The Idea of A Garden

Pollan's Idea of A Garden parallels Sharon Whites Vanished Gardens as they talk about the garden itself and what this means. Pollan states, "even wilderness, in both its satanic and benevolent incarnations, is an historical, man-made idea. Every one of our various metaphors for nature-"wilderness," "ecosystem," "Gaia," "resource," wasteland"- is already a kind of garden (The Idea of A Garden 606). Metaphors and comparisons are also used in Vanished Gardens where the garden represents so much more to the narrator then just the physical definition of one such as, "Wilderness just under the surface. Breathing its clear breath right into my face" (Vanished Gardens 33). The usage of comparisons and metaphors play a huge role in both of these authors in them exemplifying how and what the "garden" means to them.