Light Reveals Wilderness

          This poem, I have to admit, posed a vexing riddle for me for a few days.  As I went about my business – driving to school, fixing supper, scooping the cat box – I could be heard muttering under my breath, “But Light a newer Wilderness/ My Wilderness has made,” over and over, as if repetition could somehow bring about revelation.  Maybe it actually did help a little, because eventually it dawned on me (sorry, couldn’t resist) what Dickinson may have meant.  I think in this poem she was defining wilderness as the unknown, or unexplored territory, and representing light as knowledge or understanding.  When she says, “Had I not seen the Sun/ I could have borne the shade,” I think she is referring to the way that a little learning expands our knowledge but also reveals how much we don’t know or understand.  To paraphrase Martha Beck, one of my favorite authors, we learn a lot about how much we have to learn (Expecting Adam, 5). 

            I think Emerson understood this definition of wilderness, although he doesn’t call it that.  In Chapter V of Nature, he writes, “…we are impressed and even daunted by the immense Universe to be explored.  ‘What we know, is a point to what we do not know’” (505), a quote that is attributed to both Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Joseph Butler.  Emerson continues, “Open any recent journal of science, and weight the problems suggested concerning Light, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Physiology, Geology, and judge whether the interest of natural science is likely to be soon exhausted” (505).  At the same time, Emerson also viewed nature as the greatest teacher:  “Every property of matter is a school for the understanding…the understanding adds, divides, combines, measures, and finds everlasting nutriment and room for its activity in this worthy scene” (504).  In addition to physical properties, Emerson believed that nature is also the best teacher of ethics:  “The moral influence of nature upon every individual is that amount of truth which it illustrates to him.  Who can estimate this?  Who can guess how much firmness the sea-beaten rock has taught the fisherman?  How much tranquility has been reflected to man from the azure sky…?” (506). 

            The way I defined wilderness in my first blog posting for this course was very narrow in comparison to either Dickinson’s or Emerson’s definitions.  I have learned so much from the reading, writing, and discussion of literature that we’ve done in this course!  But, like Dickinson, this “Light a newer Wilderness/ My Wilderness has made” – I’ve learned that my ignorance is much wider and deeper than I even guessed!  So many authors I have yet to read, so many poems to read out loud, so many ideas to wrestle with and mutter under my breath until they yield some meaning to me!  So much unfamiliar territory to explore, and rich and wonderful treasure to be discovered; so many mysteries to solve!  I’ve truly enjoyed exploring literature with all of you this semester, and I wish each of you much joy in learning on your journeys of discovery.