Carleton College

You are here: Campus > Cowling Arboretum > Student/Faculty Connections > English > Four Dimensions of Nature Writing

Text Only/ Printer-Friendly

Four Dimensions of Nature Writing

Environmental and Technology Studies 210. The Four Dimensions of Nature Writing: Fall 2008

This course will explore our nature writing tradition with readings, field trips, and writing exercises. We will approach the tradition through four dimensions wherein we perceive nature: the self, the "other," space, and time. We will read representative excerpts from founding figures: Gilbert White -- nature as the self; William Bartram -- nature as the "other"; Henry Thoreau -- nature as space; Charles Darwin -- nature as time. This course will explore attempts to coordinate the dimensions with things like Bigfoot legends in The Klamath Knot: Explorations in Myth and Evolution. Field trips and writing exercises will focus on interpreting local landscapes in terms of the four dimensions.

Instructor: David Rains Wallace

Field trips to the Arboretum resulted in writing exercises related to the trip experiences.

Burr Oak on Hillside Prairie

Related Documents

Nicholas Bellos '12 Rocks (10 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Jessica Brooks '09 path (34 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Caitlin McKimmy '10 Postage Stamp Prairie (11 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Caitlin McKimmy '10 The Sound of Falling (10 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Allison Morgan '09 Oak Meditation (12 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Lindsey Nietmann '09, An Unnatural History (11 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Lindsey Nietmann '09 The Bearing Tree (11 KB PDF Document)

Essay
Amy Sun Vignette #2 (9 KB PDF Document)

Essay

Cowling Arboretum pages maintained by Nancy Braker

This page was last updated on 18 March 2009