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William Wordsworth treatment of nature
William Wordsworth treatment of nature
Nature in literature
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William Wordsworth's "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" Whereas most individuals tend to see nature as a playhouse that should alter and self-destruct to their every need, William Wordsworth had a very different view. Wordsworth perceived nature as a sanctuary where his views of life, love, and his creator were eventually altered forever. The intensity of Wordsworth's passion for nature elevated him from a boy into the inspiring man and poet in which he is recognized to be today. One of the most compelling works Wordsworth ever devised was that of "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey." The poem enlightens the reader on the awesome power and depth of nature, which Wordsworth has discovered in his trials and tribulations upon the earth. Thus, to fully understand the significance of nature in all lives told through "Lines Composed A few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" one must understand the setting and mood, as well as comprehend the rhyme scheme, and use of many diverse poetic devices that interact within the poem. One is able to gain insight into "Lines Composed a Few Lines Above Tintern Abbey" by first trying to understand the mood and setting of the poem. Although it "is a miniature of the long poem Wordsworth never quite wrote" (Robyn Young p.409) it lacked nothing as far as depth and intensity goes. Wordsworth was very skilled in such areas, although his writing may be come very complex it is said that it was a result of "the spontaneous overflow of emotion" (Gale Net). Wordsworth wrote this poem, as cited by Wordsworth without "any part of it was written down till I reached Bristol" (F.W. Bateson p.191). Wordsworth was a firm believer that man should ?find an immanent force that unites them with their physical and spiritual environments? (Jan Shoemaker p.1). As Wordsworth revisits this beloved place of his (Tintern Abbey) he is reminded of how he once perceived this sanctuary. Wordsworth attempts to compare and contrast two worlds, Brian Barbour states ?Wordsworth?s basic strategy is to appeal to the spiritual while remaining entirely within the natural order?(Barbour p.154). When he was a young child he came to this valley using it as his own personal playground. He never gave nature the respect and praise that it so deserved. He just saw nature through a young child?s eyes; he saw a tree in which to climb, grass in which wa... ... middle of paper ... ...pt. The reader viewpoint of nature in a sense is altered, as Wordsworth is erudite about the wonders of our mother nature. One must learn to live in harmony with nature to fully understand our true character and to enjoy the gracious gifts of natural world that have so graciously bestowed upon us all. Works Cited Barbour, Brian. "Between Two Worlds." Nineteenth-Century Literature. California Press (1993): 14 7-168 Bateson, F.W. Wordsworth a Re-Interpretation. London: Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, 1956. Bloom, Harold. Bloom's Major Poets. Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999. Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. Gill, Stephen. A Life. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Hartman, Geoffery H. The Unremarkable Wordsworth. Vol. 34. Minnesota: University of Minnesota, 1987. Shoemaker, Jan. Bill and Gus. [Online] http://FirstSearch.oclc.org. Jan 27, 2000. Wordsworth, William. Detroit: Gale Company, 1999. [Online] Exploring Poetry. Feb 22, 2000. Wordsworth, William. Lines Composed. [Online] http://www.library.com/poems, Feb 29, 2000 Young, Robyn V. Poetry Criticism. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale Company, 1992
When thinking about nature, Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” John Muir and William Wordsworth both expressed through their writings that nature brought them great joy and satisfaction, as it did Andersen. Each author’s text conveyed very similar messages and represented similar experiences but, the writing style and wording used were significantly different. Wordsworth and Muir express their positive and emotional relationships with nature using diction and imagery.
John Muir and William Wordsworth use diction and tone to define nature as doing a necessary extensile of life. Throughout Muir’s and William’s works of literature they both describe nature as being a necessary element in life that brings happiness, joy, and peace. Both authors use certain writing techniques within their poems and essays to show their love and appreciation of nature. This shows the audience how fond both authors are about nature. That is why Wordsworth and Muir express their codependent relationship with nature using diction and tone.
“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.
In the poem Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth nature’s is portrayed to its readers. The speaker says,
In “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” we find the purest expression of Wordsworth’s fascination with friendship.
The entire poem is about the interaction between nature and man. Wordsworth is clearly not happy about the things that man has done to the world. He describes Nature in detail in the second and third stanzas when he personifies the periwinkle and the flowers. He is thinking about the bad things that man has done to nature and he wants the reader to sit back and think about the fact that there used to be something so beautiful and alive, and because of man's ignorance and impatience, there is not a lot left. He also wants him to go sit in his own grove and actually see what is living and breathing and whether or not he enjoys it. Wordsworth makes it seem appealing to want to go and do this through his descriptions and thoughts, so that you get a feeling of what is there and what is being lost. He makes the reader want to go and see if those things, the budding twigs, the hopping birds, and the trailing periwinkle, really do exist and if they really are as alive as he says.
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
Trying to understand that nature is where people came from is becoming a more difficult subject to comprehend simply because of the increase in technology. When people are capable of making things that they begin to value more than nature, it becomes challenging to think about. Some people have begun to revert to ‘new’ thinking that we are all one soul with multiple faucets. “...understanding of time that is very much tied to the body and its relationship with the soul.” (Pope) Writers throughout time have certainly tried to grasp this concept because they are tasked with explaining what others dub unexplainable. Similarly, William Wordsworth, in his poem, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, explores three important messages; an interest in nature is healthy, the little things are able to be a content to people, and younger siblings can bring a positive effect on a person.
William Wordsworth wrote that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity” (Owen, 329). Wordsworth revised “I wandered lonely as a cloud” after a period of reflection and recollection on the scene of daffodils during a time that placed importance on nature, reflection and imagination. His revised version of “I wandered lonely as a cloud” should be considered the authoritative version as it is a better and more vivid description of the scene of daffodils and reflects the literary movement at the time, i.e. Romanticism. The changes are strongly influenced by the Romantic period in which he revised the poem. Wordsworth didn’t feel he portrayed his memory of the daffodils successfully in the first version and felt the need to make two changes and also to add an extra stanza to better suit or reflect the Romantic period. In this essay I will discuss the common characteristics of poetry in the Romantic era from my reading of various professionals’ essays on this subject. I will talk about the impact the changes and additions that Wordsworth made upon reflecting on his writing have on the poem. I will also argue how the revised version of “I wandered lonely as a cloud” is an improvement compared to the original version in terms of Romantic poetry and should therefore be the authoritative version.
In the sestet he tells us of his personal responses to the scene. The poem uses an alternate line rhyming to create the effect of order. It is written in a sonnet using iambic pentameter. This device brings attention and emphasizes the meanings of the words. Wordsworth's shows his feelings for London in a figurative way.
Landscapes are a reflection of the ideology at the centre. Simon Schama argues in Landscapes and Memory, "Landscapes are culture before they are nature; constructs of the imagination projected onto wood, and water and rock" (61). The real world exists but because we can never unproblematically engage with reality, we make it over, re-present it as landscape. In this way, landscape is ideological, is a cultural construct draped over reality. As Wordsworth writes in Tintern, the perceptions of the eye and ear are "both what they half-create and what perceive" (107-108). According to Wordsworth, nature has become the "anchor" (110) of his thoughts, the tether that restrains his creative imagination. But because landscape is based on the real, it can also be used to express an alternate ideology.
The Influence of Nature in Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
In poetry the speaker describes his feelings of what he sees or feels. When Wordsworth wrote he would take everyday occurrences and then compare what was created by that event to man and its affect on him. Wordsworth loved nature for its own sake alone, and the presence of Nature gives beauty to his mind, again only for mind’s sake (Bloom 95). Nature was the teacher and inspirer of a strong and comprehensive love, a deep and purifying joy, and a high and uplifting thought to Wordsworth (Hudson 158). Wordsworth views everything as living. Everything in the world contributes to and sustains life nature in his view.
Tintern Abbey is just an old ruin (William). However, throughout Wordsworth’s poetry Tintern Abbey becomes something slightly more than a ruin. His poem recognizes the ordinary and turns it into a spectacular recollection, whose ordinary characteristics are his principal models for Nature. As Geoffryy H. Hartman notes in his “Wordsworth’s poetry 1787-1814”, “Anything in nature stirs [Wordsworth] and renews in turn his sense for nature” (Hartman 29). “The Poetry of William Wordsworth” recalls a quote from the Prelude to Wordsworth’s 1802 edition of Lyrical ballads where they said “[he] believed his fellow poets should "choose incidents and situations from common life and to relate or describe them...in a selection of language really used by men” (Poetry). In the shallowest sense, Wordsworth is using his view of the Tintern Abbey as a platform or recollection, however, this ordinary act of recollection stirs within him a deeper understanding. In his elaboration in “Tintern Abbey”, he says “For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes the still, s...