William Wordsworth was born on April 7th, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. Young William’s parents, ohn and Ann, died during his bo!hood. "aised amid the mountains o# Cumberland alongside the "i$er %erwent, Wordsworth grew up in a rustic societ!, and spent a great deal o# his time pla!ing outdoors, in what he would later remember as a pure communion with nature. &n the earl! 17'0s William li$ed #or a time in (rance, (rance, then in the grip o# the $iolent "e$olution) Wordsworth’s Wordsworth’s philosophical s!mpathies la! with the re$olutionaries, but his lo!alties la! with England, whose monarch! monarch! he was not prepared prepared to see o$erthrown. While in (rance, Wordsworth Wordsworth had a long long a*air a*air with with An Annet nette te +allon, allon, with with whom whom he had a daught daughter, er, Carolin Caroline. e. A later later ourne! to (rance to meet Caroline, now a !oung girl, would inspire the great sonnet -&t is a beauteous e$ening, calm and #ree. /he chaos and bloodshed o# the "eign o# /error in aris dro$e William to philosoph! books) he was deepl! troubled b! the rationalism he #ound in the works o# thinkers such as William odwin, which clashed with his own so#ter, more emotional understanding o# the world. &n despair, he ga$e up his pursuit o# moral 2uestions. &n the mid317'0s, mid317'0s, howe$er, Wordswo Wordsworth’ rth’s s increasin increasing g sense sense o# anguish anguish #orced #orced him to #orm #ormul ulat ate e his his own own unde unders rsta tand ndin ing g o# the the worl world d and and o# the the huma human n mind mind in mor more concrete terms. /he theor! he produced, and the poetics he in$ented to embod! it, caused a re$olution in English literature. %e$eloped throughout his li#e, Wordsworth’s understanding o# the human mind seems simple enough toda!, what with the ad$ent o# ps!choanal!sis and the general (reudi reudian an accept acceptanc ance e o# the impor importan tance ce o# childh childhood ood in the adult adult ps!che ps!che.. 4ut in Wordsworth’s time, in what 5eamus 6eane! has called -%r. ohnson’s supremel! adult eighteenth centur!, it was shockingl! unlike an!thing that had been proposed be#ore. Words ordswo wort rth h beli belie$ e$ed ed as as he e8pr 8presse essed d in poem poems s su such ch as the the -&nt -&ntim imat atio ions ns o# &mmo &mmort rtal alit it! ! 9de: 9de: that that,, upon upon bein being g bor born, huma human n bein beings gs mo$e mo$e #rom #rom a per# per#ec ect, t, ideali;ed realm into the imper#ect, un3ideal earth. As children, some memor! o# the #ormer purit! and glor! in which the! li$ed remains, best percei$ed in the solemn and o!ous relationship o# the child to the beauties o# nature. 4ut as children grow older, the memor! #ades, and the magic o# nature dies. 5till, the memor! o# childhood can o*er an important solace, which brings with it almost a kind o# re3access to the lost purities o# the past. And the maturing mind de$elops the capabilit! to understand nature in human terms, and to see in it metaphors #or human li#e, which compensate #or the loss o# the direct connection. (reed #rom
!rical >!rical 4allads, !rical 4allads represents represents a landmark moment #or English poet poetr! r!)) it was was unli unlik ke an!t an!thi hing ng that that had had com come be#o be#orre, and and pa$e pa$ed d the the wa! #or #or e$er!thing that has come a#ter. According to the theor! that poetr! resulted #rom the -spontaneous o$erow o# emotions, as Wordsworth Wordsworth wrote in the pre#ace, Wordsworth ordsworth Courtes! o#B ro#. ro#. Ali "a;a (ahad %ept. o# English o$t ostgraduate College, ora
and Coleridge made it their task to write in the simple language o# common people, telling concrete stories o# their li$es. According to this theor!, poetr! originated in -emotion recollected in a state o# tran2uilit!) the poet then surrendered to the emotion, so that the tran2uilit! dissol$ed, and the emotion remained in the poem. /his e8plicit emphasis on #eeling, simplicit!, and the pleasure o# beaut! o$er rhetoric, ornament, and #ormalit! changed the course o# English poetr!, replacing the elaborate classical #orms o# ope and %r!den with a new "omantic sensibilit!. Wordsworth’s most important legac!, besides his lo$el!, timeless poems, is his launching o# the "omantic era, opening the gates #or later writers such as ohn eats, erc! 4!sshe 5helle!, and >ord 4!ron in England, and Emerson and /horeau in America. (ollowing the success o# >!rical 4allads and his subse2uent poem /he relude, a massi$e autobiograph! in $erse #orm, Wordsworth mo$ed to the statel! house at "!dal Dount where he li$ed, with %oroth!, his wi#e Dar!, and his children, until his death in 1?=0. Wordsworth became the dominant #orce in English poetr! while still 2uite a !oung man, and he li$ed to be 2uite old) his later !ears were marked b! an increasing aristocratic temperament and a general alienation #rom the !ounger "omantics whose work he had inspired. 4!ronthe onl! important poet to become more popular than Wordsworth during Wordsworth’s li#etimein particular saw him as a kind o# sell3out, writing in his sardonic pre#ace to %on uan that the once3liberal Wordsworth had -turned out a /or! at last. /he last decades o# Wordsworth’s li#e, howe$er, were spent as oet >aureate o# England, and until his death he was widel! considered the most important author in England. Analysis Wordsworth’s monumental poetic legac! rests on a large number o# important poems, $ar!ing in length and weight #rom the short, simple l!rics o# the 17'0s to the $ast e8panses o# The Prelude, thirteen books long in its 1?0? edition. 4ut the themes that run through Wordsworth’s poetr!, and the language and imager! he uses to embod! those themes, remain remarkabl! consistent throughout the Wordsworth canon, adhering largel! to the tenets Wordsworth set out #or himsel# in the 1?0@ pre#ace to Lyrical Ballads. 6ere, Wordsworth argues that poetr! should be written in the natural language o# common speech, rather than in the lo#t! and elaborate dictions that were then considered -poetic. 6e argues that poetr! should o*er access to the emotions contained in memor!. And he argues that the
Wordsworth’s images and metaphors mi8 natural scener!, religious s!mbolism as in the sonnet -&t is a beauteous e$ening, calm and #ree, in which the e$ening is described as being -2uiet as a nun:, and the relics o# the poet’s rustic childhood cottages, hedgerows, orchards, and other places where humanit! intersects gentl! and easil! with nature. Wordsworth’s poems initiated the "omantic era b! emphasi;ing #eeling, instinct, and pleasure abo$e #ormalit! and mannerism. Dore than an! poet be#ore him, Wordsworth ga$e e8pression to inchoate human emotion) his l!ric -5trange ondon, 1?0@, in which the speaker e8horts the spirit o# the centuries3dead poet ohn Dilton to teach the modern world a better wa! to li$e.
The Benefcial Inuence o Nature /hroughout Wordsworth’s work, nature pro$ides the ultimate good inuence on the human mind. All mani#estations o# the natural world#rom the highest mountain to the simplest owerelicit noble, ele$ated thoughts and passionate emotions in the people who obser$e these mani#estations. Wordsworth repeatedl! emphasi;es the importance o# nature to an indi$idual’s intellectual and spiritual de$elopment. A good relationship with nature helps indi$iduals connect to both the spiritual and the social worlds. As Wordsworth e8plains in /he relude, a lo$e o# nature can lead to a lo$e o# humankind. &n such poems as -/he World &s /oo Duch with Fs 1?07: and ->ondon, 1?0@ 1?07: people become selines Composed a (ew Diles Abo$e /intern Abbe! 17'?: relie$es his loneliness with memories o# nature, while the leech gatherer in -"esolution and &ndependence 1?07: perse$eres cheer#ull! in the #ace o# po$ert! b! the e8ertion o# his own will. /he trans#ormati$e powers o# the mind are a$ailable to all, regardless o# an indi$idual’s class or background. /his democratic $iew emphasi;es indi$idualit! and uni2ueness. /hroughout his work, Wordsworth showed strong support #or the political, religious, and artistic rights o# the indi$idual, including the power o# his or her mind. &n the 1?0@ pre#ace to >!rical 4allads, Wordsworth e8plained the relationship between the mind and poetr!. oetr! is -emotion recollected in tran2uilit!that is, the mind trans#orms Courtes! o#B ro#. Ali "a;a (ahad %ept. o# English o$t ostgraduate College, ora
the raw emotion o# e8perience into poetr! capable o# gi$ing pleasure. >ater poems, such as -9deB &ntimations o# &mmortalit! 1?07:, imagine nature as the source o# the inspiring material that nourishes the acti$e, creati$e mind. The Splendor o Childhood &n Wordsworth’s poetr!, childhood is a magical, magniuc! who died at a !oung age. /hese poems, including -5he dwelt among the untrodden wa!s 1?00: and -5trange uc! retains the innocence and splendor o# childhood, unlike the children who grow up, lose their connection to nature, and lead un#ul!rical 4allads that poetr! sprang #rom the calm remembrance o# passionate emotional e8periences. oems cannot be composed at the moment when emotion is
and #eelings #rom the poet’s past e8periences using memor! and imagination. /he poem produced b! this time3consuming process will allow the poet to con$e! the essence o# his emotional memor! to his readers and will permit the readers to remember similar emotional e8periences o# their own. "ision and Si!ht /hroughout his poems, Wordsworth <8ates on $ision and sight as the $ehicles through which indi$iduals are trans#ormed. As speakers mo$e through the world, the! see $isions o# great natural lo$eliness, which the! capture in their memories. >ater, in moments o# darkness, the speakers recollect these $isions, as in -& wandered lonel! as a cloud. 6ere, the speaker da!dreams o# #ormer aunts through nature, which -ash upon that inward e!e H which is the bliss o# solitude @1I@@:. /he power o# sight captured b! our mind’s e!e enables us to ight o#ten s!mboli;es truth and knowledge. &n -/he /ables /urned 17'?:, Wordsworth contrasts the barren light o# reason a$ailable in books with the -sweet 11: and -#reshening J: light o# the knowledge nature brings. 5unlight literall! helps people see, and sunlight also helps speakers and characters begin to glimpse the wonders o# the world. &n -E8postulation and "epl! 17'?:, the presence o# light, or knowledge, within an indi$idual pre$ents dullness and helps the indi$idual to see, or e8perience. enerall!, the light in Wordsworth’s poems represents immortal truths that can’t be entirel! grasped b! human reason. &n -9deB &mitations o# &mmortalit!, the speaker remembers looking at a meadow as a child and imagining it gleaming in -celestial light K:. As the speaker grows and matures, the light o# his !outh #ades into the -light o# common da! 7?: o# adulthood. 4ut the speaker also imagines his remembrances o# the past as a kind o# light, which illuminate his soul and gi$e him the strength to li$e. The #eech $atherer &n -"esolution and &ndependence, the ancient leech gatherer who spends his da!s wandering the moors looking #or leeches represents the strong3minded poet who perse$eres in the #ace o# po$ert!, obscurit!, and solitude. As the poem begins, a wanderer tra$els along a moor, #eeling elated and taking great pleasure in the sights o# nature around him but also remembering that despair is the twin o# happiness. E$entuall! he comes upon an old man looking #or leeches, e$en though the work is dangerous and the leeches ha$e become increasingl! hard to ike a leech gather, a poet continues to search his or her mind and the landscape o# the natural world #or poems, e$en though such intense emotions can Courtes! o#B ro#. Ali "a;a (ahad %ept. o# English o$t ostgraduate College, ora
damage one’s ps!che, the work pa!s poorl! and po$ert! is dangerous to one’s health, and inspiration sometimes seems increasingl! hard to ines Composed a (ew Diles abo$e /intern Abbe!, on "e$isiting the 4anks o# the W!e during a /our. ul! 1L, 17'?. &t opens with the speaker’s declaration that <$e !ears ha$e passed since he last $isited this location, encountered its tran2uil, rustic scener!, and heard the murmuring waters o# the ri$er. 6e recites the obects he sees again, and describes their e*ect upon himB the -steep and lo#t! cli*s impress upon him -thoughts o# more deep seclusion) he leans against the dark s!camore tree and looks at the cottage3grounds and the orchard trees, whose #ruit is still unripe. 6e sees the -wreaths o# smoke rising up #rom cottage chimne!s between the trees, and imagines that the! might rise #rom -$agrant dwellers in the houseless woods, or #rom the ca$e o# a hermit in the deep #orest. /he speaker then describes how his memor! o# these -beauteous #orms has worked upon him in his absence #rom themB when he was alone, or in crowded towns and cities, the! pro$ided him with -sensations sweet, H (elt in the blood, and #elt along the heart. /he memor! o# the woods and cottages o*ered -tran2uil restoration to his mind, and e$en a*ected him when he was not aware o# the memor!, inuencing his deeds o# kindness and lo$e. 6e #urther credits the memor! o# the scene with o*ering him access to that mental and spiritual state in which the burden o# the world is lightened, in which he becomes a -li$ing soul with a $iew into -the li#e o# things. /he speaker then sa!s that his belie# that the memor! o# the woods has a*ected him so strongl! ma! be -$ainbut i# it is, he has still turned to the memor! o#ten in times o# -#ret#ul stir. E$en in the present moment, the memor! o# his past e8periences in these surroundings oats o$er his present $iew o# them, and he #eels bittersweet o! in re$i$ing them. 6e thinks happil!, too, that his present e8perience will pro$ide man! happ! memories #or #uture !ears. /he speaker acknowledges that he is di*erent now #rom how he was in those long3ago times, when, as a bo!, he -bounded o’er the mountains and through the streams. &n those da!s, he sa!s, nature made up his whole worldB water#alls, mountains, and woods ga$e shape to his passions, his appetites, and his lo$e. /hat time is now past, he sa!s, but he does not mourn it, #or though he cannot resume his old relationship with nature, he has been ampl! compensated b! a new set o# more mature gi#ts) #or instance, he can now -look on nature, not as in the hour H 9# thoughtless !outh) but hearing o#tentimes H /he still, sad music o# humanit!. And he can now sense the presence o# something #ar more subtle, power#ul, and #undamental in the light o# the setting suns, the ocean, the air itsel#, and e$en in the mind o# man) this energ! seems to him -a motion and a spirit that impels H All thinking thoughts.... H And rolls through all things. (or that reason, he sa!s, he still lo$es nature, still lo$es mountains and pastures and woods, #or the! anchor his purest thoughts and guard the heart and soul o# his -moral being. Courtes! o#B ro#. Ali "a;a (ahad %ept. o# English o$t ostgraduate College, ora
/he speaker sa!s that e$en i# he did not #eel this wa! or understand these things, he would still be in good spirits on this da!, #or he is in the compan! o# his -dear, dear d: 5ister, who is also his -dear, dear (riend, and in whose $oice and manner he obser$es his #ormer sel#, and beholds -what & was once. 6e o*ers a pra!er to nature that he might continue to do so #or a little while, knowing, as he sa!s, that -Mature ne$er did betra! H /he heart that lo$ed her, but leads rather -#rom o! to o!. Mature’s power o$er the mind that seeks her out is such that it renders that mind imper$ious to -e$il tongues, -rash udgments, and -the sneers o# selines such as -6ere, under this dark s!camore, and $iew do not 2uite con#orm to the stress3patterns o# the meter, but
the poem is striking #or its simplicit! and #orthrightness) the !oung poet is in no wa! concerned with ostentation. 6e is instead concerned with speaking #rom the heart in a plainspoken manner. /he poem’s imager! is largel! con
or a #esti$al or -a mourning or a #uneral. /he speaker imagines that all human li#e is a similar imitation. &n the eighth stan;a, the speaker addresses the child as though he were a might! prophet o# a lost truth, and rhetoricall! asks him wh!, when he has access to the glories o# his origins, and to the pure e8perience o# nature, he still hurries toward an adult li#e o# custom and -earthl! #reight. &n the ninth stan;a, the speaker e8periences a surge o# o! at the thought that his memories o# childhood will alwa!s grant him a kind o# access to that lost world o# instinct, innocence , and e8ploration. &n the tenth stan;a, bolstered b! this o!, he urges the birds to sing, and urges all creatures to participate in -the gladness o# the Da!. 6e sa!s that though he has lost some part o# the glor! o# nature and o# e8perience, he will take solace in -primal s!mpath!, in memor!, and in the #act that the !ears bring a mature consciousness-a philosophic mind. &n the
in the later poem he e8plicitl! proposes that this music is the remed! #or his mature grie#. /he structure o# the &mmortalit! 9de is also uni2ue in Wordsworth’s work) unlike his characteristicall! uid, naturall! spoken monologues, the 9de is written in a lilting, songlike cadence with #re2uent shi#ts in rh!me scheme and rh!thm. (urther, rather than progressi$el! e8ploring a single idea #rom start to
/he poem is in <$e sections. /he
begins #rom the earliest o# his da!sO &t was et the moon shine on her solitar! walk, and let the mountain winds blow their bree;e on her. When the present !outh#ul ecstasies are o$er, as the! did with him, let her mind become the palace o# the lo$el! #orms and thought about the nature, so that she can eno! and understand li#e and o$ercome the $e8ations o# li$ing in a harsh human societ!. /he conclusion to the poem takes us almost c!clicall!, back to a ph!sical $iew o# the Rsteep woods’, Rlo#t! cli*s’ and Rgreen pastoral landscape’ in which the meditation o# the poem is happening. /he poet has e8pressed his honest and natural #eelings to Mature’s 5uperiorit!. /he language is so simple and lucid that one is not tired o# reading it again and again. /he sweetness o# st!le touches the heart o# a reader. /his is the beaut! o# Wordsworth’s language. The Prelude' illiam ordsworth ( Summary and Critical Analysis /he relude begun in 17'' and was completed in 1?0=, but was published a !ear a#ter the poet’s death in 1?=0. &n this work the poet describes his e8periences o# growing up as a man and a poet with #ullness, closeness and laborious an8iet! that is uni2ue in English literature. /he relude is the
the $arious te8ts o# the poem co$er a $er! long period in the poet’s li#e during which his st!le and opinion both changed considerabl!. /he relude is in #act the ake Countr!. 6e ike the short poem, besides touching upon man! other things, this long poem traces the de$elopment o# the poet’s attitudes to nature, his poetic genius, and his understanding o# #ellow3beings and the spirit o# the uni$erse) he mo$es #rom the t!pical childhood animal pleasures, through adolescent, sensual passion #or the wild and gloom!, to the adult awareness o# the relation o# our perception o# the natural world, and
Courtes! o#B ro#. Ali "a;a (ahad %ept. o# English o$t ostgraduate College, ora
/he relude is an autobiographical poem but it is not onl! the poet’s personal con#essions) it is an account o# the growth o# a poet’s mind. &n it he tells the stor! o# his inner li#e #rom the earliest childhood up to 17'?. 4ut the e$ents do not alwa!s #ollow each o# the chronological or e$en logical order, #or the poem is shaped b! a kind o# internal logic o# the growth o# mind rather than b! the se2uence o# eternal e$ents. /he de$elopment is roughl! chronological but e$en as the poem has progressed well into adulthood, at signi
is a poem that incorporates the disco$er! o# its Rars poetica’. &t’s surel! the true ancestor o# all those subse2uent works o# art that coil back upon themsel$es. 4oth the beginning and the end o# the double, 2uest, the $o!age o# sel#3e8ploration and the e*ort to articulate the e8perience are perhaps those spots o# time included the earliest moments o# moral and spiritual awareness and the! are usuall! associated with intensel! #elt responses to the nature e$en when he was a child. 3 5ee more atB httpBHHwww.bachelorandmaster.comHbritishandamericanpoetr!Hthe3 prelude.htmlS.+Ymc$#kir&F
Courtes! o#B ro#. Ali "a;a (ahad %ept. o# English o$t ostgraduate College, ora
