Here is a miscellany of cultural references to the wild:
- developing attitudes to the countryside and wilderness
- three rock songs about being wild
- a poem about wilderness
The Countryside and Wilderness: the West’s developing attitudes
The countryside and wilderness are features of life and the world, so appear frequently in culture. Here are some reflections on how Western attitudes have developed over the ages.
Firstly, some terms: ‘wilderness’ refers to parts of the world untamed by humanity: forests, deserts, tundra, oceans, canyons and others. ‘Countryside’ generally refers to attractive and less wild rural landscapes, but including farmed land.
In the West, in ancient and mediaeval times, most people generally lived closer to nature in the country and in villages, and appreciated and enjoyed nature as part of their everyday lives. They probably had a more integrated view and experience of nature and didn’t feel the need to go on special expeditions to explore the wilderness (also, transport was more difficult, limited to walking and the horse).
However, when larger towns and cities emerged, things changed, as some people became urbanised while others remained people of the countryside – and two cultures grew up, beside each other. The contrast is seen in ancient Greece and Italy between the urbane city-dwellers and the less sophisticated rural dwellers, typified in the ancient story of the town mouse and the country mouse. Also, wealthy Romans often had one house in the city, another in the country. City-dwellers also started to idealise the country as a beautiful and perfect place (the concept of the ‘rural idyll’ was in fact created by classical poets living in cities). In contrast, while country-dwellers see the beauty of nature, they tend to have a more practical and balanced view of their surroundings, for they know from experience that country life can be hard, both for people and animals - the Roman poem ‘The Georgics’, a celebration of farming and the countryside, expresses this balanced view.
This contrast started to gather pace exponentially in the 1800s, and has continued to this day, with greater urbanisation and modernisation. This has created two distinct movements – the celebration of progress in civilisation and technology and a greater, more acute appreciation of wilderness. This probably began about 1800, with the Romantic movement which celebrated nature. In the 1700s, the focus had been on advancing civilisation, and wild places tended to be given little value as ‘untamed’ areas. The 1800s saw two different things happening at once: expansion of building, industry and transport (such as roads, railways) but also more appreciation of the wild – in fact, the two were probably inter-connected: with the heightened stress and busy-ness of life increasing people’s appreciation of the countryside.
Since then, wilderness has become quite a prominent motif and feature in Western culture. For example, from the 1800s:
- the Victorians’ great love of the Scottish Highlands
- the wild Yorkshire settings of novels ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Jane Eyre’
- Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish symphony’ and ‘Fingal’s Cave’
The wilderness is often included in books and films as a contrast to the civilised life of towns: the two are often contrasted in the same work, to symbolise different ways of being. For example:
- westerns often contrast the cultures out in the prairies and the ranches with that of the townspeople.
- ‘The Call of the Wild’ has a lot of action both in towns and in the wilderness, contrasting the two.
- ‘Dances With Wolves’ idealizes the life of the Sioux in the prairie, in contrast to the corrupt urban world of white people.
- ‘Gladiator’ contrasts bravery and action in the forests of Germany with manoeuvring and exploitation in the city of Rome.
In modern times, most Westerners live in cities or sizeable towns and we consciously go out into the countryside and the wild to get away from the busy-ness of urban life. These can be fairly local mountain climbs or country walks; or bigger adventures further afield, in other countries or in extreme conditions, such as climbing in the Alps. This is quite a distinctly modern phenomenon: Petrarch the Italian poet and scholar of the 1300s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch) is the first European recorded to have climbed a mountain just for the sake of it, rather than for a practical reason – and for that reason is sometimes called the first modern person.
Finally, nowadays we value countryside and wildlife, which lies behind some features of planning (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and organisations such as RSPB. There has been a recent trend to ‘re-wild’ parts of public parks, setting aside parts for wild flowers and grasses.
‘Wild’ in rock music
Here are three classic rock songs about being wild. They all date from the late 60s and early 70s, a time there was great emphasis in rock culture on being free and wild. This is about being personally wild and free – it is not about nature and the wilderness !
Wild Thing (1966) by The Troggs For its time, a v heavy song, with big riffs, a plodding beat and a cool drawl. Like some of The Kings’ more noisy and raw songs (eg You Really Got Me), it pre-figured the heavy blues (eg Cream) then hard rock (eg Deep Purple) which emerged a few years later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Thing_(The_Troggs_song)
Born To Be Wild (1969) by Steppenwolf Upbeat and energised, with the verse gradually building up to the ecstatic exclamation of the main line, this is a top favourite among motorbikers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Be_Wild It appeared in the motorbike movie ‘Easy Rider’ (1969) with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.
A Walk On The Wild Side (1972) by Lou Reed A quiet blues number, half-spoken and half-sung, this is a cool, laid-back saunter through the counter-culture of New York. Lou Reed was previously a member of the highly influential rock group the Velvet Underground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_on_the_Wild_Side_(Lou_Reed_song)
Wilderness in poetry
Many poems cover wilderness, but this one is particularly direct: ‘Inversnaid’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Inversnaid is a place near Loch Lomond in Scotland
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899) was an English poet, who pioneered ‘sprung rhythm’ (in which the first syllable is stressed) and sound-patterns. His poetry was published after his lifetime.
Inversnaid
This darksome burn, horseback brown, His rollrock highroad roaring down, In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam Flutes and low to the lake falls home.
A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth Turns and twindles over the broth Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning, It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.
Degged with dew, dappled with dew Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through, Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern, And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
Gerard Manley Hopkins 13 March 2019
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