Nature in Poems by Frost, Marlowe and Thomas

Nature is often praised and celebrated in poetry. Three poems by three different authors all illustrate this well: "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas, "Birches" by Robert Frost, and Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." While each poet has a different purpose, all three choose in their poems to focus on joy in life rather than despair, and use the beauty of nature to justify their optimism. In addition, all three poets present living within nature as a life of freedom and joy.

Robert Frost is perhaps the most obvious of the deliberate optimists. He looks at birch trees that have nearly been killed by ice storms and instead sees the beauty. He knows logically that the trees are gracefully curved to the ground by nature's destructive forces. He says,

"EThey are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,

And...
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