WILDLIFE IN THE WORLD OF LITERATURE

  

On the world wildlife day - March the 3rd,  let's us have a brief look into the book  WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTRY and the writer - RICHARD JEFFERIES

You all are very well aware that  World Wildlife Day, celebrated each year on 3 March, commemorates the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1973. The theme for 2023 is "Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation". 

In this connection here is a blogpost about how the wild life is being discussed and brought out in Victorian era of English Literature with reference to the above stated title.  

Richard Jefferies born in 1884 was the son of a Wiltshire farmer, to whom a sunrise or the flight of a bird appealed far more than cricket or any other game. He was a sensitive youth who found his companions in books and at the teeming life of nature. He was something more than a lover of nature or  a naturalist. He is a genuine earth man.

This can be observed  with the opening lines from the book WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTRY: I quote 

" The inner slope of the green fosse is inclined at an angle pleasant to recline on, with the head just below the edge, in the summer sunshine. A faint sound as of a sea heard in a dream - a sibilant 'sish-sish' - passes along outside, dying and coming again as afresh wave of the wind rushes through the bennets and the dry grass. There is the happy hum of bees who love the hills- as they speed by laden with their golden harvest, a drowsy warmth, and the delicious odour of wild thyme. Behind the fosse sinks and the rampart rises high and steep- two butterflies are wheeling in uncertain flight over the summit. It is only necessary to raise the head a little way, and the cool breeze refreshness the cheek- cool at this height, while the plains beneath glow under the heat."

Jefferies writings are studies in tactile sensation. As a lover of the open air and the life of the open air, every sense was preternaturally quickened. Though many observed acutely, Jefferies alone felt acutely.

He knew and loved the earth; the atmosphere of the country brought into play all the faculties of his nature. He speaks more about  the trees, the flowers, the birds, in his works and writes of what he has felt, what he has realised, then like every fine artist, he transmits his enthusiasm to others. Sometimes, may be  he is so full of his subject, so engrossed with the  wonders of the earth, that the words come forth  in a torrent, impetuous, over whelming. Outside of nature all is arid and profitless to him. He comes to her with empty hands and seeks for what she may gave him.

Jefferies again and again returns to the richness and plenty of the earth . And his style , suiting itself to the man's temperament, is rich  and overflowing, splendidly diffuse, riotously exulting, untill at times there is the very incoherence of passion about it. With these powers he brought to the readers the glorious plentitude of earth and exceeding beauty of natural things.