From Landscape to Literature: What Can Writing about Nature Bring to the Classroom?

Year 2006, Issue: 24, 71 - 81, 01.10.2006

Isabel Fernandes Alves

Abstract

In Icons of Loss and Grace, Susan Hanson describes a moment when, as a teacher, she asks her students: “where do you meet Mystery in your life?”, noting that most of them looked at her in puzzlement 47 . Her aim is to underline how much strength and wisdom one can get from the natural world, and for her, it is earth that teaches the mysteries of life; it is through nature that the human spirit comprehends the fact that a life can flourish for a season, die, and vanish like the morning fog 101 . Hanson’s question intends to alert the students to the necessity of being engaged with the world they live in, and consequently, to inquire permanently about the purpose of their lives.

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