E349S March 27: The Essence of Nature and Ethics

Wet and Wildness 

Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem, Inversnaid, invokes a glorified depiction of nature's boundless essence, portraying images of blossoming wilderness. The poem begs,"what the world would be, once bereft/ Of wet and of wildness?" [1] Without nature, earth would not hold its nurturing aura, it would not be habitable.

The World Without Wet and Wildness

Nature is God's envisioned facet of life. Our natural surroundings spring forth life, giving way to the fundamental display of divine creation. Similarly, Hopkins celebrates the timeless, beauty of nature in The Sea and the Skylark. The poem magnifies the continuity of life, and more so, the preservation of God's creation. Hopkins exalts the "low lull-off or all roar" of the sea" and the "new-skeined score" of the skylark's song as  unbending to the test of time.[2] Both poems emphasize the necessity of natural creation and its preservation as a means to grasp the true worth of nature itself.

While Hopkins tackles the glory of creation, Lewis Carroll addresses the issue of morality and ethics in the chapter "Tweedledum and Tweedledee." Alice is introduced to the quirky and rude twins, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, who operate as a rambunctious duo that insults and menaces her. Lewis Carroll, Charles Dodgeson, had a stern animosity towards little boys, and this mindset is personified within the boys.

The Dynamic Duo of Dialectic Discourse

The newly introduced characters discuss morality through the poem The Walrus and the Carpenter, a lengthy piece Alice does not have the patience for. Upon the conclusion of the poem, Alice initially decides,"[she] like[s] the Walrus best" because he was "a little sorry for the poor oysters," but Tweedledee forces Alice to question her hasty decision, stating," [the walrus] ate more than the Carpenter." [3] She imprudently reverses her opinion, revealing," [she] like[s] the Carpenter best," only to have the twins refute her, seeing the "Carpenter ate as many [oysters] as he could get."[4]  Only after Tweedledee's and Tweedledum's puzzling refutations does Alice realize "they were both unpleasant characters." [5]

This is right. This is wrong. Or is it?

Carroll brings into play moral ambiguity, and the subjective nature of ethics. Alice's naivety and innocence plays a pivotal role in her analysis of the conventions regarding the integrity of both the Walrus and the Carpenter. She is quick to associate herself with the characters based on initial comprehension of the complex issue regarding morality. However, the twins provide Alice with necessary insight to realize the indefinite nature of merited behavior. The discourse parallels the fundamental scheme of logic, which rules the realm of moral ambiguity. Charles Dodgeson was well-versed in the study of logic and systematic rationalization. His forte is seen throughout the discussion of the poem, revealing his own inclination towards strict morality and conceptual deduction.

Works Cited
1. Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Major Works Including all the Poems and Selected Prose (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 153.
2. Hopkins, The Major Works, 131.
3. Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2000), 187-188.
4. Carroll, The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, 188.
5. Carroll, The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, 188.