Wendell+Berry

by Steven Bishop Wendell Berry was born on August 5, 1934 in New Castle, Kentucky. He has spent his career writing poetry, novels and essays as well as farming. He studied at the University of Kentucky at Lexington. There he received both a BA and an MA in English.

The Peace of Wild Things BY [|WENDELL BERRY] (1)When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake (5)rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars (10)waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">In short, I am a perfectionist. I know that I will never achieve perfection, but I cannot be content with myself if I do not give my best in any one thing. Sometimes, the stress of putting in hard work in so many areas of my life piles up and pins me down. For me, this poem emphasized the necessity of isolation and meditation. When I was younger, school would stress me out to the point where I would have to call on my mother to console me. She taught me that I would still wake up that next day and that everything would be alright in the end. Wendell Berry, through his diction and peaceful tone, emphasizes the need to separate oneself from the stresses of the world. In line 1, Berry describes how “despair… grows” inside of him. He uses these two powerful words to stress the inevitability of this situation. Later, in lines 4 and 5, he escapes this despair and “rests in his beauty on the water.” In essence, Berry is stating that he has found his refuge when times get stressful. The rest of the poem describes the “peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief” (lines 6-8). In this, Berry is learns how to make peace with his stresses by observing nature. Words that follow such as “still water,” “waiting,” and “rest,” emphasize the importance of this practice (lines 8-11). It has taught Berry patience, and it has helped him to slow down his life and to enjoy every single breath he takes. The last word of the poem really struck me: “free” (line 11). In this entire poem, Berry is communicating to his audience about dealing with stress. For Berry, he goes and lies in the woods to take his mind off his stresses. In almost every case, everyone strives to feel free. Berry is not suggesting that everyone go lay in the woods to make themselves feel peaceful. What he is doing is promoting isolation and meditation that helps both mentally and physically. In my case, I get stressed about failing and disappointing my future self; however, when I take Berry’s advice and surround myself with objects and people that make me happy, I feel free. <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18pt;">They Sit Together on the Porch <span style="color: #4d493f; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">BY <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-decoration: none;">[|WENDELL BERRY] <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(1)They sit together on the porch, the dark <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Almost fallen, the house behind them dark. <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Their supper done with, they have washed and dried <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The dishes–only two plates now, two glasses, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(5)Two knives, two forks, two spoons–small work for two. <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">She sits with her hands folded in her lap, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">At rest. He smokes his pipe. They do not speak, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">And when they speak at last it is to say <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">What each one knows the other knows. They have <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(10)One mind between them, now, that finally <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">For all its knowing will not exactly know <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Which one goes first through the dark doorway, bidding <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Goodnight, and which sits on a while alone.

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wendell Berry’s poem //They Sit Together on the Porch// is allegorical in meaning. Through carefully constructed diction and a dark tone, Berry hints at the true theme of the poem: death. In this poem, he views death through the lens of an old couple who seem to take life one day at a time. They both sit in the “dark” in front of their house after supper (line 1). Night has fallen; this is just one reference to death. After supper, Berry states that “they have washed and dried,” and in the next line he clarifies that they washed and dried “the dishes” (lines 3-4). This pause that the reader’s eye creates between lines was included to suggest that not only have they washed and dried the dishes, but their bodies have also been washed and dried multiples times, that is weathered and aged. Each of these minute details furthers the effect of Berry’s universal theme of death. In lines 4 and 5, Berry repeats the word “two” to emphasize that they are a couple and have been for some time. They have grown accustom to living with each other’s company over the years. Later, Berry contrasts this with the “one mind” they have “between them” (line 10). The image that they only talk of things the other person knows after supper is also relevant in the fact that they only have one mind. This entire section is intended to give the reader a sense of how attached and dependent each person has become towards the other over the years. This sets up the foreshadowing at the end of the poem. The closer a couple is, the harder it will be for one to live without the other. Then, in the last 3 lines of the poem, Berry describes how this one mind of theirs “will not exactly know which one goes first through the dark doorway, bidding goodnight, and which sits on a while alone.” In short, this means that the couple takes life day to day, neither knowing which of them will die first and which one will have to wait in angst of being reunited in the afterlife. This dark ending leaves the reader disturbed, and the diction and dark tone create a sense of anxiety about the impending death that creeps up on us all. <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18pt;">Enemies <span style="color: #4d493f; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">BY <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-decoration: none;">[|WENDELL BERRY] <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(1)If you are not to become a monster, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">you must care what they think. <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you care what they think,

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">how will you not hate them, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(5)and so become a monster <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">of the opposite kind? From where then

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">is love to come—love for your enemy <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">that is the way of liberty? <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">From forgiveness. Forgiven, they go

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(10)free of you, and you of them; <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">they are to you as sunlight <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">on a green branch. You must not

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">think of them again, except <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">as monsters like yourself, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(15)pitiable because unforgiving.

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wendell Berry expresses the need for us to forgive our foes in his appropriately titled poem, Enemies. In this poem, he utilizes a variety of techniques to further his claim that forgiveness sets both sides free. In the first four lines, Berry uses anadiplosis to appeal to logos. In these lines, he goes through the process of how to not “become a monster” (line 1). This step-by-step explanation appeals to the audience because of the universal human desire to feel free. Berry begins to propose a question in the second stanza that is finished in the third stanza. He asks: “From where then is love to come—love for your enemy that is the way of liberty?” (lines 6-8). Immediately after this rhetorical question, Berry provides an answer: “From forgiveness” (line 9). This telegraphic sentence provides a blunt answer that contrasts with the suggestion that love for your enemy may be the way to liberty. This clarifies a common misconception with Berry’s claim. Some feel that they can never feel this liberty because they could never bring themselves to love their enemies; Berry says this is not necessarily true. It is not love that brings one to liberty; however, it is forgiveness that sets two enemies free from each other. Berry provides the image to the audience that forgiven enemies become “sunlight on a green branch” to each other (lines 11-12). This metaphor emphasizes Berry’s claim. The remainder of the poem contains instructions for those who have already forgiven their enemies. Berry advises that they only think of their enemies “as monsters like yourself, pitiable because unforgiving” (lines 14-15). Basically, the conclusion of this poem states that people should pity their enemies based on the fact that they are one in the same. Overall, Berry utilizes varying syntactical techniques along with figurative language to coincide with his claim and to appeal to his audience.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18pt;">The Vacation <span style="color: #4d493f; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">BY <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; text-decoration: none;">[|WENDELL BERRY] <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(1)Once there was a man who filmed his vacation. <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">He went flying down the river in his boat <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">with his video camera to his eye, making <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">a moving picture of the moving river <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(5)upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">toward the end of his vacation. He showed <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">his vacation to his camera, which pictured it, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">preserving it forever: the river, the trees, <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(10)behind which he stood with his camera <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">preserving his vacation even as he was having it <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">so that after he had had it he would still <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">have it. It would be there. With a flick <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">of a switch, there it would be. But he <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">(15)would not be in it. He would never be in it.

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Wendell Berry’s poem The Vacation, Berry comments on the issue of technology taking people away from living in the moment. His diction emphasizes the effect of his claim. He uses words such as “flying,” “moving,” and “rushing” to parallel the rapid pace of life (lines 2, 4, and 9). These words also fit the issue at hand. Life is moving at this rapid pace, and technology is constantly distracting people from living in the present. Berry also utilizes asyndeton in lines 8 and 9 to give emphasis to all of the aspects of his vacation that he is missing out on. Addiction to technology and the desire to preserve the present for the future keep this man from directly experiencing “the river, the trees, the sky, [and] the light” (lines 8-9). This catches the readers’ attention; each of us have most likely been guilty at one point or another for documenting a moment in time instead of living it for itself. Berry utilizes the character of the man on a vacation to satirize humanity as a whole. Most everyone can sympathize with this man, and it leaves the audience disturbed when they reflect and realize their own guilt for this atrocity. Lines 1 through 12 are dominated by medium-long sentences. Reading these lengthy sentences is analogous to how people just go along with documenting moments without much forethought of missing the actual living part of that moment. Lines 13 through 15 are dominated by telegraphic and short sentences. These serve the purpose of stabbing both at the subject of the poem and at humanity as a whole. These last sentences leave the audience especially disturbed. When Berry includes, “But he would not be in it. He would never be in it,” he leaves the audience especially disturbed. I know when I read it, I thought to myself about all the moments I have documented without myself actually being in the picture or video. This poem is easy to comprehend, but it still makes for a very powerful satire of human behavior.

<span style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">Works Cited <span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Wendell Berry." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/wendell-berry>.

<span style="color: #505050; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Wendell Berry." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/wendell-berry>.