Guest Writer Nenad Knežević

Guest Writer Nenad Knežević on Nature and Poetry’s Nexus

Guest Writer Nenad Knežević on Nature and Poetry's Nexus

This week, The Renaissance Garden Guy hosts guest writer Nenad Knežević, creator of the internationally renowned Grammaticus website and blog.  The esteemed writer and academician contributes a beautiful essay on the joys of walking amidst nature, the art of appreciating poetry, and the singular pleasure of giving a bird its due.  

On Guest Writer, Nenad Knežević…

My first encounter with Nenad Knežević’s written work was back in May of this year when I discovered, on a particular social media platform, a link to a fascinating educational piece from a website known as Grammaticus.  The article, of course written by Nenad Knežević, was about the correct use of correlative conjunctions in English.  I considered the piece to be a sound and exceptionally well-written piece of grammatical tutelage.  It addressed, in academically correct and comprehensible fashion, the proper application of this often misused (by any number of people here in the United States – including writers) convention.  What made the piece so fascinating to me, beyond its obvious intrinsic academic value and exceptional readability, was the story of the guy behind its writing.

After reading the piece, I explored more of the plentiful, diverse content featured on the Grammaticus site, and learned a great deal about its talented and impeccably informed protean creator.  Nenad’s writing, across the entire spectrum of his considerable oeuvre, is wonderful.  His interests range from the esoteric to the popular, and his knowledge base and expertise are deep and profound.  The gentleman’s academic pedigree is sterling – he possesses two master’s degrees and has an extensive list of published papers to his name.  He’s also proficient in six (seven if you formally distinguish between Serbian and Croatian) different languages.  This last fact begs an intriguing point: the man is an Eastern European native – born in Croatia and residing in Serbia – who posesses an unsurpassed mastery of both the spoken and written English word.  As I’d once (quite seriously) remarked on Twitter one day, I wish I’d had him as a professor back in my own undergrad days.  Nenad Knežević is an educator, a writer, a scholar, a connoisseur of the fine, performing, literary, and language arts, a classical history impresario, and a highly skilled and prolific creator.

And for today, we’ve got him right here.

Please enjoy his beautiful essay…

On long walks, birds and poems (featuring Emily Dickinson)

When I first started reading poetry seriously and systematically, with patience and openmindedness I had previously lacked, it coincided with two other developments in my life that I now believe to have been inextricably linked. Both are seemingly unrelated to the practice of reading poetry, but in my case they turned out to be essential to it. As unusual as it may seem, they were walking and bird watching. No amount of reading literary theory helped me to appreciate poetry more than those two activities, but let me try to explain why.

The habit of taking long walks, highly uncharacteristic of my earlier, predominantly sedentary, way of life, completely redefined my sense of what constitutes ‘walking distance’. I’d like to think it brought along some health benefits as well, but most importantly, it added unexpected new insights and awareness. I began to see my neighbourhood differently, realising there was far more to it than meets the eye. After about a decade of living in the same part of the city, I learned for the first time that there were hedgehogs nesting in the undergrowth; I found spots with hazelnut trees and delightful rosehip bushes. And those purple flowers growing all over the place? Chicory! These had been around me for years, but I entirely failed to register them, as if partially blind.

However, nothing had I been more oblivious to than birds – as if they didn’t exist, apart perhaps from the ubiquitous street pigeons. That was soon to change: when passing crows or magpies foraging for food along my walking route, something would urge me to slow down, pause, and pay attention. As the birds would cautiously turn their heads towards me and begin to scuttle away, I’d whisper a quiet hullo, or nod at them in acknowledgment and reassurance. (I still do that; I feel it would somehow be rude not to.) And what to say of all the bird sounds, often drowned in the noise of the urban jungle, but even more often ignored and simply taken for granted? I didn’t use to hear them at all. Now I do, and I listen.

But what has any of that to do with poetry? Well, everything! People come to appreciate poetry and develop their interpretive practices by any number of means, but I have become quite dogmatic about the necessity of having a developed, cultured and cultivated appreciation of the natural world as a prerequisite. Poetry beckons us to look inwards, but as a result of that process we also become far more perceptive of the outwards. Nature has a similarly twofold effect: as we become more observant and appreciative of the created world, our ability to create and process symbols, metaphors and allegories derived from it enriches our inner lives. These words are not merely abstract-sounding theoretical terms and literary devices divorced from our experience; they happen to be modes of our communion with nature, giving it – giving us – meaning.

There are very many poets and entire literary movements that could be used to illustrate the depth and richness of the close relationship between nature and poetry, from classical antiquity to modern times. In this post I would like to share a poem by someone who has been a great inspiration to me personally. Titled by the first line ‘A Bird came down the Walk’, the poem was written by Emily Dickinson, first published posthumously, in 1891. If you haven’t encountered it before, notice how the poet first narrowly focuses on the bird and its immediate surroundings: a drop of dew, a beetle, a leaf of grass, a tiny crumb offered in sympathy. Then, the clarity with which Dickinson depicts a moment of the bird’s watchful wariness which leads to the culmination in the final lines: by means of analogy and metaphor, the simple, everyday scene changes into a moment of transcendence.

A Bird came down the Walk—

He did not know I saw—

He bit an Angleworm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw,

 

And then he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass—

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To let a Beetle pass—

 

He glanced with rapid eyes

That hurried all around—

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought—

He stirred his Velvet Head

 

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb

And he unrolled his feathers

And rowed him softer home—

 

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam—

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon

Leap, plashless as they swim.

Dickinson, who famously spent a good portion of her life housebound, living the life of a recluse, never lost the poetic perception that comes with the love of nature. (Or is it the other way around – love of nature that arises out of poetic perception?) Not surprisingly, she would return to the theme of birds quite a few times, mentioning them in over 200 of her poems. While this particular one is sometimes cited to demonstrate the poet’s child-like curiosity and naivete about the natural world, it is not an immature work of fantasy, nor a figment of fanciful imagination.

A good poem does not embellish. It is true to life as it really is – when you are fully awake to it. This is something I wouldn’t have understood were it not for my daily walks and casual hat tips to unsuspecting magpies.

Was I right, or was I right?  The RGG’s guest writer, Nenad Knežević, is everything I cracked him up to be, and more.  He’s an incredibly talented writer, an afficionado of fine literature, and a remarkably perceptive observer of the natural world.  His contribution today underscores these facts.

I was particularly moved by the astonishing leap in Nenad’s perception of his natural surroundings, and fascinated by the reciprocal, causal relationship he cites as existing between that very perception of the natural world, and the evocative effects of a work of poetry.  Of course, his inclusion and exemplification of the glorious work of the brilliant Dickinson was beautifully accomplished and perfectly appropriate.  Simply put, I absolutely loved Nenad’s masterful piece.  And I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. 

It’s truly been an honor and great pleasure for me to have featured the work of this extremely gifted, and truly gracious gentleman, here on The Renaissance Garden Guy.  And it’s my sincerest hope that today’s illustrious guest writer, Nenad Knežević, will return here to reveal more of his wonderful knowledge, inimitable insights, and formidable scholarship, and to demonstrate more of his excellent writing.  In the meantime, I highly recommend a visit (actually, I highly recommend multiple, sustained visits) to his remarkable site, Grammaticus please click here to visit.  And please remember to follow him on Twitter and Instagram, connect with him on LinkedIn, and check him out on Goodreads.

As always, dear readers and subscribers, I thank you most sincerely for your kind interest and readership.

Cheers, and Happy Gardening!

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8 thoughts on “Guest Writer Nenad Knežević on Nature and Poetry’s Nexus”

  1. I agree with you that Nenad Knežević is a great writer and with Nenad about the nexus between poetry and nature; in fact (to me), anything that moves us is an inspiration for us to do art, to express that which fills our hearts, and… what is more beautiful, enchanting and magic, what fills our senses, our nervous system and our spirits more than the air, the rain, the colour of the flowers, the smell of the grass, or the enchanting secret mysteries of the wild life?
    Thank you both for your beautiful and sensitive writing.

    1. Thank you so much for your own beautifully written thoughts, Maria. And, of course, I’m very grateful for your readership and for your lovely compliment. I’m so glad that you’ve enjoyed Nenad’s wonderful work. I hope he will continue to grace The Renaissance Garden Guy with more of his writing. Fortunately, his excellent material is readily accessible on Grammaticus! Thank you once again, Maria. I appreciate all of your wonderful kindness.

  2. The Art of the Written Word is not lost on me. However, the power, spirit and magic of nature is beautifully presented in a way that goes straight to my soul!

    1. Isn’t Nenad an amazing writer? Based on your own lovely thoughts and words here, it’s very clear to me that his insights and perceptions, so beautifully relayed, really hit home for you. I’m so glad you enjoyed his work. Thank you for reading this feature, and thank you for your lovely thoughts.

  3. Extremely wonderful article, made me realize even more about the beauty of nature and the meaningfulness of poetry 🙏💖🌸

    1. Thank you so much for reading the feature, Roxxy. I agree with you. Nenad, in his beautiful essay, perfectly articulated the relationship that exists among human thought and perception, the natural world, and poetry. He’s an amazing writer and a true gentleman, and it was entirely my honor and pleasure to have hosted him, and his lovely work, here on The Renaissance Garden Guy. Thanks once again, Roxxy!

      1. John, I must thank you once again for bringing such a wonderful writer to my attention. His unique insight into the link between nature and poetry makes all of us stop and realize that poetry is often an extension of the natural world. Keep up the good work and continue your own writing.

        1. Thank you so much for reading this feature, and for your very kind thoughts and words, Kevin. You are absolutely right about Nenad and his beautiful, insightful, and moving piece. He’s truly a brilliant writer, and a very keen observer. I’m very glad that you enjoyed his work. Thanks once again!

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