Let’s face it. In our complicated lives who really cares about nature and beauty? Marred by the pressures of responsibilities and expectations, most of us never stop and smell the roses nor do we stop and think about how simply wonderful the world is. However, Percy Shelley does. In his “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty,” Shelley reflects upon the awesome power of beauty and his relation to it as a humble servant, one who cherishes it and respects it but will never hoard and control it. Projected in a rhyme scheme of ABBAACCADDEE for seven stanzas, Shelley explores the character of beauty, the role of beauty, and his relation to the spirit of beauty.
Intellectual beauty, what does Shelley mean by this? Is it inner beauty or something marvelous like a beautiful building? Actually it is neither. According to Shelley, intellectual beauty is a sudden realization, almost divine, of the splendor and greatness of our natural world. Understanding this concept is the first step the reader must take to understand the poem. As Shelley describes the nature of intellectual beauty in the first and second stanza, it will be important to know that beauty according to Shelley is not the beauty as we know it.
As stated earlier, Shelley devotes the first two stanzas, explaining the nature of beauty through similes. Shelley begins by personifying beauty as “The awful shadow if some unseen Power/ Floats thought unseen amongst us,—visiting/This various world with an inconstant wing” (1-3). Through words such as “shadow” and “visiting”, Shelley establishes beauty as a living entity. Doing so allows him to address beauty directly without trying to use round about means to talk about an abstract idea; Shelley brings down beauty to the level of humanity. F...
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...ve all human kind” (81-85). These lines are so beautiful that I cannot find the words to explain them! What a thought! Shelley has bestowed Beauty with the highest honor that human can give; the honor of worship. Shelley magnificently summarizes the whole effect of Beauty, “to fear himself, and love all human kind.” Just like that, the shadow of Beauty can make a being feel incredible while at the same time giving hope for humanity and that it may escape its trap of life.
Many of us can never hope to achieve such a connection with nature. According to Shelley, it is the highest ideal yet I know I will never get to fully know and appreciate it. I still wonder why Beauty was so graceful to Shelley. Nevertheless, our lies in the fact that few of us may attain the benediction of Beauty and therefore lead the rest of us to it, even if it is just for a few moments.
Nature is a dominant theme throughout the romanticism period, which was at its peak between the 1800s and 1850. The novel Frankenstein, which was written by Mary Shelly was written in 1818, and the poem A Cottage in Grasmere Vale written by Dorothy Wordsworth was written in 1805, both the novel and the poem were written during the peak of the romanticism era, which would enlighten the clear evidence of nature throughout both pieces. Dorothy was William Wordsworth’s sister, who was always close with her brother. Nature is described as ‘the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations’ In this essay I will discuss the key elements of nature and the natural world in Frankenstein and A Cottage in Grasmere Vale. Dorothy lived in Grasmere in the
“The power of imagination makes us infinite.” (John Muir). Both John Muir and William Wordsworth demonstrate this through their use of language as they describe nature scenes. John Muir studies nature and in his essay about locating the Calypso Borealis he uses scientific descriptions to grab his reader’s attention and to portray his excitement at finding the rare flower. William Wordsworth on the other hand shows his appreciation for the beauty of nature and its effect on a person’s emotions in the vivid visual descriptions that he gives of the daffodils in his poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’ Wordsworth with his appreciation of beauty and Muir through scientific descriptions provide an indication of the influence that nature has had on them as they capture their reader’s attention both emotionally and visually through their personal and unique use of tone, diction, syntax and vocabulary.
“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion, and straight black lips.” (Shelley 34)
Shelley’s allusions display the creatures anguish of being alone in the world and how it causes him to feel: “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence… I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (93-94), this allusion is crucial because it shows the reader just how awful the influences of solitude are on the creature and how his circumstances have caused him to become grieved and destitute. Another illusion similar to before take place when the monster compares himself to Satan: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” (94), the monster now resents the people of the cottage because they are able to converse and associate with others while the creature is forced to stay secluded from all contact. Allusions such as these enforce Shelley 's purpose of depicting the calamitous effects of solitude on the mind. By now the reader should understand that men need to be around others like themselves because all creatures desire to have a group into which they
...on of the word ‘divine’ gives nature Godly status and implies it has healing powers. A reverent, idealistic attitude towards nature again shows the influence of Romanticism on Shelley’s writing.
...s as the stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way’ painting a very vivid image in the readers mind, the poet find joy and comfort in nature, he explains ‘And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.’ Mary Shelly in ‘Frankenstein’ illustrates the relationship between man and nature through the character Dr Victor Frankenstein. Mary Shelly explores man’s endeavours to dominate nature and has concluded through the actions of Victor that nature is irrepressible and spontaneous and man should not try to control something which is not theirs to control. Instead man should work in coherence with nature, both giving equal respect. Overall, McCarthy, Wordsworth and Shelly all display the importance and prominence of nature to mankind, which we should work alongside nature to improve our quality of life and minimize the negative impact on nature.
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As stated in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Poetic Principle," a concept of beauty can only be achieved through the use of emotion, an "excitement of the soul," a necessary element to any worthwhile poem (Poe 8). Poe's fascination with the mystery of death and the afterlife are often clearly rooted in his poems and provide a basis for himself and the reader to truly experience his concept of beauty. Although also a believer in portraying beauty through poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson found beauty to be eminent in nature and all things created by the Oversoul. Beauty for Emerson is not an idea or unknown, it is visible all around him.
Within the book Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, there are many moments of tragedy and loss, as well as certain moments where joy and love are present. A number of these scenes contain a connection to nature. Since the Romantics viewed Nature as a source of emotional experience and spiritual renewal. However Mary Shelley was not solely a Romantic, she also took literary cues from the Gothic tradition as well. This second impetus also stressed the importance of nature, especially the darker aspects of it. Particularly the rageful and turbulent characteristics of nature, this manner of guiding the emotions using nature is very obvious and abundant in Frankenstein.
Beauty is always in nature. It is express in many ways. In the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman express the beauty in the stars. Just looking up in space gave him peace. Walt writes about the fascination of the stars. How the night sky can transform a situation. He writes experiencing this phenomenon first hand is better than having it told. In most cases, the real is better than the copy. The beauty of the experience is needed, and to see the real thing than what is told. Whitman express how the night sky was all he needed and his feelings. In the poem “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth, the premise is like Whitman poem. It is the beauty in nature, and how people are not looking for nature to inspire. People are just looking less of nature. Both works show the worldly influence in people’s life. In both pieces, Whitman and Wordsworth showing how nature brings true beauty.
Nature is tremendously beautiful in all of its glories and it has unequivocal power to do anything that it wishes. Mary Shelley explores the strength of nature through her horror novel, Frankenstein. Negative effects are introduced throughout her novel that are the result of a catalytic event in the life of Victor Frankenstein. His witnessing of a lightning strike at the age of 15 turned him to science and nature which powered his ambitious life and led to the destruction of it.
Nature is often a focal point for many author’s works, whether it is expressed through lyrics, short stories, or poetry. Authors are given a cornucopia of pictures and descriptions of nature’s splendor that they can reproduce through words. It is because of this that more often than not a reader is faced with multiple approaches and descriptions to the way nature is portrayed. Some authors tend to look at nature from a deeper and personal observation as in William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, while other authors tend to focus on a more religious beauty within nature as show in Gerard Manley Hopkins “Pied Beauty”, suggesting to the reader that while to each their own there is always a beauty to be found in nature and nature’s beauty can be uplifting for the human spirit both on a visual and spiritual level.
This poem helps us to recognize and appreciate beauty through its dream sequence and symbolism. The poem opens with the Dreamer describing this
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “A Defence of Poetry.” The Longman Anthology: British Literature: Volume 2A – The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. Ed. David Damrosch. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 801-810.
Through the ingenious works of poetry the role of nature has imprinted the 18th and 19th century with a mark of significance. The common terminology ‘nature’ has been reflected by our greatest poets in different meanings and understanding; Alexander Pope believed in reason and moderation, whereas Blake and Wordsworth embraced passion and imagination.
William Wordsworth has respect and has great admiration for nature. This is quite evident in all three of his poems; the Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey and Michael in that, his philosophy on the divinity, immortality and innocence of humans are elucidated in his connection with nature. For Wordsworth, himself, nature has a spirit, a soul of its own, and to know is to experience nature with all of your senses. In all three of his poems there are many references to seeing, hearing and feeling his surroundings. He speaks of hills, the woods, the rivers and streams, and the fields. Wordsworth comprehends, in each of us, that there is a natural resemblance to ourselves and the background of nature.