William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850)
Poetry: “The spontaneous
overflow of powerful
feelings: it takes its origin
from emotion recollected in
tranquility.”
William Wordsworth
• Mother passed away when he
was 8 and had limited contact
with his father.
• Father did teach him some
poetry including Shakespeare
and Spencer.
• Young William used his
father’s extensive library.
• Moves to France and falls in
love with Annette Vallon- they
conceive a daughter before
William must leave France
during the reign of terror
(1793-1794).
•Returns to France for visitation
and restitution.
• Wordsworth was England's
Poet Laureate from 1843 until
his death in 1850.
Styles and Themes
•Rejected the formal poetic styles of 17th
and 18th Century Poets… He wanted to
use the language “really used by men.”
•Training required to be a poet: "habits
of meditation.”
•Common situations of Common life.
the nature of the poet as compared to
other people
"nothing differing in kind from other
men, but only in degree"
"more lively sensibility“
“greater knowledge of human nature“
"more comprehensive soul"
Pantheism
• Greek word origin…
πάν (pan) = everything
θεός (theos) = God is all.
Origins of concept are based deeply in
Judaism, Hinduism, Animism, Neopaganism, and Christianity
Biblical pantheism, which is expressed in the writings of the Bible with the
understanding of personification linguistics as a cultural communication
idiom in Hebrew language.
"For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will
break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their
hands. [Acts 17:28]
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. (Psalm 90:1)
Basically… (The Burch Translation)
• Finding religion in the natural world.
• Willfully seeking communion with nature.
• Allowing the beauty of nature to help with
everyday life.
• Seeking salvation within the Green world (as
opposed to the civilized world).
In situ
• Adj.1.in-situ - being in the original position; not having
been moved; "the archeologists could date the vase because it was
in-situ"; "an in-situ investigator“
• The original position for human beings?
• This is the position for recollection of thoughts and memories.
• This is the only way to achieve the inner peace.
Tintern Abbey
The Child is the Father of the Man
The phrase means that
what we are when young
gives shape and, in a
sense, gives birth to what
we are when grown.
• Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other
Poems
• "We are Seven"
– "Lines Composed A Few Miles
above Tintern Abbey"
• The Child is the father of man
• Lyrical Ballads, with Other Poems
(1800)
– "I travelled among unknown men"
• Poems, in Two Volumes
– "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
Also known as "Daffodils"
– "My Heart Leaps Up"
– "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"
– "Ode to Duty"
– "The Solitary Reaper"
– "Elegiac Stanzas"
– "Composed upon Westminster
Bridge, September 3, 1802"
– "London, 1802"
– "The world is too much with us"
Mutability
• Mutable : Same as 'common', refers to the mutable quality of
Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. These signs are
characterized by their mental and adaptable quality. They are called
'common' because they share something in common with the two
other qualities, cardinal and fixed.
Mutability
• Mutable : Same as 'common', refers to the mutable quality of
Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. These signs are
characterized by their mental and adaptable quality. They are called
'common' because they share something in common with the two
other qualities, cardinal and fixed.
• Mutable: There is to be noticed a great shift in the poetic styles and
themes from the 17th Century Metaphysical Poets to the 19th
Century Romantic Poets. Perhaps this shift is one of the most
noticeable shifts in Literature until the transition to the Modern
Period.
• Now… to the poem at hand…
Mutability
William Wordsworth
From low to high doth dissolution climb,
And sink from high to low, along a scale
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail;
A musical but melancholy chime,
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime,
Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear
The longest date do melt like frosty rime,
That in the morning whitened hill and plain
And is no more; drop like the tower sublime
Of yesterday, which royally did wear
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain
Some casual shout that broke the silent air,
Or the unimaginable touch of Time.
•
Mutability - Capable of or subject to change or alteration
•
Dissolution (line 1) - Decomposition into fragments or parts
•
Concord (line 2) - Harmony or agreement of interests or feelings
•
Melancholy (line 4) - Sadness or depression of the spirits
•
Meddle (line 5) - To intrude into other people's affairs or business
•
Avarice (line 6) - Immoderate desire for wealth
•
Sublime (line 10) - Characterized by nobility
From low to high doth dissolution climb, A
And sink from high to low, along a scale B
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail; B
A musical but melancholy chime,A
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime, A
Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care. C
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear C
The longest date do melt like frosty rime, A
That in the morning whiten'd hill and plain D
And is no more; drop like the tower sublime A
Of yesterday, which royally did wear C
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain D
Some casual shout that broke the silent air, C
Or the unimaginable touch of Time. A
ABBAACCADACDCA
A
B
B
A
A
C
C
A
D
A
C
D
C
A
Mutability – A material part of
Ecclestial Sketches

In 1812 Wordsworth published "Ecclestial
Sketches“.

A sequence of over a hundred sonnets (one of
which was "Mutability").

Ecclestial Sketches was prompted by the
Catholic Emancipation.
 The introduction progress and operation of the
church before and after the reformation was
reviewed by William Wordsworth in his Ecclestial
sketches.
 Mutability is among the third part of the
Ecclestial sketches which deals with the period
of Catholic Emancipation
Poem form and structure
Mutability,” a traditional sonnet of fourteen lines in iambic
pentameter.
Something that is mutable is able to shift, alter, and adapt itself
. Mutability is William Wordsworth’s speculation on change and
transformation.
The poet places his reflections on the impermanence of false side by
side with the permanence of Truth
Mutability-Outer theme
• The first part is a musical metaphor.
“From low to high doth dissolution climb,
And sink from high to low, along a scale
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail;
A musical but melancholy chime,
nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; ”
William Wordsworth is trying to convey the idea of how society has
changed because of the industrial revolution. He is saying that
societies morals and values have changed for worse as people are
living and working in terrible conditions.
• The second part the change in society is illustrated in
nature. Along with the personification of time and a
tower.
“but her outward forms that bear
The longest date do melt like frosty rime,
That in the morning whiten'd hill and plain
And is no more; drop like the tower sublime 10
Of yesterday, which royally did wear
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain
Some casual shout that broke the silent air,
Or the unimaginable touch of Time.”
William Wordsworth uses nature to convey the overall
theme of change in society from something beautiful to
something ugly. He portrays frosty landscape, white, and
blissful which over time turn into slush. He is saying that
our core values are still there but the peripheral is
deteriorating.
Mutability-Inner theme
•
William Wordsworth’s poem “Mutability” makes multiple references to the
crucifixion of Christ.
•
The first few lines about climbing dissolution seem to reference periods of
religious controversy.
•
In this case, the word “awful” might mean filled with or displaying
reverence, instead of the more common definition meaning terrible.
•
Those who "hear the musical but melancholy chime," or are fully aware of
these lapses and swells in religious fervor, are Christians.
•
This is evidenced by the fact that Wordsworth says they “meddle not with
crime, not avarice, not over-anxious crime,” or in other words they are trying
to lead lives without sin.
• The line “drop like the tower sublime of yesterday”
compares Jesus Christ, as a sublime figure, to a
watchtower that guards over a kingdom.
• “Which royally did wear his crown of weeds” directly
references the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he
was crucified.
• The words “royally” and “crown” recall images of a king
with a great land empire and royal subjects, drawing
parallels to Jesus, the Christian empire, and his devoted
followers.
•
However, the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was
impermanent like the dew (rime) on the grassy hill.
• Mutability, the title of the poem, draws parallels between the everchanging nature of the world and God changing shape to take on
the bodily form of Jesus Christ, and then leaving the world as quickly
as he arrived.
•
Wordsworth’s conclusion seems to be that God, although he may
change shape or form, is always present, and that although Jesus
died and there is constant questioning of religion, his legacy lives on
“truth fails not”, like that of a great ruler.
• On a side note, it was interesting the particular words that
Wordsworth used because, if the poem was being read out loud,
many of them could be confused for their similar-sounding
homonyms.
• Dissolution, meaning breaking into fragments, sounds eerily similar
to disillusion, meaning freeing from false belief or illusions, which
would also make sense within the context. Rime, meaning dew,
could easily be confused with rhyme, which would follow with the
line talking about music and a scale and chime. Wordsworth seems
to be toying with the mutability of the words as well.
The Catholic Emancipation
The Catholics have been repressed since Queen Elizabeth I’ s time
until the middle of the eighteenth century in England.
In return for the recognition of the English Royal Family by the Pope,
certain rights of the Catholics were recognized in England.
This was known as the Catholic Emancipation.
The Catholic Relief act 1829 was passed by the parliament of Great
Britain and was the culmination of the process of Catholic
Emancipation