The iron stone and the rivulet

Nature and devastation in Drummond and Guimarães Rosa

Abstract

This article analyzes the relationship between man and nature from the perspective of the works of Carlos Drummond de Andrade and João Guimarães Rosa. In the poetry and prose of these authors, it is possible to perceive the concern with the preservation of the environment, in a militant and fierce way in Drummond and in a more symbolic and indirect way in Rosa. The recent ecological disasters at the Vale dams in Mariana and Brumadinho brought up issues raised in poems such as “Canto mineral”, by the writer from Itabira, or in narratives like “Uma estória de amor”, by the author of Grande sertão: veredas. The tension between progress and preservation is at the heart of contemporary discussions, in a context in which our forests are threatened by a harmful exploratory project, supported by the federal government itself, which weakens inspection bodies to the same extent that it allows the action of prospectors and ranchers in areas that should be protected by the State. The rescue of this theme in the work of these authors from Minas Gerais sheds light on a matter of extreme urgency and allows us to reflect critically on the contemporary world.