Research Paper on:
Poets R.S. Thomas and John Betjeman on Nature and the Modern World

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
that he too is a part of the life cycle and those elements of it. In essence, then, what the poet sees as nature is being systematically destroyed in this  century, and is not only a destruction of the physical, but a destruction of the metaphysical as well. Man, then, is a danger to himself, and to that which consciously  he has tried to distance himself from. This theme is readily echoed by the treatment of nature in the poems of RS Thomas and John Betjeman. In "Cynddylan on  a Tractor" by RS Thomas, the element of nature is left behind when Cynddylan eschews the plow and instead buys himself a new tractor to do the job. In the  first few lines of the poem, one can see that literally and figuratively he has been removed from the soil. "Gone the old look that yoked him to the  soil/Hes a new man now, part of the machine"(Thomas, li 2). Nature, while still considered the ultimate teacher, is no longer the sanctuary or retreat, but rather nature is  part of the internal landscape of the mind and an object of social and political ramifications. Thomas poem, it can be said, embodies this premise, espousing that nature(read mans creativity  and soul) are in a fight for their own survival and right to exist, and that the simple things in life, those things that really count for more, are drown  out by the roar of progress and a big green tractor. In fact, the tractor can be said to represent industrialization and the loss of that connection to nature, and  may even hint at the disregard for nature as man is moved further from the soil. This is illustrated best with the line: "He is the knight at arms breaking