WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: Revision Notes.
It is difficult to understate Wordsworth’s contribution to world literature. His poetry not only
captured the spirit of the Romantic age, but moreover, defined it. He was a revolutionary English
poet who brought a fundamentally new approach to bear on the writing of English poetry, both in its
style and its subject matter. He blurred the distinction between the language of prose and the
language of poetry. One of his principle aims was to simplify poetic language and make it more
natural, more in accord with the language “really spoken by men”. He tended to choose simple
incidents and humble people as subjects for his poetry, using language and incidents from what he
called “low and rustic life”. He is one of the great poets of landscape and of external nature, and one
of the great descriptive poets. The central theme of his poetry is the relationship between nature in
all its forms and meanings and the mind and heart of the poet who contemplates it. His nature
poetry has a moral and mystical aspect which is central to its meaning.
GENERAL POINTS- 1. It is difficult not to be impressed by Wordsworth’s poetry. The beauties of his
verse combined with the depth of his thinking have withstood the test of time.
2. Wordsworth’s love of nature is elevated to the status of philosophy in his poetry. In this respect,
his work both embodies and lays down many of the principles of the Romantic Movement that he
helped to inspire.
3. Wordsworth’s chief interest in the natural world extends to the relationship between man and
nature. In fact, one of the most consistent concepts in Wordsworth’s poetry is the idea that man and
nature are inseparable; man is an active participant in the natural world, so the poet considers
nature to be a guide to the spiritual and moral life of man.
4. Wordsworth describes the forms, shapes and colours of natural objects, yet his poetry is most
thought provoking when he describes the physical force that permeates the natural world. This force
allows man to develop a relationship with nature that is morally informing.
5. Many of Wordsworth’s poems centre on childhood. He believed childhood to be the most
important stage in a person’s life. He felt that the emotional intensity of childhood experiences was
stored deep in the memory. In his poetry, memory is a major force in the process of growth and is
also essential for poetic creation.
6. The idea of growth is at the heart of many of Wordsworth’s poems. He believed that the
development of the mind corresponded to the three ages of man, childhood, youth and adulthood.
During childhood, the relationship between man and nature is characterised by joy; later, the
relationship with nature is founded on a physical experience where the rational mind is also
involved; and during adulthood the relationship with nature is mediated through the mind and the
soul. This theory is best exemplified in Tintern Abbey.
7. Wordsworth’s poetry broke with many of the conventions of his day. His poems reflect his belief
that poetry should, as much as possible, be written in the language of the common man.
8. There is a human tenderness and warmth that belie many of the deeper philosophical concerns of
Wordsworth’s poetry.
THEMES- The beauty of the natural world
-Nature as a restorative power
-Nature as mentor
-The sublime in nature
-Oneness with nature
-Solitude
-childhood
STYLISTIC FEATURES-Simple everyday language
-Vivid imagery
-Very descriptive
-Tone is almost invariably serious
POEMS-KEY POINTS
SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS- This is one of the Lucy poems, which offers an account
of Lucy’s life and death. Wordsworth composed this poem in Germany in 1799, during a holiday
spent with his sister, Dorothy. The poem has some and curious features. The images of Lucy as a
violet and a star suggest her closeness to nature, but in different spheres.
A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT SEAL- This is another of the Lucy poems. A woman who once seemed to
escape the “touch” of years is now is now in daily contact with the earth and thus part of the fabric
of the natural world. Throughout the poem Lucy is defined by negatives. Wordsworth may be
suggesting that the movement of the earth is a positive living process, and that everything in
creation is part of a great unified scheme embracing God, humanity and inanimate nature. He
believed the souls of human beings were fragments temporarily separated from the totality of
creation with which, in the end, they would be reunited. The ambiguous nature of the language
makes this a particularly challenging poem open to a range of different interpretations.
LINES COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY- In Tintern Abbey the emphasis is on what
the scenes Wordsworth now beholds and has beheld five years ago mean to him. The real theme of
the poem is the subtle relationship between nature in all its forms and the mind and heart of the
poet. It can be read as a hymn of thanksgiving for all the delightful experiences that he owes to his
close communication with nature. Lines 1-21-the significant feature of the passage is its emphasis
not the physical sameness of the scene since the poet last beheld it five years ago. Lines 22-49-In this
passage he remembers what the landscape has meant to him in the five years that have passed since
his last visit. Lines 31-35 express one of Wordsworth’s most powerfully held convictions: that nature
is able to shape and influence the human mind as a teacher might do, though in vaguer and more
mysterious ways. Lines50-56 deal with the power of natural beauty to impress itself on the mind and
refresh the human spirit in times of sadness and despair. In lines 58-111 there is a sense of loss in
the contrast he recognises between the memory of things past and the scene before him. He records
the successive stages in the development of his attitude to nature. His boyhood response was
essentially muscular; his movements were “glad animal” ones. In his youth his delight was visual and
auditory, and emotion was dissociated from thought. His mature response which belongs to the
present, involves his discovery that nature offers not merely sensation and emotion, but a system of
ideas as well, a whole religion. His perception of nature now combines an intellectual and moral
response with the purely emotional response of his last visit. The syntax and grammar of lines 93103 presents problems, creating vagueness and ambiguity. Behind lines 106-107 is Wordsworth’s
theory of the mind as a creative agent but it must cooperate with the mind of nature. Between
them, the human mind and the mind of nature form the complete creative force. In lines 112-159
the prayer is addressed not to the Christian God but to nature. In the concluding lines of the poem
Wordsworth turns his eyes back to the landscape, giving the poem a circular movement.
From THE PRELUDE-THE STOLEN BOAT-In the Prelude Wordsworth is conscious of two impulses that
controlled his early life-beauty and fear. Nature is revealed as the guardian of a young Wordsworth’s
moral being, enforcing a moral lesson on him. There is an intimate bond between external nature
and the human mind. There is effective personification in the poem.
From THE PRELUDE-SKATING-The skating episode provides a contrast to the boating one. The mood
here is exultant. The vitality of the passage is its most obvious feature, communicated in strong
surging rhythms. It is filled with movement, sound and colour. However it is not merely a splendid
evocation of an exciting evening in a young Wordsworth’s life it also suggests his uniqueness even as
a boy. (From “Not seldom from the uproar I retired…”) His highly developed imagination enables him
to invest lifeless objects with his strong sense of life.
COMPOSED UPON WESTMINISTER BRIDGE- This poem is written in the form of the Petrarchan
sonnet.Wordsworth associated big cities and towns with dismal atmospheres, loneliness and noise,
preferring the wild and open countryside. The ships and buildings glitter in the smokeless air, while
the sun steeps the city in light more beautiful than any rural landscape. The city is personified. He
viewed the landscape, whether urban or rural, as a living thing in sympathy with humanity and
possessing qualities characteristic of human beings.
IT IS A BEAUTEOUS EVENING CALM AND FREE-His disappointment that Caroline, his daughter, did
not share his intense enjoyment of nature is not expressed in critical tones in the sonnet, but is
tender and fatherly. The beauties of nature evoked in the first eight lines have a profound effect on
Wordsworth. The sestet offers a reflection on the significance of the splendid scene for Caroline. The
language in this poem is closer to that of religion. The poet feels a sense of the sacred mystery in
contemplating nature. It combines natural and religious imagery.
THE SOLITARY REAPER-The speaker moves from the contemplation of the voice of the humble singer
to a profound reflection on universal human suffering. The poem is remarkable for the way in which
its rhythm and movement help to enact its meaning and reflect the contours of the speaker’s
feeling. The poem amalgamates vivid description with clear observation.