{"id":705,"date":"2021-09-15T21:08:58","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T01:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=705"},"modified":"2021-09-15T21:08:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T01:08:58","slug":"nature-is-the-natural-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2021\/09\/15\/nature-is-the-natural-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature is the Natural Metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s blog, I decided to read and analyze <\/span>Psalm 91<\/span><\/a> of the Old Testament. The Psalm relies on imagery and metaphors of nature to articulate a sense of hope for trusting in \u201cGod\u201d (91:1). The nature of this metaphor resembles similar metaphors that exist in Micheal Field’s, Underneath the Bough– <\/em>where the environmental nature connects to human nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Psalm establishes a symbolic presentation of the life of a bird and our own human life. The song first begins with an allusion to extraneous stories in the Bible. For example, \u201cWhoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High\/ will rest in the shadow of the Almighty\u201d (91:2). A reference to \u201cMost High\u201d alludes to other mentions of God in the Bible; however, literally, the highest place of dwelling would be trees, directly connecting birds to the song (91:1). Birds have a distinct physical trait that distinguishes them from any other animal– that is — they can fly. Due to their ability to dwell in the air and high places like trees, their natural being separates them and protects them from many dangers that lurk on the surface of the Earth. In the eyes of humans, they seem to be protected by this seemingly magical ability. Thus, birds are a perfect metaphorical partner to God-protected humans, as they share a seemingly magical presence of protection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The metaphor to birds become more explicit in the proceeding lines:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSurely he will save you\/ from the fowler\u2019s snare\/ He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you will find refuge;\/ \u2026You will not fear\/\u2026the arrow that flies by day\u201d (91:5-12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bird imagery begins with \u201cthe fowler\u2019s snare\u201d (91:6). A fowler, according to Merriam Webster, is a person who hunts wildfowl. A snare is the typical type of trap used to capture birds and other small animals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The song uses these metaphors to construct a representation of evil that resides in everyday life. However, the \u201cfeathers\u201d of the Almighty will protect all who take shelter underneath his wings (91:8). Thus, the song uses the metaphor of a bird\u2019s wings protecting other birds to God\u2019s protection over humans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even those who \u201cdwell in the shelter of the Most High\u201d will not fear the \u201carrow that flies by day\u201d (91:1,12). Humans historically used arrows for hunting birds. We have evolved from a hunting and gathering society, so arrows were a way to capture food. Despite this, birds would have continued to fly through the air– without an ounce of fear. In these lines, the arrows symbolize the similar threats that we face in everyday life. Hardships like death, malice, heartbreak, disease, tragedy, and every other adversity humans face. Yet, like birds, humans would have no fear with the \u201ctrust\u201d in \u201cthe Almighty\u201d (91:4,2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nature presents many natural metaphors that connect to human nature. Similar to Micheal Field\u2019s Underneath the Bough, Psalm 91 uses natural elements, specifically birds, to articulate and perpetuate ideas of hope for humans. The bird metaphor in this Psalm speaks to the power the \u201cMost High\u201d possesses in protecting those who love the Lord (91:1). <\/span><\/p>\n

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In this week\u2019s blog, I decided to read and analyze Psalm 91 of the Old Testament. The Psalm relies on imagery and metaphors of nature to articulate a sense of hope for trusting in \u201cGod\u201d (91:1). The nature of this metaphor resembles similar metaphors that exist in Micheal Field’s, Underneath the Bough– where the environmental … Continue reading Nature is the Natural Metaphor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4709,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145909],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}