A Critical Analysis Of William Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey?

In William Wordsworth’s Poem Tintern Abbey, the narrator returns to a beautiful place that he visited five years prior. Having been away for such a long time, as he looks down the “steep and lofty cliffs” (288) he contemplates the changes that have occurred in both himself and the landscape itself. This text can be used as an example to identify different uses of the poetic form. In the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth addresses three main points regarding poetic principles, including: language and the subject of poetry, a poet’s role as one who challenges social norms, a poet’s relation to nature, and the reflective quality of poetic writings. Each of these principles are exemplified in his poem, Tintern Abbey, composed in 1798. First, Wordsworth demonstrates the use of both easy language and common subject matter. When writing about the language of poetry, Wordsworth writes that “language, arising out of repeated

This pain and pleasure in Tintern Abbey comes in the third stanza when he writes, “I have felt / A presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts / …of something far more deeply interfused” (93-96). Having had such a strong connection with nature and experiencing so many emotions because of it, Wordsworth is thrust into this place of mixed feelings because he is no longer blind to the things of the outside world and must face the pain that comes with that realization. Also, in growing through the years, his perspective on nature helps to shape the kinds of memories that he has. Specifically, he writes that “I have learned / To look on nature, not as in the hour / Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes / The still, sad music of humanity” (88-91). He is no longer able to ignore his knowledge from his time away from this beautiful