"Bitter to your Stomach, but Sweet as Honey in Your Mouth": Vegetarianism, Animals and Working towards an Ecospiritual Poetry

The first part of this article outlines traditional and Christian ethical arguments aboutanimal autonomy, in particular as these relate to the question of vegetarian practice; itgoes on (in the second section) to indicate some ways in which more recent feminist andeco-feminist arguments help to steer a path through what has become something of anethical dilemma. Some of these arguments point to the arts as most helpfullyarticulating, or at least beginning to imagine, ways of relating to the animal world.Consequently, the essay concludes by illustrating how one of the arts – poetry – mayindeed point to what could be called an eco-spiritual approach to animal life, inparticular through its use of metaphorical language, and thus offer a challenge to pointsof view that justify human dominion over non-human animal life.