Hearing the Sound of Nature: Ecocriticism Perspectives in Paiwarin Khao-Ngam’s Poem Entitled ‘Where there is love, love is there’ [Tee Dai Mee Rak Tee Nan Mee Rak]

Abstract

This paper aims to study Paiwarin Khao-Ngam’s poem entitled ‘Where there is love, love is there’ [Tee Dai Mee Rak Tee Nan Mee Rak] through ecocritical lens as well as to analyze literary techniques to present that perspective. The results show that Where there is love, love is there represents predominantly themes dealing with nature which is inspired by the poet’s experiences, and depicts varied elements in the poem. As analyzed through an ecocritical lens, nature is not only constructed as the setting in the story related to characters like classical Thai literature, the holistic relationship between human and nature is also emphasized. It means that nature in this poem represents many functions to encourage human like mother nature, spiritual reliance, mental healing, and reflection of Buddhist didactic. However, humans are the cause of negative effects to nature. Humancentric sentiment, then, is the key concept highlighted for leading human behavior to destroy natural resources.  As for illustration, this poem personifies urbanization as the antagonist resulting in natural transformation; moreover, a human centric view also defines values to nature instead of living with respect to nature. Therefore, the poet stimulates readers by the notion of holistic view between human and nature with humbling and respectful to each other instead of humancentric sentiment. Regarding the literary techniques used to portray that theme, the poet composes characters, plots, and settings in these poems connected to ecological self-conception. Moreover, the poet selects many elaborate figures of speech, punctuations, and symbols to thoroughly compose the poem.