[Green Ajah Nature Week] Nature Writers

[Brandie]

Nature Writers

 

Nature has always inspired writers. Here we will discuss different popular nature writers throughout time.

At the end, I will have a pole where you can vote for your favorite nature writer of all time!

 

I will be referencing The Norton Book of Nature Writing by Robert Finch and John Elder, College Edition

[Brandie]

Dorothy Wordsworth

 

"For most of the century after her death, only a few excerpts from Dorothy Wordsworth's journals were widely known. Her place in literary history rested mainly on her relationships with her brother William [Wordsworth] and with Samuel Taylor Coleridge at the period of their greatest creativity. But since the fuller publication of her Alfoxden Journal, covering the year 1798, and her Grasmere Journals, of 1800-1803, Dorothy Wordsworth has increasingly become valued as an artist in her own right. Her responses to flowers and weather, as well as to the rural poor, are startlingly vivid. It is not hard to understand why William so prized the company of his sister when he was composing his poetry and why he asked her permission to read and draw from her journals. She achieves a lyrical immediacy that makes a reader see what she has seen, feel what she has felt." (Finch and Elder)

 

 

For more information about Dorothy Wordsworth: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dorothy-wordsworth

Edited August 28, 2017 by Brandie

[Ryrin]

Did she write under her brothers name? I know women were often forced to do that in the past.

[blank]

Wow, I didn't even know he had a sister!

[Brandie]

Did she write under her brothers name? I know women were often forced to do that in the past.

She kept journals of her own writing, but wasn't published in her time. Her brother kept her close to him (some say too close and there are rumors of incest) and referenced her journals and ideas for his own published works.

 

Wow, I didn't even know he had a sister!

Yes, and she was very influential to his works.

[Ryrin]

I didn't even know about her.  

[Brandie]

Elwyn Brooks White

 

"E.B. White is a writer beloved for his voice - modest and humorous, ironic and forgiving. He honed this masterly, humane style during long year on the staff of The New Yorker. Among the books for which White is especially remembered are his amusing and helpful The Elements of Style and his children's stories Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan. Collections of his essays, such as Points of My Compass confirm his pleasure in country things, especially gardening, farmyard animals, and sailing." (Finch and Elder)

 

 

For more information on E.B. White: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-b-white

[Ryrin]

I love him!!!! Love, love, Charlotte's Web.

 

[LilyElizabeth]

Me, too. 

[Brandie]

I love him!!!! Love, love, Charlotte's Web.

 

An awesome work, for sure!

 

Me, too. 

I've always been partial to his works as well :)

[Brandie]

Here's one from my neck of the woods:

 

Janisse Ray

 

 

Janisse Ray is a writer, activist, and naturalist who has authored five books of literary nonfiction and a collection of eco-poetry. She was a 2015 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. She holds an MFA from the University of Montana and two honorary doctorates. She is the Rubin Writer-in-Residence at Hollins University during spring 2018. Her translated work has been published in France and Turkey. Her 1999 book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood both evokes the Georgia landscape in which she grew up and connects the need to conserve it with its cultural values. With her humor, her keen eye, and her narrative gifts, she has brought the map of her region into sharper focus.

 

 

For more of Janisse Ray: http://janisseray.weebly.com/ and http://georgiawritershalloffame.org/honorees/janisse-ray

Edited September 1, 2017 by Brandie

[Ryrin]

I found this an interesting term ... "eco-poetry."

[Ryrin]

Thank you Brandie, and thank you everyone for participating in the Green Ajah Nature Week.