Abstract
Ecocriticism is concerned with the relationship between literature and environment or how the relationships between humans and their physical world are reflected in literature. In this paper, we attempt to analyse selected poems of Muhammad Haji Salleh using some concepts from ecocriticism as an analytical lens. The premise of this paper is based on the poet’s symbiotic relationship which has become a significant feature of his work. Using six of his nature poems to exhibit Muhammad’s idea of mutual relationship between the human world and the natural world of environment, we show the poet’s concern about the slightest interference of human beings into the world of nature which results in the disruption of human-nature relationship. Muhammad Haji Salleh does not limit himself to presenting the brighter and darker side of nature, rather he has gone a step further to reveal the very concept of ecosystem and reflect the blossoming of ecological consciousness in modern Malaysian society. This approach of reading Muhammad Haji Salleh exhibits the current interest in the environment and the ways in which it has to be treated with respect and love. By explicating the intrinsic features of nature in his selected poems, we can inculcate environmental awareness and inspire ecological consciousness among people in Malaysia and elsewhere in the world. Keywords: Ecocriticism, ecosystem, interrelationship, ecological consciousness, poetry and Muhammad Haji Salleh
Highlights
Ecocriticism is concerned with the relationship between literature and environment or how man’s relationships with his physical environment are reflected in literature
We have attempted to analyse the ecocritical insights in the poetry of Muhammad Haji Salleh, by engaging some selected poems rooted in nature and the natural environment of Malaysia
As we have shown, he has focused on his idea of mutual relationship between people and nature, and the close relationship both share for harmonious coexistence
Summary
Ecocriticism is concerned with the relationship between literature and environment or how man’s relationships with his physical environment are reflected in literature. Place or setting in the literary work, land metaphors as gendered entities and the environmental policies as rhetorics This means that Rueckert’s approach to ecocriticism focuses on how to use ecological principles as a model for thinking about how literature functions. As can be observed in his collection of poems Rowing Down Two Rivers (2000), he writes on flowers, seeds, trees, red sea, vegetables, rain, leaf fall, forests and others This means that he has been highly captivated by the vitality of nature and he addresses its various aspects to reflect his worldviews (Muhammad Haji Salleh, 2000:5-10)
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