‘Nature influences human thought itself — it has inspired Isaac Newton to Steve Jobs’

Fiona Stafford is professor of English language and literature at Oxford University. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das at Times Evoke, she discusses the many meanings of nature in human lives:
What is the core of your research and writing?
My university subject is English literature but I have recently been working a lot on trees, flowers and landscapes. This grew partly out of my interest in writers like William Wordsworth and Robert Burns but I have become more engaged with natural phenome-non especially with the environmental crisis. I study not just literary representations of nature but also the associations, meanings and ways in which people’s understandings of the landscape, plants and flowers have changed over the years. All these forms of life have been on the planet for an extremely long time and have incredibly rich meanings. It is very important to study these.


What role does nature play in our memories?
In cultures which didn’t depend much on the written word, natural features like trees, mountains and rivers were abso-lutely essential for helping people understand locations. These marked people’s collective memory as communities. They also have a strong personal significance in individual memories. People are shaped by the natural phenomena they grew up with — someone who lived by the sea or in the hills or near a park in the city will have multiple memories bound up with those striking features.


WITNESSING THE TIMES: Oak trees, which live over 600 years, awe with their antiquity. Picture courtesy: iStock
What does this bond with nature tell us about being human?
It tells us everything. It reminds us we are not separate from the natural world but a part of it. It connects us with older, more traditional ways of understanding humanity’s place in the world. There are further important aspects — one of the dimensions of, say, a tree is that it is full of non-human life forms. Being aware of other beings sharing space with us, living with us on the same planet, is extremely important.
It puts our own position in perspective to see other species living their lives beside us but not necessarily taking much notice of us. We often assume the whole world revolves around us. It puts our own position in perspective to see other species living their lives beside us but not necessarily taking much notice of us. We often assume the whole world revolves around us human beings but tending to the natural world makes us see that differently.

HYDE & SEEK: An industrialised West tries to hold nature in areas like Hyde Park. Picture courtesy: iStock
You write about how the apple symbolises a great deal of Western culture — can you tell us about this?
The apple is a foundational symbol in Western culture, not just because it grows widely but it is in the foundational myths. In the Bible, the Garden of Eden has the Tree of Knowledge which is understood as the apple in art and literature. We also find this in Greek and other Western mythologies. It holds modern relevance too — when someone says ‘apple’ today, we think of iPhones. Steve Jobs chose it as the symbol of his innovative company. He, in turn, was influenced by the English scientist Isaac Newton who, in the 17th century, conceptualised the laws of gravity while sitting under an apple tree. He saw a fruit falling down and wondered why the apple fell straight to the ground. The apple thus became a symbol of scientific thought and later grew linked to the Beatles and other cultural icons too. The fruit constantly invokes the meaning of Western culture.


With climate change and habitat loss altering familiar landscapes now, does a person’s understanding of space and time also change?
The environment is changing very rapidly now — and quite a lot of people are in denial about that. If a certain bird was once common, they tend to believe it still is when in fact, there has been a massive loss of biodiversity. Many people find that almost too difficult to imagine. Those who are in tune with these facts are dismayed — there is a deep sense of loss as familiar species face threats or even go extinct. This is a great collective tragedy. Those who are concerned often help with conservation efforts — and it’s surprising how natural species revive with the right conditions. In Britain, a river which had been straightened has recently been returned to its natural course. There are reports already of a regeneration of life in its waters. It is still possible to reverse this threat if people recognise the problem. There is an old myth in the West about the countryside being an unchanging pastoral idyll you can visit anytime from the city — this is a dangerous idea now.

Along with nature’s science, should there be a more formal recognition of the emotional and aesthetic richness it holds?
Yes, absolutely. I think this is extremely important and one of the reasons I wrote about trees and flowers. I wanted to alert people to this very rich human psychological, cultural, intellectual and aesthetic bond with the natural world.
It may be less easy to measure than science but it is no less important. There is a large body of material recording people’s longstanding attachments to the natural world — learning of this also helps us understand how people’s minds and hearts work. We take this side of the environment far too much for granted. Along with food for the body, we need nurture for the mind and soul — only nature gives us all of these.