The delicious scent of life
The remembrances of experiences fill our lives up with emotion thinking about what could of, would of, or should have happened. Ones past experiences affect the way one views the future. As well as past experiences dwelling along the mind, present experiences create ones for the future. William Wordsworth’s most famous piece “Tintern Abbey” reflects how nature and earth itself is a gift of God. Wordsworth explains that one needs to see nature with a relationship towards human life. The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings towards man and nature create such symbolism and meaning that remind one to always remember the small details. Something insignificant can change ones life forever. He begins the journey into “Tintern Abbey” by taking the reader from the height of a mountain stream down to the valley where he sits under a sycamore tree perceives the beauty of the natural world. Wordsworth establishes the connection of nature and how it is a force to binds mankind not only to the past and the future, but to other human beings as well.
Originally called “Lines written a few miles above Tinturn Abbey”, Wordsworth setting is crucial. He is said to be situated a few miles above tinturn abbey observing the view from up top. Very meticulously he goes on saying “once again do I behold these step lofty cliffs, that on a wild secluded scene impress thoughts of more deep seclusion, and connect the landscape with the quiet of the sky. The day is come when I gain repose here, under this sycamore tree” (4-10). Because he was observing the abbey, he falls into a state of reminiscing. He writes the poem under the sycamore tree as he overflows with emotion towards the greatness of nature. He is delighted to s...
... middle of paper ...
...umanity”, he has recognized his own morality. The satisfaction of his own conscience is there in Tinturn Abbey. The human mind is like a flowing river he states, both powerful and fluid with the capacity of destruction and corruption. Like I stated before, the presence of his sister Dorothy seems to be surrounding him. She stood there along with him, side by side, when she was alive and now that she let he can still perceive her while contemplating the scenery at Tintern Abbey. He sees his former self in Dorothy. “In thy voice I catch/ the language of my former heart, and read/ my former pleasures in the shooting lights/ of thy wild eyes” (117-119). Wordsworth advises Dorothy and the reader to take his lines to heart like a benediction. He instructs her to have faith that nature will always provide solace in hard times and fresh insight into the meaning of life.
The Tintern Abbey has mysterious powers that only those in touch with nature can see. Wordsworth illustrates such powers by writing, "These beauteous forms/Through a long absence, have not been to me/As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye". He wishes he could feel the beautiful powers of the forest more often.
Primarily in Lines composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey the mortality of creativeness and imagination is expressed by Wordsworth. This is a poem about the beauty of an old cathedral called Tintern Abbey. He hasn’t been there in five years and he brought his sister along. Even though imagination isn’t immortal, there is a way to reclaim it, “That time is past, / and all its aching joys are ...
In his essay, "Structure and Style in the Greater Romantic Lyric," critic M.H.Abrams describes a paradigm for the longer Romantic lyric of which Wordsworth's "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey" is an example. First, some of the poems are either identified as odes in the title, or, as Abrams states "approach the ode in having lyric magnitude and a serious subject, feelingfully meditated." (201) The narrator of "Tintern Abbey" expresses deep sensations as he views a landscape familiar from his youth, the emotions and memories evoked lead to wider moral and philosophical cogitations. The prototypical lyric, Abrams continues, "present a determinate speaker in a particularized, and usually a localized, outdoor setting." (201) Indeed, Wordsworth's title specifically identifies the site of which the narrator speaks, it is "a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on the banks of the Wye." The narrators of these poems, continues Abrams, speak in "a fluent vernacular which rises easily to a more formal speech, a sustained colloquy, sometimes with himself or with the outer scene, but more frequently with a silent human auditor, present or absent." (201) "Tintern Abbey" begins with an informal statement, a sudden "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings": "Five years have passed; five summers, with the length / Of five long winters! And again I hear / These waters" (1-3); then gradually builds to more studied speech appropriate for philosophical ruminations: "For I have learned / To look on nature, not as in the hour / Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes / The still, sad music of humanity; / Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power / to chasten and subdue" (89-94). The narrator is speaking to a...
Henry David Thoreau implies that simplicity and nature are valuable to a person’s happiness in “Why I Went to the Woods”. An overall theme used in his work was the connection to one’s spiritual self. Thoreau believed that by being secluded in nature and away from society would allow one to connect with their inner self. Wordsworth and Thoreau imply the same idea that the simple pleasures in life are easily overlooked or ignored. Seeing the true beauty of nature allows oneself to rejuvenate their mentality and desires. When one allows, they can become closer to their spiritual selves. One of William Wordsworth’s popular pieces, “Tintern Abbey”, discusses the beauty and tranquility of nature. Wordsworth believed that when people
In "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," William Wordsworth explains the impact of Nature from Tintern Abbey in his every day life. "Tintern Abbey" shows the great importance of nature to Wordsworth in his writings, love for life, and religion. The memories he has of Tintern Abbey make even the darkest days full of light.
William Wordsworth, a prized English romantic poet, was known for various talents and works ranging from poems to his own theatrical plays. While all of Wordsworth’s art showed his range of talents, one blank verse poem referred to as “Tintern Abbey” showed his way of using beautiful wordplay and imagery to depict a nature scene that makes the audience feel as if they have lived in this very place their whole life. Wordsworth begins the poem informing the audience he has not seen this said place for five years, and is beginning to feel the serenity that this place has brought him in the past. He takes the audience through the “quiet of the sky” and paints a mental picture of clumped orchids “with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue”. He writes about ...
Wordsworth and Hopkins both present the reader with a poem conveying the theme of nature. Nature in its variety be it from something as simple as streaked or multicolored skies, long fields and valleys, to things more complex like animals, are all gifts we take for granted. Some never realize the truth of what they are missing by keeping themselves indoors fixating on the loneliness and vacancy of their lives and not on what beauty currently surrounds them. Others tend to relate themselves more to the fact that these lovely gifts are from God and should be praised because of the way his gifts have uplifted our human spirit. Each writer gives us their own ideals as how to find and appreciate nature’s true gifts.
Rebecca Wordsworth was, as many writers have pointed out, distressed at Wordsworth’s refusal to hold a full-time job—like many a youth after him, Wordsworth was living the carefree life of the artist. Rebecca wanted him put to rights. He should become an adult now. “Tintern Abbey” is Wordsworth’s attempt to explain himself to Rebecca, but also, in crucial ways, to himself.
William Wordsworth and his not so Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Changes in “I wandered lonely as a cloud.”
Throughout "Tintern Abbey," Wordsworth constructs nature as both a healing entity and a teacher or moral guardian. This paper considers Wordsworth's treatment of nature in relation to both Ralph Pite's discussion of the relationship between the ecology movement and Romantic poetry and Richard Gravil's explication of the historical context of the Romantic era's "system of nature" in relation to "Tintern Abbey."
When a man becomes old and has nothing to look forward to he will always look back, back to what are called the good old days. These days were full of young innocence, and no worries. Wordsworth describes these childhood days by saying that "A single Field which I have looked upon, / Both of them speak of something that is gone: The Pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"(190) Another example of how Wordsworth uses nature as a way of dwelling on his past childhood experiences is when he writes "O joy! That in our embers / Is something that doth live, / That nature yet remembers / What was so fugitive!" (192) Here an ember represents our fading years through life and nature is remembering the childhood that has escaped over the years. As far as Wordsworth and his moods go I think he is very touched by nature. I can picture him seeing life and feeling it in every flower, ant, and piece of grass that crosses his path. The emotion he feels is strongly suggested in this line "To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." (193) Not only is this showi...
It is obvious that through this perception Wordsworth is generally speaking of past experiences. Wordsworth believed that nature played a key role in spiritual understanding and stressed the role of memory in capturing the experiences of childhood.
The poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth is about the poet’s mental journey in nature where he remembers the daffodils that give him joy when he is lonely and bored. The poet is overwhelmed by nature’s beauty where he thought of it while lying alone on his couch. The poem shows the relationship between nature and the poet, and how nature’s motion and beauty influences the poet’s feelings and behaviors for the good. Moreover, the process that the speaker goes through is recollected that shows that he isolated from society, and is mentally in nature while he is physically lying on his couch. Therefore, William Wordsworth uses figurative language and syntax and form throughout the poem to express to the readers the peace and beauty of nature, and to symbolize the adventures that occurred in his mental journey.
Wordsworth is deeply involved with the complexities of nature and human reaction to it. To Wordsworth nature is the revelation of god through viewing everything that is harmonious or beautiful in nature. Man’s true character is then formed and developed through participation in this balance. Wordsworth had the view that people are at their best when they are closest to nature. Being close creates harmony and order. He thought that the people of his time were getting away from that.
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.