hopkins, compassion and innocence

Every Thursday I teach first graders science for a UTeach class. Last week, our lesson plan was about nature and how man-made constructions rely heavily on natural resources. During the lesson, I noticed something that reminded me of this animal humanities class: nature and innocence. The kids were amazingly astute when it came to identifying which materials were man-made and which ones were natural. They also brainstormed many different uses of the natural resources water, soil, rocks and wood. The interesting thing here was that every example of the uses of these resources were in things that they played with in its natural state. For rocks they thought of chalk rocks. For water they thought of playing in the rain. For soil they thought of the playground and their parents' garden. Almost every kid completely overlooked the fact that all of these resources were used to build their desks, the floor they were standing on, or the paper they were writing on.

Are you smarter than a 1st grader? [1]

Then I thought about what it used to be like to be a kid, and I thought to myself: "Damn, I miss being a kid." I used to do the same things after school. No worries, just playing with my brothers in the backyard. I didn't have to fret about blogging for the next day's class. I didn't have to think about finances, or what I was going to cook the next day. I didn't have to give a shit about anything other than living life.



I don't ever wanna grow up. [2]

So when I read these poems by Hopkins, I got a little sad when I got nostalgic. In "Spring and Fall: to a young child", Hopkins says, "Ah! as the heart grows older / It will come to such sights colder" and continues to say "It is the blight man was born for, / t is Margaret you mourn for"(378). First of all, I thought it was particularly relevant that the title of the poem is directed towards a young child (Margaret). The poet is pointing out to Margaret that it isn't the passing of the seasons that the child is mourning over, it is the passing of herself from childhood into adolesence and ultimately, adulthood. As her heart grows older, she will see things that she will grieve over more than the changing of the seasons. The poet takes her away from her innocence as a child and gives her knowledge through experience. He explicitly tells her that it's the blight or spoiling of man that she was born for and mourning for. I looked up the word blight and thought this was interesting:

blight |blīt|
noun
a plant disease, esp. one caused by fungi such as mildews, rusts, and smuts : the vines suffered blight and disease | [with adj. ] potato blight.
• informal anything that causes a plant disease or interferes with the healthy growth of a plant.
• [in sing. ] a thing that spoils or damages something : her remorse could be a blight on that happiness.

Hopkins use of a word commonly used to describe the disease of a plant to liken to a man's degradation of innocence is clever and effective. Simply by telling Margaret that she's mourning over heself, is interfering with her growth through self-enlightenment.

In the pre-1800 Overview, I thought the quote from John Adams lies right inl ine with this idea: "I think it Evidence of an honest Mind and an Heart capable of Friendship, Fidelity and Strong Attachments being the Characteristicks of that Animal" (385). There is something particularly innocent about animals that has very familiar similarities with the innocence of humans. Dogs, in this case, exhibit some of the greatest qualities of the greatest men that Adams has encountered. There have been many times when I've sat and just stared at my dogs thinking to myself "Man, you have an amazing life." And the reason I'm envious of the dog is the same reason I'm envious of the children: for their innocence. Ignorance truly is bliss. Without knowing about the troubles of the world, then how can either of the two worry about those things?


I wish life were so easy with everything provided for me [3,4]

In "Inversnaid", Hopkins asks, "What would the world be, once bereft / Of wet and of wilderness? Let them be left, / O let them be left, wildness and wet; / Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet" (378). So I think we should leave those who are innocent to themselves too. Long live the innocence of children and animals alike.



A child's innocence at its finest [5]


1. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.prairieview.k12.il.us/images/1st/apples/MVC-apple3.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.prairieview.k12.il.us/first_grade.htm&usg=__7QwcAg8GxPNkS47QZXSNO91QjRE=&h=480&w=640&sz=45&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=bKS7yUwaQ6nZ3M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1st%2Bgraders%2Blearning%2Babout%2Bscience%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs3s2POBnbs&feature=related
3. http://members.rxworks.com/website/Portals/0/sleeping%20dog%20face.jpg
4. http://parentalwisdom.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/sleeping-child.png
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs