How Blake and Wordsworth Respond to Nature in their Poetry

How Blake and Wordsworth Respond to Nature in their Poetry

What natural influences did Blake and Wordsworth respond to in their

poetry? Blake and Wordsworth were under different influences stemming

from their childhood. Wordsworth's pleasant and simplistic life style

in the country, contrasted with the harsh reality of life experienced

by Blake in the City of London. This essay analyses how both poets

expressed their very different views of London through their use of

themes, word devices, structure and tone.

Blake and Wordsworth were both born into the countryside lifestyle.

Wordsworth spent all of his childhood living in the Lake District;

this is reflected in his positive and naïve themes which permeate his

poetry. He developed a keen love of nature and as a youth frequently

visited places noted for their scenic beauty. His poetry as a youth,

although fresh and original in content, reflected the influence of the

formal style of 18th-century English poetry. Later on in his life the

Romantic Movement took place, this influenced Wordsworth to drop the

themes of artificial classicism and focus on nature; this signified a

revolt against the artificial classicism of contemporary English

verse. As he advanced in age, Wordsworth's poetic vision and

inspiration dulled; his later, more rhetorical and moralistic poems,

are of inferior quality to the lyrics of his youth.

Blake was bought up as a son of hosier, and his father moved from the

countryside to work in London during the industrial revolution;

therefore Blake had direct experience of living in London and hence

his view of London is more accurate than Wordsworth's. Blake's

un...

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express his view of London, "And the hapless Soldier's sigh, Runs in

blood down Palace walls."

In summary, Blake and Wordsworth were under different influences,

Blake tended to write about the affect the environment had on the

emotions of people, whereas Wordsworth focused his writing on the

physical aspect of London. Wordsworth was heavily influenced by the

natural beauty of the physical world and its tranquillity. However

Blake was more interested in the sociology of man. The quote that

epitomizes Wordsworth's work is, "Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so

deep." This is the quintessence of Wordsworth's work as it expresses

his naïve innocence. The quote that epitomizes Blake's work is, "Marks

of weakness, Marks of woe," this is the quintessence of Blake's work

as he is talking about the emotions of people.