The Baltic states of of Estonia Essay Example for Free

The Baltic states of of Estonia Essay The Baltic states of of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, apart from perhaps being regarded as the geographical center of Europe, is also to be recognized for its lush expanse of forests and greenery. Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians take enormous and unfaltering pride and love for their forests and the magnificent trees which comprise them. But more than being cherished for its aesthetic values, the Baltic forests served as a refuge and sanctuary for Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians in the years when the Baltic states were under war and upheaval. The Lithuanian poet Antanas Baranauskas wrote an ode to the forests of Anykscia, in which he expresses his sentiments for the once beautiful and magnificent forest which served as a momentary sanctuary for the Lithuanian people under a repressed era. â€Å"The Anykscai Grove†(1859) begins by ennumerating bitter remembrances of a once lush and rich country of a forest where pines, white-wood, burrows, moss, the humming of birds, sun-kissed earth and foliage, as well as forest scents and hums constitute a seeming paradise, which at present, ceases to remain as such. Baranauskas looks back to how his people took refuge in the woods, when the apparent evils of mankind were more than evident and palpable in the towns, cities and villages of Lithuania, men, women and children took to the woods, to a place such as the Anyksciai grove, where peace and tranquility was afforded to them. At the time it appeared as though it was all they needed, but it grew increasingly apparent that there was something else that needed nourishing, that needed to be made complete. People were dying of hunger, of cold, and cutting down trees for firewood, and extracting everything remotely edible from a mushroom or flower down to a trees very bark seemed to be the apt response. The Lithuanian forests said to have cried, not for the woes which fell on every tree and foliage in the forest, but for the woes which fell of the Lithuanian folk at the time, which was unfortunately commuted to their forests (Baranauskas). Under these unfortunate, but perhaps signficantly fortunate circumstances as well, the Baltic states and its people, or perhaps the Lithuanians, specifically, hold every tree, forest and foliage in Lithuania in a more than aesthetic, but also visceral regard, including, the Anyksciai Grove . References â€Å"The Anyksciai Grove.† Baranauskas, Antanas. Retrieved 28 January 2007 from http://www.balticsworldwide.com/news/features/lith_poem.htm