Ieasa Custer- The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature (class reading) 10

 For my class assigned reading response I wanted to delve into this poem that highlights the fear of nature. This author conveys the darkness, mystery, and violence in nature as he vividly describes the Alps. For this post I'd like to decipher  each phrase and unpack the fear built into this writing. 

The immeasurable height- rock and soil tower higher than imaniage, making you feel tiny beneath them. 

Of woods decaying, never to be decayed,- there are fallen and old trees but there are so many and new growth that they will never disappear. 

The stationary blasts of waterfalls,- thousands of gallons of water spewing over an edge but yet never moving. 

And in the narrow rent at every turn

Winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn,- winds very every angle, blowing the trees however it decides to 

The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,

The rocks that muttered close upon our ears,- brushing past mountain sides you get so close to huge rocks and boulders, again making you feel small. 

Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side

As if a voice were in them, the sick sight

And giddy prospect of the raving stream,- the rivers are loud with flowing waters, you may not know where it is leading or what is beneath the waters. 

The unfettered clouds and region of the Heavens, - however, you can see the beautiful skies shining down with goodness

Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light

Were all like workings of one mind, the features

Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree;

Characters of the great Apocalypse,

The types and symbols of Eternity,

Of first, and last, and midst, and without end. (14)- the woods and nature are never ending. The environment has been here long before us and will withstand long after us.