Wendell Berry died this past week. He was 92. Of the many descriptions- poet, novelist, farmer, Christian, and environmentalist- placed on Wendell Berry, the one I like best is The Agrarian Poet. I will be the first to admit that I’m no literary expert on the life and works of Wendell Berry. In fact, my primary recognition of his name comes from his association with Wes Jackson and The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas. His work, however, always seems to catch my eye. I wish I’d read more of Wendell Berry before his death, but I hope to remedy that in my reading future.
One description of Wendell Berry that stands out from all the tributes this week has been from a former student at the University of Kentucky, Liz Prather, in her piece, What Wendell Berry Taught Me About Being a Teacher*.
“On that first day, Berry walked in looking like every farmer I’d ever seen standing around a tobacco warehouse telling lies. He wore khakis, brown lace-up shoes with rubber soles, and a blue button-down shirt. His hair was gray on the sides, and his face was tan except for a circle of white on his forehead, the mark of a man who works under the sun and wears a brimmed hat. He didn’t look like an academic. He looked like my father – an austere and simple farmer, the grooves in his cheeks when he smiled like plowed rows.”
I fully believe I would have liked him as a human, let alone as a magnificent writer and teacher. As a teacher, he was demanding. He knew writing and creativity were not trivial things. He knew the way to improve the environment and improve the human condition was to be an active participant.
In her essay, Liz Prather also gives an example of his teaching philosophy and the role of a teacher, highlighted below, that stopped me in my tracks.
“Because we were going to be English teachers, he expected a great deal from us—and was frustrated by our inability to think for ourselves. Every day, he told us to think, to rise above ignorance. He warned that bad writing would bring “boredom, tears, and shame” in later life. A teacher’s job, he told us, was to arm children with tools against loneliness.”
It was hard to settle on one Wendell Berry poem to highlight. The one that hits closer to home in the chaos of 2026 America is “The Peace of Wild Things.” The poem always reminds me to get outside, especially when anxiety about life rears its head. It reminds me to pay attention. It reminds me of the Henry David Thoreau quote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
Look up. Look around. Notice.
Noticing is an art. And like any art or skill, it must be practiced.
THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Rest In Peace, Wendell Berry! Thank you for the body of work you leave us.
*What Wendell Berry Taught Me About Being a Teacher: an essay by Liz Prather from her Your High School Creative Writing Teacher newsletter
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry, A Poetry Film by Charlotte Ager & Katy Wang
THE COACH HAYS 