The Old Ways

by Gary Snyder

Book by Gary Snyder

Genres: Poetry, Essays, Nature, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Social Justice

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Gary Snyder is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology". Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. He has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder was an academic at the University of California, Davis, and for a time served as a member of the California Arts Council.

Reviews

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to give this 4.5 stars.

Overall, this is another superb collection of essays from one of the most amazing minds I have ever encountered and my personal hero, Gary Snyder. He is probably, in my opinion, one of the most sensible and grounded people on this planet. Not only his writing but his actual way of life sets a standard we all should try to emulate or follow.

This small book of essays contains 7 essays on 'the old ways' which Snyder defines as "the wisdom and skill of those who studied the universe first hand, by direct knowledge and experience, for millenia, both inside and outside themselves."

The best essays, in my opinion, were The Yogin and the Philosopher (essay #1), The Politics of Ethnopoetics (essay #2) and the final essay The Incredible Survival of Coyote (essay #7).

There are many highlights and Snyder is rarely boring with an incredibly sharp and quick mind: "I had no notion of a white American or European heritage providing an identity; I defined myself by relation to the place." Snyder reminds us to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings, our community, its flora and fauna, festivals and traditions. By doing this, it helps us understand the world better. As a revolutionary of the 50s (the beats) and on through to the 60s and flower-power, he sensibly believed that any real change in society would come through grass-roots movements and initiatives. Snyder saw well before most what we needed to do, what we still need to do long before the slogan of 'think locally, act globally' came along and camped itself neatly in our consciousness.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is I have read more brilliant essays elsewhere and although I am a huge fan of d. a. levy I felt Snyder's essay on the great Cleveland renegade poet fell a little flat, even though it was full of praise for his contemporary poet-comrade and "fellow-worker in the Buddha fields." (page 49).

I might have misunderstood Snyder here but on page 77 when I read, "The West is over when nice women come and start making you wash your hands before dinner" I thought my eyes were deceiving me. This came across as a terribly male-chauvinist thing to say. And here in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it sounds like very bad advice but Snyder made this comment back in the 70s so I'm sure he would not say this today. I'm still wondering what he means by that comment though.....

This is a minor gripe though. Apart from this, it's a great quick read by an amazing mind and incredibly level-headed sensible man. Even though this was published in the 70s many of the ideas and arguments are still valid today, in fact some of them are EVEN MORE important considering the depletion of our natural resources and the looming possibility of environmental catastrophe.

[Riley M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short book of essays. It's a bit of a random jumble in terms of style, length, etc. but I enjoyed some of them. Themes relate to myth/poetry and sense of place, such as how a lack of connection to place affects humans. I haven't read any of his other books so can't compare.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of essays/academic presentations on experiencing the universe from a vantage point other than the one given to us by Western culture. Snyder calls this "ethnopoetics." Short and sweet.

[Mark Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Old Ways: Six Essays by Gary Snyder, 1977. I originally read the first part of this book some time ago – like perhaps in 1981 I’m pretty sure my brother Paul gave it (lent it?) to me while I was living with him and Mary at Sunshower, or perhaps I picked it up somewhere else. But I carried it with me ever since then, knowing I’d want to pick it up again. And I’m very glad I did.

This book stretched me, affirmed me, fed me. It is a collection of talks that Snyder (a poet and naturalist) gave in the mid-1970s, and his connection to the earth and to people and spirit is strong.
Here is an excerpt from his essay/talk “Re-Inhabitation” (exactly what I’ve been thinking about!):
“Stewart Brand said that the photograph of the earth (taken from outer space by a satellite) that shows the whole blue orb with spirals and whorls of cloud, was a great landmark for human consciousness. We see that it has shape, and it has limits. We are back again, ow, in the position of our Mesolithic forebears, working off the coasts of southern Britain, or the shores of Lake Chad or the swampls of southeast China, learning how to live by the sun and green at that spot. We once more know that we live in a system that is enclosed in a certain way; that has its own kinds of limits, and that we are interdependent with it.
“The ethics or morality of this is far more subtle than merely being nice to squirrels. The biological-ecological sciences have been laying out (implicitly) a spiritual dimension. We must find our way to seeing the mineral cycles, the water cycles, air cycles, nutrient cycles, as sacramental – and we must incorporate that insight into our own personal spiritual quest and integrate it with all the wisdom teachings we have received from the nearer past. The expression of it is simple: gratitude to it all, taking responsibility for your own acts; keeping contact with the sources of the energy that flow into you own life (i.e. dirt, water, flesh).”

He goes on to say that “part of you is out there waiting to come into you…(there is) no self-realization without the Whole Self, and the whole self is the whole thing.”

Striking words then, and today, as I read them.

[Chrissy Rongnion · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Redtail teaches us to have a broad view of things, while not missing the stirring of a single mouse."

[Simon Pockley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of a grab bag of texts but I found it very thought provoking. Gary Snyder emerged from the beat generatio's idealism as a champion of a global synthesis of ideas, blinded by American cultural hegemony. He's a fascinating man with an ability to draw together threads of thought that make you put the book down and ponder. Yet, perhaps because these are mainly speaking notes, there is an awkwardness of expression that I sometimes found confusing.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eclectic sampling of essays, most derived from speeches Snyder delivered in the 60s/70s that address our society's misguided approach to life and nature. Throughout, Snyder advises a return to the Old Ways, traditional mindsets and practices to both improve the environment and our own mental/spiritual health.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series of short essays from 1977.

[devin conway · Rating 4 out of 5]

"the traditions we follow make the gods look young."

a beat poets collection of essays elaborating on the idea of "ethnopoetics" and the importance of preserving the tradition of spoken word/ storytelling amongst many indigenous cultures whose livelihood and existence are at the casual mercy of growing environmental destruction via imperialism and capitalism that has encroached seemingly into every nook and cranny on the globe. 6 essays, more hits than misses. gonna check out EARTH HOUSE HOLD and THE BACK COUNTRY soon. all signed by gary snyder and found at a used book store for $12. find of the year no question.

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆ — Grounded, spacious, and quietly radical

“The wisdom and skill of those who studied the universe first hand, by direct knowledge and experience, for millennia, both inside and outside themselves, is what we might call the Old Ways.” (p.66)

That line more or less names the project of The Old Ways. In this collection of essays, Gary Snyder is not arguing for a return to the past so much as pointing toward a mode of attention that predates—and in many ways outlasts—modernity. What he calls the “Old Ways” are not nostalgic artifacts; they are practices of perception, relationship, and responsibility that remain available, if we are willing to relearn them.

Snyder writes out of lived experience: as a poet, a practitioner, and someone deeply immersed in both ecological thinking and Buddhist practice. The essays move fluidly between anthropology, ecology, literature, and personal reflection, but they are anchored in a simple claim—that human beings once knew how to live in reciprocal relationship with the world, and that fragments of that knowledge still persist.

At its best, the book feels like a kind of reorientation of attention. Snyder invites the reader to consider knowledge not as abstraction, but as something earned through contact: walking landscapes, observing cycles, inhabiting a place long enough to be shaped by it. There’s a quiet insistence here that wisdom is not primarily theoretical—it is embodied, ecological, and participatory.

What keeps the book from drifting into sentimentality is Snyder’s groundedness. He doesn’t romanticize “the primitive” or pretend that premodern life was easy. Instead, he emphasizes skill, discipline, and long apprenticeship. The “Old Ways” are not a vibe—they are practices that require time, humility, and attention.

If there’s a limitation, it’s that the essays can feel somewhat diffuse. Snyder circles his themes rather than building a tight argument, and readers looking for a clear, systematic framework may find themselves wanting more structure. But that looseness also reflects the subject: this is less a system than a field of orientation.

Ultimately, The Old Ways is less about telling you what to think and more about showing you how to look. It asks you to slow down, to notice, and to reconsider what counts as knowledge in the first place.

Not a book of answers, but a book that quietly changes the questions.

[Baja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Šest esejů znalce přírody a filosofa současně, propagátora pevného základu vycházejícího nejen z mýtů, básní a písní, ale především ze zkušeností nejrůznějších kultur a jejich vzájemného propojení, z nichž Gary Snyder – jeden z jen několika autorů, kteří jsou schopni spojit víru v poslání a moc poezie s takovou přesvědčivostí – tká předivo poznání, které nazývá ekologickým návodem k zachování života.

Maratón beatnickej literatúry alebo všetky knihy, čo sa v knižnici našli. Ako som už spomínala, som nadšenec beatnickej literatúry a tak som si dala menší maratón. Ako treťou v poradí bola kniha Staré cesty od Garyho Snydera. Zatiaľ som čítala len beatnickú poéziu tak že týchto šesť esejí bolo pre mňa novinkou. Vlastne eseje som ešte nečítala vôbec. A musím povedať, že som si ich obľúbila natoľko, že sa budú radiť k mojim obľúbeným, nakoľko pri ich čítaní môžete vidieť autorove myšlienkové pochody. Témy týchto esejí mali väčšinou prírodný a ekologický charakter. Dalo sa im pochopiť lepšie ako zložitejšia poézia. Autor má nadčasové názory, ktoré sú aktuálne aj v dnešnej dobe. Zatiaľ asi moja najobľúbenejšia kniha z beatnickej generácie.

[Berit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dissertation reading.

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

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