Wordsworth as a nature poet

Name: Trivedi Hezal K.

Roll No: 35

PG Reg. No. PG15101040

M.A. – English Regular, Semester-2

Year: 2016

Course No. 5:  The Romantic Literature

Unit-4 – Wordsworth and Coleridge: A study of poets (1798 – 1850)

Assignments Topic- Wordsworth as nature poet

 Submitted to: S.B. Gardi Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

(Gujarat – India)

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Introduction:

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is one of the greatest British Romantic poet as well as a poet of Nature. He is one of the most important English poet and a founder of the romantic movement of English literature, a style of writing that focuses on emotion and imagination.  He is a high-priest of nature and worshiper of Nature. His love of Nature is perhaps truer, more sincere and more loving than that of any other English poet. He had a complete philosophy of nature. He believed that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of nature. This belief finds a complete expression in his nature poem.. According to Tinturn Abbey, nature removes the depression and agony of human mind. He was often called a ‘nature poet’ because of his emphasis on the connection between humans and the natural world. He became widely successful and was named poet laureate of England in 1834.

The aim of Wordsworth:  

·        Glorification of his nature poetry in work.

·        He revealed inner soul of nature in his work.

        “One impulse from the vernal wood

          May teach you more of man

          Of moral evil and of good

           I hand all the sages can”

Wordsworth as a poet of nature:

                                Wordsworth’s house and garden in Cokermouth

  As a poet of nature, Wordsworth stands supreme. He is a worshiper of nature, nature’s devoted or high – priest. His love of nature was probably truer, and more tender, then that of any other English poet, before or since. Nature comes to occupy in his poem a separate or independent status and is not treated in a casual or passing manner as by poets before him. Wordsworth had a full – fledged philosophy, a new and original view of nature.

Wordsworth is claimed to be the high priest of nature. Truly speaking, he is a worshiper of nature, which occupies an eminent place in his poetry. At least, three things must be noted in his treatment of nature:

(i)  That it has a living personality,

(ii) That it exercises a healing influence on the aggrieved souls,  

     and,

(iii) That it is a great moral teacher.

Wordsworth believed that we can learn more of man and of moral evil and good from nature than from all the philosophies. In his eyes, “nature is a teacher whose wisdom we can learn, and without which any human life is vain and incomplete”. This inters relation of nature and man is very important in considering Wordsworth’s view of both: three points in his creed of nature may be noted:  

·        He conceived of Nature as a living Personality. He believed that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of Nature. This belief in a divine spirit pervading all the objects of Nature may be termed as mystical Pantheism and is fully expressed in Tintern Abbey and in several passages in Book II of “The Prelude”.

·        Wordsworth believed that the company of Nature gives joy to the human heart and he looked upon Nature as exercising a healing influence on sorrow-stricken hearts.

·        Above all, Wordsworth emphasized the moral influence of Nature. He spiritualised Nature and regarded her as a great moral teacher, as the best mother, guardian and nurse of man, and as an elevating influence. He believed that between man and Nature there is mutual consciousness, spiritual communion or ‘mystic intercourse’. He initiates his readers into the secret of the soul’s communion with Nature. According to him, human beings who grow up in the lap of Nature are perfect in every respect.

 Wordsworth was true devoted to nature to humanity.

                              “Nature not only gave him the

                                Matter but wrote his poem for him”

                                                        -Matthew Arnold                   

        Wordsworth was in a true sense the most romantic and the purest soul of nature. His love of nature was boundless. For the great love he is considered a greatest poet of nature. To the Nature poet Wordsworth, Nature is a best friend of man who never deceits her lover.

Wordsworth use of nature in his poetry:

Nature is a huge part in romanticism. Many romantics viewed nature as a healing power and a source of subject and image. It encompasses how nature can touch and change one’s life for the better. They view it as organic and don’t like scientific views. Wordsworth uses nature in so much of his work.  

(1)               “ I wandered lonely as a cloud”

In the poem William Wordsworth reveals his relationship with nature. His choices of words throughout the poem make it clear that his relationship with nature is good one. The whole poem is about nature. It talks about clouds, vales, hills, trees, the breeze, stars, the Milky Way, a bay, waves, and most of all daffodils. Nature brings a state of imagination. It brings people into a different state of mind, an ambiance to encompass the world and make it a better place.  In this poem, a host of daffodils stops the speaker while travelling through nature. The word “host” makes it transform into a vision, which is imagination.

(2)              “The Thorn”

Wordsworth also uses nature throughout the whole poem. It talks about a thorn overgrown with lichen, rocks and stones, moss, mountains, a stormy winter gale, clouds, a muddy pond, a hill of moss, spikes, branches, and stars.

(3)              “Ode on Intimations of Immorality”

Wordsworth uses nature to explain his perception on the beauty of nature. He uses meadows, groves, streams, the earth, rainbows, roses, birds, lambs, seasons, mountains, seas, valleys, the sun, flowers, and stars.

(4)              “To a Skylark”

In “To a Skylark” he uses clouds, the sky, a nest, sloths, mountains, rivers, dusty winds, and heaven to portray nature.

(5)              “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge”

In “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” nature is described by the earth, the sky, fields, valleys, rocks, and beautiful hills.

(6)              “The table turned”

·        The speaker is telling his friend that nature has more to teach than books, and that he should go outside rather than seek refuge in dry pages.

·        Emphasizes the importance of being a part of nature.

·        Strong element of irony.

Wordsworth vs. other poets on nature:

(1) Wordsworth and Shelly:

According to Shelley, nature represents a powerfully sublime entity which feels utter indifference for man. Certainly, Shelley describes such beautiful scenes. According to him, nature is at once splendorous and deadly, a dynamic force that cannot be tamed by man. While appreciating nature's aesthetic majesty, Shelley warns man not to equate beauty with tranquillity. Rather, Shelley advises us to view nature from both sides of the coin, admiring its unapproachable synthesis of power and grace.

For Wordsworth, on the other hand, nature plays a more comforting role. Like Shelley, Wordsworth sees nature as an eternal and sublime entity, but rather than threatening the poet, these qualities give Wordsworth comfort.

(2) Wordsworth and Tennyson:

The personifications of nature found in William Wordsworth's "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" and Alfred Tennyson's “In Memoriam” use the identical technique of picturing the nature of the natural world, but to extraordinarily different ends.

(3) Wordsworth and Coleridge:

He grasps the concept that nature exposes the pain in human life, a theme that Coleridge meditates in "Dejection: An Ode." Age and experience have given Wordsworth new awareness that allows him to see the suffering of human society reflected in nature. Likewise, Coleridge hears nature, in the form of the wind playing upon the eolian lute, telling stories of humanity.

(4) Wordsworth and Shakespeare:

Shakespeare and Wordsworth used nature as a critical part of their poetry.  Shakespeare seemed to use nature as a metaphor, a way to articulate artistic themes or ideas.  For example, in discussing love felt by another towards another, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day," we see nature being used as a member of an "army of metaphors,”. Nature was seen as an artistic tool to explore connection between artist, subject, and reader.  Wordsworth used nature in a similar way, but his employment of nature was more in line with his Romantic philosophy.  In this setting, nature was linked to subjective experience and artistic expression.  It made nature an indispensable part to Wordsworth's poetry, as opposed to Shakespeare who was more akin to viewing it as a means to an artistic ends as opposed to the end itself.

That is as we all know it is true that Wordsworth and Shakespeare, both are the undisputable     master of English Literature , thus it is also noteworthy that Shakespeare not only treats the "human nature "as you pointed out but he also uses the theme of nature in its globality.

Shakespeare has used nature as the one who speaks to us just as Wordsworth has done therefore. So, it is unfair to say that Shakespeare only deals with the nature of man only.

Conclusion:

Wordsworth’s attitude to Nature can be clearly differentiated from that of the other great poets of Nature. He did not prefer the wild and stormy aspects of Nature like Byron, or the shifting and changeful aspects of Nature and the scenery of the sea and sky like Shelley, or the purely sensuous in Nature like Keats, or interested mainly in human nature rather than its pure form like Shakespeare. It was his special characteristic to concern himself, not with the strange and remote aspects of the earth, and sky, but Nature in her ordinary, familiar, everyday moods. He did not recognize the ugly side of Nature ‘red in tooth and claw’ as Tennyson did. Wordsworth stressed upon the moral influence of Nature and the need of man’s spiritual discourse with her.

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