ARCHIBALD RUTLEDGE - THE NATURE POET
INTRODUCTION
The eighteenth century Romantic poets of England deliberately tried to break away from the fetters of Neo- classical poetry that tied down their imagination by bringing in the fresh air of Nature, love, adventure and tone of pathos to the world of poetry. Wordsworth in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads says
They who have been accustomed to the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers, if they persist in reading this book to its conclusion, will, no doubt, frequently have to struggle with feelings of strangeness and awkwardness: they will look round for poetry, and will be induced to inquire by what species of courtesy these attempts can be permitted to assume that title. (Babu, 70)
He further says
The principal object, then, proposed in these poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men and at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, where by ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect and further and above all, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them, truly though not ostentatiously, the primary laws of our Nature: chiefly, as far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement. (Babu, 71)
Archibald Rutledge was essentially a poet who belonged to that great romantic tradition and yet his indulgence in Nature was never intentional. For him, Nature and its elements are something that was innate. Nature was inherently a part of Rutledge’s life right from his childhood to his last breath. It is quite impossible to sketch his life without mixing the colours of Nature since he prioritized spending his time with Nature to his school studies and social life.
Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883- 1973) was an American poet, educator and South Carolina’s first Poet Laureate from 1934- 1973. He was a born poet and composed his first piece of poetry at the age of three. He was awarded the John Burrough’s Medal for best Nature writing in America. He was without doubt one of the greatest Nature poets the modern literature could possibly offer. Many a time his works bring out the transcendental aspects of life. It wouldn’t be a mistake if we say that he was profoundly influenced by Shelley, Wordsworth and other romantic poets as well. Some of his works can even take us to the world of graveyard poets like Thomas Gray.
However, unlike Wordsworth, Rutledge’s Nature poems were not written with a deliberate intention to break away from the tyrannical regulations laid down by Neo- classicism. They were written because he just couldn’t help himself. Nature was such a part and parcel of his life and he hadn’t vented out his feelings, it would have suffocated him. At times we can trace the incidents from his life and reflection of the environment which he lived in from his verses. The titles of his books were always related either to hunting, about his family or about Hampton Plantation where he grew up. Even when he had to move away from Hampton to Pennsylvania to pursue his career, he tried to visualize the environment of Hampton’s Santee Delta. Gardens with the smell of Pine trees and wild grapes of Pennsylvania provided him great relief from the grief of this separation.
Archibald wasn’t a poet who travelled to get inspiration to compose poetry. Even when instances of life dragged him out his comfort zones, he desperately tried to go back to the place he came from. It is noteworthy that after his retirement, he readily moved back to Hampton. Archibald’s affinity to Nature wasn’t merely an attraction; it was pure devotion. It must be these preserved human experiences that influenced people of all ages and all times, even though his era had passed. It is clear from his poetry and prose, his deep reverence for God’s world. Archibald was indeed a sensitive poet, teacher, hunter and philosopher.
It’s strange that he is quite unknown in the literary circles of India. He was an author who almost received Pulitzer Prize twice and lost Nobel Prize for one vote. He presented a Nature that was unknown to many parts of the world. Although we consider Nature to be one entity, we can see its different facets at different parts of the world. Archibald creates for readers an image of Nature exclusive for Carolina. By this way readers are introduced to a new set of flora and fauna which makes the reading experience more enjoyable. His works have the power to outweigh famous “Nature poems” accepted by the literary canon. His position in Indian literary circle can be best described by the words of Thomas Gray from his work Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
The aim of this project is to introduce to the Indian readers this amazing poet and his enticing Nature poems. If we are ready to escape from our tropical climate and fly into the world of his marsh lands, he awaits on that Santee Delta to welcome us to a magical world of adventure, happiness, grief and truth.
CHAPTER I
Archibald Rutledge: The Minstrel of Nature
Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (Archie); South Carolina’s first poet laureate and the person who retained that title for a whopping thirty nine years was born into a distinguished family. His father was Col. Henry Middleton Rutledge II. He had five siblings. Archie’s oldest brother Frederick had been born of his father’s marriage to Anna Maria Blake (Dolly) in 1866. After Dolly’s death, Colonel had married Margaret Hamilton Seabrook; Archibald’s mother. This couple had three daughters: Caroline, Harriet and Mary; and three sons: Thomas, Henry III (Hugh) and Archibald (Archie). Of Irish and Huguenot ancestry, Archibald had grandfathers on both sides of his family who were governors of South Carolina: John Rutledge and Whitemarsh Seabrook. When Archie’s father returned after commanding Twenty- fifth North Carolina Regiment in Virginia in War of States to the old estate in South Carolina, he married Margaret Seabrook in 1873. As a result of war his father had to sell the plantations of Waterhon, Elmwood and Harrietta; and only Hampton remained. It was at the “Summer Place” situated at McClellanville, about ten miles from Hampton Plantation; Archibald Hamilton Rutledge, the fifth of six children was born on October 23, 1883.
Idella Bodie, author of A Hunt for Life’s Extras, biography of Archibald Rutledge says
Of all the children, it seemed to Archie’s parents that this child had a strange wildness about him that made him one with the whistling willets, the great wood of ibis and curlews calling across the marsh. Often he would disappear for hours without anyone knowing where he was. (Bodie, 18)
She further says
Even during their son’s earliest years, Archie’s parents knew that he would be the “different” one of their six children. It was Archie who saw the wild things in the shadows, things his brothers and sisters did not see. It was he who sat for hours studying the intricacies of Nature. (Bodie, 16)
Archie spent his time in the Santee Delta of Hampton Plantation near Santee River mostly with Prince, his inseparable Negro companion and Hugh, his brother. Since he knew that it was the War which pushed his family down to financial congestion; he had no interest in playing army. Anything related to war reflected death, for him. It was only due to the insistence of his parents; he agreed to attend a military school. Idella Bodie quotes the conversation between Archie and father
Once Archibald shocked his father by asking “Why are men given medals for killing other men? Have you ever killed a man?”
“The medals are given for service to one’s country”, his father had answered,” and, yes, I have killed some men in war”
“I am sorry for their mothers”. Archie said.
The Colonel looked at Archie aghast and then turned to his wife “Our youngest son asks me puzzling and petrifying questions”, he said.
(Bodie, 19)
Archie learned his life lessons not from school textbooks but from Nature. He gave so much importance to persistence and love between mother and child. It was his duty to care for the expectant mothers among the plantation cows, goats and hogs. For him this was a meaningful responsibility that taught him not only about mother’s care but also obedience of a child. His plantation animals like Ruby, the cow and Sallie, the sow influenced the way he viewed his life. Archie also had experiences from Nature when a full antlered buck called Old Ben nuzzled him with his black nose when Archie was still in crib. It is said that Archie even made an attempt to climb up those antlers. Archie as a child also found joy in teasing an ox- called Abel who chased him later in the compound and destroying the mud home of Mud Dauber insect. He almost tore down Dauber’s home twenty one times for fun but next morning, he was amazed to see its persistence to build its home at the same location. Dauber even had switched ordinary sand to material with more clay that made its house appear red and stronger. Archibald’s poetry has always preserved human experiences and his poetry reflected the natural landscape in which he grew in. He loved to spent time in the Bellefield rice land, with growths of wampee, sawgrass and duckoats. He had his adventures of rescuing cattle, from bogs and quick sands. Since his company was Prince, a Negro boy; Archie too believed in Negro superstitions like Plateye, a chimera of the night that carried off children, a Hiddle- diddle- dee, a great horned owl the Negroes believed was really a spirit masquerading as a bird, of phantoms who stood near plantation graveyards; waiting for little boys who tormented cats and deserted cabins that held the spirits of smallpox victims.
Archibald loved Negro culture and people. His Companion was Prince Alston. They knew each other pretty well and had been born about the same time. Prince Alston was the son of Will and Martha Alston, who were Rutledge’s cooks. Idella Bodie says
They were inseparable playmates. Whatever happened to one, happened to the other. Before they were five, the same dog had bitten them, the same black goat had butted them, they had been thrown from the same pony and Colonel had whipped them both for the same kind of mischief (Bodie, 47)
They both tried to know the behaviors of animals in plantations and even when they resorted to actions to tease Cain and Abel, which were oxen; they knew ox was a symbol of pastoral peace.
Pine trees were an important aspect of Archie’s life. During his night adventures, it was under the three shadowy pines known as “The Three Sisters” he and Prince always bid goodbyes.
Even though the year was 1900; Hampton Plantations didn’t have any modern day conveniences but it never bothered Archie. He enjoyed watching chimney swift and its great wings with hardly any feet fascinated him. During his childhood Archie wanted either to be a doctor (inspired by Indian healing) or to be a singer. Idella Bodie says “Although he never became a singer in the usual sense of the word, he did become a minstrel singing of the beauty of Nature. “
His mother was the only person who encouraged his literary ambitions. It is said that at the age of three he depicted his talent by running in from outdoors and reciting:
“I saw a little rattle snake,
Too young to make his rattles shake”
He loved to compose lines about Nature but he was never appreciated. His grandmother Caroline Pinckney who lived in Eldorado Plantation wanted him to grow up like his grandfather General Charles Kotesworth Pinckney and not to chase her cats instead. Although Archie never agreed with her, he was fascinated by the rack of a great chestnut – coloured Stag on the wall of Eldorado Plantation house that carried twelve points. It inspired Archie to pursue hunting as well.
At the age of eight, Archie visited his relatives in Charleston. It was a city that appeared mysterious, vast and sinister to a country boy like Archie. He never felt comfortable there because he missed his dirty clothes, Negroes, cattle and animals of woods. He faced teases from his cousins about his plantation accent and lack of knowledge about city life. His biggest friend in Charleston was a dog. The sight of a policeman scared him. Instead of interacting with his relatives; he retreated to the high walled garden. Archie loved the rustic Nature of Hamptons. Idella Bodie says
He loved the ebb and flow of the tides as the sea winds brought their salty freshness up the creeks. Even then he knew that the mysterious delta and its wildlife would forever draw him homeward. (Bodie, 21)
She further says
During Archie’s early days, it seemed he could never breathe enough of the wildness and beauty of Nature. The magic of it all was in his blood: the birds, the animals, strange reptiles and all the lovely mystery of the river and woods and swamp. (Bodie, 22)
Archie had several near death experiences but it never hindered his passion to be with Nature and enjoy its gifts. Even during the visit of Bishop to the family house, which was considered as a big event, Archie, Hugh and Prince escaped from their home to catch frogs in marsh. Archie and others were later severely punished for ruining their clean clothes and for their deed. He found his joys multiplied when he involved in adventures of uncovering and unexploded shell from farm, shooting a mad dog and slipping knot to catch a rattle snake.
Archie lacked taste for school educations but loved the lessons taught by his mother. His mother was well educated, had read several classics and was a governess for a wealthy family in London. Sir Walter Scott was his favourite author at that time yet he felt indifferent and disgusted with characters of knights’ action of riding forth alone, longing to meet someone they could kill. Archie felt that it was noble to let a life free. Even though some of the stories cared him; another favourite author was Edgar Allan Poe.
Archie, when he grew bit older, rode a Rocket horse to his school along with his brother Hugh in a Redbird. He deviated from the main road plenty of times to observe the Nature and the wood and it was in this path he learned about treasures hid by the Nature. Hugh managed to attend class regularly but Archie lagged behind to observe birds, trees and bushes. Miss Anne Ashburn Lucas always questioned his irresponsible behavior.
Archie had often heard from his mother that he got his tardiness from his father. His father believed in a gentle and leisurely existence. His father used to say that when wild things in Nature only hurry at times of danger why we should dash through it. His father believed that hurrying showed a lack of poise and said that he would rather walk than ride on a horse. Archie followed his path of his father. He wanted to tell whether a shout was a neighbor’s greeting or the braying of a jackass. Archie knew that speed would take him somewhere but feared that that’s all he would be able to say. He never found time to concentrate in his studies when outside world called out for him. Idella Bodie says
The sounds of early morning on the plantation- the Negroes driving teams of mules and oxen to the fields, the lowing of the cattle in the stable yard, the calling of quail, cardinals and orchard orioles- all were far more enticing than the classroom. Being wise in the ways of woods intrigued Archie more than a lesson in mathematics. (Bodie, 28)
Hampton Plantation was named so for Hampton Court Palace in England. Till the age of 13, Archie spent his childhood there that gave him experiences enough for a lifetime. Both his mother and father were Nature lovers. During his childhood it was Prince and Hugh who accompanied him in adventures, that reminds us of three musketeers. But it was in summer of 1893; when Archie was almost ten; he faced one of the biggest traumas in his life. It was then, a train that had stopped for an auxiliary engine suddenly took backwards at a terrific speed changed Archie’s life. He and Hugh who took rail road track near Flat Rock, Asheville, North Carolina did not notice the engine when they were busy playing. Archie escaped but engine hit Hugh. He had to pull his brother’s crushed body from beneath the driving steel which created numbness in his mind. He later ran two miles up the mountain road and reached home breathless, terrified and covered in blood to report the news to his mother and sisters. He felt that it was his fault and he was further taken aback when one of his sisters blurted out “Oh! If it could only have been Archie instead.” From then on, he resolved to make his family proud of him. Idella Bodie says
As hard as he tried, though he did not like to study his lessons. Every waking moment was spent in the fields, woods, on the river or the delta. The magic and mystery of outdoors drew him as if magnets lay buried there. Sometimes he did not even realize where his feet where carrying him. (Bodie, 31)
Archie also had to do night rides to fetch mails from post office. Even though night ride gave him so much still, eerie and lonely feeling; it also made an impression on him.
After Hugh’s death; the gap left in Archie’s life was later filled by his father. One day when Colonel took him for deer hunting; he saw Archie hiding Hugh’s photo in his pocket. His father’s tears rolled down his cheeks after he felt the loneliness of his ten year old son. Later his father also became his best friend. Colonel was always proud of his son’s ability to hunt maturely. His father was sure that his son is capable of carrying forward the tradition of plantation’s main sport. It was this bond with his family and Nature; Archie never wanted a city life. He also once felt guilty for killing one of the last wild pigeons in America. He spent a lot of time with his father when they stayed in McClellanville and had huge respect for Colonel. During trips through woods his father always shared his knowledge and love of Nature. Even though he was Colonel; he was a man with feelings. He called Archie sometimes “Benjamin”, using the biblical name he gave his son when he wanted to show great love. It always gave Archie a particular thrill. His father Colonel Rutledge was a true southern gentleman who even gave his war medal to an old soldier who hadn’t received one. Archie had a special soft spot for an oak called Washington Oak, being named so after the visit of George Washington to Hampton Plantation in 1791.
After losing Hugh; Archie also became close to his brother Tom. Whenever Tom was not away in boarding school, they embarked on many adventures. They got themselves involved in fight of roosters, hunting of wild boar, bird minding of Bobolinks, and fishing. Archie loved to watch birds like redwings, grackles, blackbirds, cardinals, song sparrows, fox sparrows, white throats, blue jay, brown thrasher, cedar waxwing, mocking birds and wood peckers. Another fascination was ships that docked near woods to carry harvested grain from fields. Tom and Archie even turned their Hampton ballroom that hosted gala affairs to a bird rescue home. They saved several birds that were caught in unexpected snow. Archie got himself involved in this to please Tom who was seriously injured after a misfire during hunting. Archie also found joy when he teased plantation guests with the stories of ghosts and supernatural stuff in Hampton Plantation.
Darkness always filled Archie with mixed feelings. Archie once wrote that it was darkness that showed him the mighty trinity of existence- life, love and death. McClellanville coastal fishing adventures with Tom garnered him money as well as a near death experience, when he was attacked by a shark. He did had a fair share of such experiences in his life; may it be attack of Abel the ox, crocodile’s attack near rice field, snakes, train engine incident or shark attack. His father believed that there was a guardian angel that watched over him.
At the age of twelve; when he went for hunting at a place about five miles downriver from Hampton, a sandy plateau called Tranquility; he encountered a touching sight. It was his favourite place for duck hunting. He was moved by the sight where Spanish Curlews answered the call of the wounded bird and returned to that companion risking their lives.
When Archie reached the age of thirteen, his parents decided to send him to Porter Academy in Charleston. Archie felt very home sick and at beginning spent his class day dreaming about old south Santee River and Hampton. He felt so jealous of the People at Hampton who were lucky enough to spent time with Nature. Strict military rules and clean uniforms suffocated him. His home sickness was later removed by some of his teachers. His favourite was his Latin teacher, who even commented on Archie’s paper “as solid as a stone wall in Georgia.” Archie excelled in languages like Latin, Spanish and Greek. At the Academy he received medals in French and first prize in English but he hated Math and Science subjects. Archie during his school days wrote some verses for magazines and newspapers. He was a good reader and also took interest in writing down his feelings about beauty and charm of life as well as its areas of gloom. His aunt and uncle criticized his interest and even his father was unsure about his son’s talent. He did not show pride like when it came to Archie’s hunting ability. But Archie indeed grew up like a man and not effeminate. He used to get into fights with students in school and once broke a student’s nose during a tussle.
At the age of sixteen, Archie’s grief of separating from Hampton life was further fueled by admission to UC College in New York. He went there by a scholarship and to pursue his education as a Lorillard Scholar. Just the thought of going such a long distance made him so home sick that for weeks in advance, family members began to doubt his ability to live so far from home. When the bottle of Scuppernong wine that Archie decided to take with him burst inside his packed suitcase one day; uncle commented that Archie must have shot himself. He even stopped shooting Quails thinking that they were too beautiful to be killed.
Journey to New York to Archie felt like entering the “enemy territory”. But later he realized the hospitality of Yankees. Claphem restaurant gave him free meal once a week. He was nick named “Johnny Rebel” by them. To back his schooling he immersed in odd jobs like working in garden, shoveling in snow, tending furnace and cleaning classrooms. He sometimes chose jobs that enabled him to spend his time with Nature as well. He was also a great athlete who ran track and high jumped. The freezing climate that froze canals mesmerized him. He even had fun breaking rules on College grounds. He found Biology, Physiology, Algebra, French and German hard. He discontinued Latin; not because he didn’t like it but because he couldn’t help himself as he was lagging behind by twelve books. He refused to notice the descriptions of Nature of the letters from home, since it saddened him more. He began spending his time near Mohawk River which later made him close to Charles Proteus Steinmetz, who had exiled from Germany in his youth for expressing his views on Sociology and was now considered a genius of General Electric. Archie got a pat time job in General Electric too. He learned humbleness of great men from Mr. Steinmetz. Archie for a few years showered interest in medicine but later gave up due to his frail heart that faltered at dissecting tables. Archie still continued his hatred towards Math. In one letter to home he even quoted that he passed through Mathematics in the dark. He felt that Sines, Cosines, logarithms and square roots gave him indigestion and that physics would never tell him how a star hung or explain the retiring beauty of a fringed gentian and it ignored the wild spirit of man.
As a senior he won first prize in the oratorical contest on a topic on secession, a doctrine which majority of his audience and judges did not approve. He edited the college newspaper and he was the class poet. He, aware of his debt to his parents even wrote a poem to them through a letter. He graduated from UC College in 1904 and at the age of twenty, he registered at the teacher’s agency. He later received a call from Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. At first Headmaster’s wife had an apprehension about his capability to teach football team giants but later Archie’s interview session with her husband Dr. William Irvine, the headmaster, it convinced her to let him stay. He came as a substitute for two weeks and stayed for a year. Later he settled at Mercersburg Academy. His experiences in Pennsylvania turned him from a southerner to an American. His identity, being the son of a Confederate Colonel didn’t hinder his communication with old Union soldiers. He was even surprised to see the graves of three Confederates being honoured in that place. This incident prompted him to write an article about it for the Times- Dispatch of Richmond, Virginia. Archie knew that he was no longer in an alien land. He stayed at Mercersburg Academy for thirty three years. He won the hearts of students by sharing his love for Nature. They spent a lot of time at the 120 acres land of school and surrounding country, fields, woods and streams. He recorded much of his philosophy of teaching in a book entitled When Boys Go off to School He advocated that tolerance, patience and kindliness were worth infinitely more than venom and violence. He rejected subjectivity, dishonor and snobbery. President Calvin Coolige’s sons were his disciples.
School invited famous personalities once a week and it was at these occasions Archibald met Jack London, Dr. Charles Eraman,(President of Theological seminary at Princeton who suggested Archibald to do some inspirational writings), editors of Outlook and Outdoor Life and Henry Van Dyke. He and Van Dyke later became close friends. Archibald retreated from his academic life to Tuscorora Hills’ wildlife which contained air smelling of hemlong, wild grapes and pine; that revived his nostalgia for Hampton Plantation. He later fell in love with Mrs. Irvine’s sister Florence Louise Hart. She was called “Floy” and was a poet herself. It was in 1907 they got married and named their house “Woodland” as a reminder of Hampton. In 1908, his son Archibald Jr. was born. Around that time due to his persistence Archibald started to gain national acclaim for his writing. He stayed back in Classrooms to write even at night. His first book of verse published was Under the Pines. The University of Georgia published a book of his poetry under the name The Everlasting Light. Archibald was also noted for his humanized public speeches that attracted a large amount of audience from various walks of life. For many years he took his Turkey Call, a small box that produced the love call of turkey birds to entice his audience before a speech. He also found time to write for farm and garden magazines. In 1910, Henry Middleton IV and in 1912, Irvine Hart was born. To gain financial stability he wrote more books. Somme of them were Day Off in Dixie, Children of the Swamp and Wood, Wildlife of the South, Old Plantation Days, Tom and I on the Old Plantation, An American Hunter, article collections like The Meaning of Love, The Flower of Hope, The Angel Standing, A Wildwood Tale, Hunter’s Choice and Peace in the Heart.
Archibald took special care to teach his kids hunting and providing guidance in their life the same way Colonel did for him. He also wrote for several magazines to support his family and kid’s education. It was in 1921 Colonel Passed away at the age of 83. Mrs. Rutledge from then on began to live with her daughters. After four years she also passed away and was buried with Colonel and Hugh.
Around that time, Archibald also felt monetary problems and had to sell the manuscript of his book Life’s Extras (expanded chapter of Peace in the Heart) for fifty dollars. He later repented it because the sale of hat book rocketed but he didn’t receive any royalties. The book’s popularity was so high that Steinmetz gifted the publication to his 25,000 workers, Seventh Day Adventists distributed among them 10,000 copies and some schools presented a copy of this book to their graduating seniors.
In 1930, in the midst of the Depression, his book Peace in the Heart and other writings received the John Burroughs Medal for “the best Nature writing of the year”. It thus created a greater demand for his works but he was mindful that his talent for writing had come from God.
Even though his parents had passed away, Archibald and his family continued to make their annual Christmas visits to Hampton. He still kept in touch with Prince Alston’s family. The house made Archibald aware of his parent’s lingering presence. He once recalled the time when his father finally appreciated him for his poetry. It was after reading a poem called Arrivals published in Scribner’s Magazine. His father wrote to him that it was wrong from his part not to encourage his writing and that he was now a proud father. Archibald knew why his father felt so. Colonel had lived before the day when a man might write without being considered effeminate. He neither stood against his father’s views nor felt bad about it, but until his father sent his apology, he never really realized just how much the Colonel’s approval meant to him. And now, the visits to Hampton filled his heart with warmth.
He still enjoyed hunting during his visits with his kids. Rising to the hounds after the English fashion was a romantic and exciting sport. These hunting expeditions brought back memories of his parents. He felt his mother’s movements in fragrant mistletoes and tracks of deer reminded him about Colonel. During these trips he also loved to sit on the house’s porch at night to watch stars and listen to the Negros’s songs.
In January 1934, his wife Florence passed away due to cerebral hemorrhage. Gripped by the thoughts of love and death, he wrote the poem Taj Mahal. He later returned to the Academy to teach. It was in the same year he was appointed as the Poet Laureate of South Carolina by the Governor. Newspapers that carried around articles about him described him as a devotee of Outdoor life and told of his youth spent in an atmosphere of beauty on the family plantation on the Santee River. A year after being appointed as the poet laureate, he got into arguments with authorities when he opposed their action to build a dam and divert the Santee River to generate power. He decided to fight with all his might to protect his delta and its wildlife. He began a Campaign of letters against the project. It even threatened his honor of being taken away. He accused officials of not knowing the marvelous voices attune with dawn wind or of how wind folds by the peace of the waters or how to pause their feet in the woodland’s bright calm. At last with the help of friends and Colonel John A may from Aiken; he defeated the moves to build the dam. It suggested that Archibald was indeed a responsible citizen who utilized his right to speech for Nature.
Archibald later married his childhood sweetheart Alice Lucas (daughter of his school teacher). Since she was also brought up in the plantations; she was ready to live with him and go back to the Hampton after his retirement. In the spring of 1937, after thirty three years of teaching and being a part time registrar, he was granted retirement benefits. He also received stipend for services as poet laureate. With this he returned to the Hampton; a place he fondly called “The Lady of My Dreams”. He restored his 209 year old Georgian country house to live in.
Archibald missed the presence of Prince around him. Before leaving the plantation for studies; he remembered Prince watching him with a ocean of emotions. Later he heard that prince had died. It was as if Prince had a premonition that they would not see each other again. Prince had left behind a wife and three sons (one of them was named Archibald itself) and he took special care to look after them. During that time he also made an effort to trace his ancestry through the Horry’s, Pinckneys and Rutledges. He later made a museum in the huge old front room for the relics and back room for hunting trophies. He took efforts to restore rice plantations to provide a habitat for ducks and other birds. Hampton even then had no electricity or any general store nearby; still he never felt any inconvenience. He was happy that he was back in the Nature. Occasional floods gave him trouble but he accepted the Nature as it is. He knew that all these problems would pass and that life, resurrection and beauty are eternal. Around that time he published Home by the River and due to the romantic history and wildlife in it; it turned out to be his most popular publication.
Archibald always interacted with his fans and welcomed them to Hampton. He wrote The Colonel and His Lady about his parents and Wildlife of South about Prince. Around 1960’s his publications of poetry and prose neared the one hundred mark. The Hearts Citadel, Beauty in the Heart, Brimming Tide, Those were the Days, Santee Paradise, From the Hills to the Sea, Deep River and Ballad of Howling Hounds followed after that.
Published in 1960, Deep River was a complete collection of his poems. It won six national awards and a gold cup from the International Poetry Society. It also made him a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. Later How Wild was My Village, Spoon River Anthology, Woods and Wild Things I Remember, Bright Angel etc. followed. Archibald inspired both his sons and his fans to write poetry. Another grief came by his life when his sons Mid and Arch. Jr. passed away.
Archibald had more than 20 honorary degrees conferred on him, including Doctor of Literature from Furman University, University of South Carolina and Union College. The University of South Carolina named him to Phi Beta Kappa. His gold medals number more than thirty. He was a member of American Society of Arts and Letters, the American Poetry Society and Neucomen Society. In 1958, Rutledge was among five American poets asked to tape record poems for National Archives. He was named “Nature Poet of America” by Poets Laureate International. During his long literary career, he almost received Pulitzer Prize twice; once lost to Robert Frost and other to Edna Millay. It is said that he lost the Nobel Prize to William Faulkner by one vote. At the old age, he passed the plantation to State of South Carolina for historical preservation. He later moved to his summer place in McClellanville. He was under the care of nurses and he felt somehow near to his mother then.
On July 1973, he wrote to Irvine that he was writing a cheerful poem on dying. He always signed his letter with the drawing of a flintlock. On September 15, he passed away at the age of 89. He died in the same room in which he was born. Idella Bodie ends the biography by saying
In Archibald Rutledge’s poems and writings, he became a minstrel singing of Nature. He was a gentle singer of the south, but the songs he sang “through the throats of native birds and wildlife” were the songs of America. As he expressed in his poem “The Few”:
“The songs that poets sing are mortal too,
But most miraculously in a few
The granite of eternity lies hid
The great song builds his own proud pyramid”
(Bodie, 174)
CHAPTER III
NATURE: THE QUNITESSENCE OF ARCHIBALD RUTLEDGE’S SELECT POETRY
Archibald Rutledge was a poet who couldn’t resist the temptation to compose verses about the beautiful Nature and the wildlife that surrounded him. It does not astonishing that his first book of verses was called Under the Pines since it was the vegetation of Hamptons that inspired him to write these lines of great imagination. Pine tree was a common sight in the vegetation of both Hampton and Pennsylvania. If it was “The Three Sisters” that witnessed his childhood adventures and memories with Prince and Hugh; then it was pines of Tuscorora Hills of Pennsylvania that witnessed the solitary heart of Archibald who yearned for the Nature to escape from the academic discomforts. Nature provided Archibald reassurance and hope at all stages of his life and it further encouraged him to return back to Nature for fresh set of experiences each day.
It’s difficult to say whether it was Archie’s thoughts that prompted him to write about the Nature of South Carolina or his memories that triggered the words to express it. Nature of Hampton incorporated all the emotions of Nature; be it betrayal of the bogs, enchantment of turkey calls, persistence of mud Daubers, tolerance level of oxen or commitment of Spanish curlews.
In order to enjoy the metaphorical meanings laid down by Archibald Rutledge in his poems, one has to know his life history. Literally he does provide a canvas of beautiful imagery and emotion that can be enjoyed by a reader who is not familiar with his works. Yet it is through deep understanding about his life one can see the hidden angle he had tried to express. A clear vision about his life can bring out his suppressed emotions, grief or innate wishes from his verses.
Ron Harton in his website naturewriting.com says
Nature writing is born out of love, respect, and awe. It finds its subject during days of close observation of the natural world. It finds its voice in the relationship with Nature developed during those days. Nature writing begins with observation, and records what the writer has seen and seen again. It may begin with a casual, serendipitous occurrence, but it moves far beyond the casual to record details noticeable only by those who have looked deeply. Nature writing is concerned with what scientists have discovered, but the focus always returns to the personal observations of the writer. The writer is part of the natural world and draws the reader into that world, too. Nature writing is about the writer as well as about Nature. Nature writing is exploratory and reflective. The Nature writer probes deep within and discovers how Nature affects personal life. Nature writing seeks to learn not just about Nature; it seeks to learn from Nature. The Nature writer approaches Nature as a student approaches a respected and admired teacher, in order to learn and communicate the wisdom of life found in Nature. Nature writing is relational. It is about the connections and relationships that form our world. Nature writing binds people to the natural world with words of understanding, respect, admiration, and love. These words may be formed in any literary type or style. The languages and forms of Nature writing are many and varied, but each seeks to share what the writer has felt and known in times of living with Nature. (www.naturewriting.com)
A close analysis of few of Archibald Rutledge’s poems can reveal his heart. From these readers can clearly observe how Nature and his life were interspersed in his verses. Some of the incidents happened before the composition and some after that. Some of the noteworthy poems like In a Garden, Shadow Stars, A Southern Wind, In After Years, The Western Way, The Garden I Made, The Way and Timing can open up the chamber of his thoughts.
· In a Garden:
Around our garden, sweet and wild,
In softest waves the pinewoods move:
I hear thy voice in them, Dear Child,
And in their silences, thy love.
Beyond the pines the white beach runs,
Beyond the beach, the marsh, the sea:
Beyond our world, the stars, the suns,
Beyond thy life, my thought of thee.
I stand where love and sorrow meet,
And where the sea-wind o’er thee blows:
Now in our garden, wild and sweet,
Thy heart is risen in yonder rose.
Thy heart is risen unaware,
For thou no more awakeneth:
Because of life, so fair, so fair,
So beautiful because of death!
My heart forgets the tears, the grave
In love’s diviner mystery.
The pines against the sunset wave,
And I am one with them and thee.
(Under the Pines, 12)
The poem reflects the somber mood and reminiscence of a father who lost his child. He finds solace in the elements of Nature and those elements for him become the different manifestations of a child’s tender love. When the pine woods move producing the softest waves, he hears the voice of his dear child and when it attains tranquility, he feels the embrace of his child’s love. Poet then speaks of a love which transcends the barriers of time, earth and space. It is a divine love; a love which is unscathed even after the death of his child. The poet then returns to the garden and he becomes aware of the sea wind that blows over the grave of his dead child like a soothing stroke. It’s a place where love and sorrow meet (garden). The rose that symbolizes the child’s innocence and heart is swayed in the sea breeze. The early demise of his child makes him realize how the beauty of life was enhanced through bereavement. He wraps his mind around the fact that his child will never wake from the eternal sleep. Later, love’s divine mystery obliviates him from the thoughts of grave, untimely death of his child and tears. He gives in to the ascendancy of Nature to be with his child.
If we try to relate this poem to Archibald’s life, this poem seems to be the reflection of his father Colonel Rutledge’s emotion. He has juxtaposed his suppressed feelings about the death of his brother Hugh with that of the laments of his father who lost a son. Hugh’s untimely death was a trauma that affected Archibald throughout his life. He firmly believed that it was his fault that took the life of Hugh. It was his father who provided a relief to his pains but Archibald knew how much Colonel missed Hugh. This must have prompted him to write these verses. Archibald has tried to relate the emotions of the father with the Nature. The stagnancy of marsh land and movements of pine, waves and sea breeze also reflects the mind of the parent. The Nature he describes is that of Hampton and North Carolina. It was there Hugh’s body was buried. It’s strange that Archibald had to go through the very same feelings again when he lost two of his sons to fate after many years.
· Shadow Stars
See yonder evening stream:-
There are two stars within the waters deep,
Two shadowy stars cone down to earth to dream,
Come down from heaven to sleep.
Out of night-lands, a wind
Wakens a wave: - spent are the tranquil charms,
Yet the dim stars are driven till they find
Rest in each other’s arms.
The wind goes o’er the hill.
A moment only throb they, heart on heart,
A moment, and the waters wild are still
And they once more apart.
A moment, and in vain
The wave of Life disturbs the twilight stream:
The stars sink back to sleep once again,
Into the ancient dream.
(Under the Pines, 13)
It portrays an ordinary incident suffused with poet’s imagination. It highlights lyricism throughout. The poet sees two stars within the evening stream and assumes that they came down to earth from heaven to sleep and dream. Suddenly, the wind from night lands awakens a wave that disrupts the placidity of the water and serenity in which stars immersed themselves in. Yet, after a fray; stars again find rest in each other’s arms. The wind is depicted as an entity set himself to oppugn the calmness around the stars with wild energy. Its hands tear them apart. The poet here lets out the bitter truth about the wave of life that constantly threatens the steadiness we all hope for. This Wave of Life had torn Hugh, Florence and two sons from Archibald in his life. Poet here points out to the hands of fate that can shred our hopes and dreams into pieces at various points of our life. Archibald has clearly described the movements of stream and stars at night. He must have been influenced by the night rides that gave him an impression about life and fishing activity that he got himself involved in with Tom at night. Archibald did spent a lot of time at fishing spots like Eagle Hummock, Oyster Bay, Five Fathoms Creek and Tiger Creek at night. It was at these estuaries that wound into the marsh fields and rivers of Santee, canals of Pennsylvania and Mohawk that influenced Archibald. The action of the southern wind that disrupts the dream of stars resembles Shelley’s West Wind on “… whose unseen presence the leaves dead, Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing…” (www.poemhunter.com/odetothewestwind) which makes the author falls upon the thorns of life and bleed.
· A Southern Wind
Hear the sound of the wind on the desolate sand-dunes,
The whispering sea-wind that cautiously moans,
Up in the green hummocks of myrtle and cedar,
Down o’er the dells of wild oats and wampee,
Up to the pine woods, low laden with fragrance,
Deep to the grey old swamp, home of the cypress.
Then the fair laurel leaves laugh as it lingers,
Turning their gleaming sides bright in the sun’s glow,
Now to the shrubbery, dark with its verdure,
Cool in its duskiness, sweet in its quietness-
Then from the low lands the wind fast up-springing,
Flies in an ecstasy up to the mountain tops,
Tosses the fronded oaks, sways the dark, tranquil pines,
Then wanders once more adown to the sea shore,
Weeps o’er the sand hills and sobs with the surf,
And then, with a faint and a farewelling murmur,
Loses itself on the glimmering ocean.
(Under the Pines, 14)
Rutledge in this poem pays heed to the Southern wind like Shelly that wrote Ode to the West Wind. In this poem, he celebrates the Nature and adventure that the Southern wind takes. It starts its trail from desolate sand dunes. It later becomes the whispering sea wind that cautiously moans up in the green hills of myrtle and cedar, down over the dells of white oats and wampee, through pine woods, grey old swamp and so on. Then from the low lands the wind flies in an ecstasy up to the mountain tops were it tosses the fronded oaks and sways the dark tranquil pines. Then this wind wanders once more down to the sea shore, weep over the sand hills (rain), soaps with the surf and with a faint and farewelling murmur, loses itself on the glimmering ocean.
· In After Years:
I.
In the warm woods a whippoorwill
Is mourning deeply, far away;
Beyond the woods the House is still,
Folded in evening mists of grey.
Beyond the lonely woods it stands,
Beautiful even in decay;
Around it lie the summer lands
As fair as when they went away.
I cannot look, for love’s own fear,
Knowing it all how it must be,
Dear voices I would no more hear,
Loved faces I could no more see.
Perhaps the ghostly mists would stir,
Against my face in mortal pain,
For the brave eyes and heart of Her,
For hands that clasp not hands again.
II.
Though I see not, my heart is there,
And hears beneath the pale starlight,
The grey moss signing in the air,
The river running through the night.
Death has prevailed: the loveliest
Is gone; we may no longer meet:
Wistful against my face is pressed,
The face of Twilight, vague and sweet.
Death has prevailed and They repose,
They see no more the pinewood fair,
Nor the soft scarlet sunset rose
Burn in its misty waves of hair.
Now over Them the voice of spring
Calls, but the silence is unbroken-
And yet my heart is answering
As if the silentness had spoken.
In the dim vista of old years,
I see the day when Parting fell,
I feel again the parting tears,
I hear the voices of farewell.
Their life has passed by in Beauty by,
So faints the rose upon her stem:
I look on the eternal sky
And silently remember Them.
III.
They are asleep and shall not wake,
For love, for memory, for tears,
Nor can remembrance ever break
The stillness of the buried years.
They are asleep: the windy pines
Wave, and are hushed to dreams again;
Such dreams the breaking heart enshrines
When only memories remain.
They shall not wake: against the sky
Lone in the night the laurel stands
And darkly dreams: her flowers die
Above the dreadful summer lands.
They are asleep: the perilous
Dim ecstasy of dawn’s far light
Shall charm no more, nor luminous
The pineland evening’s violet night.
They are asleep and shall not wake,
Yet of their dream I am a part,
And thoughts of them forever make
A sanctuary in my heart.
IV.
The night is very dark and chill,
A mystic wind awakens and blows:
The night is very strange and still,
The woods are wrapped in deep repose.
The solemn stars look pitying down,
The whippoorwill is silent now:
The stars seem but a piercing crown
That night is pressing on my brow.
Through shrines of darkness, as I yearn,
Dear unforgotten eyes and bright
Shine on me, fading as I turn
My face into a deeper night.
V.
Seeking a face it shall not find
In fields or on the river shores,
The melancholy river- wind,
Grieves through the rustling sycamores
Of loveliness that cannot last;
The roses bloom, the river flows,
Ah, but the hearts we loved are passed
Beyond the River and the Rose.
Sweet are the pines and sweet the bay,
The glimmering jasmines softly burn
In vain, in vain for Them, for They
Come not, nor ever will return.
(Under the Pines, 16-19)
The poem reminds us of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, where the author thinks about the people sleeping under the grave for eternity. Archibald must have written this poem while he was paying them a visit from Pennsylvania, thinking about the Hampton plantation and the graves of his mother, father and Hugh. The poet in this poem recollects the images of a place where he once dwelled with his family (Hampton). On a far away land he brings into the frame the picture of a house folded in the grey evening mists. It is in a decaying state and is surrounded by the sickly mist of darkness and death. Yet for him the house is still beautiful. This place reminds him of the dear voices he would no more hear and the loved faces her can no more see. Each of his loved ones lay in graves which hinder them from making connections like they once did in life. Their hands will never clasp other hands again. Poet feels that the Nature is mourning with him and that death has prevailed. Fate took away his near and dear ones from him. They can no longer see the pine woods or the soft scarlet rose. Even though spring pushes away cold mists and calls them; they still remain silent and stay in their eternal slumber. Yet poet feels that his loved ones are trying to communicate through silence. He feels as if he is obliged to say farewell again with parting tears. He looks on the eternal sky and silently remembers them. He accepts the truth that they are asleep forever and shall neither wake up for love, memory or tears nor can remembrance break the stillness of the buried years. He has only memories left with him about them. Neither the night that promises coolness and good dreams not the dawn that brings brightness and light can ever awaken them. Thoughts about them make a sanctuary in the heart of the poet. He is now standing under the dark and chilly night sky. A mystic wind blows often yet night remains strange and still. Even the woods are wrapped in deep repose. He feels as if the solemn stars are looking at him with pity and Nature around him has grown silent. He also feels the sensation where his loved ones are watching him silently. The loveliness of hearts he loved outweighs the beauty of rose and river. He painfully realizes that they will never return to see the sweetness of pines, bays and jasmine.
· Western Way:
Down the declivity into twilight lands
With quiet songs and tender, farewell air;
Down with the autumn of our little year,
With hearts subdued and worn and weary hands;
On to Life’s margin with its moaning sands,
All doubt behind- it is too late to fear,
We are too tired now to know or care,
Yet the still soul at evening understands.
What though the dark be deepening before
As night behind us gathers on the way,
We must press on, whatever is in store,
For there is no escape- day’s dying ray
Kindles the western mountains far away,
And Faith stands sentry by the Shadowy Door.
(The Banners of the Coast, 30)
This poem points us to the fact that we can never run away from death. With resemblance to Emily Dickinson’s works; the poet is describing the journey of us; the humans, to the Shadowy Door of Death. We start our journey from the twilight lands filled with quiet songs and tended farewell air gifted by our loved ones. We are no longer young; all we have is a heart that is subdued and hands which have grown worn and weary. We must realize that it is too late to fear death and we must leave all our doubts behind. We will get too tired to even know or care at that stage. We must continue our journey even though darkness around us deepens and night engulfs the paths which we just treaded. We must press on and accept whatever is in store since there is no escape. The day’s rays slowly die and we can observe the faith that stands sentry by the Shadowy Door at the end of the journey. This is one of the spiritual poems by Archibald Rutledge.
· The Garden I Made
Whenever I think of
Life’s light that must fade
The gleams and the glow
That must pass in the shade;
When hopes that I had
Now but leave me afraid-
With joy I remember the garden I made.
The redbuds and dogwoods
I planted will grow;
The flaming Azaleas
Will blossom, I know;
The chaliced syringa’s
Wild beauty will show
When I shall be one
With the long, long ago.
The glimmering gardenias,
The wildflowers wan,
The red rose, the lily
As white as a swan;
The garden I made
Will Keep Blossoming on
When life with its fevers
Is faded and gone.
(http://paintcharlestondaily.blogspot.in/2008/05/hampton-plantation-portico-plein-air.html)
This poem was written by him about his garden at Hampton Plantation. He knows that he will die one day just like everybody else and he yearns to leave something behind so that his future generations would remember him. Whenever he thinks of the life’s light that will fade (approaching death), that hides the gleams and glows of his life once outshined (his fame) and about the hopes he once had that left him in his old age; he remembers with joy the garden he made. He is sure that the plants of that garden will grow and bloom with its wild beauty even after his death. Archibald in his childhood used to build gardens with Hugh and Prince. When he was older, he taught his three sons how to construct a garden too. At this old age he is sure that he has to leave behind his Nature and the garden but he is sure that even if he disappears after some years his garden would remain to remind his future generations that he once existed.
· Timing:
April’s wild glad day
Promising May
With the glitter of freed streams flowing
With the frolic and fiery winds blowing
With all this beauty about
And life like a joyous shout
Oh, do not tell me how
You love me now
It might not mean a thing
But spring
But if you have not changed
By dark November
Remember, to tell me your need
When all the world is a faded rose
A withered weed
And the sky grey above
And the earth grey below
Oh if you tell me then
It might mean love.
(Banners of the Coast, 25)
This poem reminds us about an old saying that when you are a success your loved ones know who you are and when you are in a state of adversity, you will know who your loved ones are. He depicts this message through seasons. During spring, that is, during the period of his glory he doesn’t need to hear lovely words. He knows it would be fake and would mean nothing. But if that loveliness stays on during cold winter season covered with grey sky above and grey earth below then that would be the real love anybody can ever offer him.
· The Way:
Dear, as our love is true,
So shall our lives be, too
And as our hearts are brave,
Shall we be strong to save.
“Live, live,” let others cry,
“For after life we die.”
“Love, love”, my spirit saith.
“For love lives after death.”
(Banners of the Coast, 26)
Through this poem of few simple lines, Archibald tries to put forward an important message. That message is to love while you live instead of merely enjoying your moments of live. Life is not eternal but love is. Even when we perish in the soil after death, nothing can decompose love. It outlives us all.
If we observe some of his poetry collections like Under the Pines or The Banners of the Coast, we can see that the titles of his poems link his connection with Hampton’s nature to his talent. Some of these titles are: The Song of the Santee, A Deserted Plantation, Southern Pines, Home, Rain on the Marsh, Homecoming, Charleston, The Heart of a Friend, The Night Rider, A Jessamine, A Dreamer, Night on the Coast, Carolina Pines, The Old South, The Southern Rose, Eldorado etc.
Archibald Rutledge was a poet who merged his verses with Nature and experiences that everybody can relate to. His poetry can teach us about life and reality. It is this connection between the author’s emotion and mind with that of readers, which makes the process of reading his works a pleasant one.
CONCLUSION
Archibald Rutledge was a Nature poet who tried to incorporate the Nature of Hampton, Santee delta and of North Carolina in general. His poems always reflected his inner most thoughts and feelings. As a child Archibald was a person who had to suppress his feeling of guilt after the death of Hugh. Although his father Colonel Rutledge stood beside him as a support; he could never speak openly about it. He didn’t have the courage to talk about it to anyone and later it became the foundation structure for his grieves from future to get accumulated. Archibald tried to bring in a spiritual note to his poetry too. Although his reverence for the divine wasn’t as strong as Emily Dickinson who carried the doctrine of self-sufficient individualism farther than Thoreau and moral mysticism farther than Emerson; he knew that his talent and fame came from God’s blessings. While Archibald was a student at Union College, he had been confirmed in the Episcopal Church but he felt at home in any church. He never understood why people try to categorize him under any particular church. He found heaven in the hearts of men. His real reverence was for Nature. He saw, observed and loved Nature with burning simplicity and passion. His poems are revelatory and of extraordinary delicacy that gives the exact in terms of the quaint with deft brevity. He had a deep and a passionate love for Nature which led him to fill his poems with Nature -imagery. His poems contain a profusion of Nature- pictures, some of which are remarkable for their vividness and sensuousness. Garden I Made could be called a fragrant poem for the abundance and variety of flowers mentioned in it. His images of Nature are refreshing and stimulating. In most of his poems Archibald gives us a description of the lovely surroundings he used to spend his life in. This gives these poems a principal charm. Shadow Stars gives us a remarkable picture of peace and serenity enjoyed by the stars on which wind tries to cause disruption. Through his poems not only are we given vivid images of pine trees swaying in southern wind, the waves of the ocean and stillness of swamp, but we also get striking pictures of reflection of stars, sun and the sky. Like Shelley, he was also a believer in the healing influence of Nature on the human mind. He always drew comfort from his contemplation of Nature around him. He knew that Nature had the power to soothe the human heart. Like a pantheist, at times he also believed in the existence of a divine spirit in all objects of Nature. His imageries were never abstract and ethereal.
Shelley’s scientific attitude towards Nature was also followed by Rutledge. The ancient Greeks gave human attributes to their personifications of natural objects and forces. Archibald retained their true character while personifying them. He uses it in the poem A Southern Wind in a highly imaginative and fanciful manner. Even when he personified southern wind, it never expressed human qualities.
Archibald’s passion for Nature was fixed in his blood. He was a Nature poet like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats and Shelley but he had his own unique style. “Coleridge, sympathizing as he does intellectually with his friend’s trancendalism, is far more readily influenced by the multifold sensuous appeal of Nature; while Byron and Keats delight with a pagan joy in landscape, waterscape and cloudscape and are content to worship the goddess, not to consult oracle.” (Rickett, 308). Archibald marveled at the beauty of Nature and also tried to find its inner significance. He tried to perceive that appeal vividly to his sensuous self and for the homely and common place. His love for Nature like Wordsworth was never developed at various stages. He fell in love with it right when he was a baby in the crib. At all stages of his live he liked the coarse pleasures, sensuous beauty of Nature and believing Nature as his object of passion. In his own unique way he had also tried to express human joy sufferings and hopes through elements of Nature.
Archibald Rutledge had very sensitive eyes and ears. It is clearly shown in his descriptions about Nature. He believed that Nature was a living entity that has the power to impart its consciousness to all objects of Nature. He was an author who tried to find design, order and harmony everywhere in the universe. He always appreciated the qualities of Nature like kindness, fostering and ability to teach love.
Archibald unlike Robert Frost never tried to create a barrier between nature and man that should be respected. When we consider his attitude towards nature, it’s never modern. Just like 19th century poets he pictures nature as benevolent and kindly with a, “holy plan” and emphasized the harmony, the oneness, of man and nature.
His chief originality is his ability to merge his emotions with that of Nature. But it is not the mere fact of his being a poet of Nature that makes him unique. What gives him his uniqueness is the fact that he is, of major American poets, the one who has given the most impressive and most emotionally satisfying account of man’s relation to Nature. He is one of the greatest Nature poets of America because he is the poet of more than external Nature; he is, in a higher degree, the poet of man.
WORKS CITED
· Babu, Murukan. A Textbook of Literary Criticism and Theory. India.
Macmillan.2011
· Bodie, Idella. A Hunt for Life’s Extras. United States of America.
Authors Choice Press.2000
· Rutledge, Archibald. Under the Pines and Other Poems. United States
of America. Presses of the state Co. Columbia.1906
· Rutledge, Archibald. The Banners of the Coast: [poems]. United
States of America. Presses of the state Co. Columbia.1908
· Rickett, Arthur. A History of English Literature. London. Thomas
Nelson & Sons Ltd. 1963
· Nature Writing. 16 Aug.2006. 18. April.2014.http:www.naturewriting.com
· Paint Charleston Daily.25 Aug. 2008. 19. April.2014. http://
paintcharlestondaily.blogspot.in/2008/05/hampton-plantation portico-plein-air.html
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