Man's Relationship with Nature in Hughes and Wordsworth's Poetry

Man's Relationship with Nature in Hughes and Wordsworth's Poetry

Concentrating on one Poem by each Poet, Compare and Contrast the ways

in which Hughes and Wordsworth Present Man’s Relationship with Nature

Both Hughes and Wordsworth have beliefs about man’s relationship with

nature, but I feel that they see the relationship between the two in

different ways. Hughes has a more pessimistic and negative approach,

feeling that nature must protect herself from man’s destructive

nature, while Wordsworth believes that nature is a teacher and

nurtures you. Wordsworth uses a more optimistic and positive approach

in his poetry. Wordsworth sees nature in a romantic and spiritual

sense that protects and is constantly feeding and inspiring man’s mind

and helping it to grow. On the other hand Hughes sees man as

interfering and destructive towards nature and is excluded from its

harmony. Hughes personality is much more complicated and hard to deal

with, so to speak, than Wordsworth’s; this is reflected in his

attitude towards nature because he thinks that nature is a violent and

brutal enemy towards man and even itself. From this you can tell that

he is quite a brooding and depressive man. I have chosen to compare

‘Work and Play’ by Hughes and by Wordsworth I have chosen

‘Expostulation and Reply’ and ‘The Tables Turned’ which are poems on

the same subject but ‘The Tables Turned’ is set later on in the day

and is the ‘Companion-Piece’ to ‘Expostulation and Reply’. I chose to

study these two poems because I think that it is very interesting how

the beliefs of Hughes and Wordsworth are presented, showing that they

both have an admiration for the beauty of nature and its power, and

how Hughes believes that in comparison m...

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... the relationship between man and

nature. This is because Wordsworth lived in a period in time that was

called the romantic era, this is reflected in his views and the ways

he writes as a poet. Whereas Hughes who lived in the 20th century, had

quite different views about man’s relationship with nature. I think

that this is because the period of time that you live in influences

you very heavily in the way you write or express anything. This is

because public attitudes change along with what is accepted and what

is not, or what the public will find most popular. I think that if

Hughes had lived in Wordsworth’s time his style of writing would not

have been as popular as it is today, this is because Hughes style of

writing has a more dramatic and dark edge to it whilst Wordsworth’s

poetry is more romantic so to speak and has a gentler way of putting

things.