Amber Samsel: Somewhere I Have Never Traveled (Req. 1) - Blog 5

Previously, while we were talking about Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, we mentioned the Garden of Versailles and how it was a good example of humans imposing order on nature in a way to change nature and domesticate it, like then Enkidu was "tamed" by the prostitute. That got me thinking about this really cool garden that I learned about a few years ago and have been fascinated with ever since- The Poison Garden. There are over 100 toxic plants there and they have restrictions in which visitors absolutely cannot touch, sniff, or eat any of the plants there because they could cause a lot of issues. Some can even cause death. It is in the UK in Northumberland, and I was thinking how this is also an example of humans changing nature's course to create something orderly. It is not like all of these plants just so happened to grow next to each other, someone put them there! But it is a little ironic too- the garden is orderly like Gilgamesh in that he was the orderly king and his opposite was Enkidu who was a wild man. Well, some of these plants could cause someone to go feral and resort back to a more wild state if they come in contact with them. I like the paradox: a nice, put-together garden that can cause so much chaos if not handled properly. 

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