From Anthropocentrism to Ecocide: Charlotte Mew's ‘The Trees Are Down’ and Tal’at Tahir's ‘Ghadri Nooh’

Abstract

Abstract Ecocriticism is a contemporary postmodern theory that deals with the relationship between humans and the physical world as reflected in literature. This article is a comparative study between Charlotte Mew's poem ‘The Trees Are Down’ (the 1920s) and Tal’at Tahir's ‘Ghadri Nooh’ (Noah's Treachery). Mew's poem – written in English – portrays the relationship between humans and nonhumans; it in-depth criticizes human deforestation and the destruction of nature. Meanwhile, Tahir's poem – written in Kurdish – is a piece of criticism of human failure and the dark psyche that stand against nature and the performative acts of other creatures. Both poems act as a didactic tool in ways they severely criticize humans, portray a better and more careful treatment of nature, and hail environmental and authentic ethical paradigms. Therefore, the poems represent a platform on which the intellectual roots of ecocriticism are reflected and mirrored. Even though both poems are stemmed from perspectives of two different cultures and two different ages, they evenly depict nature's experiences of exposure to domination, discrimination and silencing. The paper thus investigates “The Trees Are Down” and ‘Ghadri Nooh’ to show that the literary domains – as depicted in the poems – are an embodiment of ecocritical literary arguments through which the texts play a critical area in employing the ethical standards and moral obligations humans should abide by in respecting and protecting nature. Keywords: Ecocriticism, Anthropocentrism, Humans, Physical World, Nature, Ecopoetry and Ecocide