The Poetics of Resistance: An Ecocritical Reading of A. D. Hope’s Australia

Nature writing foregrounds the beauty and importance of the natural world. It often seeks to evoke a sense of wonder and awe in readers, encouraging them to appreciate and protect the natural world. Nature writing in its early stages promotes nature as a real, uncreated world that exists outside of human reach. But later periods saw the commodification of nature as a result of industrialization and urbanization brought about by modernism and colonialism, which also treated nature as a product. The invasion and migration of people from different cultures and regions further shaped the perception and exploitation of nature. Our precarious and endangered relationship with the environment is a common theme in modern literature. Men locate themselves in nature through culture and community. However, the rapid rise of commercial empires has destroyed culture everywhere. This present article seeks to analyze the impact of migration, modernization, and westernization in the continent of Australia and how they hinder the eco-system, culture, and sustainability of the landscape through a close analysis of the poem Australia by A. D. Hope.