A Sense of Nature
Just as some people have a natural sense of humor that is lacking in others, a sense of nature is not equally divided. The author describes how his visits to classrooms to discuss getting back to nature inevitably always wound up circling around the concept of sensory experiences which were tangibly different from the experiences of their normal lives for some while not differing at all for others. One student, for instance, admits that his relationship with nature is about exploitation which puts him in direct contrast with the imagery-rich recollection of another student discussing a recent camping trip where the campfire becomes:
“red and orange flames dancing in the darkness, the smoky fumes rising up, burning my eyes and nostrils.”
The Crayola Game
The author relates the story of a mother and daughter who made it a practice to sharpen their sense of nature by making a game of observation. One game in particular tasked the duo with creating imagery by giving names to shading and hues found in the colors of nature which didn’t actually exist: “One of our favorite games was making names for unusual colors we saw in nature.
“`That one’s candlelight,’ Julia would say as we watched the sunset. I used to tease her that she could always go to work naming new colors for…Crayola crayons.”
“The Sound of a Creature Not Stirring”
Another game created by mom and daughter was even more challenging in a way that could be applied to teaching and learning about the art of crafting imagery. Rather than giving names that didn’t exist to things which could be seen, the object of this game identify by name sounds which could not be heard. The imagery at work in game is a like a checklist of nature silent in action all around one:
“snowflakes forming and falling…dew on the grass…an earthworm moving through the soil…wood petrifying…a spider weaving its web” and many others.
The Natural World According to D.H. Lawrence
Recognizing his own limits as a creative artist, the author is wise enough to look to those who engage with the intricacies of imagery on a higher level craft the finer points of his thematic exploration. For the essential question of what nature is and why it remains so significant even in the modern disposable society of the new millennium, he hands the reins over to a writer born during the epicenter of the Victorian Era. According to D.H. Lawrence, poet and novelist who is notable for communing with the outdoor world, it is all about imagery:
“Nature is about smelling, hearing, tasting, seeing below the `transparent mucous-paper in which the world like a bon-bon is wrapped so carefully that we can never get at it.’”
