The song of the Earth is a book that is written by Jonathan Bate. It was published in the year 2000. This essay will mainly focus on the first chapter of the book, titled “Going, Going”. The relevance of this book, in relation to this essay, is that this work can be considered as one of the most important texts in the existent discourse on Eco-criticism. The main focus of this essay is to paraphrase the main themes that can be identified in the first chapter. Jonathan Bate, in this chapter, examines the relationship between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ and the transition in its meaning due to modernization, by taking some of the prose works of both Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy.

The first theme that will be identified in this essay is using culture to approach Jane Austen’s texts.. A common misconception when analyzing the works of Austen and Hardy would be correlating them with the terms ‘culture’ and ‘nature’ respectively. One argument posed for the argument above would be the different and contrasting meanings of ‘culture’ that has been given in English dictionaries from the Renaissance period to the 18^th century.  The changing nature of the term, from associating it with a piece of land, to associating the same with a more scientific approach, shows the advancement of the society-

The word's path from common currency in the context of agricultural subsistence to technical usage in biological research is itself a little allegory of the march to modernity. ( Bate 2000, p. 4)

The above-mentioned transition in the meaning of culture is not relevant in the works of Jane Austen though. Jonathan Bate has taken several references from her texts in order through which we can identify that for Austen, ‘culture’ was still associated with nature, rather than with intellectual capabilities. For example, he took the character of Emma Woodhouse, who was from one of Jane Austen’s novels and analyzed an excerpt in which her views were predominant. Thus, ‘verdure’ was associated with the damp English weather, while ‘culture’ for her, as previously mentioned, was associated with farming methods. Thus we can say that for Jane Austen, ‘culture’ was always explored through the elements of scenery and nature, rather than to do with intellectual capabilities or societal ethics.

Another  theme relevant in many of Jane Austen’s prose works is the predominance of characters having an inherent feeling of belonging to nature. Mr. Knightley, for instance, is considered as an epitome of a person belonging with nature. While, other characters such as Fanny, have been shown as having a sympathetic approach towards nature. So, we can say that-

The poet has a special bond with rustic life because it is in the country that the essential passions of the heart 'find a better soil' and in the rural condition that 'the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature ( Bate 2000, p. 12)

Thus we can say that while analyzing the portrayal of characters in Jane Austen’s novels, the essence of romanticism and emotionalism, in relation to nature, are attached to them.

The other major theme that will be paraphrased in this essay will be the position of Thomas Hardy in relation to the changing concept of ‘nature’, taking into reference the book ‘Woodlanders’. Within this text, the concept of ‘environment’ has also had a transition, from associating it with a natural landscape or a picturesque view to a more definitive version embedded in social and biological concerns.

Charles Darwin’s theory of the ‘survival of the fittest’ may have become axiomatic in the way we might have approached ‘environment’. Thomas Hardy, on the other hand, in his document ‘Novels of Character and Environment’, attempted to understand fitness through balance and oldness-

He placed mobile new men and advanced ideas in opposition to rooted types and traditional ways. The irreconcilable clash between the forces of tradition and of innovation is at the core of his tragic vision. ( Bate 2000, p. 14)

The distinction between nature and science is also present in the characters in the afore-mentioned novel- ‘Woodlanders’. The nature-loving male protagonist Giles Winterbourne and the scientific approach used by Edred Fitzpiers are allegorical to the above-mentioned concepts respectively. We can especially identify the scientific trope through Edred due to his characteristic of always using a mechanical device such as an eyeglass or a telescope to perceive nature.

 Therefore, we can say that the reason why Jonathan Bate has emphasized on the works of both Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy is that both of them, in many ways, chose to aggrandize a society living in close association with nature, rather than a world which was conquered by modernization and industrialization-

  Austen stands for a lost world of elegance, of empire-line dresses, of good manners, of ladylikeness and gentlemanliness in large and beautiful houses. Hardy, meanwhile, represents nostalgia for a simple, honest rustic way of life among hedgerows, haystacks and sturdy English oak trees. Together they stand for the imagined better life of both the higher and the lower classes in a world where there is no place for the motor car.  ( Bate 2000, p. 2)

In conclusion, the texts and the works of both Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy should be understood and interpreted in their historical context. This is  they were on the brink of modernity due to the industrial revolution. Thus their focus on the appreciation of nature is understandable. Also, as the inclusion of Philip Larke's poem ‘Going, Going’, at the start of the essay by Jonathan Bate, is extremely creative as it is in close association with the major themes of the essay, as they are all exploring and describing the possibility of the loss of nature due to industrialization.

REFERENCE—

 Jonathan Bate, “Going, Going” in The Song of the Earth. Bassingstoke and Oxford: Picador,

2000. pp. 1-23.