‘Landscapes are the
world itself and may also be metaphors of the world. A tree can be both a tree
and The Tree, a path both a path and The Path. A tree in the Garden of Eden
represents the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge. It becomes the archetype of
Tree. When a path represents the Path of Enlightenment of Buddhism or the
Stations of the Cross of Christianity it is no longer a mere path, but The Path
’
- Anne Whiston
Spirn (The Language of Landscapes)
Landscapes are stories and all have the elements of language.
Languages have shape, structure, formation, material and function, Landscapes
have these characteristics as well as but often need to be read closer to
understand them.
We seek to write our own existence onto these landscapes, but
we are not the only ones. The landscape is constantly evolving, changing,
creating new stories. In some ways, those who seek to carve their own existence
on a landscape are a mere blip on the radar of time.
Landscapes are not merely read, but they can be seen,
smelled, heard and touched, (to begin reading the landscape, you have to somewhat
become one with it). The stones crunch underfoot, the wind whistles through the
long grass and the creaking of trees swaying in the wind. All of these are
elements of a story happening in the landscape; these devices inspired many of
the early Romantics such as William Wordsworth as they sought to convey the grandeur
of the landscape.
The language of landscapes is vast and confusing and we only
read small sections at a time (often from very different viewpoints). So that
what we end up with is often a false description of the landscape as a whole.
Notes from: The Language of Landscape, Anne Whiston Spirn
