IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 International Journal of Humanity Studies http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/IJHS Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 150 ARBOREAL POETICS IN HOWARD NEMEROV’S “THE THOUGHT OF TREES” AND LUIS H. FRANCIA’S “LESSONS OF A TREE” Henrikus Joko Yulianto State University of Semarang henriungaran@gmail.com DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/ijhs.2020.030202 received 21 November 2019; accepted 11 February 2020 Abstract This paper discusses arboreal poetics in two contemporary poems “The Thought of Trees” by Howard Nemerov, an American poet and “Lessons of a Tree” by Luis H. Francia, a Filipino one. The objectives of this research are first to identify how Nemerov and Francia’s vegetal poetics conveying ecological views; second, how their vegetal poetics evokes one’s ecological awareness to conserve biodiversity and to consume material goods sufficiently. These behaviors help to reduce the exacerbation of the climate change phenomenon.This research used qualitative methods, in which the data were words and taken from the two poems and from several sources on trees, climate change, ecopoetry as a kind of criticism belonging to environmental humanities. The result shows that both poems anthropomorphize trees as indispensable interconnected and coexistent with any life forms and the physical environment. This further impacts on human’s growing ecological conscience not to objectify but to conserve vegetation in particular and other natural resources in general through his sufficient consumption of the material goods for one’s living necessities. Keyword: arboreal poetics, ecopoetry, environmental humanities, ecological conscience Introduction A biotic life is an ecological one. This consists of an interdependent relation among any life forms (Leopold, p. 171-189; Wilson, p. 11-17; Tudge, p. 374- 375). This ecological fact should make humans aware of the need for caring rather than objectifying non-human beings since they have a pivotal role in the ecosystem. In this millennium, anthropocentric culture tends to orientate toward extravagant use of material goods. One clear example is the use of plastic and fossil fuel-based products (Leonard, 2011). Plastic trash as non-biodegradable materials will not only endanger any life forms (Weiss, p. 43-46), but also produce carbon dioxide and other toxics to the atmosphere. The density of the toxics exacerbates the air quality as “local warming”and this synergizes with biodiversity depletion (Wilson, p. 11-17; Leonard, 2011). One objective of this research is to examine how two contemporary poems Howard Nemerov’s “The IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 151 Thought of Trees” and Luis H. Francia’s “Lessons of a Tree” convey an ecological vision of this biotic interconnectedness. Another objective is to decipher how the arboreal poetics of the two poems evoke one’s ecological conscience in the recent Anthropocentrism and material engrossment. The implication of this conscience is that humans would cherish any life forms and consume material goods sufficiently to prevent worsening environmental problems including the recent issue of climate change that is exacerbated by deforestation and overconsumption of goods (Gorte & Sheikh, 2010; Wilson, p. 105). In first-world countries, environmental concern has become a tradition. In the 1800s, the United States had transcendental writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who glorified Mother Nature in their writings (Coupe, p. 23-25; Buell, p. 97-120). In the UK in the same era, several Romantic poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge likewise expressed their esteem for Nature (Coupe, p. 16-22). In the 1920s, a science called ‘anthroposophy’ anthropomorphized Mother Nature as a living spirit (Steiner, 2008, p. 88-98). In the 1930s, an American environmentalist, Aldo Leopold promulgated the idea of biotic community and ecological conservation (Meine, p. 171-189). In this millennial era, this field is named environmental humanities, which aims to raise public’s awareness of environmental issues especially those related to the depletion of biodiversity and climate change (Kern, p. 258-281; Bennett, p. 296-317). I propose two problems in this research: (1) What ecological views do the poems convey through the arboreal poetics of trees as a persona?; (2) How do these arboreal poetics in the poems evoke individual ecological awareness to conserve biodiversity and to consume material goods sufficiently in order to reduce the phenomenon of global warming? In discussing these problems, analyses refer to several ecological concepts, Buddhist ecological notions, ecopoetry and environmental humanities in general. Research Method The source of data in this research is the two poems, Howard Nemerov’s “The Thought of Trees” and Luis H. Francia’s “Lessons of a Tree”. This research is a descriptive qualitative one by focusing on words (imageries) in the poems as the major data. Since this research especially deals with ecological views of the poems, the analysis, therefore, refers to ecological knowledge and views given by some ecologists and ecocritics. The discussion, for instance, contextualizes these poems with ecopoetry as one genre of environmental humanities or ecocriticism (Bryson, 2005; Bate in Siewers, p. 108; Felstiner, 2009; Glotfelty, p. xv-xxxvii; Rueckert, p. 105-123; Howarth, p. 69-91; Kern, p. 258-281; Slovic, p. 160-162; Hass, p. xli-lxv). The ecological principles in poetry especially employ the notion of biodiversity as the organic qualities of the terrestrial life (Hass, p. lx; Wilson, p. 19-27; 1988; Leopold, p. 171-189). Besides, the analysis also briefly investigates some books on global warming and climate change to get a more solid background about the related topic (Pittock, p. 2; Drake, p. 1-6; Gorte & Sheikh, 2010; Ehrlich & Ehrlich, p. 88-89). IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 152 Findings and Discussion In one chapter about Gary Snyder’s ecopoems, an ecocritic John Elder discusses Snyder’s poetics of place by calling it “rootedness in a chosen spot” and “principles of groundedness”. This landscape poetry embodies “the interchange of past and presents through that spot’s own cycle of renewing surrender and inheritance”. Then he argues that “a poem’s form” must conform to “its terrain”, while a poet must find “the rooted relation with nature” and “the larger world” (1985, p. 40). Then, in one of his chapters, Ian Davidson discusses poetics of place in space, in which most contemporary poems “links time and space through the horizontal plane, the reading surface of the poem, with its sequence of overlapping links”. For instance, the word ‘food’ becomes “a slice through the poem” that has a connection with other words “related to food” and “ideas related to food” (2007, p. 86). The two poems “The Thought of Trees” by Howard Nemerov and “Lessons of a Tree” by Luis H. Francia embody this “rootedness in a chosen spot” and a sense of place through the image ‘tree’ that serves as an analogy with human’s spiritual and social growth. Arboreal Poetics as Ecological Views in Howard Nemerov’s “The Thought of Trees” and Luis H. Francia’s “Lessons of a Tree” Nemerov’s poem is a prose poem, while Francia’s is a semi-lyric. In view of the stanzaic pattern, the first poem contains four stanzas in the form of a paragraph. In the first stanza, the poet analogizes trees with human world-- It is a common fancy that trees are somehow conscious and stand as the silent or whispering witnesses of the ways in which we bustle through the world. But it is a truth of poetical imagination that the trees are guardians and sponsoring godfathers of a great part of a thought. Not merely that various traditions have looked on trees as sacred figures of the cosmos, as the source of moral distinctions, as bearing all golden things, the apples, the bough, the fleece; but also that trees, more than we generally allow, have formed our view of the creation and nature of things, and, ambiguously responsible for these, the mind’s image of its own process. This we are told by metaphors: a family tree, the root of the matter, a trunkline, a branch of the subject, and so on. (Nemerov, p. 494-495) In this first part, the poet eulogizes trees not merely as discrete natural organisms but more especially as human animate comrades in which their organic and germinating qualities in their quiet growth are embodied within human’s mind – “But it is a truth of poetical imagination that the trees are guardians and sponsoring godfathers of a great part of thought”. Trees are not inanimate objects but a human medium of discerning any external phenomena in the natural world – “trees have formed our view of the creation and nature of things, and, ambiguously responsible for these, the mind’s image of its own process.” This IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 153 means that trees have ecological values not merely their merits to other living beings in the natural ecosystem, but also their analogy with human social aspects – “This we are told by metaphors: a family tree, the root of the matter, a trunkline, a branch of the subject, and so on.” The naming of parts of trees in the various aspects of human social life indicates the rudimentary values of trees as natural entities. In the second part, the poet further depicts trees qualities in the interconnection between their physical parts and human’s social and spiritual dimensions— Trees appear as the formative image behind much thought brought to the critical point of paradox— Where order in variety we see, And where, though all things differ, all agree, as Pope politely says of Windsor Forest. That trees, the largest of living things, are initially contained in tiny seeds, is already a spectacularly visible legend of the mysteries of generation and death. The tree, rooted in earth and flowering in heaven, intimates obscure and powerful reflexive propositions about the two realms; that root and top strangely mirror one another deepens and complicates the human analogy. The relation of single trunk and manifold branches forms the pattern for meditation on the one and the many, cause and effect, generality and particulars; while the movement in three stages, from many roots through one trunk to many branches, is supremely the image of historical process. The tree’s relation with its leaves translates the paradigm into temporal terms, speaking of individual, generation, race, of identity continuous in change, of mortal endurance threaded through mortal evanescence, of times and a time. (Nemerov, p. 495) In this second part, the poet further describes arboreal ecology, which refers to interdependent relation between one part and another – “That trees, the largest of living things, are initially contained in tiny seeds, is already a spectacularly visible legend of the mysteries of generation and death.” The fact that trees as living organisms with large sizes are actually derived from seeds as small objects with different forms exemplifies this trees’ ecological quality - the interconnection between one life form and another. The growing process of the trees itself also embodies ecological aspects, in which the seeds sprout collections of cells and further germinate into their various parts. The seeds sprout because of the roots, and the roots burst forth because of their interdependent upon soil, water, oxygen, and various nutrients in the soil (Turner, p. 46-48) – “The relation of single trunk and manifold branches forms the pattern for meditation on the one and the many, cause and effect, generality and particulars; while the movement in three stages, from many roots through one trunk to many branches, is supremely the image of historical process.” The words ‘image of historical process’ indicate long temporal periods in embodying ecological qualities - the interconnection between IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 154 the seeds and other elements including soil, nutrients, water, air, and sunlight. The last line similarly reveals another ecological aspect of the interconnection between trees and leaves, in which the latter can only spring up from the former. The leaves should also exist as parts of other parts of an entity called trees. People call this entity trees since they consist of their parts including roots, trunk, branches, and leaves. “The tree’s relation with its leaves translates the paradigm into temporal terms, speaking of individual, generation, race, of identity continuous in change, of mortal endurance threaded through mortal evanescence, of times and a time.” This line also poses an analogy between the qualities of trees and leaves and human life. This interconnection between trees and leaves tends to be temporary since the leaves will fall off under certain circumstances, for instance in autumn and winter time. The fallen leaves then are analogous with transient qualities of human material phenomena. Similar to leaves that turn colors from green to crimson, red, yellow and finally fall off in autumn, human’s worldly affairs also last momentarily. In the third part, the poet equates trees with human’s life; each part of the trees represents every aspect of human’s quality— Trees imagine life, and our imaginations follow as they may. The growth of a tree, its synchronous living and dying, from soft shoot to implacably hard (still growing) wood; the vast liquid transactions of capillarity within the solid form; the hard bark which nevertheless, as in the elm, reminds of water in its twisting flow; the enduring image of fluid life recorded in the rivery grain of boards (a mystical saying:---“Split the stick and there is Jesus”); the generalized simplicity composed of multitudinous complexity, generalized symmetry from the chaotic scrawl of upper branches; the simultaneity of freedom and order, richness and elegance, chance and destiny---these are some of the imaginings of the trees, which out of the earth and the air have dreamed so much of the human mind. (Nemerov, p. 495) In this part, the poet depicts this tree ecology by comparing the trees with other natural elements as the interconnection between the trees with the elements – “the hard bark which nevertheless, as in the elm, reminds of water in its twisting flow; the enduring image of fluid life recorded in the rivery grain of boards”. He also reveals this aspect through one’s recognition of the inherent values of the trees; the ways the human views identify several qualities in the trees that human mind should also embody – “(a mystical saying:---“Split the stick and there is Jesus”); the generalized symmetry from the chaotic scrawl of upper branches; the simultaneity of freedom and order, richness and elegance, chance and destiny--- these are some of the imaginings of the trees, which out of the earth and the air have dreamed so much of the human mind.” The image ‘Jesus’ in the trees suggests a metaphor for ‘sap’ as the essential substance of trees as ‘spirit’ of humans. Jesus, in this case, is the holy spirit that all Christian adherents believe in as their religious faith. This human’s discernment of the trees qualities and his ways of analogizing them with various qualities that humans should possess IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 155 indicate one’s “ecological thought” (Morton, 2010). Simply put, the “ecological thought” means “the thinking of interconnectedness. It is a thought about ecology; it is also a thinking that is ecological. This thought is a practice and a process of becoming fully aware of how humans are connected with other nonhuman beings” (Ibid., p. 7). The ways the poet views and equates the trees with human’s mind epitomize an ecological thought about coexistence between human and nonhuman beings. The poet’s view of the trees as humans signifies another ecological thought, which substantiates human concern about the interconnectedness rather than his merely respect for Mother Nature (Ibid., p. 8; 2007, 24). In the fourth part as the last stanza, the poet further portrays this trees’ ecological quality through their analogy with humans. Trees have no longer lived apart but personas which humans have modelled on— As architectural forms reflect their material origins, the first columns having been trees, so also with the mind. And so perhaps with its conclusions? “I shall be like that tree,” Swift said to Edward Young, “I shall die first at the top.” Since the eighteenth century, anyhow, when cathedrals began to remind people of forests and forests of cathedrals, it has come to seem sometimes that the mind acts in a drama staged with so high a regard for realism that the trees on the scene are carpentered at considerable cost out of real wood. Still, dryads and dendrones, the trees are within us, having their quiet irrefutable say about what we are and may become; how they are one of the shapes of our Protean nature, Melville in a single line expresses best— The hemlock shakes in the rafter, the oak in the driving keel ---and it is the founding tenet of poetical imagination that such images are inexhaustibly speaking, they call to compelling, strange analogies all thought that flowers in its fact. (Nemerov, p. 496) In this part, the poet exalts trees as having provided humans with intellectual nourishment. He imagines that human’s aspiring mind should emulate the germinating trees – “I shall be like that tree,” Swift said to Edward Young, “I shall die first at the top.” This notion also unveils one’s ecological thought since humans realize the importance of trees and the interconnected principles of the trees with other life forms. Yet, this part also envisions anthropogenic logging activities that have taken place since long time ago and might have wreaked havoc on the environment – “Since the eighteenth century, anyhow, when cathedrals began to remind people of forests and forests of cathedrals, it has come to seem sometimes that the mind acts in a drama staged with so high a regard for realism that the trees on the scene are carpentered at considerable cost out of real wood.” This exemplifies how history of human logging has lasted since the eighteenth IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 156 century (see Buell, p. 97-119; Pease, p. 148-171) and perpetuated to contemporary times through poems of Gary Snyder, A.R. Ammons (Elder, p. 185-206; Snyder, 1978). Yet, once again the poet emphasizes this reverence for trees as the living spirit and aesthetic source for humans in their coexistence with the trees and other nonhuman beings – “Still, dryads and dendrones, the trees are within us, having their quiet irrefutable say about what we are and may become; how they are one of the shapes of our Protean nature; it is the founding tenet of poetical imagination that such images are inexhaustibly speaking, they call to compelling, strange analogies all thought that flowers in its fact.” In Francia’s poem “Lessons of a Tree”, the poet begins by quoting Carlos Bulosan’s words that eulogize trees— …….I ascribed a mystical power to the tree, and in this urgent need to live, I worshipped it like a pagan. Then he begins his first stanza by a question to trees— How will I worship you, Tree? I will not count the ways. Rather, let my praise be water for your days, let my hymn and song be recompense for all the wrongs once perpetrated against you by a boy, who cut branches to fashion slingshots, who carved into your bark initials a young heart once thought forever dear. (Francia, 98) The poet expresses this ecological aspect through the interconnection between him and the tree that shows his esteem for the tree’s merits. This aspect also includes the tree’s interdependence on the water as a basic element for any living organisms to survive – “rather, let my praise be water for your days,” in which he uses a metaphor ‘praise’ for ‘water’. Then in the last lines, he depicts one boy’s deed toward the tree that symbolically suggests human’s disturbance to it for some purposes– “who cut branches to fashion slingshots, who carved into your bark initials a young heart once thought forever dear.” In the second stanza, the poet further describes an ecological facet of the tree’s interdependence on ‘earth’ or ‘soil’ and ‘wind’ or ‘air’ to sprout and grow big— How shall I repay you for your forbearance, of my helter-skelter clambering up your crown, for your shade, for the green that attracts the cooling wind, IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 157 hospitable even to those who would deny you your place on this Earth, this Earth to which you are not so much rooted as It is rooted to you. Unrooted it falls, crumbles, Is blown away. (Francia, p. 98) The words “your forbearance, of my helter-skelter clambering up your crown,” suggest the tree’s ‘reserved’ and ‘submissive’ qualities to human’s deeds over it. This implies an ecological disruption, an anthropocentric dominance over trees as co-existent organisms. The last line “this Earth to which you are not so much rooted as it is rooted to you” unveils the tree’s interdependence on the earth or soil to grow and survive (Tudge, p. 252-254). At the same time, the line metaphorically suggests one’s ecological thought as he compares human with the tree “that is not so much rooted to the earth” while “the earth is rooted to the tree”. This implies an ecological phenomenon how humans, in general, are not rooted in the earth or ‘Mother Nature’ that means ‘human’s indifference or even disturbance to’ the physical environment. Meanwhile, he points out that the Mother Nature nourishes humans both physically and spiritually. His depiction of the tree’s root asserts the root’s indispensability for any aspect of human’s life since the root is the foothold of any living existence. Unless there is a root, everything crumbles and falls apart. In the next three, four, and five stanzas, the poet delineates another ecological view of trees— Once upon a time, the blood of a Gentle Galilean sanctified your wood. His death on your bough was for the good. Once upon a time a man beneath you Sat the whole night. You had his back. The next morning Gautama was the Buddha. You are a boat, abode, ark of life. (Francia 99) The third and fourth stanzas feature a historical account of Jesus Christ who was crucified on the wooden cross and of Siddhartha Gautama or the Buddha who sat under the Bodhi tree (fig tree) for meditation and got spiritual enlightenment (Mann, p. 71-73, 142). The metaphor in the fifth stanza emphasizes the tree’s merits for human’s necessity. This line also reiterates a biblical account of Noah who built a wooden big boat (Nelson, 2009). In the sixth stanza as the last one, like in Nemerov’s poem, Francia uses an analogy to compare himself as a poet and the life energy and spirit he needs with trees as a “spiritual teacher” that nourish and shelter human and nonhuman animals on earth— IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 158 From you, Tree, I learn. Where I root myself will be in Words, for thus will they free me. May they be as you, a haven for men and women to gather and lean their weariness on, on this poem, this apple, this earth, this tree. (Francia, p. 99) The poet’s willingness to learn from the tree and his way of imitating the tree’s rooting in the earth (in metaphor ‘words’) exemplifies one’s ecological thought of the interconnection between the trees and any other life forms. Arboreal Poetics as an Entreaty to Biodiversity Conservation and Sufficient Consumption of Material Goods to Combat Climate Change Nemerov and Francia’s poems both describe trees as the essential organisms in the natural ecosystem. Their poetics of vegetation evokes one’s ecological awareness or what Morton calls ecological thought in discerning trees as being coexistent with other forms of life. He calls this interconnectedness of human and nonhuman beings “mesh” and one’s ecological thought certainly is aware of this mesh of the natural phenomena (2010, p. 28).8 The way Nemerov and Francia eulogize and personify trees substantiates one’s ecological thought since this suggests an insight into the interconnectedness between human and nonhuman beings. When Francia relatively “objectifies” trees as he distances them as ‘other’ from his consciousness, Nemerov interiorizes trees as parts of human consciousness or mind – “the trees are guardians and sponsoring godfathers of a great part of thought” and “trees appear as the formative image behind much thought brought to the critical point of paradox” (Nemerov, p. 494-495). Even the title of the poem “The Thought of Trees” clearly epitomizes the living persona of the trees rather than being as inanimate objects. As a revelation of ecological awareness and thought, one possible interpretation of the poet’s crediting trees to human mind is that human way of thinking needs to emulate the flourishing and unwavering qualities of the trees. In the fourth stanza, the poet again asserts this tree and human spiritual amalgamation by embodying them in his consciousness, in which the spirit of the trees will guide humans to walk on a right path – “the trees are within us, having their quiet irrefutable say about what we are and may become; how they are one of the shapes of our Protean nature,” (Ibid., p. 496). In a milder tone, Francia rhapsodizes the qualities of the tree as suggesting grounded and resilient aspects that humans need to emulate in their life— From you, Tree, I learn. Where I root myself will be in Words, for thus will they free me. IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 159 May they be as you, a haven for men and women to gather and lean their weariness on, on this poem, this apple, this earth, this tree. (Francia, p. 99) The parts of the tree especially the root that goes deep down into the earth characterize it as a living organism with a solid lineage. This is why ‘roots’ become an image and an entity that any form of human’s social aspect also needs to have. Trees and their organic metabolism signify their “countless values” and their natural language (Mann, p. 177) from which humans emulate and embody their ecological thought. The trees’ coexistence with other life forms is a social network. These forms are what Aldo Leopold called “biotic community” or Gary Snyder named “the commons” (Meine, p.172-173; Snyder, p. 33). In terms of ecology, there is an interconnection between forest clearing (deforestation) and climate change (see Gorte & Sheikh, 2010). A forest functions as “carbon sinks” (storing more carbon than they release). Furthermore, trees have roles to “absorb CO2 and convert carbon into leaves, stems, and roots, while releasing oxygen” (Ibid., p. 1). The activity of deforestation emits more or less “5.9 GtCO2 (gigatons or billion metric tons of CO2) annually, or about 17% of all annual anthropogenic GHG emissions” (Ibid., p. 1). Deforestation itself means to remove tree cover because of human activities including “farming or ranching” and “conversion of natural forests to plantations” (Ibid., p. 3; Wilson, p. 60). Deforestation can have impacts on “carbon fluxes in the soil, vegetation, and atmosphere”. For instance, logging activity will “lead to carbon storage if trees are converted to wood products” so that “deforested areas will be restored” (Gorte & Sheikh, p. 3). Forest clearing may have impacts on reducing habitat, any native predator or herbivore species, carbon capture, and introducing pollutants that further “degrade pure aquatic habitats” (Wilson, p. 60). Several causes of this depletioncome from anthropogenic activities that scientists called HIPPO, namely “habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population growth, and overhunting (for animals) (Wilson, p. 57-58). The overpopulation, for instance, increases human consumption and extraction of material goods. Consequently, this overconsumption of goods would increase “ecological footprint” that further contribute to climate change and biodiversity depletion (Ibid., p. 58; Leonard, p. 152-153). In a word, these ecological impacts clearly make humans aware of the trees’ pivotal roles in sustaining the natural biodiversity. Trees embody earthly and heavenly qualities. As earthly organisms, the trees solidify the soil from any environmental disasters, such as floods, landslide, and rockslide. As heavenly beings, the trees nourish any other life forms, produce oxygen for other living organisms, and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The interconnection between the tree and the soil and other parts of the tree analogizes human interconnectedness with each other fellow, the tree, other nonhuman beings, with the physical environment as social beings that coexist and share the planetary life (Meine, p. 172-175; Snyder, p. 27-51). One’s IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 160 awareness of the tree’s roles and the impacts of forest clearing on biodiversity and climate as the stanza describes should accordingly encourage him/her not to objectify trees and other life forms. This ecological conscience and “enlightened self-interest” (Meine, p. 175) or ecological thought should enlighten each individual in living with other beings in the natural environment. This has an implication that humans should consume material goods properly rather than extravagantly so that their activities do not cause detrimental effects on other life forms and the natural environment (see Leonard, p. 180-181). This conscience may also consider religious teachings such as those of Buddhism and Christianity that encourage one to practice rightful ways of consuming material things for one’s necessity (Kaza, p. 39-61; Koizumi, p. 133-145). The interconnected parts that make the entity of the trees and their analogous qualities with human traits mean that trees are not discrete but coexistent companions with humans. Buddhist adherents esteem trees as another embodiment of human selfhood – “I know that in our previous life we were trees, and even in this life we continue to be trees. Without trees, we cannot have people, therefore trees and people inter-are. We are trees, and air, bushes and clouds. If trees cannot survive, humankind is not going to survive either” (Hanh, 218). Even more so, in India there is a ritual to hug trees “hug-the-tree” movement that illustrates people’s awareness of the values of the trees for their earthly life and the physical environment (Ibid., p. 218). In view of environmental humanities or literary ecology, these two poems with the subject of trees convey what an ecocritic calls “the energy pathways that sustain life” (Rueckert, p. 108). What the poems reveal about the trees arousespositive energy in contrast with the emission of carbon dioxide produced by non-degradable plastic trash, non-renewable fossil fuels, land clearing and forest burning. The law of ecology or the interconnectedness between human and the trees, between the roots and five basic natural elements and other parts of the trees, serves as a model for “energy flow, community building, ecosystems” (Ibid., p. 110) or biotic community (Meine, p. 173) or the commons or sangha (1990, p. 33; 1999, p. 105). Arboreal poetics in these two poems then substantiates the “language of trees” (Gagliano, et. al., 2017, p. xvii-xx) that evoke one’s knowledge about the tree’s ecological merits. Conclusion In this technologized life, Mother Nature has become a virtual one. Humans as the earth inhabitants having more authority over other non-human creatures play a great role in denaturalizing the biotic life. Unrelenting market demands for material goods often trigger each individual to behave rampantly in socially fulfilling his needs for the goods. Humans now need to realize that every act one does with his environment would bring impacts on other life forms. Even more so, when one desires to always maximize his pursuit of material goods beyond one’s needs, this act would impact on damaging the ecological system. Consequently, this exploitation wreaks havoc on the physical environment and escalates the climate change. Nemerov and Francia’s vegetal poetics evokes one’s awareness to care about the planetary life through cherishing trees as the natural nourishers. The symmetry that the poets portrays between themselves and the trees evokes one’s willingness to learn from the trees in the ways they as well as human mind IJHS, e-ISSN 2597-4718, p-ISSN 2597-470X, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2020, pp. 150-163 161 always grow and germinate new lives and respectful consciousness. In this material world when consumerist demands and anthropocentric euphoria keep burgeoning every single day, it is always rudimentary for anyone to wisely “think and act like trees.”This thinking and acting like trees means to always be aware of consuming material goods properly rather than extravagantly and of cherishing the ecological coexistence. References Bennett, M. (2003). From wide open spaces to metropolitan places: The urban challenge to ecocriticism. In Michael P. Branch & Scott Slovic (Eds.), The ISLE Reader: Ecocriticism, 1993-2003 (pp. 296-317). Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press. Bryson, J. S. (2005). The west side of any mountain: Place, space, and ecopoetry. University of Iowa Press. Buell, L. (1993). The American transcendentalist poets. In Jay Parini & Brett C. Millier (Eds.), The columbia history of american poetry (pp. 97-120). New York: Columbia University Press. Coleridge, S. T. (2008). The dialectic of mind and nature. 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