Essay Example on Leslie Silko's Poem: Exploring Nature's Beauty

Introduction

Leslie Silko underscores the beautiful nature in her poem by the use of the first person's point of view. The persona juxtaposes her natural settings phenomena in the poem through her vivid illustration of the imagination of climbing the black rock mountain as she walks down the land that she says is beautiful, and she happens to have been born. That is evidenced in lines one and two, respectively. The area in question is depicted to be a beautiful, pure, and cultured place, a place that hosts both lion and deer. The persona illustrates the beautiful location at the beginning of the poem, albeit the situation changes in lines 16 and 17 since she realizes that something is lost in the place "the old ones who remember me are gone...the old songs are forgotten". Silko's poem is, therefore, a description of a vast majority of things, dwindling in the contemporary world that no longer exists due to developments and invasion of the humans and albeit preservations of some places, extinctions in nature is prevalent in the beautiful landscape.

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Devices and Techniques in the Poem

The persona uses the ancestral theme depicted in her days and smells from the winds coming from the mountains. Perhaps that could be the primary reason why the poem is indeed crucial to the protagonist. An illustration of that is the quite daily retracing of her ancestry mountain, as she smells her ancestor's scents in the wind from the levees in the mountain where her ancestors descended. She reconciles with the fact that the once rich ancestry of her people is gone and lost, albeit she can still sense it in nature. To her, the descent is very vital, and she reminiscences in her everyday dealings as her life's aspects. An illustration of that she has full cultural knowledge from she hails, as evidenced by her work that her people are from the mountain, an element that keeps lingering in her mind.

The protagonist also uses imagery as evidenced by lion and deer who are grassland animals, although opposed in the ecosystem since the former is predator while the latter is prey. The two animals are dependent on each other since the lion fiercely preys on the deer as a meal to survive. Yet, they, the ions, also control the deer's' rapidly growing population in the ecosystem to maintain a balance. Although the two present a profitable relationship in the ecosystem, it is still not harmonious. The beauty of nature also evidences imagery in the land through the tall yellow flowers and the pale blue leaves that bring a sweet smell from the mountain.

The protagonist similarly displays some aspects of irony when she asserts that the two hostile creatures lay down together quietly, as depicted in line 12, "where mountain lion lay down with deer." It is ironic that the lion and deer who are supposed to be in a struggle as the predator and prey consecutively sit together peacefully, with no aspects of violence nor conflict. Similarly, the persona displays metaphorical aspects in comparing the quality of harmony that exists between the two animals who lay down together, that is an aspect of the Laguna people who stay together harmoniously.

Racial Politics in the Poem

Critical analysis of the poem concerning the author's background that is native America in Mexico, the people of Laguna emblems characteristic nature of Mexico. The poem also exemplifies Mexico's identity through the reference of canyon shape, an aspect that is prevalent among the Laguna people in Mexico. The phrase in line 4 of the poem "I smell the wind for my ancestors" is a vivid description of the society of Laguna in Mexico that has since retained their cultures and beliefs. The work, therefore, celebrates the unique culture and opinions of the Laguna society in Mexico. The author similarly displays her ancestral culture, which she depicts that was once rich and is now lost, yet she considers it still relevant, senses it in nature, and remembers all aspects of it in her life. She is fully aware of the culture of where she comes from and that her people are from the mountain, an element that she never forgets.

A prevalent aspect of stereotype underlined by the persona is the disinheritance, as evidenced by her connection with the ancestry, an association that she describes being long lost. She asserts that the world no longer remembers where they came from, their old ways, nor their symbolic pasts. She feels that the memories are dying with the ancestors as people have failed to smell, see or feel their culture the way she does, a clear indication of people's failure to remember from where they hail. The persona's words like "silently" and "returning" in lines 3 and 7, respectively, as her progression of climbing up and down the mountain is an emblem of her stepping down to a place once forgotten. Similarly, the phrase "I smell the wind for my ancestors" in line 4 is a depiction of her search for her culture that is fading away. She also glorifies her past literature as a better place where things coexisted through her phrase in line 12, "where mountain lion lay down with deer."

He also asserts that some cultural aspects which need to be treasured have been forgotten when she says that " the old songs are all forgotten" in line 17. She concludes by underscoring that the vital things that have since been forgotten their memories yet should linger the world, meaning that everyone needs to appreciate their beautiful culture and preserve them. That is evidenced by "the memory," " spilling out," "into the world" in line 89, 30, and 31 consecutively. In a nutshell, the persona portrays a message that the thing lot should always be remembered, and the beautiful nature should be appreciated instead of being ruined.

Work Cited

Silko, Leslie. "Where Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer. " Explore Online.1973,https://lit120.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/silko-alexie-poems.pdf