Romanticism

In literature class we have been reading the Romantic writers of the 19th century (such as Emerson and Thoreau.) I wrote this poem as a hopefully humorous critique of these authors' ideals. Recently, I have tried to avoid explaining my poems too much in order to leave interpretation up to the reader. However, I think this one requires a little explanation. The main ideal that this poem critiques is the belief that nature is 'uncorrupted' (by the 'evil' effects of civilization) and should therefore be the source of our understanding of everything true, good, and beautiful. I am not saying that nature is bad or that we can't learn anything from it. I am merely saying that it is not perfect since it has been affected by the fall. Creation is not our standard, it's perfect Creator is.

Critique of Romanticism 4/13/2010
I heard of a man they called Joe
Who adored every green thing that grows.
The flowers and meadows and light
Were sources of all his delight.
He often took walks in the trees
While blessing the pollen he sneezed.
He felt that in nature he found
More that merely the sky and the ground.
For truths of his life and his soul
He found in the grass of a knoll.
He dreamed of a life far beyond him,
Then a grizzly bear feasted upon him.