More Themes From "Turtle Island"

One of the bioregional themes I found in many of Snyder’s poems in “Turtle Island” was humanity's need for nature. In three poems I read, “The Uses of Light,” “O Waters,” and “Without.” Snyder discusses how we need the environment and it helps to sustain us. By destroying the bioregion we are essentially sabotaging ourselves. In “The Uses of Life” Snyder tells of all the benefits light has to offer. “It warms [his] bones” and “draws [him] out of the night” (39). “Oh Waters” is about the many uses of water and how it is everywhere. It “washes [him]” and nourishes life (73).  Snyder also communicates humanity’s need for nature in “Without.” He describes life without nature and how “the power [is] within,” the environment, not without. Snyder feels strongly that we need to live with bioregions, not destroy them.