Wild Reckoning: An Anthology Provoked by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

John Burnside and Maurice Riordan, Editors
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London, U.K., 2004
254 pp. Paper, £7.50
ISBN: 1-903080-00-2.

Reviewed by Rob Harle (Australia)

recluse@lis.net.au

Wild Reckoning is a truly inspired creation from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. This poetry anthology consists of over one hundred poems, some specially commissioned for the book, others from many of the world’s greatest poets both past and present.

The criterion for inclusion in the anthology was poetry that represented the great tradition of, "nature poetry at its most imaginative and original––poems which explore the relationship between the human and the non-human". The editors were determined not to, "gather together a garland of ‘nice poems about birds and flowers’ (p. 21)". They have succeeded admirably.

The inspiration for this anthology was ‘provoked’ by Rachel Carson’s masterpiece Silent Spring. For those very young readers who may not be familiar with Carson’s work, or those with failing memory, Silent Spring was first published in 1962 much to the horror of government regulatory agencies, chemical pesticide manufacturing corporations, and politicians. The public and the popular press loved the book, and it quickly became a best seller. This anthology is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the book’s publication.

Silent Spring not only informed a largely ignorant public about the insidious and long-term dangers of the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides, especially DDT, but also exposed the attempts by government and regulatory agencies to justify the use of these chemicals by ‘fiddling the books’ and deceiving the public. The American president J.F. Kennedy, after reading the book, ordered a scientific study—this study endorsed Carson’s claims and criticised the chemical companies (p. 17-18).

As with many visionaries and those who challenge the system, Carson was persecuted, ridiculed by other scientists, and, of course, concerted efforts were made by the chemical companies to discredit her claims and her qualifications to make those claims. One of the main points of attack was that Carson was not a specialist in the areas of concern. She herself did not make claims to be writing as a specialist; in fact, her approach was holistic, and it was only through this approach that the dangers she exposed could be understood. She had two science degrees, and even after decades of scrutiny almost all her scientific claims have been vindicated. The other criticism of Silent Spring was that it was not written in a scientifically neutral way. That is, it espoused moral values, portrayed a passionate feeling towards the natural world, and, heaven forbid, it was very well written in a poetic literary sense.

One of the main aims of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is to foster rewarding and productive liasions between science and art. To this end, the editors of the anthology commissioned a number of poets to work directly with scientists to draw out the best qualities of both disciplines. This holistic approach reflected the spirit of Carson’s work and resulted in some very interesting pieces of literature.

I shudder to think of what our planet would be like today if it had not been for the insight and tireless effort of Rachel Carson. If anything, she underestimated the dangers of excessive and ignorant use of chemical pesticides because she did not, as is sometimes thought, advocate the complete banning of pesticides but rather proposed an integrated biological approach. However, many of the chemicals she investigated are now totally banned globally, surely a testimony to her credibility and insight at a time when few scientists could see past the end of their laboratory test tubes.

There are so many wonderful poems in Wild Reckoning, which cover all aspects of the natural world that it is difficult to single any out for special mention. There is one, however, which for me captures the holistic approach of Carson and our relationship at the deepest possible level with nature and that is, "St Kevin and the Blackbird" by Seamus Heaney. Heaney won the Nobel Prize in literature, and this poem also appears in his wonderful book, The Spirit Level. The poem tells of St Kevin, who is meditating with his arm out the window, a blackbird settles in his open hand and lays her eggs. He is committed to endure the hardship of holding his arm outstretched until the eggs are hatched. In so doing, he truly achieves a total understanding and unification with the natural world.

As with St Kevin, so with Rachel Carson. In Silent Spring she asked us to try and imagine a "world without birdsong". This wonderful anthology will go a small way to making sure such a catastrophe could never occur.