Author(s)

Jason Jin

Affiliation(s)

Keystone Academy, Beijing 101318, China.

Corresponding Author

Jason Jin

ABSTRACT

People are always fascinated by animals’ appearance and behavior, but animals’ simplicity is often ignored by humans. Two poems A Blessing by James Wright and Come into Animal Presence by Denise Levertov focus on expressing the greatness of animals. More importantly, they explore the connection and the relationship between humans and animals. However, the perspectives of the two authors on the bond between humans and animals are very different: Wright believes that humans can build up a mutually accepting relationship between humans and nature, while Levertov suggests that humans can never be as pure as animals in nature, and they are unable to blend into nature.While both texts acknowledge the greatness of animals, they diverge sharply in their portrayal of the potential for connection between species. James Wright, in A Blessing, presents an optimistic and almost transcendent vision of human-animal intimacy. Through a chance encounter with Indian ponies, the speaker experiences a moment of mutual recognition and emotional unity, suggesting that humans are capable of crossing the existential divide between themselves and nature. The poem culminates in a transformative epiphany where the speaker feels so connected to the natural world that he transcends his own body—symbolically “break[ing] into blossom.” This imagery reinforces Wright’s belief in the possibility of a harmonious and mutually accepting relationship.

In contrast, Denise Levertov’s Come into Animal Presence offers a more skeptical perspective. Levertov emphasizes the moral and instinctual purity of animals, which highlights humanity’s alienation from nature. She critiques human complexity and rationality, which she implies corrupt natural innocence and prevent genuine integration into the animal world. To Levertov, animals embody an unmediated way of being that humans, bound by self-awareness and societal constructs, can never attain. Thus, while Wright sees the potential for unity through emotional openness, Levertov suggests a permanent divide, arguing that humans cannot reclaim the simplicity and authenticity that defines animal existence.

In summary, these two poems provide nuanced yet contrasting views on the human-animal relationship—one affirming the possibility of communion and transcendence, the other underscoring alienation and irreducible difference.

KEYWORDS

Human-animal relationship; Nature and humanity; Denise Levertov; Environmental literature

CITE THIS PAPER

Jason Jin. Moments of contact: epiphany and estrangement in encounters with the animal. Journal of Animal and Plant Biology. 2025, 2(1): 19-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/japb3005.

REFERENCES

[1] Buell L. The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture. Harvard University Press. Journal of Ecocriticism, 1995, 12(3): 45-60.

[2] Wright J. The Branch Will Not Break. Wesleyan University Press. 1963, 58-59. https://www.weslpress.org/9780819510181/the-branch-will-not-break/.

[3] Levertov D. The Jacob’s Ladder. New Directions. 1961, 72-73.

[4] Haraway D. When Species Meet. University of Minnesota Press. Environmental Humanities, 2008, 5(1): 112-128.

[5] Heise U K. Sense of Place and Sense of Planet: The Environmental Imagination of the Global. Oxford University Press. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 2008, 15(2): 89-104.

[6] Chen Xiaohong. Ecocritical Research on Contemporary American Nature Poetry. Foreign Literature Research, 2018, 40(4): 112-120.

[7] Gao Ge. Interpretation of Animal Imagery from the Perspective of Ecopoetics. Foreign Literature Dynamic Research, 2020, 36(5): 78-85.

[8] Liu Y, Li M. Beyond the Human: Rethinking Human-Animal Relationships in Contemporary Ecological Poetry. Journal of East Asian Ecocriticism, 2021, 15(2): 45-62.