I loved last Tuesday’s talk about the Italian neo-avant guarde, exploring the relationship between nature and the Italian literature in the time of the avant-guarde. It seemed that the Avant-guarde wanted to wreak havoc, and had a sort of separation between humans and nature. The speaker referred to the separation between poetry and prose in Italian avant guarde literature as being black and white. Similarly, at the same time, the humans felt the same black and white about their connection with nature – they were very separated from it. I really like this idea, and think that it is very similar to how some people live their lives today. We can be so absorbed in technology, and human-made trivial trifles that we forget that nature is there. In this human-centered way, some humans of the modern day have even come to this similar black-and white dichotomy between humans and nature. In the “Canticle of the Sun”, there was many references to nature, like “brother fire” or “sister moon and stars.” This shows that not all of the Italian’s connections were strictly exclusive of nature. As the speaker put it, nature surrounds us: it frightens us, it comforts us, and often it is simply there.