In the literary analysis of any work of art of the main focuses are usually done on the main characters of the work of art. Works of imaginative literature are usually built according to different models, but almost all of them are created around main characters. However, the diversity of the possible heroes of works of art may be really impressive, as the writer’s imagination may resort to anything like the main character of the work. Still, the writers in the majority of works of imaginative literature resort to people as the main characters, and their activity, their thoughts and feelings. However, people are not the only characters in literary works. Especially interesting choice of the writers is the choice of landscape as a character in the literary work, as this character is sure to be always deep, moving and multidimensional. The character of land may help to describe large-scale problems and reveal universal themes.
When we are speaking about the landscape as the protagonist of the work of art, it does not necessarily mean that we should analyze the leaves and flowers described in the text. Very often, a person, who is performing the analysis, should use a more generalized approach. For instance, let us consider the “City Upon a Hill” passage from “A Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop (147). At first sight, there is no image of a landscape, but for those, who perform more insightful research, it is evident that “we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us” is the central phrase, which is the key for the analysis (Winthrop 147). “Hill” is an element of a landscape; in this particular context, it acquires symbolic meaning. The city on the hill is in the center of everyone’s attention, the hill is the symbol of a pedestal, which ensures that the city will be above all other cities. Evidently, this situation of the city on the hill makes Americans bear great responsibility before the whole world, as the world is constantly watching them.
The theme of American land as “blessed land” is continued in the “Contemplations” by Anne Bradstreet, who masterfully interweaves nature and biblical motives as the previous author does. Anne thinks that people are cursed by nature and custom. Thus, she devotes great importance to nature, and it is the bearer of strong authority for her. In Bradstreet’s “Contemplations” the author describes the relationship of a person and nature. The very first stanza may be analyzed in this relation: “The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride, Were gilded o’re by his rich golden head. Their leaves and fruits seem’d painted but was true” (Bradstreet 187). In these lines the author compares the natural beauty of the land, which was granted by the Almighty with the artificial beauty of human society, she contrasts them and wants to show the preference for natural wealth and beauty in comparison with human pride that is groundless. The beauty of the Wilderness is created with the help of a great number of figures of speech, to which the author resorts: “the earth (though old) still clad in green”, “the heavens in their prime”, “trees, insensible of time” (Ellis 376). They help her to show the reader, that natural beauty is eternal, it is above everything, it cannot be conquered by time. A human being, in comparison with it, is an element of little significance: “but Man grows old, lies down, remains where once he’s laid” (Ellis 367).
David Cusick in his “Account of the Iroquois Creation Story” suggests a version of the creation of North America, which recalls the Biblical creation of the world greatly. However, Cusick stated that the land had been made earlier before Enigorio started the creation of everything (19). This detail increases the importance of land as the primary source of everything, the eternal element of the Universe. One more detail in the text is very significant: “he formed two images of the dust of the ground” (Cusick 22). Here the reader may observe the essential connection and natural affinity of a man and land, as we have descended from the same source, the ground.
In conclusion, it may be stated that the early works of American writers contain the image of nature and land as the necessary element or even the major character of the literary work. The readers, who resort to these primary sources may see, that nature in its primordial beauty and purity is the source of a lot of answers to contemporary questions, and the example of natural values.
Works Cited
Ellis, John H. The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse. Charlestown: A.E. Cutter, 1967.
Bradstreet, Anne. “Contemplations”. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2003.
Cusick, David. “The Iroquois Creation Story.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2003.
Winthrop, John. “A Model of Christian Charity“. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2003.