Barcan wilderness

This is an archaic way of referring to desolate regions in North Africa, particularly the area around Tripoli in present-day Libya. The author invokes this landscape as a way of encouraging the human subject to venture into natural settings and listen to the full spectral array of nature’s communication with humanity.

The Oregon

This is an archaic way of referring to the Columbia River, which is located in present-day Oregon, Washington state, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. This landscape is implicitly contrasted with the “Barcan wilderness” (52), which represents much different topographic characteristics. Bryant uses these two geographies as placeholders to refer to the vast heterogeneity within nature.