"Symbiosis or Death": - Rhodes University

87
way of finding our sense of place on the Earth and a consequent attainment of
ecological health. We need to see that we are part of nature (and the greater cosmos) and
are “just another life-form”, in Livingstone’s words (1989b: 74, Fazzini 1990: 139). This
requires an act of imagination. He uses evolutionary theory to establish a common ground
between humanity and nature and from this base explores humankind’s separation from
nature in many other poems. Livingstone’s idea of a Creative Principle, while arguably
antithetical to Darwinism, is for him crucial to our knowing our place within the natural
scheme of things because it demands that we revere the Earth. The human capacity for
love offers another path towards an ecologically informed view and this is explored in the
love poems in A Rosary of Bone, particularly in “Loving” (see also chapter six).
2. Humankind’s ambivalent relationship with nature
As indicated in the introduction to this chapter, Livingstone’s view of man and nature is
as complex as the concepts themselves. In analysing key poems which broadly fall into
(1) humankind as part of nature; (2) as apart from nature; and (3) with one foot in each
camp, I hope to demonstrate Livingstone’s preoccupation with humanity’s ambiguous
position both on and of the Earth. There are a clutch of poems from Sjambok which
reflect humankind as both part of and apart from nature. This ambivalence is best
portrayed in “The Killers” (46), examined more closely on page 101. The other poems
which examine man’s ambivalent relationship to nature are: “To a Dead Elephant” (18),
“She-Jackal” (27) and “Wattle Leaves” (34).
The following close analysis of chosen poems from the first two categories shows
that they do not fit neatly into these boxes; but the framework embodies the thesis and
antithesis of humankind’s relationship to nature. This tension, if resolved, would lead to
synthesis through humanity’s symbiotic relationship with other Earthly life-forms. I call
this “ecological equilibrium” and explore Livingstone’s treatment of it in the next
section.
• Humankind as part of nature
There are relatively few poems which can be included under this theme. Livingstone
shows that humankind struggles to see itself as part of nature and that it is only through
imaginative identification that this relationship is established. He uses the intermediaries