Williams Rhetorical Strategies

In Yellowstone: The Erotics of Place Terry Tempest Williams seems to use a lot of repetition. For instance, he talks about the steam, the water, the geysers, the animals and many other aspects of Yellowstone. Then, at the end of the piece he repeats the exact same paragraph describing it all again. Later in the piece he also writes the phrase “Pansexual. Of Pan.” many times when talking about the landscape. Also the phrase “Echo System” is used a lot when describing Yellowstone and its ecosystem. He also seems to use a lot of short sentences in his writing, probably to create emphasis. He writes, “Steam rising. Water boiling…Smoke clearing. Eyes staring.” Most of the sentences in the first paragraph (and last for that matter) are only two word sentences. He also uses this elsewhere such as when he writes, “Loving the land. Honoring its mysteries.” Or later he writes, “Rituals. Ceremonies. Engaging with the land.” In this piece he also likes to list many things to give several examples I suppose. For instance, he writes, “A landscape that loves bison, bear, elk, deer, moose…” He then includes several other animals as well. Then, in the paragraph following he lists several kinds of trees that are found there. Finally, in the next paragraph he lists the different mountains and rivers that are there. He uses this toward the end as well when he is describing us indoors. He writes, “scheming, talking, telephoning…” He also likes to personify the land and nature in the piece of literature. He writes, “We call its name-and the land calls back.” It is as if to say the land is actually talking to us.

In Winter Solstice at the Moab Slough Williams is describing being there and then flashes back to the last time when he was there. He also seems to talk a lot about birds and how they fit in to the whole process. He talks about two great blue herons who are flying overhead and then goes on to talk about a red-tailed hawk that is set free in the flashback. He then comes back to the herons when he returns from the flashback. He also keeps with the theme of loving nature and how nature will take care of us. He talks about how we should care for nature and love nature and how this in return will teach us to love one another.

In the final piece Erosion he talks about a farmer named Kinji Kurumada. He describes his love for the land and how his knowledge and love led to his bountiful harvests year after year. It says that he had an “intimacy with the land.” This theme seemed to be prominent in all of the pieces.