James Dickey Essay

James Dickey (1923 1997) is one of the outstanding modern American poets. His criticism provides a scope of ideas on what humanity has gained throughout the twentieth century. His standstill is likely to amaze an observer by constant critical nones on what is universally called amenities of life. Thus, the figure of James Dickey cannot be underestimated in cost of his poetical style and criticism of perpetually developing bettermentive life of the mankind during the twentieth century.His inclinations to make people understand the charms of primitivism and animalism were straightforward. He could put his reasoning over the entire life through the eyes of animals and nature. Thus, the environmental line of humanity and morality worried him much. It is reflected in his poetry by making emphasis on the significance of return to the nature in order to think like a child of nature.Dickeys principal(prenominal) motivation for claiming the importance of return to primitivism was not sp ontaneous. He had got through participation in World War II and Korean War (Thesing and Wrede 151). In this respect the poet was highly depressed by losing his older br other(a). In fact, it turned into a cycle of poems on the main themes of family, survival, spiritual rebirth, love, war and some other (Vaughan 115).With multiple poems included in the compilation The Whole Motion, Dickey described war as the source for cruelty and disfigured estimation of humanity at large (Thesing and Wrede 153). In this very collection one embraces the evolution of Dickey as a poet. The author followed a specific for Modernism feature of the stream-of-consciousness technique. He introduced it in personal evaluation of human civilization, as a self-destructing unity of people. Moreover, Dickey was trying to make a set of inter link topics interwoven in terms of their collision and approach toward the theory of a natural man.Attacking the problem of civilization, James Dickey is likely to blame wor lds progress on the example of his best-known poem The FirebombingThe enemy-colored skin of familiesDetermines to hold its colorIn sleep, as my hand turns whiterThan ever, clutches the toggle The ship shakes bucksFire hangs not yet fireIn the air above BeppuFor I am fulfillingAn anti-morale raid upon it (Kendall 511).Based on this single excerpt from the poem, Dickey brings the main problem of the mankind to notice. It is grounded on misunderstanding of where the edge between morality and violence takes place. The author perceives an enormous and ominous power of violence supported by humanity. He understands personal helplessness. Thus, he had no choice but to reflect his rumination in the form of a holistic criticism of the civilization and its consequences. Hence, Dickey is invariably critiquing civilization, and it feels like he never repeated the same theme colored by a banal estimation. It is also included into The Sheep Child. His poetic language was slow to comprehend. Thu s, the readers and followers can easily take Dickey as he is.As a matter of fact, born in Atlanta, Georgia, Dickey was loosely related to the concept of nature as he lived, studied, and worked for some period of time in the south of the USA (OBriant 158). His southern origin and what he once experience in person gave him motivation for teaching the audience being glowering toward what the civilized life had fallen into (James Dickey 1). In this respect the primitivism and the concept of the natural man are the paramount alternatives represented in his poetry.