Question

"Oh, Nature, where are thou?—Are not these lacks thy children as well as we? On the other side, nothing is to be seen but the most diffusive misery and wretchedness, unrelieved even in thought or wish!" "Oh, Nature, where are thou?—Are not these lacks thy children as well as we? On the other side, nothing is to be seen but the most diffusive misery and wretchedness, unrelieved even in thought or wish!"Explain.

Answer 1

This poem is by De Crevecoeur, from Letters from an American Farmer , in which the grueling conditions that American colonists had to endure are described.

"...nothing is to be seen but the most diffusive misery and wretchedness, unrelieved even in thought or wish"

They lived under horrible conditions, as said in the poem, and the narrator is claiming for Nature (it could be argued that he/she is talking or praying to God) because how they live isn't natural (isn't proper of people in a way that they shouldn't live like that).