Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background Study

The word "ecocriticism" traces back to William Rueckert's 1978 essay "Literature and

Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism" and apparently lay dormant in critical vocabulary

until the 1989 Western Literature Association meeting (in Coeur d'Alene), when Cheryll

Glotfelty (at the time a graduate student at Cornell, now Assistant Professor of Literature and

the Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno) not only revived the term but urged its

adoption to refer to the diffuse critical field that heretofore had been known as "the study of

nature writing." Cheryll's call for an "ecocriticism" was immediately seconded at that same

WLA meeting by Glen Love (Professor of English at the University of Oregon) in his Past

President's speech, entitled "Revaluing Nature: Toward an Ecological Literary Criticism."

Since that meeting in 1989, the term "ecocriticism" has bloomed in usage, so that now one

finds it appearing with some frequency in calls for papers, critical articles, and indeed

academic job descriptions. To reread Dickens and Hardy in the light of modern concept of

ecocriticism seems to be a little challenging because both of them belonged to a period when

ecocriticism was not at all known as a theory. But the Victorian age in its later half was a

little perturbed by Darwinism and the theory of Evolution and Determinism. Hardy‘s novels

were always a study of man and nature. But Dickens was much less interested in Nature as he

was the chronicler of the city of London. He loves to focus on human values and less

acquainted with those scientific developments – evolutionary biology and energy physics –

that would converge, in the nineteenth century, to form ecological science. Arguing that

Dickens then applied his interest in science, and his own conception of a ‗poetic science‘

towards an analysis of society, the paper considers his examination of industry, technology,

and the physical shape that these bequeathed to the Victorian city in the light of

1
contemporary social ecology. We may argue that Dickens‘s double-edged understanding of

technology and the city allows us to understand his writing as an example of what John Clark

has called a ‗social ecology of the imagination‘ and, more generally, of a reconstructive

quality shared with social ecology.‘

―Ecocriticism‖ as a term emerged in the world of critical study in the late 1970s by

combining ―criticism‖ and ―ecology‖. Before that, it was the word ―urbanature‖ which

described nature and life of mankind. Urbanature implies that all human and nonhuman life,

as well as all animate and inanimate objects around us, are connected to each other. The ideas

of nature, like a number of other concepts, have been invoked in so many different ways over

the centuries and critical study of that has appropriated different divisions over the centuries.

M. H. Abrams believes that: Ecocriticism or Environmental criticism designates the critical

writings which explore the relations between literature and biological and physical

environment, conducted with as an acute awareness of the devastation being wrought on that

environment by human activities. Eco critics do not share a single theoretical perspective or

procedure; instead, their engagements with environmental literature manifest a wide range of

traditional, post structural, and postcolonial point of view and modes of analysis. (71)

Although in this research I approach ecocriticism through studying a poem, we can also apply

it to various literary texts. My text here is The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot's

everlasting masterpiece. This work seems to elicit an unusual degree of criticism, especially

from highly influential voices of modern men. The publication of ―The Love Song of J.

Alfered Prufrock‖ can be seen as an essential part of the literature development as it

portrayed modern man and his psyche as well as the society of England in a realistic and

unique way.

2
1.1.1 Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism started in 1990s as a study between text and natural environment. For

ecocriticism, the study of natural world carries importance rather than the study of romantic

elements\objects. Now a days, ecology is defined as the relationship among plants, animals,

human beings and their environment. The relationship among plants, animals, human beings

and their environment is intimate up to that extent that the disturbance in one may cause

disturbance in the other. In simple words, they are completely interdependent upon each

other. If we go for the history so, it has proved that a very small change in civilization has

changed the relationship between animals and human beings. In addition, the effect of this

little change in the environment on civilization is so severe that sometimes it has wiped the

whole civilization from the surface of the earth. That‘s why, now a days, concern for ecology

is one of the most important issue. Therefore, the future paper would be an endeavor to

explore Rudyard Kipling‘s ecological concern.

The study of ecocriticism is relatively recent, especially when compared with the

other types of approaches in criticism. As Cheryll Glotfelty mentions in The Ecocriticism

Reader, ―even in the field of literature, ecocriticism took a long time to be established than

most recent movement in literary theory‖ (xvi-xvii). It was William Rueckert (1978) who

became the first to use the term ecocriticism. Then in the 1980s some scholars began

organizing, collecting and publishing on ecocriticism in collaboration with others, and helped

to publicize it. Horald Fromm used the term ―Ecocriticism‖ to ―rally scholars to the

environmental banner at his 1991 special session of the MLA, Ecocriticism: The Greeting of

Literary Studies‖ (Glotfelty xvii). Then at the 1992 ASLE, ―the Association for the Study of

Literature and the Environment, was formed‖ (ibid. xx). Glotfelty renewed the concept of

ecocriticism by shifting the research focus, inspiring the recognition of the value of nature.

Humans and nature are inseparable and have steady influence on each other. Relatively,

3
Ecocriticism focuses on literary and artistic expression of human experience primarily in a

natural, and consequently in a cultural world. The ecocriticism signifies that literature cannot

be approached in a way that in which man and its environment stand against each other. In

contrast, it must be approached in a way that includes man as an ecosystem. As Klue writes

Man ―is neither master nor slave to it, but simply one part of an intricate system‖ (Klue 1).

1.1.2 Ecocentrism and Technocentrism

Ecocentrism views humankind as a part of the global ecosystem and a subject to the

ecological laws. According to Dobson ―ecocentrics lack faith in modern large-scale

technology and the technical and bureaucratic elites, and they abhor centralization and

materialism‖ (33). However, ecocriticism is not against technology. It advocates ―soft,

intermediate, and appropriate alternative technologies partly because they are considered

more environmentally benign, but also because they are potentially democratic‖ (Ibid).

Technocentrism considers natural problems and says that our society will encounter them and

tries to achieve great progress. Ecocentrism encircles great differences in emphasis within ―a

paradigm of nurturing nature rather than intervening destructively in it‖ (Ibid). It is what

O‟Riodan calls ―communalism‖ in which ―economic relationships are intimately connected

with social relationships and feelings of belonging, sharing, caring and surviving‖ (89). In the

world of technology, the aim of nature and the natural world is increasingly the subject to

human technical reordering, and we rarely experience nature in ―its unhuminised state as a

prior order of reality to human claims and interests‖ (ibid. 258). Kate Pigby in Introducing

Criticism in the 21st Century (2002) refers to Rousseau concerning the progress of

civilization in the domination of nature that had been achieved a ―the price of increased social

inequality, alienation and military conflict‖ (163). This analysis is akin to what the German

social theorists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer would later term as the „dialectic of

4
enlightenment‟. They believed ―a whole new order of barbarism right in the midst of the

technologically most advanced civilization in the world history‖ (Ibid).

1.1.3 Romantic Ecology

Ecocritical awareness of the non-human world begins not with the environmental

revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, but with a new definition of nature first offered by

Romantic writers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This shift eventually

brought a new emphasis on connections between nature and society. The Romantic

Movement was an artistic and intellectual one, commonly expressed in literature. But it was

not just a set of ideas, unrelated to what was happening in the world. It was clearly a reaction

against material changes in society, which accompanied emerging and expanding industrial

capitalism in the 18th century. As Russell puts it in: ―the Romantic movement is

characterized, as a whole, by the substitution of aesthetic for utilitarian standards. Romantic

hated how industrialization made previously beautiful places ugly, and they rejected the

vulgarity of those who made money in trade‟‟ (Russell 653). Romantic artistic and

philosophical practices and theories are preserved within contemporary ecological languages

and beliefs. Romantic nourishes modern ecocentrism in two senses; ―First, it is a particular

mental disposition, which today implies a liberated imagination, emotion, passion,

irrationalism and subjectivism. Second, the late eighteenth and nineteenth century Romantic

movement, which championed and developed Romantic attitudes, has strong and direct

historical links into modern ecocentrism‖ (William 189). Ecological Romanticism mentions

that globalization has undermined any coherent sense of place. At least, that is an argument

within Romantic and Ecocritical thinking. As Morton believes, ―such thinking aims to

conserve a piece of the world or subjectivity from the ravages of industrial capitalism and its

ideologies‖ (85). Jonathan Bate‘s Romantic ecology of 1991 forms a leading example of a

significant early step in the evolution of ecocriticism, especially in Britain. Bate revived the

5
dominant nineteenth century perception of the crucial Romantic poet William Wordsworth as

a ―poet of nature whose work forms a coherent protest against the dominant ideologies of

political economy and industrialism‖ (qtd. in Kroeber 35). Bate takes up and reaffirms

Wordsworth‘s proto-ecological anti-industrial arguments, defending the naturalness of the

life of local statesmen. Modern environmental criticism often continues antiindustrial

argument, ―deploying concepts of nature as a moral and psychic norm‖ (Clark 18). In contrast

to Marxist critics who have claimed that the Romantic ecology involves a retreat from society

into spiritual transcendence, Bate can argue that ―the Romantic ecology has nothing to do

with flight from the material world, from history and society‖ (Bate 40). It is in fact an

attempt to enable mankind to live better in the material world by entering into harmony with

the environment.

Ecocriticism constitutes a relatively new literary approach that is applied by ecocritics

to explore and evaluate various literary texts. However, the theoretical approaches have not

been fixed yet thus ecocritics only possess the same subject matter that can be represented by

the relationship between human and natural world.

Ecocritics prioritize to study texts that deal with nature writing. Regarding a rich

history of American literature there are many authors who focused on nature writing,

however, in my opinion T. S. Eliot represents the most important figure among American

authors owing to his intense and lifelong relationship to nature that he depicted in his literary

work. The diploma thesis introduces the associations that deal with American environmental

literature. It focuses on the roots of ecocriticism and its two developmental stages. The thesis

outlines the origin and definition of the term and it introduces various methodologies that are

used by ecocritics to study literary texts. The diploma thesis refers to four essential

disciplines (ecology, ethics, language and criticism) that are applied to explore and evaluate

chiefly the selected poems of T.S. Eliot. The thesis outlines history and environment of

6
England as T.S. Eliot‘s beloved homeland and a setting of his works. It also refers to the

important biographical facts of Eliot´s life that are essential to understand his perspective on

nature and landscape. The main aim of the diploma thesis consists in application ecocritical

theoretical bases on selected poems of T.S. Eliot.

1.1.4 Beginnings of environmental literary studies

In 1970s there were studies which dealt with sociology, philosophy, history, religion

but literary studies concerning environment did not occur. Cheryl Glotfelty claims individual

literary and cultural scholars have been developing ecologically informed criticism and

theory since the seventies. However, they did not organize themselves into an identifiable

group; their various efforts were not recognized as belonging to a distinct critical school or

movement. (Glotfelty, Fromm, 1996) .

Several special sessions on nature writing or environmental literature began to appear

on the programs of annual literary conferences, perhaps most notably the 1991 Modern

Language Association (MLA) special session organized by Harold Fromm,

entitled˝Ecocriticism: The Greening of Literary Studies. In 1992 a new Association for the

Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) was formed. ASLE´s aim was ˝to promote the

exchange of ideas and information pertaining to literature that considers the relationship

between human beings and the natural worldˮ and to encourage ˝new nature writing,

traditional and innovative scholarly approaches to environmental literature, and

interdisciplinary environmental research ˮ. In 1993 ASLE began to publish its own journal

called Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE). ISLE has determined

the way and themes regarding ecocritical research up to the present day. (Glotfelty, Fromm,

1996).

7
 Garrard states that many early works of ecocriticism were characterized by an

exclusive interest in Romantic poetry, wilderness narrative and nature writing, but in the last

few years ASLE has turned towards a more general cultural ecocriticism, with studies of

popular scientific writing, film, TV, art, architecture and other cultural artefacts such as

theme parks, zoos and shopping malls. Ecocritic‘s attention is increasingly given to the broad

range of cultural processes and products in which, and through which, the complex

negotiations of nature and culture take place. (Garrard, 2004).

Buell claims that ISLE still prints articles on nature writing, Wordsworthian poetry,

and pastoral theory. But the last and only number to feature a special section on Henry

David‘s Thoreau was in fact the very first (spring 1993); and the past few years we have seen

essays on British and American film, Australian place-making, Latin American

environmental justice poetry, immigrant autobiography, and a revisionist interpretation of

animal encounters in medieval lives of St. Francis. (Buell, 2005).

1.1.5 The Start of Ecocriticism

Roots of ecocriticism reach back into 1960s when a wave of environmentalism blew

across the United States. It was caused by Rachel Carson´s book called Silent Spring (1962).

Rachel Carson captured natural beauty and the ´harmony´ of humanity and nature that once

existed. However, the rural idyll was interrupted with the ecocatastrophe. Birds, the cattle and

sheep died due to mysterious maladies. The title Silent Spring comes to function not only to

loss of birdsong, but also as a synecdoche for a more general environmental apocalypse. The

rhetorical strategies, use of pastoral and apocalyptic imagery and literary allusions with

which Carson shapes her scientific material may well be amenable to a more ‗literary‘ or

‗cultural‘analysis. Such analysis is what we will call ‗ecocriticism‘. (Garrard, 2004).

8
 However, not only Rachel Carson´s book Silent Spring , but also other authors and

their works influenced the roots of ecocriticism. Norman Foerster´s Nature in American

Literature was published earlier than Silent Spring, in 1923. Leo Marx´s The Machine and the

Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in American Culture appeared in 1964. These

works represent American Studies. Raymond Williams introduced The Country and the City

into British Studies in 1973. It has been praised as a masterpiece of ecocriticism before the

term was featured in 1978. William´s book prepossessed Jonathan Bate´s Romantic Ecology

which came out in 1991. According to Buell the work today considered the starting point for

American ecocriticism proper, Joseph Meeker‘s The Comedy of Survival (1972, revd. 1997).

(Buell, 2005).

Glen A. Love claims Meeker´s book offered the first genuinely new reading of

literature from an ecological viewpoint. He wrote: ―Human beings are the earth's only literary

creatures (…)‖. According to Love if the creation of literature is an important characteristic

of the human species, it should be examined carefully and honestly to discover its influence

uponhuman behavior and the natural environment - to determine what role, if any, it plays in

the welfare and survival of mankind and what insight it offers into human relationships with

other species and with the world around us. (Glotfelty, Fromm, 1996).

Lawrence Buell converses about two waves of ecocriticism. He claims that for first-

wave ecocriticism, ―environment‖ effectively meant ―natural environment―, he supplies first-

wave projects tended to reconnect humans with the natural world. Buell quotes Howarth´s

thought: „The paradigmatic first-wave ecocritic appraised ―the effects of culture upon nature,

with a view toward celebrating nature, berating its despoilers, and reversing their harm

through political action‖. Buell cites the idea of Michael Elder: ―In the process, the ecocritic

might seek to redefine the concept of culture itself in organicist terms with a view to

9
envisioning a ―philosophy of organism‖ that would break down ―the hierarchical separations

between human beings and other elements of the natural world‖.

According to Buell second-wave of ecocriticism has tended to question organicist

models of conceiving both environment and environmentalism. He cites Bennet who believes

that ―literature-and-environment studies must develop a ―social ecocriticism‖ that takes urban

and degraded landscapes just as seriously as ―natural landscapes‖. Buell states ecocriticism is

increasingly worldwide and from the bottom to top within academia, from graduate studies in

major university literature to courses in entry level composition, and it is wide open to

alliances with environmental writers, environmental activists, and extra-academic

environmental educators. (Buell, 2005).

According to Glotfelty ecocritics and theorists ask questions such as: „How is nature

represented in this sonnet? What role does the physical setting play in the plot of this novel?

How has the concept of wilderness changed over time? How is science itself open to literary

analysis? What cross-fertilization is possible between literary studies and environmental

discourse in related disciplines such as history, philosophy, psychology, art history, and

ethics? ―5 Their aim lies in answering these questions. (Glotfelty, Fromm, 1996).

Many ecocritics prioritize to study texts fulfilling four criteria according to Lawrence

Buell, the professor of Harvard University. These criteria are found in the Buell´s early

ecocritical text The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation

of American Culture (1995):

1. The nonhuman environment is present not merely as a framing device but as a presence

that begins to suggest that human history is implicated in natural history.

2. The human interest is not understood to be the only legitimate interest.

10
3. Human accountability to the environment is part of the text‘s ethical orientation.

4. Some sense of the environment as a process rather than as a constant or a given is at least

implicit in the text. (Buell 1995: 7–8).

Most ecocritical work shares a common motivation: the troubling awareness that we

have reached the age of environmental limits, a time when the consequences of human

actions are damaging the planet's basic life support systems. (Garrard, 2004) We face the age

of environmental crisis. „Each approach understands environmental crisis in its own way,

emphasizing aspects that are ether amenable to solution in terms that it supplies or

threatening to values it holds most dear, thus suggesting a range of political possibilities.

Each one, moreover, might provide the basis for a distinct ecocritical approach with specific

literary or cultural affinities and aversions.

Ecocriticism is found in a stage of development. Ecocritics use multiple

methodologies and they are interconnected with subject matter rather than theoretical

approaches. Scott Slovic, a former chairman of ASLE, claims ecocriticism has no central,

dominant doctrine or theoretical apparatus, it is being re-defined daily by the actual practise

of thousands of literary scholars around the world. (Coupe, 2000) According to Timothy

Clark a broad archive is building up, tracing different conceptions of nature and their effects

throughout the history and cultures of the world. (Clark, 2011).

1.1.6 Rules of Ecocriticism

Eco and critic are both derived from Greek, oikos and kritis, and in tandem they mean

"house judge." William Howarth suggested the meaning as following: it is "a person who

judges the merits and faults of writings that depict the effects of culture upon nature, with a

view toward celebrating nature, berating its despoilers, and reversing their harm through

11
political action."8 According to Howarth all writers and their critics are stuck with language,

and although we cast nature and culture as opposites, in fact they constantly mingle, like

water and soil in a flowing stream. (Glotfelty, Fromm, 1996).

Ecocritics distinguish four disciplines that are essential for ecocriticism: ecology,

ethics, language and criticism. These disciplines are used to explore environmental literature

with various theories and methods. „As an interdisciplinary science, ecology describes the

relations between nature and culture. The applied philosophy of ethics offers ways to mediate

historic social conflicts. Language theory examines how words represent human and

nonhuman life. Criticism judges the quality and integrity of works and promotes their

dissemination. Each discipline stresses the relations of nature and literature as shifting,

moving shapes.

Howarth states we know nature through images and words, a process that makes the

question of truth in science or literature inescapable, and whether we find validity through

data or metaphor, the two modes of analysis are parallel. (Glotfelty, Fromm, 1996)

„Ecocriticism, instead of taxing science for its use of language to represent (mimesis),

examines its ability to point (deixis). More developed in Asian than European languages

(Liu), deixis locates entities in space, time, and social context. Through deixis, meaning

develops from what is said or signed relative to physical space: I-you, here-there, this-that.

Common as air or water, deixis expresses relative direction and orientation, the cognitive

basis for description (Jarvella).

Howarth claims that ecocriticism is evolving loosely because its authors share no

sense of canon and they often use similar rubrics, such as Landscape, Place, Region, Urban,

Rural, Nature, and Environment, but since disciplinary biases remain strong, these studies

rarely cross-fertilize. (Glotfelty, Fromm, 1996).

12
1.1.7 Ecocriticism vs Nature

Timothy Clark suggests nature writing is a term which describes a kind of creative

non – fiction associated with natural landscapes and wildlife. This term was substituted by

the environment. There is no nature as such left on the planet but there are various

´environments´, some more pristine than others. Clark supplies nature has long been a crucial

and perhaps definitive term of western traditions of thought, perhaps the ‗most complex word

in the (English) language‘. According to his thought ecocriticism usually reads literary and

environmental texts with these competing cultural conceptions of nature to the fore. Clark

claims a definitive feature of the most challenging work is that it does not take the human

cultural sphere as its sole point of reference and context. (Clark, 2011) „Today,

"environment" has come to mean man's surroundings - flora, fauna, and physical habitat with

particular emphasis on how man has damaged that environment and how he must now set

about putting it right.

1.2 Research Problem

The researcher will examine the reasons on behalf of which Rudyard Kipling used the

metaphor ―garden‖ for England and the response of nature when it is being disturbed in his

selected poems.

1.3 Research Objective

(1) To explore the different reasons on behalf of which Rudyard Kipling used the

metaphor ―Garden‖ for England.

(2) To dig out the response of nature when it is being disturbed.

13
1.4 Research Questions

(1) What are the reasons on behalf of which Rudyard Kipling used the metaphor

―garden‖ for England?

(2) What is the response of nature when it is being disturbed?

1.4 Significance of Research

The aim of the eco-critic is to examine the relevance of the non-human to the human and

vice-versa in the text. Eco-criticism is often concerned with regionalism, landscape,

wilderness and nature writing. The main objective of eco-criticism is to understand human

being, through literature, as an indivisible part of the environment and his capability to adjust

or alter this relationship.

The relationship of people with nature is usually expressed in different ways, and

certainly literature is one of them. Nature as one of the indispensable elements of

writing has drawn the attention of many writers specifically the poets. In this study, the

researcher has shown the role of nature in the making of a man.

1.6 Limitations of Study

There are different aspects of Rudyard Kiplings selected poems to be described and

analyzed. The researcher here will only analyze the eco critical aspect of the selected poems.

1.7 Organization of Thesis

The researcher has organized the thesis into six chapters. The first chapter named

―Introduction‖. Chapter two is Literature Review Which includes all the reviewed literatures.

The third chapter is Research Methodology which includes the methodology, framework,

14
analytical techniques etc. The fourth chapter includes the analysis of the data. Chapter five

covers conclusion while chapter six includes references.

15
 Chapter Two

Literature Review

2.1 Literature Analysis

Ecocriticism has been defined as ―the study of literature and the physical

environment‖ (Glotfelty xix). While the roots of ecocriticism are found in socio-political

theory, theorists and critics alike use its approach of close literary analysis to examine a

social, political, psychological, philosophical, and ultimately human need for interaction with

the environment.

From its inception, ecocriticism has evolved with several different theoretical focuses.

In his 2005 introduction to the area of study, Ecocriticism, Greg Gerrard follows the

historical trends in the movement through the changing attentions of the pastoral, from a

structured working relationship between humans and the land, to the more recent focus on the

wilderness. While ecocriticism encompasses many disciplines and traverses many aspects of

research, ecocritics ―generally tie their cultural analyses explicitly to a ‗green‘ moral and

political agenda‖ (Gerrard 3). The principles of ecocriticism, naturally, are often instilled in

areas of political discourse, environmental justice, ecofeminism, and social ecology and

geography.

In the literary world, ecocriticism, as a discipline, first established resonance in the

Romantic period with the sonnets of Wordsworth and Shelley, who ―established a particular

myth of man in nature … see[ing] in Nature the revelation of divine nature as well as the

subject of the most primitive and pure of arts‖ (Lundin 214). As Anne Lundin notes in her

essay ―In a Different Place: Feminist Aesthetics and the Picture Book,‖ the tradition of

―romanticism is based on freedom to explore, to move beyond the community, to encounter

16
Nature in its rough-and-ready form, to commune with this Nature for personal revelation‖

(214). The Romantics celebrated the rawness of nature while simultaneously upholding the

belief that nature represented a pure and tangible ideal. Not only did the Romantics bring

attention to the role of nature in the lives of men and women, but they also established

literary and social traditions that continued to appear in children‘s literature throughout the

Victorian period and beyond.

The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE), an

American professional organization that organizes lectures, conferences, and discussions in

the area of literature and the environment, notes that its earliest interest was primarily in

Romantic poetry, within the British tradition, among other initial areas of ecocriticism

including the wilderness narrative. While there were of course traditions of nature writing

prior to the Romantic period, researchers from the literary world and specifically the ASLE

note this era as the first to be studied through a specifically ecocritical lens (Gerrard 4).

In William Cronon‘s ―Introduction: In Search of Nature,‖ the opening to the

anthology Uncommon Ground (1995), he notes a facet of the idealistic view of nature similar

to that within the Romantic tradition. As Cronon discusses the almost religious status that

nature has come to hold within the Western world, he states that ―[n]ature as Eden

encourages us to celebrate a particular landscape as the ultimate garden of the world‖ (37).

While Cronon traces the celebrated and idealized physical landscapes through time, he points

to a larger issue within his exploration, that of nature holding onto the same innocence,

purity, and truth as Eden.

While Gerrard quotes Glotfelty‘s own simple definition of ecocriticism, he also offers

his own, very broad one in which ecocriticism becomes defined as ―the study of the

relationship of the human and the non-human, throughout human cultural history and

17
entailing critical analysis of the term ‗human‘ itself‖ (5). Without approaching theories of

space, Gerrard seems to indicate that the most fascinating and crucial aspect of ecocriticism is

not necessarily the differences it exposes between the natural world and humans, but instead

the negotiation itself. This concept of a conversation between the individual and the natural,

undefined world echoes many discussions within the field of ecocriticism.

Perhaps the most intriguing, unique, and inherently problematic aspect of ecocriticism

as a discipline is its inescapable tie to the science of ecology. From the publication of Rachel

Carson‘s socially and politically charged 1962 book Silent Spring, the tradition of

ecocriticism draws not only on the textual presence of nature in literature, but also heavily

upon the environmental implications of our changing social and political policies. As Gerrard

navigates his way through Silent Spring primarily as a literary critic, he notes the importance

of rhetoric in the distinction between ecological problems and problems in ecology.

Specifically he asserts that ―ecological problems‖ are socially constructed, and therefore exist

in the spheres of literary and cultural studies and that ―problems in ecology‖ necessarily

imply a scientific examination (5).

While Gerrard does not approach the relationship between children and nature, the

trends he notices within the rise of ecofeminism mirror the beliefs and associations later

analyzed by various other critics. While ecofeminism is necessarily tied to the feminine,

Gerrard notes that it was not something inherently within nature that propelled this area of

study, but instead two historically upheld dualities, that of nature and man and of man and

woman:

Ecofeminism involves the recognition that these two arguments share a common

‗logic of domination‘ (Warren 1994: 129) or underlying ‗master model‘, that ‗women have

been associated with nature, the material, the emotional, and the particular, while men have

18
been associated with culture, the nonmaterial, the rational, and the abstract‘ (Davion 1994: 9),

and that this should suggest common cause between feminists and ecologists. (23)

While Gerrard delves deeply to examine the underlying dichotomies in place in

ecofeminism, Richard Kerridge sees this discipline as much simpler in his Introduction to the

1998 anthology, Writing the Environment: Ecocriticism and Literature: ―there is an important

body of thought in feminism which argues that the beliefs and institutions which oppress

women are largely those which cause environmental damage, and that feminism and ecology

can make common cause under the heading ‗ecofeminism‘‖ (6).

While Kerridge addresses the same dichotomies Gerrard focuses upon, he also makes

gestures towards the socio-economic effects of ecofeminism: ―Women, worldwide, are likely

to have more experience of the effects of ecological damage, because of their relative poverty

and because of the special vulnerability of children‖ (7). While Kerridge attempts to bridge

the gap between the tangible and the theory, Gerrard works specifically in the theoretical

realm of ecofeminism, carefully navigating himself through this hotly debated territory. Not

only have there been modern threads of radical ecofeminism celebrating the seemingly innate

bond between women and nature through goddess worship, but also there is a large amount of

discourse responding to this extreme interpretation within the tradition of feminism: that is,

combating the historical tendency to view gender as innate, natural, or inescapable instead of

as a construction of society. Gerrard notes that ―radical ecofeminism clearly functions as an

inspiration to many to change their lives, but as a critical philosophy its irrationalism and

essentialism are serious limitations‖ (27). While ecofeminism as a discipline often reads the

woman into nature, many ecofeminists are not only fighting against this tradition, but are also

working to devalue the socially constructed dualities of human and nature, man and woman,

and reason and emotion.

19
 As the Romantic period embodied a significant period in shaping the modern,

Western view of the role of nature, it simultaneously furthered the field of ecocriticism by

intensifying the pastoral:

Since the Romantic movement‘s poetic responses to the Industrial Revolution,

pastoral has decisively shaped our constructions of nature … No other trope is so deeply

entrenched in Western culture, or so deeply problematic for environmentalism. With its roots

in the classical period, pastoral has shown itself to be infinitely malleable for differing

political ends, and potentially harmful in its tensions and evasions. (Gerrard 33)

Gerrard notices the differences between the classic pastoral, the British pastoral, and

the American pastoral. While the classical and British pastoral have their roots in a rigid

social order, the American pastoral ―continues to supply the underlying narrative structure in

which the protagonist leaves civilisation for an encounter with non-human nature, then

returns having experienced epiphany and renewal‖ (49). The American pastoral was at once

able to maintain the wonder and escapism of the wilderness while simultaneously building

roots in the agrarian tradition as America‘s farmlands expanded. As David L. Russell also

notes, the pastoral was ―characterized by a search for simplicity and flight from complexity‖

(121). Gerrard notes that the American pastoral was perhaps more powerful than the classic

or British; the entire nation provided the aesthetics of the pastoral tradition of new

beginnings, restoration, and freedom.

In his essay ―The Pastoral Influence on American Children‘s Literature,‖ Russell

defines the pastoral as the literary form of humanity‘s ―innate distrust of progress, as well as

a nostalgic longing for an imagined idyllic world of the past‖ (121). While the pastoral

represents an accessible middle ground between the wilderness and the rapidly growing,

ordered agrarian culture, it also provides a means of escape from the increasing demands of

20
the growing urban environment, for adults and children alike. However, Russell suggests that

the child does not approach the pastoral from a nostalgic place, as the new inhabitants to

America viewed Britain as a comforting familiar. Instead, children simply view this natural

entity as a place of respite or escape: [In] the rural images, the seductive feeling of comfort

and security, and the exuberant sense of freedom, young readers may see in the pastoral

landscape a respite from the ceaseless pace of the adult world. (123).

This fleeing to nature does not necessarily suggest that there is inherent truth within

this place; however, it does suggest that nature can provide respite from trauma. Gerrard

notes that there was also a significant gender-based understanding in the American pastoral

period, specifically in terms of the relationship between the pioneers and their frontier. He

credits Annette Kolodny‘s The Lay of the Land (1975) with first exploring the gendered

implications of the pastoral. She writes that the move back to the pastoral for Americans was

a ―regression from the cares of adult life and a return to the primal warmth of womb or breast

in a feminine landscape‖ (6). The return to the land after escaping the pastoral tradition of the

Old World signifies more than a reconnection with the land itself; it is also a retreat back to a

place of comfort and safety, i.e. the womb. Here, Gerrard notices the gendered coupling

between the pastoral and the feminine, but he and Kolodny also point to another idea, that of

nature becoming tied with safety, retreat, and sanctuary. While Gerrard does not immediately

trace this idea of nature as sanctuary to children‘s culture or literature, he certainly opens the

door for these further interpretations.

Gerrard continues to examine many other areas of discussion that equally present themselves

in the world of ecocriticism—areas such as the wilderness, nature as a site of apocalypse, the

importance of place as mediation between nature and the immediate, and the role of animals

in our understanding not only of our interactions with the wild, but also our own inward

examination of the social orders in place, as mentioned earlier in this chapter.

21
 While ecocriticism has long been applied to and studied in adult literature, it has a

very short history in the world of children‘s literature. In Karen Lensnik-Oberstein‘s essay

―Children‘s Literature and the Environment,‖ published in Writing the Environment:

Ecocriticism and Literature (1998), she argues that the tie between children and the

environment emerged primarily due to John Locke‘s belief in the existence of a ―true nature‖

in a child. Through this simple observation, Locke implies that nature is at once definable and

real while it also mirrors the pure and simple nature of a child. It is this pairing of children

and nature that allows adults and parents and also writers for children to create a connection

between the presence of nature and a child‘s own understanding (Lensnik-Oberstein 210-

217). While this bond seems static and unchangeable, it also seems inherently inconceivable

and inaccessible to adults. Paradoxically, adults are both the producers and the mediators of

children‘s texts that perpetuate the presence of nature motifs.

Ecocriticism as a discipline attempts to define or understand the signs in nature. This

definition comes out of the belief that ―nature makes direct statements,‖ echoing Locke‘s own

philosophies as mentioned previously (Glotfelty 71). In this view, nature becomes the

ultimate teacher and readers become interpreters of these hidden, albeit natural, laws. From

this angle, the literature that features nature seems to transcend the intended purpose of the

author or illustrator, existing beyond the individual text. Glotfelty‘s implication about the

ability of nature to speak clearly exemplifies the written work at hand, suggesting that the

role of nature surpasses the confines of any one book.

22
 Chapter Three

Research Methodology

3.1 Research Nature

This is qualitative research study and involves the close textual reading and analysis

of Rudyard Kipling‘s selected poems. The researcher has analyzed the the response of nature

when it is being disturbed and reasons behind the use of metaphor ―Garden‖ for England in

the light of Ecocriticism. This research is designed on the concept of Ecocriticism which

provides the lenses for the critical discourse analysis of the text, which is carried out by the

discussion and analysis of the Ecocritical features which leads to the core issue of

environment.

3.2 Theoretical Framework

William Rueckert is considered to be the first one to make use of the term eco-

criticism in 1978 in his essay entitled as Literature and Ecology: An experiment in eco-

criticism aiming to the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of

literature. The uniqueness of Rueckert‘s eco-criticism lies in emplacement of the patterns

surrounding literature to the ecological web.

The theoretical framework of the present research is based on Cheryll Glotfelty‘s

1996 model. Cheryll Glotfelty‘s The Ecocriticism Reader (1996) where he defines eco

criticism as the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment.

3.3 Sources of Data

The secondary data for discussion is selected from the collection of poems written

byKiplings. Further data is collected for the reviewed literature by reading and analyzing

23
relevant literature, articles and understandings of the concept of Ecocriticism which would be

helpful in carrying out this research.

3.4 Analytical Technique

The researcher has used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the Ecocritical

approach in R. Kiplin‘s selected poems. This (CDA) has focused on the ecocritical elements

with special reference to the theory of Ecocriticism. Moreover, Ecocriticism theory has

served as supportive theoretical background for the discussion of R. Kipling‘s selected

poems.

24
 Chapter Four

Data Analysis

Ecocriticism as a discipline attempts to define or understand the signs in nature. This

definition comes out of the belief that ―nature makes direct statements,‖ echoing Locke‘s own

philosophies as mentioned previously (Glotfelty 71). In this view, nature becomes the

ultimate teacher and readers become interpreters of these hidden, albeit natural, laws. From

this angle, the literature that features nature seems to transcend the intended purpose of the

author or illustrator, existing beyond the individual text. Glotfelty‘s implication about the

ability of nature to speak clearly exemplifies the written work at hand, suggesting that the

role of nature surpasses the confines of any one book.

As Sidney Dobrin and Kenneth K. Kidd argue in the introduction to their volume of

essays gathered from a variety of writers, Wild Things: Children‘s Culture and Ecocriticism

(2004), many modern, urbanized children are deprived of and prevented from experiencing

the natural world around them. They suggest that a complete lack of nature-based stories,

experiences, and education could lead these nature-deprived children to take drastic measures

in order to fulfill their need to experience nature firsthand, citing the phenomenon of the draw

of the wilderness, especially for young males. Dobrin and Kidd reference John Krakauer‘s

Into the Wild, the tragic story of a young man who abandoned all his worldly possessions and

cut off communication to the outside world in hopes of living off the land in wild Alaska only

to be found dead months later, to showcase the almost undeniable youthful need for

interaction with nature. While their examples use worst-case scenarios, Dobrin and Kidd are

merely attempting to unearth the ferocity with which some crave interaction with nature.

25
4.1 The Glory of the Garden

The Glory of the Garden‘ by Rudyard Kipling describes England through

the extended metaphor of a well-loved, well-cared for garden.

The poem begins with the speaker describing England as a garden with ―stately

views‖. It has beautiful shrubs and peacocks, but there are also tool sheds and more practical

structures. In amongst these sites a visitor will see the gardeners, every one of which has a

different job that is suited perfectly for them. Some might tend to the growing plants while

others move soil and sand. They are also pleasant, quiet, and ready to do as they are asks.

These are the hardworking citizens of the country, doing what they can to contribute

to the greater good of their homeland. Kipling‘s speaker also makes sure to emphasize the

fact that everyone has a job and is therefore occupied by the garden. There is no one who is

sits around and relaxes, everyone contributes.

The last stanzas are directed at the reader or listener, telling them that they too need to

make sure that they‘re doing everything they can for the country. It might be hard work at

first, but eventually one‘s hands will grow strong and their backs, painless. They too will be

brought into the glory of the garden, and therefore the glory of God.

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,

Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,

With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;

But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.

In the first stanza of this poem the speaker begins by referring very simply to England

as a garden. It is ―full of stately views,‖ meaning that from a number of different places a

visitor or resident can see wonderful and beautiful things. Kipling uses simple language to

26
describes the features of these views. There are ―statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting

by‖. The peacock in the garden is a very obvious symbol of wealth that also connects this

piece to gardening as a pleasure afforded to those in the high society.

After giving the reader a few details about what one can physically see in the garden,

he takes it further. There is more to the garden than ―meets the eye‖.

For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,

You'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all

The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dung-pits and the tanks,

The rollers, carts, and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.

In the second stanza he adds that behind all the beautiful vine covered walls and

around the corners, a visitor can find the ―tool- and potting-sheds‖. These serve as the

garden‘s heart as it is from there that life is organized.

He goes on, describing how there are other structures one can see too. Such as ―cold-

frames and the hot-houses‖. There are less attractive sights too, the ―dung-pits and the tanks‖.

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys

Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise ;

For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,

The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.

The third stanza, for the first time, introduces humans into the mix. There are the

―gardeners,‖ those that tend to, and make sure the garden remains, glorious. A reader

shouldn‘t forget that this entire poem is an extended metaphor that speaks on England as a

place of wonder in which beautiful things are tended to and grow. Therefore, the gardeners

represent all the working people of the city, each with a different task.

27
 They ―do as they are bid and do it without noise‖. This suggests that everyone in

England does their part happily, without complaint. He only time anyone makes any noise is

when they have to shout to scare off the birds. When they‘re called upon to protect their

flowers and crops they do so without hesitation.

Also at the end of this stanza it becomes clear that Kipling is going to make use of a

refrain this is one of seven times he repeats the phrase ―Glory of the Garden‖.

And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,

And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows ;

But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,

For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.

The fourth stanza begins with an example of anaphora as the speaker lists out more of

what can be found in the garden. There are gardeners, some of whom can ―pot begonias‖, and

others ―can bud a rose‖. He is emphasizes the different skill sets of the gardeners who tend

England‘s garden, making sure that is is clear that some are good at helping things grow,

while others are not. They are ―hardly fit to trust with anything that grows‖.

It is important to note that not everything is perfect in the garden. It is not a perfect

Eden nor are those who tend the plants are not without fault. But, that doesn‘t mean they

can‘t contribute to the space. Those who can‘t grow can take care of the lawns and handle the

harder, more foundational materials such as ―sand and loam‖.

28
 Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made

By singing, "Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade

While better men than we go out and start their working lives

At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.

The phrase ―Our England is a garden‖ comes back into the poem at this point. Kipling

is reminding the reader of how all these places, gardeners and their creations are rooted in a

real country, and are there to represent real people working towards the common good. The

work they do, he states, is not simple. Their country was not made by singing and ―sitting in

the shade‖. There is not a contingent of men in England that sits and relaxes while others go

out and do the work, or at least there shouldn‘t be.

There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,

There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick

But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,

For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Picking up where he left off in the fifth stanza, in stanza six the speaker reemphasizes

that everyone works. There is no one in England who is jobless, or is unable to contribute to

the greater good of the country. Even those who are ―weak and white‖ or sick ―can find some

needful‖ or much needed ―job that‘s crying to be done‖. Through this work, they are

glorified.

29
 Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,

If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;

And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,

You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.

In the seventh stanza the speaker turns towards the listener and tells them that it is

their purpose to ―seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders‖. He believes

that after a long period of hard work, the pain in your hands and back will stop and ―you‖ will

become unified with ―the Glory of the Garden‖. The listener, just like everyone else in

England, has a role to play.

Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees

That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,

So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray

For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!

And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!

Kipling makes religious connotations present throughout the poem, but they are more

obvious in the last stanza. He uses ―Adam‖ as ―a gardener‖ as an example. God made him,

the speaker says, in order to glorify his world and work to improve it. This same god knows

that most of a real gardener‘s work is done upon their knees.

It is only after the work is done that one can get up, wash their hands and pray that

everything they‘ve done does not go to waste. The glory of the garden, hopefully will last

forever. The last line is repeated twice, like a prayer.

30
4.2 The Way through the Woods

The Way through the Woods‘ by Rudyard Kipling is a two stanza poem made up of

one stanza of twelve lines and another of thirteen. Kipling has chosen not to structure this

piece with one particular rhyme scheme. Instead, there are instances of rhyme scattered

throughout the lines.

This can be see though the repetition of the end word ―woods.‖ It appears at the end

of seven of the twenty-five lines. There are also moments such as that between lines two and

four where the words ―ago‖ and ―know‖ rhyme. The same occurs between ―trees‖ and

―anemones‖ in lines six and eight.

When reading this piece it is easy to sense a conflict in the speaker. On one level he is

mourning the loss of the path. With its disappearance one no longer has access to the

beautiful moments and creatures that exist within the forest. On the other hand, the closure

has caused a resurgence in the surrounding life.

Trees have been replanted and animals have returned. They no longer remember or

fear the ―men‖ that used to travel the path. The speaker appreciates this fact, but the text still

speaks to a yearning to see the woods first hand.

THEY shut the road through the woods

Seventy years ago.

Weather and rain have undone it again,

And now you would never know

There was once a road through the woods

Before they planted the trees.

It is underneath the coppice and heath,

31
 And the thin anemones.

Only the keeper sees

That, where the ring-dove broods,

And the badgers roll at ease,

There was once a road through the woods.

The poem begins with the speaker stating that one particular road was ―shut…Seventy

years ago.‖ This first line is spoken as if the reader already has prior knowledge of the road.

Although seventy years have passed since anyone was able to traverse this path the speaker

remembers it well.

Since the time the road was closed the ―Weather and rain‖ have ‖undone it.‖ Due to

the fact that it wasn‘t maintained, the elements have almost erased it entirely. If one was to

come upon this place now, unaware of the history, they would not know that there was ―once

a road through the woods.‖ Nature has taken back the area that humans had claimed.

Trees have been planted and grown up around the path, helping to obscure what was

left of the path. Now, if one was searching for it, they would have to go ―underneath the

coppice and heath.‖ Here, the speaker is referencing a wooded area that is annually cut back

to stimulate growth and ―heath,‖ or opposite. This is an area of uncultivated land. It can also

refer to a type of common shrub that grows wild. One would also be forced to go around the

―anemones.‖ This word is wide-ranging and refers to an expansive genus of flowers.

There is a contrast here between the way that humans have worked the land,

abandoned it, and then worked it again, and the way nature is trying to take it back. In the

next lines the speaker refers to the ―keeper.‖ This person is likely the one in charge of

monitory the area. The speaker refers to the ―keeper‖ vaguely. There is no real definition to

32
what their job is but one can assume they have access to all the wildlife that has since come

back to the area.

Yet, if you enter the woods

Of a summer evening late,

When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools

Where the otter whistles his mate,

(They fear not men in the woods,

Because they see so few.)

You will hear the beat of a horse's feet,

And the swish of a skirt in the dew,

Steadily cantering through

The misty solitudes,

As though they perfectly knew

The old lost road through the woods.

But there is no road through the woods.

In the next stanza the speaker discusses what happens if one ―enter[s] the woods‖ on a

―summer evening late.‖ One could slip into this area that is seemingly off-limits while no one

is watching. The air would be cooling off for the day and the animals would be as relaxed as

possible. One might even be able to hear the ―otter whistle…[to] his mate.‖

The animals have no reason to fear ―men‖ as there are so ―few‖ passing through the

area now. If the road still existed, this would not be the case. If one entered into the woods at

this time there might even be a detectable sound of a ―horse‘s feet‖ beating on the ground.

They move without hesitation and without need for a path.

33
 In the final lines the speaker increases the mystical and mysterious elements of this

piece by describing how the horses seem to know ―perfectly…The old lost road through the

woods.‖ He concludes with the line, ―But there is no road through the woods.‖ It has

vanished so completely, he could not prove to another it ever existed.

34
 Chapter five

Conclusion

Ecocriticism constitutes a relatively new literary approach that is applied by ecocritics

to explore and evaluate various literary texts. However, the theoretical approaches have not

been fixed yet thus ecocritics only possess the same subject matter that can be represented by

the relationship between human and natural world.

Ecocritics prioritize to study texts that deal with nature writing. Regarding a rich

history of American literature there are many authors who focused on nature writing,

however, in my opinion T. S. Eliot represents the most important figure among American

authors owing to his intense and lifelong relationship to nature that he depicted in his literary

work.

There are different aspects of Kipling‘s poems to be analyzed but according to my

point of view the analysis of these selected poems from an ecocritical perspective is most

vital. His poetry is full of ecocritical elements. He has greatly portrayed nature in his poems.

Rudyard Kipling describes the changes that have come over one particular plot of

forest. In one of his poems the speaker stating that there used to be a road in the woods here.

It was seventy years ago that ―they‖ got rid of it, Since that time there have been new trees

planet and exponential growth from the plants that still lived there. The entire area has been

reclaimed by nature.

The description of nature by Kipling in his poems shows his love for nature. In the

second poem he describes the revenge of nature against the cruel treatment of humans.

35
Humans cut pine and other tree for making roads on their way and other purposes while in

response nature destroy that very road and once again snatched its place.

His description of nature and its response shows that he has a great love for nature. He

is nature lover. He wants nature to keep calm. He does not want any disturbance in nature. He

states that any disturbance in nature may lead to any disastrous situation.

He also describes England as a garden with ―stately views‖. It has beautiful shrubs

and peacocks, but there are also tool sheds and more practical structures. In amongst these

sites a visitor will see the gardeners, everyone of which has a different job that is suited

perfectly for them. Some might tend to the growing plants while others move soil and sand.

They are also pleasant, quiet, and ready to do as they are asks.

These are the hardworking citizens of the country, doing what they can to contribute

to the greater good of their homeland. Kipling‘s speaker also makes sure to emphasize the

fact that everyone has a job and is therefore occupied by the garden. There is no one who is

sits around and relaxes, everyone contributes.

The last stanzas are directed at the reader or listener, telling them that they too need to

make sure that they‘re doing everything they can for the country. It might be hard work at

first, but eventually one‘s hands will grow strong and their backs, painless. They too will be

brought into the glory of the garden, and therefore the glory of God.

36
 Chapter Six

References

Brown, Laurie Krasny. When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death. Illus.

Marc Brown. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1996. Print.

Bruchac, Joseph. Fox Song. Illus. Paul Morin. Oxford: Oxford, 1993. Print.

Bunting, Eve. On Call Back Mountain. Illus. Barry Moser. New York: Blue Sky Press,

1997. Print.

Carrick, Carol. The Accident. Illus. Donald Carrick. New York: Seabury Press, 1976.

Print.

Carson, Jo. You Hold Me and I‘ll Hold You. Illus. Annie Cannon. New York: Orchard

Books, 1992. Print.

Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Paintings by Ronald Himler.

New York: G.P. Putnam‘s Sons, 1977. Print.

Cohen, Miriam. Jim‘s Dog Muffins. Illus. Lillian Hoban. New York: Greenwillow Books,

1984. Print.

Cohn, Janice. I Had a Friend Named Peter: Talking to Children About the Death of a

Friend. Illus. Gail Owens. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1987. Print.

Ducey, Gina. Just the Three of Us. NL, Canada: Boulder Publications, 2008. Print.

37
Graeber, Charlotte. Mustard. Illus. Donna Diamond. New York: Macmillan, 1982. Print.

Harris, Robie H. Goodbye Mousie. Illus. Jan Ormerod. New York: Margaret K.

McElderry Books, 2001. Print.

Hazen, Barbara Shook. Why Did Grandpa Die? A Book About Death. Illus. Pat Schories.

New York: Golden Books, 1985. Print.

Mellonie, Bryan. Lifetimes: A Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children. Illus. Robert

Ingpen.1996.Print

Miles, Miska. Annie and the Old One. Illus. Peter Parnell. Boston: Atlantic Monthly

Press, 1971. Print.

Rogers, Fred. When a Pet Dies. Photos by Jim Judkis. New York: G.P. Putnam‘s Sons,

1988. Print.

Schotter, Roni. In the Piney Woods. Illus. Kimberly Bulcken Root. New York: Farrar,

Straus, and Giroux, 2003. Print.

Simon, Norma. The Saddest Time. Illus. Jacqueline Rogers. Niles, IL: Albert Whitman

And,Company,1986.Print

38
39