Essay Questions

Why does Snyder dedicate so much of his poetic literature to issues involving the natural world or the Earth?

It is clear from the subject matter of most of Snyder’s poems that he views environmental topics as being very valuable writing material. Most of Snyder’s environmental poems are moralistic in nature and are used to share his belief that humans need to respect and revere the natural world more thoroughly. He wants to use his poetry to share his feelings with his readers and to inspire them to think similarly. Essentially, he dedicates so much of his poetry to discussing these environmental concerns because he wishes that, by doing so, he will inspire his readers to take action and value the Earth. Snyder also clearly feels very passionately about this particular topic and is therefore able to dedicate much of his creative writings to environmental topics because he feels so passionately about it.

Who is the Great Mother that Snyder references in his poem of the same name?

In “The Great Mother,” Snyder suggests that all of humanity will one day face its reckoning and judgement for our shameful treatment of the Earth. In this way, it can be assumed that the Great Mother is simply another name for Mother Nature or Mother Earth. Mother Earth—the Great Mother—is depicted by Snyder as being a God-like being, who is capable of dispensing judgement upon those who have desecrated Her creation. The narrator suggests that Mother Nature has witnessed the destruction of Her planet at the hands of humans and plans to punish us for our sins against the Earth. In this way, the Great Mother is another name for Mother Nature—the God-like being who birthed and tended to the Earth, and who is still tasked with protecting it and punishing those who do not value it.

What is the purpose of Snyder’s short poem, “The Uses of Light”?

This short poem appears somewhat out of place, when viewed in partnership with Snyder’s other poems. And yet, its message is similar to Snyder’s other poems, as it shares in Snyder’s most-used theme of valuing the natural world. The difference with this poem, however, is that Snyder personifies the very objects, plants, and animals he has been defending in this and other poems; he uses their personified experiences to prove a point. In this poem, Snyder personifies a tree, some rocks, a deer, and a moth. Each animal, object, and plant shares how the sun’s natural light has influenced and impacted their world. In this way, Snyder uses this poem to pay respect to the sun, which warms, nourishes, feeds, and lights the world in a way that only it can. The purpose, therefore, of this poem, is to show the importance of the sun from a different perspective—from the perspectives of animals, objects, and leaves, whose views may often get overlooked in favor of humans’.