International Journal of Language & Literature

Conceptualization of Nature in the African American Poetry: Ecocritical Discourse Analysis
Nataliia Gach

Abstract
The article examines the linguistic means of the representation of the concept NATURE within the African American poetic discourse. It is proved that the nature as a relatively independent cultural and intellectual phenomenon is the embodiment of the cultural and aesthetic values and conventions of a linguistic community. The research is carried out within the analysis of the African American nature poetry of XVIII - XXI cent. The methods of the cognitive and ecocritical discourse analysis are aimed at the dynamic text interpretation resulting in the outline of the constituent elements of the concept NATURE characteristic for the African American community. The diachronic scope of the study helps to trace the emergence and the evolution of the concept NATURE, and serves the basis for the comparative analysis of its constituent elements in the African American poetry throughout the centuries. The results of the research show that the conception of nature by the African Americans (represented within the dichotomy of such notions as life and death, hostility and refuge, wilderness and paradise, etc.) is an outcome of an external historical and cultural influence and a continuous struggle with white civilization.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijll.v4n1a33