Aidan King

Robert Frost and Dorianne Laux

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” vs “The Life of Trees”

            Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” displays a simple conflict: the battle of a traveler’s attraction to the woods and a responsibility he must keep elsewhere. “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, // But I have promises to keep,” reads Frost (lines 13 and 14). The poem is rooted strongly in the many seductive qualities that nature has, how those qualities can affect rational decision-making.

            Frost uses soft, beautiful images to convey the attraction of the woods. Phrases like “easy wind and downy snow” and descriptions that detail the silence and solitude of the location draw the reader in as much as the traveler. We’re drawn to the same harmonious, peaceful place. We want the traveler to explore more. We want the traveler to venture into the woods, to discover and show us the infinite beauty of it all.

            The woods can be seen as a doorway to freedom for the traveler. A means of escaping responsibilities and obligations. Those responsibilities are the products of society; a society he wants to be rid of. He sees this part of the woods as a crossroads. In one direction lies the fulfillment of his “promises to keep” and “miles to go before I sleep” (15). In the other direction, he is faced with the lovely, dark, and deep woods. In this poem, society, the village, duty, responsibility – they all represent the same thing. A tiring task that the rider must accomplish, but for what reason, that much is unclear. Society would frown upon the rider’s decision to stop in the woods. With important things to do, it would be disappointing and he would be letting someone – or many people down. Frost uses the traveler’s horse to show this.
“My little horse must think it queer // to stop without a farmhouse near” (5/6)
Those horse – and society would frown upon his decision to stay.

The fact that it takes place in the middle of the winter makes his decision one of life and death, as well. There is no shelter, no warmth, no place to rest. If he journeys into the woods, he may very well succumb to the cold if he rests for too long. This would in turn rid him of his responsibilities, though. He would reach an ultimatum. The burden would be lifted, but only if his willpower is broken down enough. This pulling force, although it originates from the calm, beautiful forest, has a sense of evil to it. It is “The darkest evening of the year” (8). The word “dark” can be interpreted as both “not light” and “evil.” This darkness, the mysterious force of the forest corrupts his rationale. It draws him to what may ultimately be his frigid death. At the very least, it pulls him away from his duties. The mystery of the woods, the hidden beauty that lies behind the trees is what draws the traveler and the reader further and further in, like a siren call luring sailors to their doom.

Dorianne Laux unravels this mystery in her poem “The Life of Trees.” The poem draws a line between human life and arboreal life, represented by the societal obligations and the alluring qualities of the woods in Frost’s poem.

“I want to sleep // and dream the life of trees, beings // from the muted world who care nothing // for Money, Politics, Power, // Will or Right, who want little from the night” (12-16).

These lines explain the mysterious attraction that the woods have on Frost’s traveler, and the things that make them different from society. Frost, like Laux, wants to be a part of the trees. He wants to forget about the money, politics, and power of society. He wants to forget about all the complexities of humanity that emerge within civilization. The trees represent a free existence, while humanity represents an enslaved existence, one ruled by monotonous tasks and rules.

Laux’s final line, “breathe, and breathe again” (46) captures the desire for freedom perfectly. Breathing is necessary for life. To breathe is to live, and Laux envies that quality that the trees have. No responsibility, no fear.

“Sun. Rain. Snow. Wind. They fear // Nothing but the Hurricane, and Fire,” (30/31).

The trees just exist, like the woods that the traveler passes by. They remain there in harmony, separated from the world around them. Frost’s rider craves for this utter freedom as well. He envies that life.

Frost depicts a scene in which the appeal of peaceful and mysterious woods tempts the lonesome traveler. The reader doesn’t know exactly what it is about the forest that draws us in. Only the fact that the dark, snow-covered woods are silent, peaceful, and away from society. In her poem, Laux makes sense of the forest. She describes the envious qualities of the trees. The qualities that don’t exist with humans in society. These traits can only be accomplished by being in nature, which is the core of Frost’s traveler’s desires. Society is a dreary place; one that confines its inhabitants. Nature, in its purest form, allows for near-infinite freedom. It is an enviable destination, at the very least. 

Every year on 22nd April in around 175 countries Earth day is celebrated with joy and lots of excitement to increase the awareness of earth’s natural environment and the harms we are doing un-intentionally to our mother Earth. Because the proper use of science is not to conquer nature but to live in it.

 The name and the Concept of Earth day and its importance was given by Sir John McConnell and was started after witnessing the disastrous out comes of massive oil spills in Santa Barbara ,California. The key objective to celebrate this day is not only to let people know how important earth is ,but to encourage them to use the earth resources wisely, so that our coming generation could survive longer and live their lives easily. Because one day will un-eventually come when earth and its inhabitants will remain no more. Because it is already decided in heavens that sooner or later everything will perish and nothing will remain. So instead of using up our resources very fastly and wasting them, we must use them efficiently and must recycle them.

So at last I would like to tell you that the wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity… that’s all there is. That’s the whole economy. That’s where all the economic activity and jobs come from. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.Thank you.

Global warming happens when the earth heats up as a result the temperature rises. It occurs when greenhouse gases :carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide ,water vapor and methane, trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, leading ultimately  to the rise in temperature. This phenomenon harms many people, animals, plants and other living beings.  Most of them are unable to take the change, so they die.

Warming of the climate system is explicit. Scientists from all over the world are certain that most of it is caused by the mounting concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human actions; deforestation and burning fossil fuels. There are so many things that cause global warming.  One of them is known as electrical pollution. Electricity usually causes pollution in so many ways. Fossil fuels made of dead plants and animals are burned to create electricity. Some other types of fossil fuels are oil and petroleum. Large number of chemicals that pollute the air, water, and land are hurled into the air when these fossil fuels are burned. A few of these chemicals are known as greenhouse gasses.

Greenhouse gasses are those gasses in the atmosphere that collect heat and light from the sun .The greenhouse effect takes place by a process in which the atmospherically gases warm up a planet’s lower atmosphere and surface through absorption and emission of infrared radiation. With excessive greenhouse gasses in the air, the atmosphere of the earth will entrap too much of heat and thus making the earth too hot. This can be explained like, on a very hot day, when heat is trapped in a car, the car gets hotter and hotter when it is parked out. This happens because the heat and light from the sun can get into the car, by penetrating through the windows, but it can’t get back out of it.  This is the same what the greenhouse effect does to the globe. The heat and light gets through the atmosphere, but is unable to get out of it.

 We are somewhere responsible for augmenting the global warming .We employ those sources of energy much more than the sources that results in less pollution.  Petroleum, one of the main sources of energy gives off a lot of pollution, yet it is used a lot. Petroleum is used for transportation, making electricity, Vaseline jelly etc.

Various other things resulting in energy and polluting the air such as turning on a light, watching television, listening to a stereo and radio, washing of clothes, drying  of clothes, using a hair dryer, driving a car or riding bikes. When we carry out these things by creating the electricity, we are causing more greenhouse gasses to be hurled into the air. The least amount of electricity we utilize the better it will be. The garbage that we throw away goes to landfills.  Landfills are stinky big hills on an expressway. The garbage is then burned out emanating an enormous amount of greenhouse gasses into the air and making global warming worse.

Next thing that makes global warming shoddier is when people cut down trees. Carbon dioxide is the air that our body exhales when we breathe. With fewer trees, it is harder for people to breathe because there is more Carbon dioxide in the air.  Plants inhale the carbon dioxide that we breathe out and in turn   give back oxygen that we breathe in.  With few trees and plants, there will be less air for us resulting in more of greenhouse gases sent into the air. Thus, it becomes very crucial to protect our trees to stop the greenhouse effect, so we can breathe and live.

 Global warming is affecting many parts of the world.  Global warming results in the sea rise. When the sea rises, the water swathes many low land islands.  This leads to a big problem for many of the plants, animals, and people on islands.  When water covers the plants, it causes them to die.  When the plants die, the animals lose one of the sources of their food. When both the plants as well as animals die, people lose their two sources of food: plant food and animal food.  This leads to a break in the food chain, thus results in environmental imbalance.

The oceans are affected also by global warming .One thing is warm water, caused from global warming which is harming and killing algae in the ocean. Green algae serve as food to many consumers in the ocean.  Global warming is also destroying many huge forests.  The pollution that results in global warming is very much linked to acid rain.  Acid rain steadily destroys almost everything. Because global warming makes the earth very hot, in forests, some plants and trees leaves becomes so dry that they catch on fire and thus wipe out the whole forest.

 The impact of global warming is far bigger than only increasing temperatures. Global warming transforms rainfall patterns, intensifies coastal erosion, elongates the growing season, and melts glaciers and ice caps. Other likely effects of the Global warming include  recurrence of extreme-weather events : heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfall.

However, we can do so many things to try to stop global warming like car pooling that curtails the amount of greenhouse gases put into the air by a car. Another thing that we can do is being more careful about leaving things turned on like the television, computer, and the lights. We can spend more time outdoors, we can even ride busses, walk to school, planting lots of trees and recycling also helps. 

The government has also made a law called “The Clean Air Act “so that there is less air pollution.  The Clean Air Act has made many companies change their products to reduce these problems. Companies are also becoming very much responsive by making hairspray and deodorant which have less of an impact on the atmosphere.  The Clean Air Act has also made car companies to follow the anti pollution norms by going green.

   Education is indeed a highly valued quality of students in the western world, and many educators extol the use of books as an accessory to learning. In Philip Larkin’s poem, “A Study Of Reading Habits,” Larkin addresses the importance of reading and the inherent need to retain the knowledge acquired through the use of vernacular language and declining grammar.

            The first stanza contains erudite language structure and diction and describes the learning of new material from a book. The second stanza then portrays the rewards of his pedantic nature. Through his intense eye “ruining” study, Larkin acquires a mean “right hook,” women that he “club[s] with sex,” and “ripping times.” Additionally, Larkin describes “meringues,” thus further limning to his new found Lucullian lifestyle.   Through the diction, Larkin yields a strong, enticing contention towards students reading books. Furthermore, as the poem converges to an end, Larkin’s syntax and diction regresses to a more primitive state. The third stanza begins with “don’t” – a contraction. Traditionally, contractions receive significant amounts of shunning when present in formal literature. Moreover, Larkin “get[s] stewed.” Following this articulation of inebriation, Larkin concludes that “books are” indeed “a load of crap.” The blatant transformation from eloquent writer to gimcrack writer strikes fear in the audience, thus allowing Larkin to warn the reader.

            The education process contains many long hours of instructional time and self-motivated study, which fruit a whole host of wonderful benefits. Larkin concurs; however, Larking also perturbs the misuse of benefits that eventually lead to a complete fall from once great status through his clever wile of American English.  

Global warming is projected to have immense effects on freshwater and wetland ecosystems, according to a report by a team of scientists led by a biologist from Colorado State University.

The climate change, which many researchers believe to be inevitable, could be devastating to trout, salmon and several species of aquatic plants and animals.

In a report titled “Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Climate Change,” researchers forecast substantial shifts in fish habitats, decreasing water quality and disappearing wetlands. According to the study, rivers, lakes and wetlands may be seriously affected by the predicted global warming trend.

In particular, cold-water fish such as trout and salmon are projected to suffer substantially and disappear from large areas of their current geographic range. Some species attempting to flee warmer waters by migrating north or to higher elevations may become extinct due to natural or man-made barriers blocking their routes.

1. American men come to India,
2. American women go to Italy.
3. English men come to America,
4. English women go to India.
5. French men come to England,
6. French women go to America.
7. Indian men come to Germany,
8. Indian women  go to America.
9. Italian men come to India,
10. Italian women go to America.
11. German men come to India,
12. German women go to America.
13. People belonging to America are called Americans.
14. They speak American English.
15. People belonging to England are called English.
16. They speak British English.
17. people belonging to France are called French.
18. They speak French.
19. People belonging to India are called Indians.
20. They speak Hindi ,English and many other  languages.
21. People belonging to Germany are called Germans.
22. They speak German.
23. People belonging to Italy are called Italians.
24. They speak Italian.

LANUGAGE

The Korowai language belongs to Awyu-Dumut family which is the language of South East Papua. An English linguistic expert has now prepared its grammar and dictionary.

HABITATATION

The majority of Korowai people lives on houses prepared on the trees. There residential area is totally separate from the rest of the village. They do not like to go any where from their residential area. But, when they related to the civilized world and especially the European people established many villages from the residence where they provided all the possible facilities, even then they did not move from their place. But from 1980s few Korawai people started shifting to these new villages in Yaniruma. But there number was very less. These villages are been established at the shores “Mu” and “Mbasman” of River Becking, which is not very far away from their own area.

In 1987 a village was established at Manggel, in 1988 second village was established at Yafufla, in 1989 a village named Mabul was established at the shores of River Eilanden and in 1998 another village was established at Khaiflambolup. In short these villages were prepared for Korowai people but in response they did not show the enthusiasm that was expected. This is due to this indifferent attitude that many villages are still shown empty.

The basic reason for that may be that these colonies are situated far away from the resources of food (Sago). In the local language the word “Sago” is used for food.

ECONOMY

The Korowai people are basically hunters and fulfill their appetite by hunting. They also do gardening and now gradually diverting towards yielding crop. The Korowai people are conscious of the importance of protein from the beginning and therefore they hunt animals and are very expert in fishing. They fulfill their requirements of proteins from the above-mentioned food.

What business Korowai people do? And what they sell or buy? The information regarding this is very little and not enough. There are special ways in Korowai tribe to carry out the daily chores of life for instance “Sago” means the responsibility of preparing food is of adult youngsters. They not only collect food but also prepare it. Likewise whatever religious ceremonies they celebrate according to their beliefs, youngsters also play their role in these ceremonies. There is no role of women in these types of ceremonies.

Some Korowai people started works which provided them little cash income. But this income was so-called. Such local inhabitants started work with tourist companies. They guided the tourists and serve them in every way. It means they can get both financial and materialistic benefits from their touring industry. These opportunities are on very limited scale for now. Local guides makes the tourists visit these villages and host them quite well. They also organize local “Sago” invitations for tourists, take their wares from one place to another and simultaneously show them traditional and ancient shows, which they perform themselves.

In the history of Korowai tribe, once for limited time (from around 1996 to 1999) anarchy prevails there. The basic reason was that the very precious wood (Agarwood) of this village, which is also called (gaharu) in the local language was started moving outside illegally. Actually the thing was that some outsiders or smugglers, who were aware of the value of this wood, started cutting the valuable wood of this jungle. Innocent Korowai people could not do anything against them and silently watched their valuable natural resource looting by looters. The value of this wood can be guessed by the fact that any buyer used to pay around 4 dollars for one kilogram of gaharu wood. Likewise this valuable “gaharu” wood reached the markets of Europe and Middle East, where one thousand dollars per kilogram of this valuable wood were also sought. The smuggling of this wood was also carried out by way of Southern shore “Agats” and also from “Jayapura” at the Northern shore.  Help from missionary planes was also sought for this purpose which used to arrive and depart from “Yaniruma” and “Boma”. The control of “Gaharu” trading was under the army and army was running this business.

The valuable wood of Papua jungles was sent outside. Along with this loss, there was greater loss that the trading of “body selling” increased to greater extents, which played an important role in prevailing Aids in the whole Papua.

MARRIAGES

Here also like other civilized nations of the world, a parental system is established, in which father is the leader of the house and he runs the entire social, economical and political affairs.  The polygamy tradition is also established in this tribe but normally they do not marry with the blood relations. Now they started preferring marriage with cousins from maternal side.

SOCIAL LIFE

Here the leadership structure based on ancient times i.e. any powerful person becomes the leader of the tribe with respect to his personal traits and capabilities. There is no role of any organization in this leadership. The fighting among tribes starts specifically due to disputes related to casting magical spells.

RELIGIOUS LIFE

The belief of Korowai tribe is that this whole universe is full of every type of spirits, in which some spirits are more special and harmonious to each other as compared to other spirits. Especially homage is paid to spirits of forefathers. According to Korowai tribe belief, the “Ginol Silamtena” is the spirit of the creator of this universe. But Korowai people neither give any importance to it in their daily lives nor do they accept that there is any role of it in their daily lives. It is essential for each and every person of Korowai tribe to arrange a special dinner once in his life time. According to their faith prosperity and growth occurs due to this dinner party.

In order to evade the difficult time these people altar the pet pig for their forefather’s spirits.

Korowai people are keepers of extraordinary and valuable customs, which includes their ghostly stories, folk tales, magical sayings and spells and ancient customs of natural feats.

In respect to death and life after death, Korowai people believe that in return of the acts of a person, he has to come again in this world. The people, who have gone from their tribes after death and now living in the world of spirits, any one of those spirits can sent his relative again in this world and that person will rebirth in the shape of any new born in their tribe.

COORDINATION WITH EUROPE

In the end of the 1970 decade, few Christian (Protestants Missionaries) started living with Korowai people. In the decade of 1980 an Indonesian human expert Dea Sudarman prepared many documentaries for Japanese Television.

In 1993 a film crew had arranged a research study in the “Dio Village”. The main theme of this study was “The houses made on trees and man-eating”. The Korowai people were presented negatively in this case study, which led to the creation of film “Lords of Garden”.

In 1996 a local Christian Community was established, which consists of members from the neighborhood tribe “Kombai”. For the long time it has been thought that Korowai people are fundamentalists in their beliefs and will never divert to any other religion and will resist against such efforts. Hence many people accepted Christianity in the end of 1990 decade and formally entered in this religion.

In the autumn of 2003 a small team of Bible Translators reached in Yaniruma and started their work.

In May 2006 a tour guide Paul Riffle led the crew team of Australian T.V. Show “60 Minutes” in order to prepare a special report on this tribe and their people. After few days of filming a man reached the crew team and claimed that his six year nephew “Wa-Wa” had been accused of becoming a sorcerer (Kakua). He was in great danger, since he could be killed and eaten. But the crew team of “60 Minutes” refused to help that person. But afterward Paul Riffle contacted his opponent “Seven Network”, who agreed to send a “Today Tonight” crew in order to take “Wa-Wa” out of this area.

But, before these people could reach this area, the Indonesian higher authorities deported all the officials from “Jayapura” on the issue of Visa.

MAN-EATING

One of the reports about Korowai people was received that they still eat human flesh. But human experts say that it does not happen now, since these people are in constant coordination with outer people and it is also revealed in the latest reports that false stories has been spread in order to proliferate tourism.

In 2006 a T.V. show “60 Minutes” claimed that when anybody is accused of becoming a sorcerer “Khakhua” in the Korowai society and on proving the crime he was beaten harshly, hanged and afterwards eaten. In this regard many uncertified claims were also made that the brain of a person is eaten immediately while the corpse is still hot and that pregnant women and children are not involved in this eating.

WAY OF CONTSTRUCTION

Korowai houses are made on height, for which higher wood pillars are fixed on the land initially. This way has been going on since past, in order to keep the houses safe from water and flood. Secondly these houses remain away from the reach of the invaders. This step is specifically taken for the safety of children and women; otherwise the conqueror tribe either makes women and children their slave or kills and eats them.

The thick, high and strong pillars of iron wood in one way keep the houses safe from fire too, otherwise the strategy of invader is to fire the houses made of wood, grass and straw, which compels the residents to come out of their houses due to smoke and suffocation and thus invaders arrest them. Iron wood is that hard and solid wood, which does not catch fire easily.

These people are living in the ancient past in spite of living in the present and are not ready to change themselves. But efforts are going on and it is hopeful that soon these people will change their present state by entering in the present.

By Muhammad Irfan Zafar

Content Writer

    This article is a small sample of things that would change if Marijuana was decriminalized.

An American Citizen is charged for a Marijuana related crime every 30 seconds. There were 1,663,582 marijuana related arrests in 2009 (13.0 percent of the total arrests in 2009)

“The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second.” Said drugsense.org

Can you believe that? That would cost the Fed 1.5 trillion over the next 100 years. And that’s just at the Federal level; local governments also spend money cracking down on Marijuana. This requires larger police forces, larger jails, and of course, the problem of people being locked up for possessing a dried flower. 

    Additionally, if you didn’t stop at decriminalization, and allowed for it to be sold under local restrictions like alcohol and tobacco, the expected tax revenue federally would be 6.2 billion annually. That’s 0.62 trillion in 100 years… That equals a 2.1 trillion federal savings over 100 years, without counting inflation.

    That 2.1 trillion could be used to help pay for our huge debt, and help balance budgets for States and other local governments. And I’m not including the commercial and tax benefits of Hemp, that’s a separate but similar issue. Because Marijuana “Cannabis” is the drug, and Hemp, a rope like byproduct derived from Marijuana that cannot be used as a drug… The economic benefits of Hemp are much larger than Cannabis, because it is likely to replace cotton as the main material for fabric, replace trees for paper, as ass produce more than 5000 other products. (To learn more about Hemp, Read http://socyberty.com/issues/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-hemp/ )

In conclusion, decriminalizing Marijuana would have many great benefits for our economy, people, and environment. 

An American poet and soldier Joyce Kilmer wrote a poem entitled “Trees” sometime in 1914. It was his most popular poem which was included in his collection “Trees and other poems (1914)”. Joyce Kilmer was born on December 6, 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. When the United States declared war against Germany in the Second World War in 1917 Kilmer enlisted in the Seventh Regiment in New York National Guard. He died from a sniper bullet in France in July 30, 1918 at a young age of 31. Below is Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees”.

                                           “I think that I shall never see

                                            A poem lovely as a tree.

                                            A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

                                            Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

                                            A tree that looks at God all day,

                                            And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

                                            A tree that may in Summer wear

                                            A nest of robins in her hair;

                                            Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

                                             Who intimately lives with rain.

                                             Poems are made by fools like me,

                                             But only God can make a tree.”

The tree is one of God’s most beautiful creations. The greens that we see in our surroundings are sign of life. Trees and other plants sustain life, and without them no life can exist on earth. Trees and plant need water, sunlight and carbon dioxide in order to survive. The plants harness the energy of the sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose, its food. That process is called photosynthesis on which a waste product called oxygen is created. The plants and trees play an important role for our survival by absorbing carbon dioxide, the waste gas, and giving us oxygen, the fresh air that we breathe.

The earth at present is experiencing a phenomenon called global warming.  It is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone in the atmosphere. Solar radiation penetrates the earth. Some amount of the re-radiated heat escapes into space while remaining re-radiated heat is reflected back to earth. If there is too much accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, there is less re-radiated heat that escapes into the atmosphere and more amount of re-radiated heat is reflected back to earth which causes its surface temperature to rise. As a result there is a change in climate, and the weather pattern is altered which will result in coastal flooding and more frequent and severe storms.

Some of the significant causes of global warming are the excessive use of fossil fuel and deforestation. These activities added so much greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Global warming or its effect could have been averted or minimized had man not destroyed much of the earth’s forest cover. Lesser trees and plants and too much dependence of fossil fuel means more carbon dioxide that will accumulate as greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

At present there is less remaining forest cover on earth. Areas devastated by typhoons and flashfloods are usually places where trees in the nearby forests and mountains are destroyed. Trees prevent flashflood by absorbing rain water into the soil and prevent soil erosion that causes siltation in the river. Deforestation also destroys the ecosystem and as a result of it some plants and animals die and others will eventually become extinct.                                                                                                              

People can make amazing inventions and make their city become economically prosperous. But if they do not take care for the environment and protect and preserve what God has given them like the trees in the forest, then they are bound to experience bad things to happen like climate change and other destructive phenomena.

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