by Congress
to control water and air pollution (Galens 7). In 1973 Members of the American Indian
Movement seized the village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the site where Sioux Indians had
been massacred by the U.S. Cavalry in 1890. Two Indians were killed by police in the 70-day
occupation, and the village of Wounded Knee was destroyed by fire (Galens 7). Along with the
American Indian movement in south Dakota, In 1973 A global energy crisis emerged, and
President Richard Nixon encouraged Americans to conserve (Galens). He pointed out that the
United States had 6% of the population but consumed nearly35% of the world’s energy (Galens
7). These events had a strong influence on the work of Gary Snyder but there were 2 important
things that changed his life forever and the poetry he has written. Even at a very young age he
was distressed by the wanton destruction of the Pacific Northwestern forests, and he began to
study and respect the Indian cultures that "seemed to have some sense of how a life harmonious
with nature might be lived (Contemporary Authors online 1). This childhood influence was just
as important the influence of Far Eastern culture and Zen Buddhism on his work is clear in many
poems, but considering the similarity of Native American philosophy to Zen, it is not always
clear which influenced certain works of poetry (Galens 7).
It is easy to observe the things that have affected Gary Snyder’s poetry through viewing
his poems. I am going to analyze 3 of Gary Snyder’s poems that I feel best represent the true
theme and meaning of his poetry. The three poems that I am going to analyze are “The Call of
the Wild”, “Front lines”, and “Spell against Demons” all by Gary Snyder. Within these three
works Gary Snyder strongly expresses his views on the imposing threat that humans have on
nature by using Zen Buddhism and Native American ideas. “The Call of the Wild” by Gary
Snyder is about different group of people getting the call of the wild and how all of these people
choose to ignore and destroy nature. In call of the wild we see the Native American symbol of
the coyote. “Front lines” my second poem uses a lot of symbolism to intensify the story of a
piece of land being logged. “Spell against Demons” is also about the destruction of nature and
how it is caused by the demons that are within society. I also selected pieces of criticism on these
particular poems to help me with my analysis of these poems. My criticism on “The call of the
Wild” is by M. Bennet Smith, for “front lines” I have a piece of criticism by Julia Martin, and the
piece of criticism I have concerning “Spell Against Demons is by Katsunori Yamazato.
“"The Call of the Wild" Snyder examines the future of the Native American animal
symbol Coyote” (Smith 1). “It is here that Snyder's use of Coyote throughout his works deserves
inspection (Smith 1”). “"Coyote" capitalized connotes the mythic personified being of Native
American culture (Smith 1)”. “For Snyder, it is "Government" that represents those negative
values, not "government” (Smith 2)”. “Whereas Coyote serves to show the weaknesses of the
subjects in the first two examples, in this case Coyote represents everything that Government is
not” (Smith 2). “"The Call of the Wild" Snyder examines the future of the Native American
animal symbol Coyote” (Smith 1) “It is here that Snyder's use of Coyote throughout his works
deserves inspection” (Smith 1). “"Coyote" capitalized connotes the mythic personified being of
Native American culture” (Smith 1). “For Snyder, it is "Government" that represents those
negative values, not "government”” (Smith 2). “Whereas Coyote serves to show the weaknesses
of the subjects in the first two examples, in this case Coyote represents everything that
Government is not” (Smith 2). My first example is, “In the forests of North America, The land of
Coyote and Eagle, They dream of India, of forever blissful sexless highs”(Snyder).My Second
example is, “And the Coyote singing is shut away for they fear the call of the wild”(Snyder). My
last Example is, “A war against earth. When it’s done there’ll be no place A Coyote could hide”
(Snyder). Similarly to this poem, in the poem “front lines” by Gary Snyder we see similar view
on the destruction of nature.
“Turtle Island, the conflation of nature and "the feminine" that the paradigm implies
appears in the poem "Front Lines” “(Martin 2).”The effect is a strong polemic against capitalist
America's acquisitive devastation of the wilderness (Martin 2)”. “Later in the poem, the
metaphor of rape is extended in the depiction of a disgustingly destructive bulldozer ("grinding
and slobbering / side slipping and belching on top of / the skinned-up bodies of still-live bushes")
in the pay of "a man from town"”(Martin 2). “As these extracts suggest, Snyder reads the
patriarchal construction of nature as feminine other as being linked to the idea that nature is
something hostile and dangerous, and adversary” (Martin 2). The following lines from this poem
help to explain this criticism. My first example is, “Land seekers, lookers, they say to the land,
spread your legs”(Snyder).My Second example is, “A bulldozer grinding and slobbering Side
slipping and belching on top of the skinned-up bodies of still-live bushes in the pay of a man
from town”(Snyder). My last Example is, “And here we must draw our line” (Snyder). “Spell
against Demons” concern the same topic as the poem “front lines” but it addresses it in a very
different way.
“"Spell against Demons" (first printed in The Fudo Trilogy, 1973) is a poem that attempts
to exorcise the demonic forces inside the civilization by introducing a powerful figure from
Buddhism, "ACHALA the Immovable" (Fudomyo-o, in Japanese) “(Yamazato 5). “In "Spell
against Demons," the poet introduces Fudömyö-ö, hoping to exorcise "demonic energies" in
society” (Yamazato 6). Better understanding will come of the criticism after reviewing lines
from this poem below. My first example is, “The release of Demonic Energies in the name the
people must cease”(Snyder).My Second example is, “Messing with blood sacrifice in the name
of Nature must cease”(Snyder). My last Example is, “Wrathful but Calm, Austere but Comic,
Smokey the Bear will illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or
slander him, HE WILL PUT THEM OUT. Thus his great Mantra: Namah samanta vajranam
chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam "I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE
UNIVERSAL DIAMOND BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED"” (Snyder). These three
poems do a great job about how Snyder communicated his negative view on the destruction of
nature that humans are imposing on nature.
There are also many connections to the work of my poet through art work. There are two
pieces of art in which I will analyze their connection to my poet. The first piece of art is called
“The Pass 2009” by John Dahlsen painted in 2009. This piece artwork is an interesting piece of
art that has a strong connection to my poet because of its connection to nature. This piece of art
is relevant to the life of my poet because my poet still writes poetry defending the cause that he
believes in to this day which is fighting against the destruction of nature. The artist, john
Dahlsen, also draws a strong relation to Gary Snyder. “When Australian artist John Dahlsen
began his littoral walks over a decade ago, he was in some respects honoring Long’s tradition of
exploring the relation between humankind and the environment through daily, ritual, embodied
interaction”(Jacqueline 1). “In the case of Dahlsen’s practice, however, the ecological dimension
was more explicit, for during these sauntering’s along the coast of his local area in Northern
NSW; the artist would collect the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the shore” (Jacqueline 2).
The main reason that I chose this piece of artwork created in 2009 is because it has a strong
relation to Gary Snyder through its depiction of the destruction of nature.
This abstract picture depicts a pass in between two hills. This abstract picture at first
appeared to me as a painting of two plain hills but upon digging deeper into this painting I found
a darker meaning contained within this painting. The pass that this painting depicts has been
destroyed. You don’t know how but the hills on either side of the pass are destroyed and all that
remains is the rubble left behind from the destruction. While studding other works in this
collection one can see a dark message contained within his paintings of a destructed piece of land
and environmental degradation. In a piece of criticism on this painting I was able to draw an
even bigger connection between the artist and Gary Snyder, “Unlike most environmental artists,
Dahlsen made his work not from conventionally ‘natural’ materials — soil, grass, stones, for
instance — but rather from the ‘artificial’ materials that nature has reclaimed and sculpted
through erosion. His works actively mobilized the unstable boundaries between what is human-
made and what is natural” (Jacqueline 3). This piece of art strongly connects to my poet’s life
and works which is strongly visible through a review of this piece of art. “For Dahlsen, painting
has emerged as a new way to explore the relationship between waste and use, form and
formlessness, and environmental empathy and destruction” (Jacqueline 3). “They play out, in
elegant and economical aesthetics, the unstable boundaries between the natural and the artificial,
reminding us of Wendell Berry’s paradox that ‘the only thing we have to preserve nature with is
culture; the only thing we have to preserve wildness with is domesticity”(Jacqueline 5). This
explains how the painting “The Pass 2009” by John Dahlsen connects to the poetry of Gary
Snyder.
This second piece that I connected to the poetry of Gary Snyder was a documentary
called Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction, Directed by Monte Thompson and Produced by
Chera Van Burg which was made in 2010. The reason for me choosing this for my generation is
because while it is also related to the poetry of Gary Snyder this documentary talks about my
generation and the effects we have/ will have on nature. Lots of Gary Snyder’s poetry is about
the destruction of nature in relation to humanity and that is exactly what this film is about. This
film from 2010 goes into depth explaining the effects that society has on nature and the rising
extinction levels that are due to us. This is related to Gary Snyder and his poetry because of its
concern for the imposing threat from humans on nature and the high extinction levels prevalent
in today’s world.
The review on this documentary that I read provided a lot of information on this film as
well as how this film relates to the poetry of Gary Snyder. “Informative film that is also a call to
action” (Cronise 1). “With alarming data about the Earth’s rapidly dwindling plant and animal
populations—and the skyrocketing rate of extinction—this film tells us that we as humans have
to change the way we are living” (Cronise 1). “It is a powerful and compelling message,
describing a far-reaching crisis in nature and also in human nature” (Cronise 1). “As an expert
notes in the film, humanity has never been faced with a challenge on such a global scale”
(Cronise 1). The Ability to understand why this is so closely related to the life works if Gary
Snyder I have provided the following example of another review of the documentary. "A
fascinating and informative film, Call of Life provides an unusually rigorous, in-depth analysis
of the importance of biological diversity and the devastating consequences of the current, out-of-
control extinction rate. Serious, rich and challenging, Call of Life rises far beyond the superficial
jeremiads of many environmental documentaries and explores its subject in commendable depth.
Fronted by some of the best-respected, most articulate names in ecology and environmental
science, it should be required viewing for anyone with a vested interest in maintaining the
diversity of life on Earth — and that, as the film explains so convincingly, means all of us”
( Reel Earth Film Festival). These reviews show that similarly to the poetry of Gary Snyder the
film Call of Life examines the threat that humanity puts on nature every day through things like
pollution and the destruction of nature like deforestation.
Gary Snyder spent his life writing poetry on his negative view on the negative things that
humans are imposing on nature. Gary Snyder is trying to speak out and save nature before is too
late. Before we destroy our world we must act upon the things that Snyder and many other
people spoke out about. Gary Snyder is an important voice in preventing the destruction of
nature saving the environment before it gets destroyed. Zen Buddhism and the native American
cultures that Snyder uses allow us to understand that the environmental movement is important
and a worldwide issue.
Works Cited
Millner, Jacqueline, Dr. "Review of John Dahlsen." Dec. 2006. John Dahlsen: Environmental
Artist and Contemporary Painter. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
Cronise, Justin. "Review of Call of Life." 3 Nov. 2010. Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction.
Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
Laumer, John. "Review of Call of Life." N.d. MS.
Reel Earth Film Festival. "Review of Call of Life." N.d. MS.
McGuirk, Kevin. "Gary Snyder." American Poets Since World War II: Fourth Series. Ed. Joseph
Mark Conte. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 165.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
Batman, Alex. "Gary Snyder." American Poets Since World War II. Ed. Donald J. Greiner.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 5. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
"Gary Snyder." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center.
Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
"True Night." Poetry for Students. Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 283-310.
Poetry for Students. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
"Anasazi." Poetry for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. 1-12.
Poetry for Students. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
Smith, M. Bennet. "Snyder's The Call of the Wild." The Explicator 60.1 (2001): 47+. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
Martin, Julia. "Speaking for the Green of the Leaf: Gary Snyder Writes Nature's Literature."
CEA Critic 54.1 (Fall 1991): 98-109. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed.
Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Vol. 120. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
Molesworth, Charles. "The Political and Poetic Vision of Turtle Island." Gary Snyder's Vision.
University of Missouri Press, 1983. 144-156. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Carol T.
Gaffke and Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 21. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
Yamazato, Katsunori. "How to Be in This Crisis: Gary Snyder's Cross-Cultural Vision in Turtle
Island." Critical Essays on Gary Snyder. Ed. Patrick D. Murphy. G. K. Hall & Co., 1991.
230-247. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J.
White. Vol. 120. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 11 Apr.
2011.
Appendix A
THE CALL OF THE WILD
The heavy old man in his bed at night
Hears the Coyote singing
in the back meadow.
All the years he ranched and mined and logged.
A Catholic.
A native Californian.
and the coyotes howl in his
Eightieth year.
He will call the Government
Trapper
Who uses iron leg-traps on Coyotes,
Tomorrow.
My sons will lose this
Music they have just started
To love.
The ex acid-heads from the cities
Converted to Guru or Swami,
Do penance with shiny
Dopey eyes, and quit eating meat.
In the forests of North America,
The land of Coyote and Eagle,
They dream of India, of
forever blissful sexless highs.
And sleep in oil-heated
Geodesic domes, that
Were struck like warts
In the woods.
And the Coyote singing
is shut away
for they fear
the call
of the wild.
And they sold their virgin cedar trees,
the tallest trees in miles,
To a logger
Who told them,
“Trees are full of bugs.”
The government finally decided
To wage war all-out. Defeat
is Un-American.
And they took to the air,
Their women beside them
in bouffant hairdos
putting nail-polish on the
gunship cannon-buttons.
And they never came down,
for they found,
the ground
is pro-Communist. And dirty.
And the insects side with the Viet Cong.
So they bomb and they bomb
Day after day, across the planet
blinding sparrows
breaking the ear-drums of owls
splintering trunks of cherries
twinning and looping
deer intestines
in the shaken, dusty, rocks.
All these Americans up in special cities in the sky
Dumping poisons and explosives
Across Asia first,
And next North America,
A war against earth.
When it’s done there’ll be
no place
A Coyote could hide.
envoy
I would like to say
Coyote is forever
Inside you.
But it’s not true.
Appendix B
FRONT LINES
The edge of the cancer
Swells against the hill—we feel
a foul breeze—
And it sinks back down.
The deer winter here
A chainsaw growls in the gorge.
Ten wet days and the log trucks stop,
The trees breathe.
Sunday the 4-wheel jeep of the
Realty Company brings in
Landseekers, lookers, they say
To the land,
Spread your legs.
The jets crack sound overhead, it’s OK here;
Every pulse of the rot at the heart
In the sick fat veins of Amerika
Pushes the edge up closer—
A bulldozer grinding and slobbering
Sideslipping and belching on top of
The skinned-up bodies of still-live bushes
In the pay of a man
From town.
Behind is a forest that goes to the Artic
And a desert that still belongs to the Piute
And here we must draw
Our line.
Appendix C
SPEL AGAINST DEMONS
The release of Demonic Energies in the name of
the people
must cease
Messing with blood sacrifice in the name of
Nature
must cease
The stifling self-indulgence in anger in the name of
Freedom
must cease
this is death to clarity
death to compassion
the man who has the soul of the wolf
knows the self-restraint
of the wolf
aimless executions and slaughterings
are not the work of wolves and eagles
but the work of hysterical sheep
The Demonic must be devoured!
Self-serving must be
cut down
Anger must be
plowed back
Fearless, humor, detachment, is power
Gnowledge is the secret of Transformation!
Down with demonic killers who mouth revolutionary
slogans and muddy the flow of the change, may they be
Bound by the Noose, and Instructed by the Diamond
Sword of ACHALA the Immovable, Lord of Wisdom, Lord
of Heat, who is squint-eyed and whose face is terrible
with bare fangs, who wears on his crown a garland of
severed heads, clad in a tiger skin, he who turns
Wrath to Purified Accomplishment,
whose powers are of lava,
of magma, of deep rock strata, of gunpowder,
and the Sun.
He who saves tortured intelligent demons and filth-eating
hungary ghosts, his spel is,
NAMAH SAMANTAH VAJRANAM CHANDA
MAHAROSHANA
SPHATAYA HUM TRAKA HAM MAM
Appendix D
Appendix E
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