Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems

The arrival of European colonizers led to the disruption of the nature and ecosystem. As the indigenous people with a close relationship to nature, Native Americans express their grief and anxiety about the condition of nature through literary work. The study presented in the present article aims to...

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Main Authors: Epata Puji Astuti, Tatang Iskarna
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universitas Udayana 2024-11-01
Series:Humanis
Online Access:https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/sastra/article/view/119185
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author Epata Puji Astuti
Tatang Iskarna
author_facet Epata Puji Astuti
Tatang Iskarna
author_sort Epata Puji Astuti
collection DOAJ
description The arrival of European colonizers led to the disruption of the nature and ecosystem. As the indigenous people with a close relationship to nature, Native Americans express their grief and anxiety about the condition of nature through literary work. The study presented in the present article aims to scrutinize three selected poems by Joy Harjo “Remember”, “Praise the Rain”, and “I am a Prayer” to see how the poet expresses her ecological grief and anxiety. The lines and stanzas of each poem are analyzed using the theory of intrinsic elements and the five stages of grief by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. The researchers use a descriptive qualitative method and employ a psychological approach to reveal the speaker's suffering in the poem psychologically in which she feels grieved because of the loss of nature. The findings were that there were five stages of grief portrayed in the poems implicitly, that is, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The speaker’s grief and anxiety can be seen from the personification, repetition, and imagery used in the poems. Joy Harjo offers a different way to experience the stage of ecological grief and anxiety. She invites us to honor the journey of grief with empathy, wisdom, and a profound appreciation for the natural world. Harjo invites a deeper awareness that is both accepting of past wounds and open to future possibilities. The acceptance of grief is a crucial step toward reconnection. It is only by accepting the grief of what has been lost that one can truly remember, appreciate, and care for what remains.
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spelling doaj-art-2f9671dc139d4f5dbadd0742fc7f2acb2025-01-05T12:56:27ZengUniversitas UdayanaHumanis2528-50762302-920X2024-11-0128450751610.24843/JH.2024.v28.i04.p07119185Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected PoemsEpata Puji Astuti0Tatang Iskarna1Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaUniversitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaThe arrival of European colonizers led to the disruption of the nature and ecosystem. As the indigenous people with a close relationship to nature, Native Americans express their grief and anxiety about the condition of nature through literary work. The study presented in the present article aims to scrutinize three selected poems by Joy Harjo “Remember”, “Praise the Rain”, and “I am a Prayer” to see how the poet expresses her ecological grief and anxiety. The lines and stanzas of each poem are analyzed using the theory of intrinsic elements and the five stages of grief by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. The researchers use a descriptive qualitative method and employ a psychological approach to reveal the speaker's suffering in the poem psychologically in which she feels grieved because of the loss of nature. The findings were that there were five stages of grief portrayed in the poems implicitly, that is, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The speaker’s grief and anxiety can be seen from the personification, repetition, and imagery used in the poems. Joy Harjo offers a different way to experience the stage of ecological grief and anxiety. She invites us to honor the journey of grief with empathy, wisdom, and a profound appreciation for the natural world. Harjo invites a deeper awareness that is both accepting of past wounds and open to future possibilities. The acceptance of grief is a crucial step toward reconnection. It is only by accepting the grief of what has been lost that one can truly remember, appreciate, and care for what remains.https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/sastra/article/view/119185
spellingShingle Epata Puji Astuti
Tatang Iskarna
Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems
Humanis
title Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems
title_full Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems
title_fullStr Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems
title_full_unstemmed Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems
title_short Ecological Grief and Anxiety: The Voice of Native American in Joy Harjo’s Selected Poems
title_sort ecological grief and anxiety the voice of native american in joy harjo s selected poems
url https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/sastra/article/view/119185
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