Role of Nature in the Works of William Wordsworth

by Mansour Rezaei

Writing Research Papers Instructor: Farid Parvaneh, Ph.D. Islamic Azad University, Pardisan Branch

Rezaei ii Outline Thesis: Wordsworths poetry is filled with images and symbols taken from nature, and these natural elements have a function more than just representing themselves, a philosophicalspiritual concept. I. II. III. Introduction Analyses of a Number of Wordsworths Poems Conclusion

Rezaei 1 William Wordsworth is the Romantic poet most often described as a "nature" writer; what the word "nature" meant to Wordsworth is, however, a complex issue. On the one hand, Wordsworth was the quintessential poet as naturalist, always paying close attention to details of the physical environment around him (plants, animals, geography, weather). At the same time, Wordsworth was a self-consciously literary artist who described "the mind of man" as the "main haunt and region of [his] song." This tension between objective describer of the natural scene and subjective shaper of sensory experience is partly the result of Wordsworth's view of the mind as "creator and receiver both." Such an alliance of the inner life with the outer world is at the heart of Wordsworth's descriptions of nature.

Throughout William Wordsworths poetry, nature plays an influential role. The highest mountain to the simplest flower, the natural world is portrayed with great importance. The dependent relationship between man and nature creates a spiritual bond that connects both the spiritual and the social worlds. The natural world has tremendous impact on Wordsworths imagination and this is evident in his poems.

Wordsworth portrays natures beauty in his use of imagery. He delights in depicting the visual beauty of various locations that are close to his heart. Skating describes a wonderful winter scene: the ground covered with polished ice that reflects the starlight and the sunlight slowly fading into the orange horizon as The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like ion. The only sign of human habitation in this winter wonderland are the lights in the cottage windows that blazed through the twilight gloom. Wordsworth feels in peace with nature as he enjoys the cold breeze that is refreshing him. He retires to a silent bay from his companions and spends

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time alone with nature as he appreciates the beautiful and wondrous winterland in Gods creation.

This great passion for nature is also evident on many of his other poems including Tintern Abbey as he says that nature brings quietness and beauty into our lives and fills our minds with lovely forms and sweet sounds and harmonies. He also mentions that nature is his guide, and the guardian of his moral being. He senses the sublime qualities in nature as he offers the reader a glimpse of something powerful at play throughout the world.

Wordsworth feels the spiritual power in nature. In the the poem It is a beauteous evening, he makes reference to the existence to God as being the sublime power in the universe. He calls on his daughter to listen and behold the mighty Being. The sunset described in the poem is full of religious references which can be taken as a reflection of the poets spiritual relationship with nature. The holy time is quiet as Nun Breathless with adoration: the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquility.

Wordsworths oneness with nature is also seen in To my Sister which brings into view the connection he has with nature as he delights in the arrival of Spring. The poem suggests strong connection between people and their surroundings. Wordsworth calls on his sister to live according to the living calendar of nature and enjoy herself and be in love with nature.

Throughout Wordsworths poems we see spiritual forces that permeates the natural world which allows man to develop a relationship with nature that is morally informing. Wordsworths

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spiritual and religious connection with nature and God provides the moral values in his life which he embraces delightfully.

The presence of water in those poems where the sea appears, such as Lines written near Richmond upon the Thames, at evening when Wordsworth says:

Oh glide, fair stream! for ever so; Thy quiet soul on all bestowing, Till all our minds for ever flow, As thy deep waters now are flowing.

In this poem, appears a very huge ocean, and that oceans majesty and greatness still controls the individual and the species.

Another example would be Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey: How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee o Sylvan Wye! Thou wanderer through the woods, How often has my spirit turned to thee!

Here, that deep blue sea or that river, show us that water which is apparently calm, can change into huge strength waves and that would produce some inspiration in the poet that would change his feelings.

We can also find nature in his poem named The Excursion where he defends the natures contemplation to achieve the moral knowledge.

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I have written all these examples because I think that it is interesting to see how Wordsworth saw nature in some of his poems as we can say that nature is his main topic and this theme takes a very important role in all his works. However, I would like to focus my attention on the poem called Lines written in early spring, also written by Wordsworth, where we can find a lot of examples of nature. It mainly talks about this topic.

I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Rezaei 5 Their thoughts I cannot measure: -But the least motion which they made, It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can, That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature's holy plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?

"Lines Written In Early Spring" is a classic Wordsworth poem. Basically, it expresses his love of simplicity, tenderness and love of nature.

In this poem, Wordsworth contrasts the perceived happiness and pleasure of the natural world with the grim state of mankind. He introduces this theme with the last two lines of the first stanza: "In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts bring sad thoughts to the mind."

Wordsworth then suggests that the happiness of nature should be paralelled by a hapiness of mankind: "To her fair works did nature link the human soul that through me ran; And much it greaves my heart to think what man has made of man."

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This poem is mainly talking about nature in a very positive way. It really recreates a spring atmosphere because he says and tis my faith that every flower(line 11) or the birds around me hoppd and playd(line 13). What he is describing in this examples is very much related with that season( the spring).

It makes you feel very calm and relaxed because he describes that season with harmonious adjectives and tenderness. We can also see that calm in lines 17, 18, 19 and 20) where he says the budding twigs spread out their fan, to catch the breezy air, and I must think, do all I can, that there was pleasure there. Here he also recreates that feeling of breathing pure air, because it has always been said that when you are close to nature, the air is not polluted so it is more pure and there are not difficulties for breathing. So, here he is saying that he was lying in a tree seeing the lovely nature and breathing that pure air that nature brings him.

I think that in this poem, nature has a very important role and, although for Wordsworth, nature had different meanings depending on the poem he is talking about, in this one we can easily see that nature is here described as that sensation of calm, of being in harmony and seeing birds playing or leaves flourishing and breathing. So, we must say that this poem is a very good example of Wordsworth view of nature.

As a poet of Nature, Wordsworth stands supreme. He is a worshipper of Nature, Natures devotee or high-priest. His love of Nature was probably truer, and more tender, than 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.

Rezaei 7 Wordsworth had a full-fledged philosophy, a new and original view of Nature. Three points in his creed of Nature may be noted: (a) 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. (b) 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. (c) 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 souls communion with Nature. According to him, human beings who grow up in the lap of Nature are perfect in every respect. 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. He believed in the education of man by Nature. In this he was somewhat influenced by Rousseau. This inter-relation of Nature and man is very important in considering Wordsworths view of both.

Rezaei 8 Cazamian says that To Wordsworth, Nature appears as a formative influence superior to any other, the educator of senses and mind alike, the sower in our hearts of the deep-laden seeds of our feelings and beliefs. It speaks to the child in the fleeting emotions of early years, and stirs the young poet to an ecstasy, the glow of which illuminates all his work and dies of his life.. Wordsworths childhood had been spent in Natures lap. A nurse both stern and kindly, she had planted seeds of sympathy and under-standing in that growing mind. Natural scenes like the grassy Derwent river bank or the monster shape of the night-shrouded mountain played a needful part in the development of his mind. In The Prelude, he records dozens of these natural scenes, not for themselves but for what his mind could learn through. Nature was both law and impulse; and in earth and heaven, in glade and bower, Wordsworth was conscious of a spirit which kindled and restrained. In a variety of exciting ways, which he did not understand, Nature intruded upon his escapades and pastimes, even when he was indoors, speaking memorable things. He had not sought her; neither was he intellectually aware of her presence. She riveted his attention by stirring up sensations of fear or joy which were organic, affecting him bodily as well as emotionally. With time the sensations were fixed indelibly in his memory. All the instances in Book I of The Prelude show a kind of primitive animism at work; the emotions and psychological disturbances affect external scenes in such a way that Nature seems to nurture by beauty and by fear. In Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth traces the development of his love for Nature. In his boyhood Nature was simply a playground for him. At the second stage he began to love and seek Nature but he was attracted purely by its sensuous or aesthetic appeal. Finally his love for Nature

Rezaei 9 acquired a spiritual and intellectual character, and he realized Natures role as a teacher and educator. In the Immortality Ode he tells us that as a boy his love for Nature was a thoughtless passion but that when he grew up, the objects of Nature took a sober colouring from his eyes and gave rise to profound thoughts in his mind because he had witnessed the sufferings of humanity: To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. Compton Rickett rightly observes that Wordsworth is far less concerned with the sensuous manifestations than with the spiritual significance that he finds underlying these manifestations. To him the primrose and the daffodil are symbols to him of Natures message to man. A sunrise for him is not a pageant of colour; it is a moment of spiritual consecration: My heart was full; I made no vows, but vows Were then made for me; bound unknown to me Was given, that I should be, else sinning greatly, A dedicated Spirit. To combine his spiritual ecstasy with a poetic presentment of Nature is the constant aim of Wordsworth. It is the source of some of his greatest pieces, grand rhapsodies such as Tintern Abbey.

Rezaei 10 Wordsworth is sensitive to every subtle change in the world about him. He can give delicate and subtle expression to the sheer sensuous delight of the world of Nature. He can feel the elemental joy of Spring: It was an April morning, fresh and clear The rivulet, delighting in its strength, Ran with a young mans speed, and yet the voice Of waters which the river had supplied Was softened down into a vernal tone. He can take an equally keen pleasure in the tranquil lake: The calm And dead still water lay upon my mind Even with a weight of pleasure A brief study of his pictures of Nature reveals his peculiar power in actualising sound and its converse, silence. Being the poet of the ear and of the eye, he is exquisitely felicitious. No other poet could have written: A voice so thrilling neer was heard In springtime from the cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides.

Rezaei 11 Unlike most descriptive poets who are satisfied if they achieve a static pictorial effect, Wordsworth can direct his eye and ear and touch to conveying a sense of the energy and movement behind the workings of the natural world. Goings on was a favourite word he applied to Nature. But he is not interested in mere Nature description. Wordsworth records his own feelings with reference to the objects which stimulate him and call forth the description. His unique apprehension of Nature was determined by his peculiar sense-endowment. His eye was at once far-reaching and penetrating. He looked through the visible scene to what he calls its ideal truth. He pored over objects till he fastened their images on his brain and brooded on these in memory till they acquired the liveliness of dreams. He had a keen ear too for all natural sounds, the calls of beasts and birds, and the sounds of winds and waters; and he composed thousands of lines wandering by the side of a stream. But he was not richly endowed in the less intellectual senses of touch, taste and temperature.

Wordsworth was born in Northern England, in an area generally considered very picturesque (the Lake District). In even his earliest work, his love of the natural world is

reflected. Wordsworth's work is rife with pastoral scenes and nature images, and he seems to ground his emotions in specific places he has been and things he has observed, be it a walking tour in the Alps, or simply walking along the banks of the "Cam" (Which appears to refer to part of a river that runs through Cambridge, though he, in his preface to the poem, admits to taking poetic liberties by changing the river to the Thames and placing himself in a boat). In short, he seems to have done a lot of walking.

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One of his most famous "walking" poems presents a solitary sojourn towards an ordinary lake set into a landscape possessing ordinary trees. (Again, artistic license has been taken, as his sister Dorothy was actually present for the momentous sighting of the belt of daffodils, the date of which has been pinpointed to April 15, 1802. She even wrote about the event in her journal.) While the official name of the poem is, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," many people know it simply as "Daffodils." He recounts,

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils

It strikes a cord in many plant lovers because the surprise of natural beauty seen when coming around a corner or reaching a hilltop can really stick with you. Wordsworth concludes his poem with the observation,

"For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

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It is interesting that this sense of passing time and recollection is included, because word's definition of poetry states, ""the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." So, perhaps more of us gardeners are poets than we realize.

One of the reasons I am so fond of "I Wandered Lonely as A Cloud," is because, to me, daffodils are the ultimate sign of spring. You start seeing them in late February, as a golden promise that the cold weather is going to soon be over. Daffodils hit the height of their beauty during March, and as I write this during April, the green plants with mostly withered flower heads leaving me relying on my mind's eye - and my camera's eye - to remember the beauty of the daffodils.

Daffodils are part of the narcissus family. They are bulbs, which means that if you want your own "sea" of golden daffodils," or even just a small smattering of blooms, you need to plan ahead. If you have a friend who needs to thin an existing daffodil bed, make sure they wait until the foliage withers before digging you out some bulbs, or else the daffodil flowering will be inhibited the next year. Otherwise, order the bulbs over the summer from a reputable dealer. Store the bulbs somewhere cool with good ventilation until the ground cools (between September and November, depending on where you live), then plant them in a well-drained sunny spot.

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Throughout his works, Wordsworth seems to emphasize a oneness with nature, the relationship of nature, poetry, and religion, and how all are intertwined in discovering the self. In My Heart Leaps Up, he writes

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old; Or let me die! The Child is the father of the Man.

In reading this passage, what is Wordsworth saying about the effect nature has on his soul? Wordsworth seems to make quite a few references, in some of his works, about returning to childhood. Why is this? In relating this passage to some of his other works, what does this type of reflection mean to him and/or his poetry? Is there something to be said for the timelessness of nature and/or poetry? In what way does this passage relate to Wordworth's journey into reclusion? Does a communion with nature and the recollection of past joyous experiences that allows for heightened perception or self-definition? What is meant by the last line?

In Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, he uses the word nature to mean more than material objects such as wildlife, trees, and mountains. He describes nature as

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a power that man can place himself within and become part of! once he has left the city. This much is obvious in lines 22-30 in which the author states,

These beauteous forms Through a long absence, have not been to me As is a landscape to a blind man's eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them In hours of weariness, sensations ! sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind, With tranquil restoration

However, does Wordsworth describe a feeling unique to himself, or can any man or woman who is willing to leave the city find such tranquility in nature? Is there some predisposition necessary for such an experience?

The speaker of William Wordsworth's poem "Resolution and Independence" (1807) laments:

My former thoughts returned: the fear that kills; And hope that is unwilling to be fed; Cold, pain, and labour, and all fleshly ills; And mighty Poets in their misery dead.

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-Perplexed, and longing to be comforted, My question eagerly did I renew, "How is it that you live, and what is it you do?"

The sentiment reverberates in Henry Crick, the narrator of Graham Swift's novel Waterland (1983), who declares: "I don't care what you call it - explaining, evading the facts... history, fairy-tales - it helps to eliminate fear."

How does Crick's or Price's fear and attitude towards fear parallel that of the speaker's in "Resolution and Independence"?

In Wordsworth's poem "Tintern Abbey", he talks about returning to a place he had been five years before. I am interested in the concept of change in this poem, and how it relates to nature. The speaker has changed: "Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills;" and he has trouble recalling who he was before: "I cannot paint What then I was". How do you think the speaker has changed in the past five years? Has he become more cynical or more hopeful? Does he appreciate nature more or less? What connections does he make betweeen nature and inner growth?

In William Wordsworth's poems, he speaks of nature as a religion. Instead of using religion to find answers, he uses the beauty of nature to find peace within himself:

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In darkness and amid many shapes Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world, Have hung upon the beatings of my heartHow oft, in spirit, have I turned to the, O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, How often has my spirit turned to thee!

Why does he turn to nature instead of religion for peace? What does this say about his character and the role of nature in his life - both physically and spiritually? Is it necessary for everyone to have such a spiritual outlet such as this?

What is the significance of being at a wedding for the relation of this tale in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner? (Consider the accidental pun on 'relation' as well as ideas of family and captain/crew relationships.) What are some examples of ties-that-bind in the text? How do they relate to themes of ownership/posession?

What is to be said of 'posession'? For example, posession of life when "the dead mean gave a groan," of attention when the Mariner "holds him with his glittering eye," or of ships that move without the help of breeze- "Till noon we quietly sailed on,/Yet never a breeze did breathe:"

Information holds great power in this text. To have it is to be posessed by it, affecting you in some way beyond your own control. Discuss how ownership changes hands and the

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circumstances under which posession becomes a thing by which ships sail on windless days and dead men rise.

Wordsworth and Coleridge worked together closely during their lifetimes, consulting each other, traveling together, and challenging their own assumptions and ideas. In its introduction to the works of Wordsworth, the Norton states that "The two men met almost daily, talked for hours about poetry, and composed prolifically. So close was their association that we find the same phrases occurring in poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge... the two poets collaborated in some writings and freely traded thoughts and passages for others; and Coleridge even undertook to complete a few poems that Wordsworth had left unfinished". I'm really interested in circumstances that cause two artists to come together and share everything they have for the sake of furthering their art; it requires so much trust and respect for each other's mind and work. In this art history class I'm taking, we've been looking at collaborations between Braque and Picasso in developing what would become cubism - and it just amazes me that two brilliant people would have the courage to share all their secrets and works - this recognition that the fruits of collaboration might be greater than the products of a lifetime of solitary work. What is gained/lost in collaborations such as these between artists? Do the individuals lose something by having their names forever tied to the partner whose work was so much like their own? Is it stronger to work alone or with another person whose work you value? Or is it even possible to work "alone" (in terms of societal influences, etc. - perhaps those who choose to collaborate are only recognizing the fact that all of us are really collaborating with the society in which we live, whether we choose to recognize that fact or not)?

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While Wordsworth relies heavily on descriptions of nature to complement themes of mortality and immortality, bliss and sorrow in his poetry, Austen negates the use of intimate descriptions of nature as she explores themes of pride and prejudice, sense and passion through her novel. Examine the lines of Wordsworth in his poem, "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,"

These beauteous forms . . . I have owed to them In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into purer mind, With tranquil restoration.

Through his poetry Wordsworth is overtly exploring an intimate correlation between mankind and nature. How does "nature" as a narrative strategy affect the timelessness of Wordsworth's poetry? How does Austen achieve a timeless quality to her writing as she focuses on social discourse rather than the universality of nature?

In Coleridge's writings around the turn of the century, and in "The Eolian Harp" particularly, the text "comes to close to the heresy of pantheism" (Norton 326). In "The Eolian Harp," the narrator wonders,

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"And what if all of animated nature Be but organic Harps diversely framed, That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze, At once the soul of each, and God of all?"

Yet this confusion of nature and divinity is not the only one to be found in Coleridge's poems. An posits, "O Lady! we receive but what we give,/And in our life alone does nature live" What is the meaning of this confusion of Nature, God, and the individual? How do these ideas position the author with respect to his/her work: are these works "natural"?

William Wordsworth revisits the banks of Wye in his poem "Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" and sees contrast between the landscape he now witnesses and that of his memory.

The picture of the mind revives again: While here I stand, not only with the sense of pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts that in this moment there is life and food for future years. And so I dare to hope, though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among the hills... ln.

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How then does his re-evaluation of the present Wye affect that of the past? How does he anticipate for the future? How does the following quotation reflect the synthesis of past and the present?

For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity.

Wordsworths 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. 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 mans spiritual discourse with her.