Clearing

by Wendell Berry

None of us, says Wendell Berry, can in a true sense own land. We can only hold it in trust. Clearing is a sequence of poems about the land he and his wife hold in trust: a farm they bought years ago as their abiding place, another they took over more recently to save from ecological disaster. Berry writes, first, of the land’s past, and of its use or abuse by earlier trustees. Then he makes poetry out of his own feeling for the place, and out of his loving labors on it— his efforts to restore it to its old fertility and beauty.

Technically, the verse ranges from a kind of cadenced prose, through the open forms of which Berry has long been a master, to the sometimes subtle, sometimes forthright use of rhyme and meter. Clearing is the most considerable volume of poetry yet to have come from an author whose circle of devotees steadily widens.

Genres: Poetry

52 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Wendell Berry is a conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist, professor of English and poet. He was born August 5, 1934 in Henry County, Kentucky where he now lives on a farm. The New York Times has called Berry the "prophet of rural America."

Reviews

[Jen H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living Close to the Land

Every once in awhile, a book crosses your path and you know that it belongs forever on your shelves. Wendell Berry's book, Clearing, is one of those books for me. Set somewhere in Kentucky on a piece of land farmed for generations, Berry takes the reader on a journey of what it means to be a man (or a woman) who lives close to the land and who loves it for what it takes and for what it gives.

But it is not a book for farmer's alone. Hidden within its pages are truth-statements that apply to everyone, statements like "Work clarifies the vision of rest" and "My life's wave is at its crest." One cannot read these statements without asking the questions, "How does work clarify the vision of rest?" and "Where is my life? At its crest? Ascending? Descending? How should my answer to those questions affect the way I live from this point on?"

Another thing I liked about this book is the way it led me through the seasons. A farmer lives every moment in tune with each new season. As a non-farmer, I do not. It is only in reading words penned by those who live by the seasons that I begin to get a feel for the limitations of time and the inevitability of death. As much as this book is about life, it is also about death, about generations living and dying, about seeds sprouting and being harvested, and about Wendell's own relationship to what is and what will be. And it is a joy to read!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leave it to Wendell Berry to write the words I’d take as a marriage vow. From the poem “Where”:

It is the price of vision
that we owe, the cost
of what has been here, what
can be. By this we are lost
to other possibility. In fear
and hope, by work and sleep
we are married here.

In fear and hope, by work and sleep... I love that. Also, from “Work Song”:

But this, now,
Is where I ought to be, and want to be,
And where I am. Desire and circumstance
are one.

Favorite poem in its entirety: the aforementioned “Work Song” or “The Bed.”

[Jessie Rieth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somber but sweet reflection on land and people and what’s lost when places are “cleared” and we only remember the “history of numbers.”

Made me think of politics. But, much more powerfully and fondly, also made me think of home and so many folks that I love.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my heart!! We bought land 20 years ago. Before that, someone farmed it. Before that, someone cleared it. Who those someones are we do not know, but they had dreams for the land loaned to them, and labored through the seasons with hope. We had dreams for that same land and left our mark on it before our winter came and we had to die to some of our dreams. It was time for new owners to build upon our mark while mingling their own dreams and labor with owners past to make the land theirs. Berry’s “Clearing” brings tears to my eyes as my heart resonates with his poetry. Are you a land owner? Let your mind be steeped with his words. You will understand.

[Brian Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's Wendell Berry, man! Wendell Berry!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wendell Berry makes me want to write poetry. Then, when I try, he makes me just want to read his instead, because it's better. Clearing is a nice size, very thin, just a little swishing mouthful of the feast that is Wendell's poetic oeuvre. I especially like the part where he has a vision of the people who lived on his land a long, long time ago. At least I think that's what happened.

[Sanjuro · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read poetry, there are three things that I look for. First, is the vocabulary and language of the poetry moving; is it evocative? Second, does the language and lines of the poetry draw the reader into "associations"? Does it remind the reader of beauty and their own experiences? And third, does the poetry have discernible meaning?

I read a lot of Berry's work, and I'm a huge fan. His poetry, his essays, his fiction; Berry speaks my language and draws me into introspection regarding my own life and circumstances, despite the fact that I'm not a farmer, like him. He is a wonderful writer. His poetry almost always ticks all three boxes mentioned here. However, this collection ticks boxes one and two perfectly, I loved the language of these poems, and found them beautifully written - I did not think he ticked box three in any way. Some of these poems I reread, slowly, as many as five times, and still found myself thinking "I have no idea what this poem is about." I liked the poems, but didn't love them as I've loved Berry's earlier poems, because although the language was accessible, the meanings of the poems were not. At least not to me. This will keep it from sitting among my rereads of Berry's work.

[Dave Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Clearing" a collection of poems from Wendell Berry, is the creation of a man deeply imbued with a sense of concern for the land. The selections in this volume remind us that we cannot really own the earth, we simply hold it in trust. And, Berry never relents; his work evokes a pervasive sense of stewardship for the places he holds dear, and the desire to foster such concern among his readers.

The title poem, "Clearing," condenses Berry's agrarianism in a single stanza:

A man who does not ask too much
becomes the promise of the land.

His marriage married
to his place, he waits

and does not stray.

An abiding rootedness informs the selections contained in this text. At times pessimistic, and often ironic; "Clearing," is, in the end, a work of surrender and affirmation- an elegy and a celebration.

Berry's poems exude dignity and deserve respect. The reader will find this compilation a worthwhile excursion.

[Matt Sheffield · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And when we speak together,
love, our words rise
like leaves, out of our fallen
words. What we have said
becomes an earth we live on
like two trees, whose sheddings
enrich each other, making
both the source of each."

"It is time again I made an end to words
for a while - for this time,
or for all time. Any end may last.
I love this warm light room, where words
have kept me through the cold days.
But now song surrounds it, the fields
around it are green, and I must turn away
from books, put past and future behind,
to come into the presence of this time."

[Miles Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good and relatively early collection from Berry. The agrarianism is explicit but it is hopeful and lamenting in ways his later poetry is not. Its also not a true Jeremiad like some of his more recent works. The themes of continuity and disruption echo throughout, and in many ways this is a more ephemeral collection poems of Berry's own traditions. It lacks the visceral intimacy of *The Country of Marriage* but it is in no way less familiar.

[Jordan Kinsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, of course.

[Jamie Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites: The Clearing, From the Crest

[Emily Colby]

This made me think about farming in an entirely new way. Love runs through it.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggle with poetry as a whole but Wendell Berry's poems actually make sense. I enjoyed them.

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving and thought-provoking poems on the history of Berry's farmland and his labor to reclaim it from decades of degradation. "A mind cast loose / in whim and greed makes / nature its mirror, and the garden / falls with the man." Reflecting on his work teaches him - and us - about the joy of hard work, the spirituality of wilderness and farm, and the wisdom of taming desire. "Vision must have severity / at its edge: / against neglect, / bushes grown over pastures, / vines riding down / the fences ... / against weariness, / the dread of too much to do, / the wish to make desire / easy, the thought of rest." Berry writes gorgeous poetry: "these / hills whose winter trees / keep like memories / the nests of birds." His morality is strong and heart-felt: "I work to renew a ruined place / that no life be hostage to my comfort." And his joy in the natural world, contagious: "the mind of the honeybee / is the map of bloom."

[Eric North · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, a refreshing, elegant collection of Berry's early poetry. Centering on his themes of land, place, farming, marriage, and country, his ideas are continuously pouring out truth and beauty in a beautiful embrace. Four stars for a solid read.

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read yesterday. A poetic masterpiece.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, quiet, lingering