Plant and Animal Metaphors as Signs of Proto-Ecofeminism

In the UK, ecocriticism or the green studies originate from the British Romanticism of 1790s, rather than from the American transcendentalism of the 1840s, a fact reinforced by Lawrence Buell who mentioned the waves of ecocriticism in his works and analysed its evolution from a critical practice in the 1970s to the movement within the literary studies from the 1990s having "two semi-coordinated and interpenetrating epicentres: the British Romanticism and the US nature writing". In the beginning, this movement was called environmental criticism, or literary environmental studies, or literary ecology, or literary environmentalism, or green literary studies; ultimately a convenient shortage was acknowledged as the suitable name: ecocriticism. A simple definition of ecocriticism would be the one offered by Lawrence Buell: "the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment". Although ecocritical canon was still in its early stages when Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Out of Africa, Beatrix Potter¿s Tales were written, it is important for us to understand that ecocriticism has evolved in different branches so that people should perceive better their connection to nature. The understanding of natural landscapes offered by both Brontë Sisters in their works fits Buell¿s definition. However, Jane Eyre reveals a particular facet of ecocriticism: ecological feminism, known also as ecofeminism; thus our survey on ecocriticism requires broader parameters so that the readers might understand why the female writers focus on the relationship between the female protagonists and nature.