A Comparative Analysis of the Poetry of Wendell Berry and Sohrab Sepehri from the Perspective of Ecocriticism and Environmental Aesthetics

Abstract

Introduction

Ecocriticism, or ecological literary criticism, is a modern and increasingly significant approach that examines the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Its goal is to deepen our understanding of how humans relate to nature and, ultimately, to encourage more sustainable environmental awareness. Cheryl Glotfelty and Harold Fromm define ecocriticism as the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment, much like feminist criticism focuses on gender or Marxist criticism on class and production.
The term “ecology,” introduced into English in 1873, underpins ecocriticism, which emerged in the late 20th century as a response from the humanities to the environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s. By the early 21st century, it had expanded to include philosophy of the environment, environmental history, and studies of space and landscape.
Art and literature are inevitably shaped by their environment. Thus, understanding the ecological and geographical context—such as local flora, fauna, and climate—is essential in literary analysis. Ecocriticism highlights the interconnectedness of nature, culture, and human creativity, stressing literature’s role in reflecting and influencing ecological consciousness.
Ecocriticism also aligns with Romanticism, as both share a deep emotional appreciation for nature and a critique of industrialization and modernity. In the U.S., it developed in the late 1980s through scholars like Glotfelty and Fromm, with roots in 19th-century American Transcendentalism. In Britain, “Green Studies” drew inspiration from Romanticism of the 1790s. Romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge were the first to bring nature into modern poetry, shifting focus from aristocratic themes to the natural world and everyday life. Their rejection of industrialism and return to nature laid the intellectual and emotional groundwork for contemporary ecocritical thought.
 

methodology

This study employs a comparative ecocritical approach to examine the poetry of Wendell Berry and Sohrab Sepehri, focusing on their shared and differing perspectives on nature. Both poets are considered intellectual heirs of Romanticism, viewing nature not merely as a descriptive subject but as a living, spiritual presence. The research emphasizes that simply using natural imagery does not make a poet ecological; rather, it is the depth of connection and empathy with nature that defines ecological poetry.
Drawing on mythological and philosophical views of human–nature unity, the study explores how both Berry and Sepehri reject the anthropocentric notion of human superiority, instead portraying humanity as an inseparable part of the natural world. The analysis concentrates on two of Berry’s poetry collections—Selected Poems of Wendell Berry and Given—and selected poems of Sepehri, to identify how both poets express themes such as unity with nature, personification of natural elements, nostalgia, and Romantic idealism.
The research seeks to answer two main questions:

What role do nature and natural elements play in the poetry of Wendell Berry and Sohrab Sepehri?
What similarities and differences exist in their use and representation of nature’s imagery?

 

Discussion:

3-1. Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry (b. 1934, Henry County, Kentucky) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, farmer, and environmental activist whose literary and agrarian philosophy bridges art, ethics, and ecology. Having left an academic life in New York to return to farming in his native Kentucky, Berry developed an enduring commitment to rural life and sustainable agriculture. His writings—over fifty volumes of poetry, fiction, and essays—celebrate the sanctity of land, the interdependence of communities, and the spiritual dimension of work and stewardship.
Berry’s worldview is deeply rooted in respect for the earth and in resistance to industrial modernity. In works such as The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture (1977), he critiques mechanized farming and corporate exploitation, arguing that the alienation of people from the soil parallels moral and social decay. For Berry, small-scale agriculture sustains not only ecological balance but also human happiness and cultural integrity. His moral ecology insists on a harmony between the natural and the human order, a conviction that “the order of society imposes an ecological question on our personal conduct: what effect do our actions have upon our neighbors and the place where we live?”
In his poetry, such as "The Peace of Wild Things," Berry portrays nature as a sanctuary where humans can recover serenity from modern anxiety. His “Mad Farmer” poems advocate for simplicity, humility, and rebellion against consumerist logic, envisioning an alternative ethic founded on gratitude, hard work, and community. Berry’s aesthetic is therefore both environmental and ethical: beauty resides in the cycles of growth and decay, and moral restoration begins with ecological awareness.
3-2. Sohrab Sepehri
Sohrab Sepehri (1928–1980), the Iranian poet-painter, likewise embodies a profound ecological sensibility. Born in Kashan, Sepehri’s poetic evolution—from Death of Color to The Green Space and We Are Nothing, We Are the Gaze—reflects a gradual departure from classical poetics toward a meditative modernism grounded in Eastern mysticism and environmental consciousness.
Nature in Sepehri’s poetry is not a mere backdrop but a living presence that mediates spiritual revelation. His landscapes are sanctified spaces where divinity and simplicity merge: “I say my prayers when the wind calls to prayer from the minaret of a cypress.” His verses transform natural elements—trees, water, stones—into moral and metaphysical symbols that guide humanity toward purity and self-knowledge. Sepehri’s ecological poetics also serve as a critique of urban alienation; by celebrating rural innocence and the moral beauty of coexistence with nature, he implicitly challenges modern materialism.
Critics have described Sepehri as a poet of visual and spiritual ecology: his art translates natural perception into an ethics of compassion. Through animistic imagery, he restores agency to non-human beings, asserting that the human, vegetal, and cosmic realms are interrelated. In this vision, nature is both teacher and mirror, the measure of human authenticity.
3-3. Environmental Aesthetics
Both poets converge within the theoretical framework of environmental aesthetics, which fuses beauty, ethics, and ecology. This discipline redefines aesthetic experience not as the contemplation of autonomous art objects but as a mode of perception embedded in natural and cultural environments. Following the Romantic lineage—from Wordsworth’s reverence for organic unity to contemporary eco-criticism—environmental aesthetics views the natural world as the highest realization of beauty and moral order.
Philosophically, this approach resists the instrumentalization of nature. The beauty of a tree, a river, or decaying leaves is not subordinate to human pleasure or profit but reveals a self-sufficient value. As Berry and Sepehri both suggest, harmony with nature entails moral restraint and humility: an acknowledgment that human life depends upon, and is accountable to, the larger ecological whole.
3-4. A Study of Selected Poems by Wendell Berry and Sohrab Sepehri
In Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things, the poet escapes human despair by surrendering to “the peace of wild things / who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.” Similarly, Sepehri’s The Sound of the Water’s Footsteps envisions prayer and spiritual freedom within the rhythms of wind, grass, and water. Both poets replace institutional religion with a sacred naturalism that restores equilibrium between body, spirit, and earth.
In Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, Berry explicitly denounces consumerism, urging his readers to “praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed,” and to plant redwoods—symbols of long-term, intergenerational responsibility. His faith in “two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years” mirrors Sepehri’s patient reverence for natural continuity and cyclical renewal.
3-5. The Difference Between Sepehri and Berry’s Perspectives
Wendell Berry and Sohrab Sepehri both link poetry to nature, yet their approaches diverge sharply. Berry sees humanity as morally responsible for the land—urging care, cultivation, and sustainability. His nature is a living project to be protected for future generations. He faces modernity’s crises actively, emphasizing ethical engagement and ecological stewardship, where beauty arises from human responsibility and labor.
Sepehri, by contrast, experiences unity with nature mystically and intuitively. For him, nature is a spiritual homeland offering purity and simplicity, free from the corruption of modern life. Beauty is inherent in nature itself, needing only to be perceived, not created.
While Berry’s poems, such as “The Apple Tree” and “The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” reflect active moral participation in nature’s cycle, Sepehri’s works express oneness and inner peace within it. Berry’s vision remains ethically grounded and future-oriented, whereas Sepehri’s is romantic, contemplative, and transcendental, reaching the harmony Berry can only seek.
 
4- Conclusion
Both Wendell Berry and Sohrab Sepehri are nature-oriented poets influenced by Romanticism, whose works can be analyzed through the lens of ecocriticism. In their poetry, nature is not merely an aesthetic background but a living, conscious, and sacred presence—a teacher to live with, learn from, and respect. While both celebrate simplicity, harmony, and spiritual return to nature, Berry adopts a more realistic and moral stance, warning against environmental destruction and urging responsibility, whereas Sepehri, rooted in Eastern mysticism, envisions an inner serenity born of unity with existence. Ultimately, both poets resist humanity’s alienation from nature in the modern age—one through contemplative gentleness, the other through ecological urgency.