「我的家園於風雨中搖盪」： 約翰・克萊爾詩中的生態意識及互為主體性

Abstract

本文旨在探討浪漫時期詩人約翰·克萊爾（John Clare）（1789-1864）的動物詩中政治抵抗與生態意識間的交互作用。藉由德國生態學家雅各布·馮·魏克斯庫爾（Jacob von Uexküll）（1864-1944）提出的「環境界」（Umwelt）理論及近年來學術界中蓬勃發展的動物研究，本文分析克萊爾如何透過他自然學家和詩人的雙重身份，以動物書寫反映其反人類中心主義的立場及對英國圈地運動（the enclosure）的批判性回應。本文主張，克萊爾的書寫不僅預見了魏克斯庫爾關於動物主體性感知的理論，更為鄉村中遭受邊緣化的生命發聲。克萊爾典型的生態詩歌（eco-poetry）開闢了一個跳脫傳統美學及資本主義框架的庇護所，對抗功利主義式的自然觀。此外，本文強調克萊爾如何於社會政治動盪中，維持與非人世界的情感連結（affective connection）及其生態意識。相較於學術界傾向於將克萊爾定位為一名就文化及地區性而言根深蒂固於他土生土長的村莊赫普斯頓（Helpston）的「地方詩人」（poet of place），本文轉而著重於克萊爾對於人與非人的共同危脆性的敏銳認知，將其重新詮釋為具有環境意識、視動植物為具自主性的獨立主體的「感性詩人」（poet of feeling）。和浪漫時期盛行的人類本位自然書寫不同，克萊爾的作品強調鄉村中看似微小的生命所蘊含的獨特性和文化重要性，描繪動物於築巢過程中展現的主體性及個體性。他的詩歌展現了人和非人如何以持續建構跨物種間的網路且同時保持物種間的必要距離為前提，共存於彼此相互交織的世界裡。

This thesis examines the interplay between political resistance and ecological consciousness in the animal poems of the Romantic poet John Clare (1789-1864). Building on the Umwelt theory proposed by the German biologist Jacob von Uexküll (1864-1944) and on the burgeoning scholarship of animal studies, this thesis identifies Clare as a naturalist-poet whose work reflects his anti-anthropocentric view of nonhuman world(s) and his responses to the enclosure. It contends that Clare’s writing anticipates Uexküll’s theory of animals’ subjective perceptions and gives voice to marginalized beings within the rural landscapes by recognizing their autonomy. In resisting the utilitarian concept of nature, Clare’s prototypical eco-poetry creates an alternative shelter beyond conventional aesthetic and capitalist norms. This thesis highlights Clare’s affective connection with nonhumans and his ecological consciousness amid socio-political upheavals. In so doing, it challenges the mainstream characterization of Clare as a “poet of place,” culturally and geographically rooted in his native village, Helpston, and instead sees him as a “poet of feeling,” sensitive to his shared precarity with nonhumans. Clare manifests a proto-environmental awareness, viewing animals and plants as autonomous subjects. Unlike his literary contemporaries’ largely anthropocentric portrayals of nature, his work recognizes the particularity and cultural value of visually insignificant beings in the countryside as well as animals’ subjectivity and individuality in their nest-building. His poetry portrays the interwoven worlds of humans and nonhumans, who coexist through the continuous making of interspecies networking and the maintenance of a necessary distance from one another.