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Discuss treatment of nature in William Wordsworth's poetry
Romantic elements in Wordsworth's poetry
Romantic elements in Wordsworth's poetry
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Romanticism was a revolutionary movement which began in English Literature (mainly poetry) around the Eighteenth Century in Western Europe and gained height during the times of the Industrial Revolution. Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge and Blake were regarded as the ‘Big Six’ of Romanticism. In ‘Tintern Abbey’ by William Wordsworth, ‘Frost at Midnight’ by Samuel Coleridge and ‘ Ode to the West Wind’ by Percy Shelley, we see clearly that nature is the central trigger for the poet’s imagination to take wings and to help each poet to seriously explore his inner world in a meditative manner; the treatment and responses to nature are also similar, despite some individual differences. This is not surprising considering the fact that they were all contemporaries and also showed the same Romantic beliefs about the Nature of Imagination and the Creation of Poetry. The Romantic poets had a philosophy and a conception on the Creation of Poetry. According to William Wordsworth poetry was ‘a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquility.’ This is clearly seen in the poem ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud..’ The poet generally has an experience which has a tremendous impact upon him. Sometime later in the future when he is in a tranquil mood there is an overflow of these emotions due to a trigger and the imagination is given wings. This leads to the creation of Poetry. The days and times in which these poets lived and their personal lives also had a significant impact upon their works and poems. Wordworth was one of the greatest Romantic poets. He was fed up of the hustle- bustle of city life which he couldn’t cope up with and thus he turned to nature as seen in ‘Tintern Abbey’. He lived during the Frenc... ... middle of paper ... ... his poem ‘Ode to the West Wind’ the Wind becomes a symbol of poetic faculty spreading his words amongst mankind and is used to represent a force by which he can advocate and propagate his ideas to the world. He wants the wind to scatter his thoughts just as how the wind scatters the leaves and the clouds. The West Wind is portrayed as both a destroyer as well as a preserver. In the last stanza the wind is no longer used as an outside force he is trying to address but in fact the wind becomes a part and extended force within him. Therefore it can be clearly observed that though nature is the prime subject in all the three pieces of work it has been treated and responded to differently by each individual. The works of poetry are unique in their own forte and have thus stood the tests of time and appeal to us even today in this highly modernized and changed world.
While Romantics did seek inspiration in solitude and the grandeur of nature, it is difficult to say whether there is only one Romantic notion of the sublime. It is doubtful that the sublime we encounter in Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’ is the same as the sublime of ‘Tintern Abbey’. Wordsworth tells us how “… in lonely rooms, and ’mid the din / Of towns and cities” he has received “tranquil restoration” from the memory of nature, and how this has sometimes led to the realization of a gift of “aspect more sublime”, which is a trance-like state, a “classical religious meditation” (Wlecke, 158) in which he can “see into the life of things” (lines 36-49). This seems to be a notion of the sublime that gradually reveals itself through the interaction between the human mind and the objects of its contemplation. Moreover, this philosophical gift is “abundant recompense” (line 89) for something that he has lost – the ability to be moved at a level below that of thought, by the sublime aspect of nature. At the time of his visit five years before, he had been “more like a man ...
Romanticism is the evolution of literary ideals resulting from the American and French Revolution that took Western Europe by storm from 1785 to 1832. The Romantic period during the late 18th century, was designed to bring upon a new understanding to the average reader such as you and I, challenging the ideals of classicism and shedding a new light on simplistic literature that has influenced today’s literary culture. William Wordsworth and his colleague Samuel Coleridge, challenged their neoclassical predecessors and taught us to glorify our spontaneous overflow of emotion, as a source for inspiration. As a result, Romantic artists emerged to follow
Wordsworth begins the journey into "Tintern Abbey" by taking the reader from the height of a mountain stream down into the valley where the poet sits under a sycamore... ... middle of paper ... ... together even after his death. Over two hundred years after it was written, "Tintern Abbey" continues to uphold the essence of William Wordsworth's beliefs and continues to touch the emotions of its readers. Even though, here in the twenty-first century, the term real-world has a connotation of life in the fast-lane, the real world - the natural world - of Wordsworth's time still holds a place of eminence both in literature and in the hearts of its readers.
In “Ode to the West Wind,” a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the speaker expresses his fascination with power and with those forces- both destroyers and preservers- that inspire the same powers within the speaker. The author uses imagery, metaphors, and rhyme scheme to add to the poems meaning. Through word choice, sentence structure, and alliteration Shelley shows that wind brings both good and evil.
In his introduction to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, M. H. Abrams attempts to overcome these difficulties by identifying the 'five cardinal elements' of Romantic poetry. According to Abrams, Romantic poetry is distinguished by the belief that poetry is not an "imitation of nature" but a "representation of the poet's internal emotions". Secondly, that the writing of poetry should be "an effortless expression" and not an "arduous exercise". The prevalence of nature in Romantic poetry and what Abrams calls "the glorification of the ordinary and the outcast" are identified as two further common elements, as is the sense of a "supernatural" or "satanic presence" (Abrams, 2000, pp. 7-11).
To the Romantics, the imagination was important. It was the core and foundation of everything they thought about, believed in, and even they way they perceived God itself. The leaders of the Romantic Movement were undoubtedly Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his close friend, William Wordsworth. Both were poets, and both wrote about the imagination. Wordsworth usually wrote about those close to nature, and therefore, in the minds of the Romantics, deeper into the imagination than the ordinary man. Coleridge, however, was to write about the supernatural, how nature extended past the depth of the rational mind.
The Romantics often wrote of the beauty of nature, they emphasized individuality as opposed to convention, and imagination is chosen over reason. A good portion of their works were full of pastoral life and symbolism. When it comes to the aspect of nature in Romantic writing take a look at “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. “She walks in beauty, like the
William Wordsworth existed in a time when society and its functions were beginning to rapidly pick up. The poem that he 'Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye', gave him a chance to reflect upon his quick paced life by taking a moment to slow down and absorb the beauty of nature that allows one to 'see into the life of things'; (line 49). Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey'; takes you on a series of emotional states by trying to sway 'readers and himself, that the loss of innocence and intensity over time is compensated by an accumulation of knowledge and insight.'; Wordsworth accomplishes to prove that although time was lost along with his innocence, he in turn was able to gain an appreciation for the aesthetics that consoled him by incorporating all together, the wonders of nature, his past experiences, and his present mature perception of life.
However, the two of them differently perceive the same natural manifestations. The radical poet Shelley observes the deadly changes in nature caused by the autumnal wind with an expectation for the following spring and revival. In the seasonal process he sees a symbolic prototype for possible revolutionary changes both in his own life and in the existing social structure of his country. His "Ode to the West Wind" !
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.
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.
The poems, “Above Tintern Abbey” and “Intimations of Immortality written by the poet, William Wordsworth, pertain to a common theme of natural beauty. Relaying his history and inspirations within his works, Wordsworth reflects these events in each poem. The recurring theme of natural beauty is analogous to his experiences and travels.
Through the ingenious works of poetry the role of nature has imprinted the 18th and 19th century with a mark of significance. The common terminology ‘nature’ has been reflected by our greatest poets in different meanings and understanding; Alexander Pope believed in reason and moderation, whereas Blake and Wordsworth embraced passion and imagination.
His poem recognizes the ordinary and turns it into a spectacular recollection, whose ordinary characteristics are his principal models for Nature. As Geoffrey H. Hartman notes in his “Wordsworth’s poetry 1787-1814”, “Anything in nature stirs [Wordsworth] and renews in turn his sense of 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.
Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" is a lyric poem. The poem addresses the west wind as the powerful force and the speaker asks the west wind to disseminate his words and thoughts throughout the world. The speaker narrates the vicissitude of nature and how the west wind changes the ground, the sky and the ocean. With rich imagination which is the reflection of Shelley's "defence of Poetry," the poet modifies the west wind, being both a destroyer and a preserver, as a symbol of revolution, an impetus of the rejuvenation in both human and natural world. Then, the speakers complains about the circumstances of his life, pleads to accompany with the west wind and states his prophecy about future.