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