The Wild Muir

How do geologists like to relax?

In rocking chairs, of course!

Muir takes on a more hands on experience with nature. His encounters are much more physical and active than the rest. The other authors appreciate and encounter nature, but not in the same way. They have a much more relaxed approach in nature as the walk, lay, saunter, or roam through it. Muir actually gets down and dirty with it. His first-hand experience is the most connected and involved. Muir is more adventurous, fearless and unapologetic with his stance on nature. He has fun with it while appreciating it. Muir is the most lively in his writings, with Whitman being a close second. His bold character and energy make his, an interesting read, and definitely not boring at all. He must have been an extremely strong man to have taken the risks he did and to have pulled someone up from a cliff. Cronon might have criticized Muir for idealizing nature and being to rash with his experiences. 

Muir is not all that relatable for me. His actions are far too extreme, and I do not have the ability nor the will to partake in them. The average man or woman could probably agree as well. He personifies different aspects of nature in his writing. This anthropomorphism of elements in nature lends to his efforts to relate nature to the readers. It creates a more artistic and personal connection between the writing and nature. You can see this in “all the rocks seemed talkative, and more telling and loveable than ever”. His describing the rocks as talkative makes the experience for personal as it leads us to believe that we are not alone in nature. With Muir, he is not just simply existing in nature, he is a part of it.