The bond between the poet and nature is at the heart of Wordsworth’s poetry. Discuss.
Poems discussed:
· To My Sister
· It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free
· from The Prelude: Skating
· from The Prelude: The Stolen Boat
Wordsworth is renowned as one of the greatest poets of the Romantic era. He spent his formative years in England’s Lake District, an area famous for its natural beauty. This extended exposure to the wonders of nature greatly influenced Wordsworth, as is clear from his work. So many of his poems which I studied for my Leaving Certificate explore the almost spiritual bond between nature and the poet.
One of his earlier poems, “To My Sister”, provides an excellent introduction to Wordsworth’s beliefs about the importance of nature. In this simple poem, written as though it were a letter or note to Dorothy, Wordsworth pleads with her to leave her studies and enjoy a day out of doors with him instead. He tempts her with a description of “the first mild day of March” telling her that “the redbreast sings from the tall larch that stands beside our door.” In the third stanza, he issues his request: “Make hast, your morning task resign; Come forth and feel the sun.” It quickly becomes clear, however, that he is not just eager to get out of the house. His repeated assertion that “this one day we’ll give to idleness” does a disservice to his true intentions. He believes strongly in the power of nature to educate and enrich a person. The sixth stanza captures this brilliantly: “Love, now a universal birth,/ From heart to heart is stealing, / From earth to man, from man to earth, / - It is the hour of feeling.” Wordsworth believes that there is some vital force present in nature which can be absorbed by people if they but open themselves up to it. The idleness he had spoken of is essential in order to engage fully with the natural world. Bringing books or chores along only distracts a person from the wonder of the world. His overall message is summed up in the lines “One moment now may give us more / Than years of toiling reason.” Wordsworth is saying that even the shortest time spent in communion with nature is more beneficial than years spent pouring over books. This has huge implications for his views on the importance of nature to the work of the poet as poets traditionally spend much of their time in study. In “To My Sister”, Wordsworth puts forward his view that nature is a better teacher for the poet than books could ever be.
This idea is developed much more intensely in “It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”. Here we see a greater acknowledgement of the presence of God in the natural world. This sonnet is addressed to Wordsworth’s daughter, Caroline. He describes a particularly beautiful evening that they spent together in France. Every aspect of the scene is infused with religious fervour: “The holy time is quiet as a Nun / Breathless with adoration” and “The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea.” This omnipresent aspect of God, the idea that God is present everywhere, had become suddenly urgent to Wordsworth. He had discovered that his daughter (who was only ten years old) was “untouched by solemn thought”. He had to reassure himself that her “nature is not therefore less divine”. He did this by asserting God is with her “when we know it not”. It is crucial that Wordsworth believed this incidental interaction with God would take place not in churches or in formal ways, but when interacting with the natural world. It is in the evening silences or the power of the ocean that God is evident, not just for his daughter, but for us all. This is a key aspect of his belief in the importance of the bond between the poet and nature. Wordsworth was not a sun-worshipping pagan. He was a devout follower of the Anglican Church, and, in his later years, a particularly conservative one. The bond between poet and nature is essential for him because it is simultaneously a bond between poet and God.
I have also studied two extracts from Wordsworth’s long autobiographical poem, “The Prelude” – “Skating” and “The Stolen Boat”. In “The Prelude”, Wordsworth examines a series of key moments from his childhood. He is attempting to isolate the moments that made him the poet that he is. Invariably, the most important moments involve the natural scenery around him. He paints himself as a particularly alert and thoughtful child, who tended to look deeper than his peers and gain insights were others did not. “Skating” opens with a vivid and atmospheric description of an evening spent skating on a frozen lake. Wordsworth effectively captures the excitement and magic of the occasion with lines such as, “I wheeled about, / Proud and exulting like an untired horse / That cares not for his home” and “We hissed along the polished ice in games confederate.” Quite soon, however, the young Wordsworth distances himself from his team-mates. Although he is clear that he greatly enjoyed their hunting game on the ice, his poetic bond with nature is much stronger than the other children’s. He hears more clearly than they the varying echo of their game. The strangeness of the sound as it reverberated from “far distant hills” caused him to “retire into a silent bay.” Once he has separated himself from the “tumultuous throng”, he begins to explore more deeply his connection to the natural world around him. He skates at high speed, then comes to an abrupt stop, “yet still the solitary cliffs wheeled by” him. He feels as though he is able to sense the earth’s “diurnal round”, and feels an incredibly strong link to the earth. This is a moment that he has selected as a formative moment. He believes that occasions such as this were central to his awakening as a poet. It is clear that the link between poet and nature is the most important aspect of his poetic personality.
This idea is strengthened further in the second extract from “The Prelude” that I studied. In “The Stolen Boat”, a much more sinister moment is recalled. As the title suggests, the young Wordsworth steals (or at least borrows without permission) a small boat, and sails out onto a lake. He describes the theft as “an act of stealth and troubled pleasure”. He is conflicted – he knows that the theft is wrong, but delights in the access it gives him to the lake. As he sets out in the boat, he is full of purpose. He rows “with an unswerving line” towards “the horizon’s utmost boundary”. As in “Skating”, he is seeking the very edges of nature. In “Skating”, he hoped to feel the earth spin on its axis; in “The Stolen Boat”, he intends to go so far that “above was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.” For Wordsworth, the connection between the poet and nature is closely bound up in the idea of pushing limits and reaching the edge of experience.
There is a significant difference in the aspect of nature experienced in “The Stolen Boat”, however. For the first time in the poems that I studied, I saw Wordsworth describing a darker side to the natural world. As he rowed out in the purloined boat, “a huge peak, black and huge, as if with voluntary power instinct, upreared its head.” The scenery comes to life in a remarkably threatening manner, triggered by the young Wordsworth’s “act of stealth”. This huge peak then proceeds to follow him as he rows out. Through masterful use of personification, Wordsworth causes his natural surroundings to come to life. He describes how “the grim shape […] with purpose of its own with measured motion like a living thing, strode after” him. This is a remarkable assertion. Through my earlier study of his poetry, I had grown accustomed to his belief in the power and beauty of nature, and of God’s presence in nature. This was the first suggestion that nature was sentient – able to think, and even move, for itself. He contends that the environment around him is both aware of his actions, and capable of reacting to them. The event makes an indelible impression on him. As soon as he realises how dramatically the landscape has turned against him, he turned and “stole my way back to the covert of the willow tree”. Already, his is dramatically altered from the eager and energetic boy who rowed “lustily” in the opening sequence. Now he is “in grave and serious mood” as he reflects on what has happened. This new perspective on nature, the realisation that nature can retaliate, preys on his mind “for many days” afterwards. He discovers to his dismay that he is no longer able to draw on positive and restorative memories or images of the landscape as had been his habit. Now, “no familiar shapes remained,, no pleasant images of trees, or sea or sky”. Instead, he is haunted by “huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men”. These forms “moved slowly through the mind by day, and were a trouble to my dreams.” The depth of the bond between the poet and nature and how symbiotic it is has been vividly demonstrated in this extract. Wordsworth is so deeply connected to the natural world, it responds instantly and intensely when he transgresses.
Even before we began studying Wordsworth in school, I was aware that nature was a key theme for him. We had studied “Daffodils” for our Junior Certificate, and his ability to capture the energy of nature in a poem was clear from this brief introduction. However, I had no idea just how deeply he engaged with and relied on nature, not just for poetic inspiration, but also for his own personal growth and mental well-being. Nor did I realise how devoutly he believed in God’s presence in the natural world. Throughout all his poems, these issue are explored using the very best of language, so that the images created lingered in my mind long after reading them.
· To My Sister
· It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free
· from The Prelude: Skating
· from The Prelude: The Stolen Boat
Wordsworth is renowned as one of the greatest poets of the Romantic era. He spent his formative years in England’s Lake District, an area famous for its natural beauty. This extended exposure to the wonders of nature greatly influenced Wordsworth, as is clear from his work. So many of his poems which I studied for my Leaving Certificate explore the almost spiritual bond between nature and the poet.
One of his earlier poems, “To My Sister”, provides an excellent introduction to Wordsworth’s beliefs about the importance of nature. In this simple poem, written as though it were a letter or note to Dorothy, Wordsworth pleads with her to leave her studies and enjoy a day out of doors with him instead. He tempts her with a description of “the first mild day of March” telling her that “the redbreast sings from the tall larch that stands beside our door.” In the third stanza, he issues his request: “Make hast, your morning task resign; Come forth and feel the sun.” It quickly becomes clear, however, that he is not just eager to get out of the house. His repeated assertion that “this one day we’ll give to idleness” does a disservice to his true intentions. He believes strongly in the power of nature to educate and enrich a person. The sixth stanza captures this brilliantly: “Love, now a universal birth,/ From heart to heart is stealing, / From earth to man, from man to earth, / - It is the hour of feeling.” Wordsworth believes that there is some vital force present in nature which can be absorbed by people if they but open themselves up to it. The idleness he had spoken of is essential in order to engage fully with the natural world. Bringing books or chores along only distracts a person from the wonder of the world. His overall message is summed up in the lines “One moment now may give us more / Than years of toiling reason.” Wordsworth is saying that even the shortest time spent in communion with nature is more beneficial than years spent pouring over books. This has huge implications for his views on the importance of nature to the work of the poet as poets traditionally spend much of their time in study. In “To My Sister”, Wordsworth puts forward his view that nature is a better teacher for the poet than books could ever be.
This idea is developed much more intensely in “It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”. Here we see a greater acknowledgement of the presence of God in the natural world. This sonnet is addressed to Wordsworth’s daughter, Caroline. He describes a particularly beautiful evening that they spent together in France. Every aspect of the scene is infused with religious fervour: “The holy time is quiet as a Nun / Breathless with adoration” and “The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea.” This omnipresent aspect of God, the idea that God is present everywhere, had become suddenly urgent to Wordsworth. He had discovered that his daughter (who was only ten years old) was “untouched by solemn thought”. He had to reassure himself that her “nature is not therefore less divine”. He did this by asserting God is with her “when we know it not”. It is crucial that Wordsworth believed this incidental interaction with God would take place not in churches or in formal ways, but when interacting with the natural world. It is in the evening silences or the power of the ocean that God is evident, not just for his daughter, but for us all. This is a key aspect of his belief in the importance of the bond between the poet and nature. Wordsworth was not a sun-worshipping pagan. He was a devout follower of the Anglican Church, and, in his later years, a particularly conservative one. The bond between poet and nature is essential for him because it is simultaneously a bond between poet and God.
I have also studied two extracts from Wordsworth’s long autobiographical poem, “The Prelude” – “Skating” and “The Stolen Boat”. In “The Prelude”, Wordsworth examines a series of key moments from his childhood. He is attempting to isolate the moments that made him the poet that he is. Invariably, the most important moments involve the natural scenery around him. He paints himself as a particularly alert and thoughtful child, who tended to look deeper than his peers and gain insights were others did not. “Skating” opens with a vivid and atmospheric description of an evening spent skating on a frozen lake. Wordsworth effectively captures the excitement and magic of the occasion with lines such as, “I wheeled about, / Proud and exulting like an untired horse / That cares not for his home” and “We hissed along the polished ice in games confederate.” Quite soon, however, the young Wordsworth distances himself from his team-mates. Although he is clear that he greatly enjoyed their hunting game on the ice, his poetic bond with nature is much stronger than the other children’s. He hears more clearly than they the varying echo of their game. The strangeness of the sound as it reverberated from “far distant hills” caused him to “retire into a silent bay.” Once he has separated himself from the “tumultuous throng”, he begins to explore more deeply his connection to the natural world around him. He skates at high speed, then comes to an abrupt stop, “yet still the solitary cliffs wheeled by” him. He feels as though he is able to sense the earth’s “diurnal round”, and feels an incredibly strong link to the earth. This is a moment that he has selected as a formative moment. He believes that occasions such as this were central to his awakening as a poet. It is clear that the link between poet and nature is the most important aspect of his poetic personality.
This idea is strengthened further in the second extract from “The Prelude” that I studied. In “The Stolen Boat”, a much more sinister moment is recalled. As the title suggests, the young Wordsworth steals (or at least borrows without permission) a small boat, and sails out onto a lake. He describes the theft as “an act of stealth and troubled pleasure”. He is conflicted – he knows that the theft is wrong, but delights in the access it gives him to the lake. As he sets out in the boat, he is full of purpose. He rows “with an unswerving line” towards “the horizon’s utmost boundary”. As in “Skating”, he is seeking the very edges of nature. In “Skating”, he hoped to feel the earth spin on its axis; in “The Stolen Boat”, he intends to go so far that “above was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.” For Wordsworth, the connection between the poet and nature is closely bound up in the idea of pushing limits and reaching the edge of experience.
There is a significant difference in the aspect of nature experienced in “The Stolen Boat”, however. For the first time in the poems that I studied, I saw Wordsworth describing a darker side to the natural world. As he rowed out in the purloined boat, “a huge peak, black and huge, as if with voluntary power instinct, upreared its head.” The scenery comes to life in a remarkably threatening manner, triggered by the young Wordsworth’s “act of stealth”. This huge peak then proceeds to follow him as he rows out. Through masterful use of personification, Wordsworth causes his natural surroundings to come to life. He describes how “the grim shape […] with purpose of its own with measured motion like a living thing, strode after” him. This is a remarkable assertion. Through my earlier study of his poetry, I had grown accustomed to his belief in the power and beauty of nature, and of God’s presence in nature. This was the first suggestion that nature was sentient – able to think, and even move, for itself. He contends that the environment around him is both aware of his actions, and capable of reacting to them. The event makes an indelible impression on him. As soon as he realises how dramatically the landscape has turned against him, he turned and “stole my way back to the covert of the willow tree”. Already, his is dramatically altered from the eager and energetic boy who rowed “lustily” in the opening sequence. Now he is “in grave and serious mood” as he reflects on what has happened. This new perspective on nature, the realisation that nature can retaliate, preys on his mind “for many days” afterwards. He discovers to his dismay that he is no longer able to draw on positive and restorative memories or images of the landscape as had been his habit. Now, “no familiar shapes remained,, no pleasant images of trees, or sea or sky”. Instead, he is haunted by “huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men”. These forms “moved slowly through the mind by day, and were a trouble to my dreams.” The depth of the bond between the poet and nature and how symbiotic it is has been vividly demonstrated in this extract. Wordsworth is so deeply connected to the natural world, it responds instantly and intensely when he transgresses.
Even before we began studying Wordsworth in school, I was aware that nature was a key theme for him. We had studied “Daffodils” for our Junior Certificate, and his ability to capture the energy of nature in a poem was clear from this brief introduction. However, I had no idea just how deeply he engaged with and relied on nature, not just for poetic inspiration, but also for his own personal growth and mental well-being. Nor did I realise how devoutly he believed in God’s presence in the natural world. Throughout all his poems, these issue are explored using the very best of language, so that the images created lingered in my mind long after reading them.