Abstract
Using nature poetry as a case study in developing awareness, Walpert argues that the use of image and attention to sensual specifics trains readers and writers to be mindful rather than rely on habit and scripts, in parallel with the ways that mindfulness cultivates a departure from habitual expectations. Walpert goes on to argue that nature poetry offers training in finding beauty and meaning in what might seem at a habitual first glance as unpleasant, a posture in sympathy with the non-judgmental approach of mindfulness and the non-attachment it cultivates. Walpert argues for the importance of the training in ambiguity that poetry offers, an ambiguity also cultivated by mindfulness. The chapter concludes with the practical utility of such training.
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Notes
- 1.
Thayer (1916, 42) denies Keats was directly influenced by Horace’s odes, though a recent study by Oliensis (2013) suggesting the influence of Horace’s epodes would indicate Keats knew them. What is important is that the style of his ode seems to me to be in the Horatian tradition of the contemplative ode since we are interested in approach, a point made by Highet, who says the odes of Keats “are in a direct line of descent from Horace” (Highet and Willingham 1949, 252) and by Parini, who notes that the odes by Keats “reflect this tradition” (Parini 2006, 376).
- 2.
See also, for example, Pearlman (2012).
- 3.
The others are “looking closely” and “exploring possibilities” (Ritchhart and Perkins 2000, 31).
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Walpert, B. (2017). Nature, Defamiliarization, Ambiguity. In: Poetry and Mindfulness. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68681-3_4
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