In my paper, Thomas Nagel’s essay "What is it like to be a bat?" will be discussed in connection with Emily Dickinson’s poem "The bat is dun, with wrinkled wings" and D. H. Lawrence’s poem "Man and Bat". Furthermore, I want to prove in how far Nagel’s basic ideas can be found in these two different poems.
Thomas Nagel’s basic idea is that there are some experiences that cannot be fully explained, that human experience can only be subjective and that scientists, though they try to analyse things, cannot explain everything. In his essay "What is it like to be a bat?" he gives the example of persons who are blind from birth. Therefore, they will never experience, e.g. the colours of flowers because they have never seen them. As well as we do not know the experiences of a blind person, we will never be able to understand a bat, even if we know how their sonar system works.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Analysis of Dickinson’s "The bat is dun, with wrinkled wings"
3. Analysis of Lawrence’s "Man and Bat"
4. Synthesis and Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This paper examines Thomas Nagel’s philosophical essay "What is it like to be a bat?" in the context of Emily Dickinson’s poem "The bat is dun, with wrinkled wings" and D. H. Lawrence’s "Man and Bat," exploring whether the subjects of these poems validate Nagel’s argument regarding the subjectivity of experience.
- Subjective experience and the limits of human knowledge.
- Comparative analysis of bat imagery in American and British poetry.
- The psychological response of humans when confronted with "alien" species.
- The intersection of philosophy, literature, and biological ethics.
- Reflections on the limitations of language and imagination.
Excerpt from the Book
Man and Bat
D. H. Lawrence’s poem Man and Bat is different to Dickinson’s, as it is a very long and personal narration with a first-person narrator, written in free verse. The poem, which consists of 174 lines, has no regular stanzas. The length of lines can vary from one (D.H.L., l. 129) to fourteen (D.H.L., l. 132) words. These one-word lines are mostly direct speech, which is underlined by dashes at the beginning and at the end of a sentence and exclamation marks. Furthermore, he often uses run-on lines and he even separates the words ”blast-furnace” (D.H.L., l. 69) and ”handkerchief” (D.H.L., l. 74). Very rarely, iambic meters are discernible, e.g. two feet (D.H.L., l. 138) and six feet (D.H.L., l. 141).
This poem is a psychological study of human behaviour and demonstrates the reactions of a human being when confronted with a bat. The narrator enters his room in Florence and finds there a bat, which flies around in circles. First he thinks it is a bird, but then he realizes that it is a bat and instantly he is overcome with disgust and a feeling of insanity (D.H.L., ll. 9, 11). He utters short words like ”why”, “a bird”, “a bat”, “go” (D.H.L., ll. 6, 7, 10, 13). These utterances and the repetition of the word “insane” (D.H.L., ll. 8, 9) emphasise his excitement. He tries to chase him out. But the bat is not willing to leave, he resists. So there is a kind of battle between a man and a wild disgusting animal. The bat, the narrator’s enemy, is also male (D.H.L., l. 26). The narrator’s weapons are his handkerchief and certainly his loud voice with which he tries to chase the bat out (D.H.L., ll. 13, 19, 25). The narrator is so full of revulsion that he does not remember that the bat is an animal of the night and therefore is not able to fly into the sunlight.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the theoretical basis of the paper, specifically Thomas Nagel’s philosophical inquiry into the nature of subjective experience and its application to literary portrayals of bats.
2. Analysis of Dickinson’s "The bat is dun, with wrinkled wings": This section examines the formal and thematic elements of Dickinson’s poem, focusing on the bat as a mystical and "beneficent" creature within the framework of God’s creation.
3. Analysis of Lawrence’s "Man and Bat": This chapter provides a detailed psychological interpretation of Lawrence’s poem, exploring the narrator's conflict, disgust, and eventual shift in perspective toward the bat.
4. Synthesis and Conclusion: This final section reconciles the readings of both poems with Nagel’s theory, concluding that human understanding of "alien" species remains inherently limited by our own subjective cognitive scope.
Keywords
Thomas Nagel, Emily Dickinson, D. H. Lawrence, Animal Poetry, Subjectivity, Human Consciousness, Bats, Literary Analysis, Psychological Study, God's Creation, Speciesism, Philosophical Perspective, Perception, Creatureliness.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this academic paper?
The paper explores how Thomas Nagel’s philosophical argument—that objective understanding of other species is impossible due to subjective constraints—manifests in the literary representations of bats by Emily Dickinson and D. H. Lawrence.
What are the primary thematic fields covered in the work?
The work covers philosophy of mind, comparative literature, animal studies, and the intersection of human psychology with the natural world.
What is the main research question or goal?
The goal is to determine to what extent the subjective human perspective, as defined by Nagel, limits the understanding and portrayal of animals in the selected poems.
Which scientific or analytical methods are applied?
The author employs close reading and comparative literary analysis, utilizing a psychological framework to interpret the narrators' reactions toward the animals.
What is discussed in the main body of the paper?
The main body consists of an analysis of Dickinson’s formalistic and mystical view of the bat, followed by an in-depth psychological study of the conflict-ridden narrative in D. H. Lawrence’s poetry.
What key concepts define this work?
Key concepts include subjective vs. objective experience, the "limitations of imagination," the representation of "ugly" or "impure" creatures, and the moral responsibility of the human observer.
How does Dickinson’s perception of the bat differ from Lawrence’s?
Dickinson portrays the bat with a sense of wonder and mystical utility, whereas Lawrence views the bat as an "unclean," "insane," and intrusive beast that triggers a visceral sense of revulsion.
Why does the narrator in Lawrence's poem eventually save the bat?
The narrator reaches a moment of realization that he is not God and that he cannot force the bat to defy its biological nature; he chooses responsibility over violence.
Does the author believe Nagel's argument holds true?
Yes, the author concludes that since human vocabulary and imagination are limited by our own sensory experience, we remain fundamentally unable to fully grasp the experience of other species.
What role does the "whiteness of daylight" play in the poem "Man and Bat"?
The daylight acts as a boundary that the bat cannot cross, highlighting the vast physiological and experiential difference between the nocturnal creature and the human narrator.
- Citation du texte
- Judith Leitermann (Auteur), 2013, Animal Poetry. "The Bat is dun, with wrinkled Wings" and "Man and Bat" in connection with Thomas Nagel’s essay "What is it like to be a bat?", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/337915
