Nature as Reflected in American Literature. Speaks of work by Plato, Twain, Melville, Bryant, andThoreau

In his Poetics, Plato contemplates the nature of aesthetics and existence. He postulates that for every existing object and idea there is an absolute 'ideal' which transcends human experience. He further concludes that art, including literature, is an aesthetic representation of real objects and ideas that is used to better understand their 'ideals.' In theory, as an object becomes closer ideal it also becomes a better subject for the artist. American artists in particular …

…Melville, and Bryant. This is the key to American Literature. If art is truly a representation of some impalpable ideal made in the hopes of better understanding existence, then nature has been the greatest vehicle for art in America. Since the settling of this continent, the authors of America have been greatly affected by a wild, beautiful, and almost ideal nature. American Literature, therefore, has taken nature in as it's most important and loved subject.