One of the keys to understanding Thomas Jefferson is
articulated in the second chapter of Andrea Wulf’s Founding Gardeners.
She points out that Jefferson is a complex man, to the point of being described
as an enigma. His dual nature, present in all men, is seen at the surface in a
letter in which he describes the opposing forces of “Heart” and “Head”. Wulf
goes on to say that though the dialogue is revealed in a love letter expressing
the internal conflicts present within a man’s love for a woman, the same
message is applies to his role as a gardener and reveals his attitude towards
the natural world and his home at Monticello.
Through immaculate prose, Jefferson relays the beauty of his plantation.
“With what majesty do we there ride above the storms! How sublime to look down
into the workhouse of nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder, all
fabricated at our feet! And the glorious Sun, when rising as if out of a
distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains, and giving life to all
nature!” Here, clearly the Heart, filled with emotion, is struck by the
aesthetic appeal of Monticello’s sweeping mountaintop landscape. Jefferson’s
selection of a mountaintop as the location of his home is, in itself, a victory
of his Heart over a more practical, and surely more profitable, location along
a river or lush valley. Jefferson’s strong Heart and love for the natural
beauty of the world is complimented by his more pragmatic Head. While in
England, on a tour of Woodburn Farm, Jefferson was most pleased by the way in
which “the beautiful could coexist with, and indeed complement, the practical.”
He found harmony in the balance between Heart and Head, and in no place was
this balance more near and apparent than at Woodbury Farm; a place that planted
the seed for his vision of Monticello, and in a broader sense America, as a
place “of both sublime beauty and vast lands that would feed the nation.”
Jefferson’s
dual nature may be rooted in the mixture between his upbringing and status in
the upper echelons of Virginia society and his highly cultivated intellect and
moral fiber. In his Head, he knew that he needed agricultural success to
achieve financial stability and sustainability, but his Heart longed to achieve
this within a beautiful setting and aesthetic landscape. As a child of
privilege, he nurtured an admittedly expensive taste and an appreciation for
the finer things in life. Wulf notes that he was known for traveling to Paris
and London for shopping sprees, a luxury still only enjoyed by those of
significant wealth. His high brow taste coupled with his infinite love for
nature and the natural world, shaped his strong Heart and made him sensitive to
the emotional side of being. However, his sharp mind, extensive education,
worldly experience, and patriotism kept his Head strong and clear, and gave him
a pragmatic tendency that defined his brilliance.
The
struggle between Heart and Head is something that exists within all of us. As
Wulf shows through Jefferson, the key to finding happiness is in seeking to
balance those forces and find equilibrium. For Jefferson, that equilibrium was
found in the pastoral life he lived on the mountain at Monticello. Today people
still are found searching for that balance. In the modern world, new ways of
finding happiness and balance have unfolded, but we cannot loose sight of the
wonders that the natural world holds. We should all try to see the world as
Jefferson saw it, and continue to search for refuge in its natural landscape
while finding practicality in its resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment