Is a River Alive?

“The water of each spring and stream is not interchangeable. Water’s source matters. Its course matters. Each river is differently spirited and differently tongued—and so must be differently honored.”

Macfarlane uses parallel structure in the repeated phrase “matters” to emphasize the significance of each water source’s unique characteristics. The language of rivers being “spirited and tongued” personifies water bodies, suggesting they possess individual personalities and voices that distinguish them from mere resources. This anthropomorphic imagery challenges readers to consider water as possessing agency and identity rather than viewing it as a uniform commodity. The final clause about honoring each river differently establishes a moral imperative that connects ancient practices of water worship to contemporary environmental ethics. This passage embodies the theme of River as Resource versus River as Living Being by explicitly rejecting the notion that water sources are interchangeable and instead advocating for recognition of their individual spiritual and ecological significance.

“What all share is a recognition that we live in a polyphonic world, but also one in which the majority of Earth’s inhabitants—human and other-than-human—are denied voice. To be silenced is not the same as to be silent; to go unheard is not the same as to be speechless. No landscape speaks with a single tongue.”

Macfarlane uses the musical metaphor of “polyphonic” to establish that the natural world contains multiple simultaneous voices rather than silence, challenging human assumptions about other-than-human communication. The parallel structure in “To be silenced is not the same as to be silent; to go unheard is not the same as to be speechless” emphasizes the distinction between lacking