Nature in Context vs. Nature out of Context

Nature in Context vs. Nature out of Context

Nature has long been the focus of many an author's work, whether it is expressed through poetry, short stories, or any other type of literary creation. Authors have been given an endless supply of pictures and descriptions because of nature's infinite splendor that can be vividly reproduced through words. It is because of this fact that often a reader is faced with two different approaches to the way nature is portrayed. Some authors tend to look at nature from a more extensive perspective as in William Wordsworth's "I wandered Lonely as a Cloud." While some authors tend to focus more on individual aspects of nature and are able to captivate the reader with their intimate portrayals of nature that bring us right into their imaginations as shown in John Keats' poem, "To Autumn."

Keats once wrote that other authors describe what they see, while Keats describes what he imagines. The poem, "To Autumn," is certainly evidence of that because from the beginning it builds up the Autumn landscape and touches upon nature in a more concrete way than Wordsworth ever touched upon. Its full of excellent picture language like, "And fill all fruits with ripeness to the core, /To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells," which shows that he can also write about what he sees and feels in the same sentence. Then in the second stanza he starts to fill an already almost perfect picture with his imagination, by moving the background of the poem from the ripened fruit to the cider press, showing what beautiful things that Autumn can produce. He personifies Autumn, "Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; /Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, /Drows'd with the fume of poppies while t...

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...s' poems and interpret his thoughts and imagination. Comparing Autumn's winnowing hair to a billowing cloud of straw, although it makes for an interesting picture inside a reader's head, is not something that my brain associates with nature. It was this kind of comparison to nature, and Keats awkward use of personification that made me relate and like Wordsworth's poem better. Wordsworth, like any other good poet was able transform ordinary life into art. A process of interpreting what he saw, shaping, and ordering took place between the time that he observed the daffodils and the finished poem. Wordsworth made it possible for the reader to see the daffodils in a new way that did not require an awkward use of language. It also provided a setting that was not only enjoyable to read, but left the reader a newfound appreciation of nature that Wordsworth showed us.