Table Of ContentRomantic natuRalists,
EaRly EnviRonmEntalists
in his study of Romantic naturalists and early environmentalists, Dewey W. Hall
asserts that William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson were transatlantic
literary figures who were both influenced by the English naturalist Gilbert White.
in Part 1, Hall examines evidence that as Romantic naturalists interested in
meteorology, Wordsworth and Emerson engaged in proto-environmental activity
that drew attention to the potential consequences of the locomotive’s incursion
into Windermere and Concord. In Part 2, Hall suggests that Wordsworth and
Emerson shaped the early environmental movement through their work as poets-
turned-naturalists, arguing that Wordsworth influenced Octavia Hill’s contribution
to the founding of the United Kingdom’s National Trust in 1895, while Emerson
inspired John Muir to spearhead the United States’ National Parks movement in
1890. Hall’s book traces the connection from White as a naturalist-turned-poet to
muir as the quintessential early environmental activist who camped in yosemite
with President Theodore Roosevelt. Throughout, Hall raises concerns about the
growth of industrialization to make a persuasive case for literature’s importance to
the rise of environmentalism.
In memory of my two guiding lights:
William H. W. Hall and Emory B. Elliott
Romantic naturalists,
Early Environmentalists
An Ecocritical Study, 1789–1912
DEWEy W. Hall
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, USA
© Dewey W. Hall 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Dewey W. Hall has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Hall, Dewey W., author.
Romantic Naturalists, Early Environmentalists: An Ecocritical Study, 1789–1912 /
by Dewey W. Hall.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-2264-8 (hardcover: alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4094-2265-5 (ebook)—
ISBN 978-1-4724-0547-0 (epub)
1. American literature—History and criticism. 2. Naturalists—United States.
3. Romanticism—United States. 4. Environmentalists—United States. 5. Ecocriticism—
united states. i. title.
PS169.E25H35 2014
810.9’36—dc23
2014013562
ISBN 9781409422648 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409422655 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472405470 (ebk – ePUB)
V
Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Limited,
at the Dorset Press, Dorchester, Dt1 1HD
contents
List of Figures vi
Acknowledgements vii
introduction 1
PART 1 Toward Romantic Naturalists
1 Gilbert White’s legacy 11
2 Romantic naturalists: White, Wordsworth, and otley 29
3 Emerson, the naturalist in Nature 57
PART 2 Toward Early Environmentalists
4 Green letters, Green lectures, and the “Rash assault” 85
5 Wordsworth, octavia Hill, and the national trust 115
6 Emerson in muir’s Sierra and Our National Parks 147
7 shaping muir, Reshaping yosemite 171
Bibliography 203
Index 221
list of Figures
3.1 Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “the uses of natural History,” 22,
bms am 1280.194 (1). Ralph Waldo Emerson memorial
association Deposit, Houghton library, Harvard university.
not to be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. 60
3.2 solheim Glacier, iceland. Photo by Dewey W. Hall. 75
4.1 Rain, Steam and Speed—The Great Western Railway (1844)
by Joseph mallord William turner, 91 × 121.8 cm, oil on canvas.
Permission for use granted by the national Gallery, london
© national Gallery, london / art Resource, ny. 99
5.1 Greenhead Ghyll and “Unfinished Sheep-Fold,” Grasmere.
Photo by Dewey W. Hall. 123
5.2 Portrait of William Wordsworth, Public Domain. courtesy of the
university of texas libraries, the university of texas at austin. 136
6.1 John muir’s annotations in Gilbert White’s The Natural
History of Selborne. courtesy of the Huntington library,
san marino, california 149
6.2 Half Dome overlooking yosemite valley (2010). Photo by
Dewey W. Hall. 151
7.1 Emerson’s Gravesite, sleepy Hollow cemetery, concord,
massachusetts. Photo by Dewey W. Hall. 172
7.2 Emerson’s marker, sleepy Hollow cemetery, concord,
massachusetts. Photo by Dewey W. Hall. 173
7.3 Dedicatory statement (1875) by Ralph Waldo Emerson
at the centennial of the Battle of lexington, massachusetts.
Photo by Janet a. Hall. 202
acknowledgements
this project has been a journey since 2006, with numerous opportunities to share
my thoughts. this began with the transatlanticism conference at st. catherine’s
college, oxford university where i met Patrick Keane who commented
thoughtfully on a portion of Chapter 4. Fred Burwick has influenced my professional
growth. i recall our engaging conversation in February 2008 over tea at his home
about Beatrix Potter, samuel coleridge, William Wordsworth, and open space. i
appreciate the following colleagues for inspiring my manuscript at various stages:
steven axelrod, the late Emory Elliott, John maitino, victor okada, and Da’an
Pan. in particular, andrew moss has been an immense source of encouragement
during our very meaningful conversations over lunch. i also thank the walkers
from the 40th annual Wordsworth summer conference 2010 who provided kind
feedback during our jaunt in the rain to Rydal mount: Richard Brantley, Julie
carlson, Jeffrey cox, and Gary Harrison. i am grateful for exchanges with Henry
chiu, James chow, liam corley, melanie Hall, the late seamus Heaney (for his
kind interest), carola Kaplan, mary Poplin, and especially J. matthew soeter.
thanks also to the Evergreen sGv men’s branch for their support.
the personnel at these institutions provided helpful assistance: George
Perkins marsh special collections, university of vermont; Holt-atherton special
Collections, University of the Pacific; Houghton Library, Harvard University;
the Baker library, Harvard Business school; the Huntington library; the
Jerwood centre; the John muir national Historic site; the library of congress;
the national library of iceland, and the national Gallery, london. i thank Jeff
cowton, mBE, for his sincerity and grace at the Jerwood centre. i appreciate
michael Wurtz, archivist at Holt-atherton, whose knowledge of bibliographic
texts, digital collections, and microfilm enabled my search through the John Muir
Papers. i thank Peter clayton, the Founder of the octavia Hill Birthplace museum
in Wisbech, cambridgeshire, who prompted further research. i appreciate the
staff at the Huntington library for their very cordial and professional assistance:
molly Gipson, alan Jutzi, alisa monheim, and especially Jaeda snow. a great
debt of gratitude belongs to ann Donahue, my commissioning Editor at ashgate,
for her kind patience. also, Kirsten Giebutowski, my Desk Editor at ashgate, has
been helpful. thanks very much to tammy Ditmore, my copy Editor, for catching
my errors and providing feedback.
i received support from the President’s Research, scholarship, and creative
activity Program at the california state Polytechnic university, Pomona that funded
my research at Houghton library and an excursion to concord, massachusetts
to visit the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson during the summer in 2008. also, i
benefited from being named a Provost Teacher-Scholar 2008–2010 with generous
support from the Office of Research at the California State Polytechnic University,
viii Romantic Naturalists, Early Environmentalists
Pomona that enabled my travel to Dove Cottage, Grasmere and the Library of
Congress. I thank Liliane Fucaloro, Chair, for her support and Provost Martin den
Boer for approving my sabbatical leave, which afforded time to move the project
forward. I am also grateful for writing grants in 2013 and 2014 from the Faculty
Center for Professional Development with special thanks to Victoria Bhavsar,
Director, for making a difference during the copy editing stage of this project.
I thank the editors for permission to reprint these articles. Chapter 4 appeared
in RaVon 50 (May, 2008); part of Chapter 5 was published in The International
Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, vol. 5/1 (June, 2010). Part of Chapter
3 focusing on Emerson as a naturalist was presented at the 30th Annual Nineteenth
Century Studies Association Conference, University of Wisconsin, 2009. A
portion of Chapter 4 about aurora borealis as a motif for Wordsworth’s influence
on Emerson was delivered at the Transatlanticism Conference, St. Catherine’s
College, Oxford, 2006. Part of Chapter 5 concentrating on Wordsworth’s protest
against the Kendal to Windermere railway was presented at the Association for
the Study of Literature and Environment Conference, University of Victoria, 2009
where I shared my idea about the simultaneous movements of the National Trust
and National Parks with Scott Hess and Sarah Weiger over lunch. Part of Chapter 6
featuring Wordsworth’s Home at Grasmere, Octavia Hill, and the National Trust
was given at the 40th Annual Wordsworth Summer Conference, Grasmere, 2010.
A portion of Chapter 7 regarding Emerson’s influence upon Muir leading to the
National Parks was presented at the 42nd Annual Northeast Modern Languages
Association Conference held at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, 2011.
Finally, family and friends who have shared interest in my study are too
numerous to identify. However, I want to name the family closest to me. My work
would not have been possible without the opportunities afforded to me by my
parents. I wish to thank my father, the late William H. W. Hall, and my mother,
Wai C. Hall, for their sacrifices on my behalf. My affection and deep appreciation
belong to the love of my life, my wife Janet; she offered time for me to travel,
present papers, do research, and write. My life is meaningful with her and our two
delightful children, Lauren and Austin, the pride and joy of our lives.
Dewey W. Hall
Pomona, California
June 30, 2014
introduction
the big tree … is a tree of life.
—John muir, The Yosemite, 1912
Romantic Naturalists, Early Environmentalists: An Ecocritical Study, 1789–1912
presents this case: William Wordsworth’s and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s work
inspired early environmentalists such as octavia Hill and John muir, who emerged
toward the end of the nineteenth century to defend the trees and open space. in this
study, i assert that Wordsworth, Emerson, Hill, and muir were highly committed
to preservation. that the national trust and national Parks movements grew in
England and america before the 1890s seems coincidental, yet it is not. seeds
of early environmentalism were sown through Wordsworth’s and Emerson’s
common scientific fascination with Gilbert White and their subsequent influence
on early environmentalists.
However, some writers question the validity of a continuity argument based
on the presumption that linking a cultural movement such as Romanticism to the
growth of ecology, a science-based discipline, is flawed rhetorically.1 this is not
the case. Romantic Naturalists, Early Environmentalists claims that even though
Wordsworth and Emerson are part of cultural movements during the early and mid-
nineteenth century, their shared interest in White-as-naturalist is scientific rather
than cultural, which enhanced their understanding of meteorology, ornithology,
and botany. the error in the logic of thinkers such as Robert mcintosh and Dana
Phillips is summed up in the following statement by Phillips: “mcintosh suggests
that ‘retrospective views of ecology’ often produce little if any evidence that the
work of writers like White and thoreau, however intuitive those writers may have
been about natural history, actually ‘was connected with, or led to, that of later
workers.’” Romantic Naturalists, Early Environmentalists aims to show evidence
that Phillips has overlooked. White’s natural history left indelible impressions on
Wordsworth in England and Emerson in america—two Romantic naturalists who
then inspired the emergence of “later workers” such as Hill and muir.
in addition, this book emphasizes the connection between Romantic naturalists
and early environmentalists, which is different than linking them to modern-day
ecologists per se. the purpose is not simply to romanticize about ecology. the
plan is to delineate a legacy of environmentalism that includes Wordsworth and
Emerson as writers-turned-naturalists who are literary links from White to muir.
thus, the study is developed from 1789 to 1912, marking the publication dates of
White’s The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne and muir’s The Yosemite.
1 Robert P. mcintosh, The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory (cambridge:
cambridge university Press, 1985) 17, 22. Dana Phillips, The Truth of Ecology: Nature,
Culture, and Literature in America (oxford: oxford university Press, 2003) 50.
