PowerPointPoetry:
“Lines Written in Early Spring”
by William Wordsworth (1798)
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,
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?
• Six quatrains
• ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ
KLKL rhyme scheme
• Written during the Romantic
period, when writers celebrated
nature and feeling
• The speaker sits in a forest,
listening
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
• The notes he hears are
“blended” – they sound good
together
• The speaker is in a weird
mood: for some reason his
happy thoughts lead directly to
“sad thoughts”
• Maybe the place he’s hanging
out is so perfect that he can’t
help but think of how imperfect
everywhere else is?
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
• The speaker states, with
certainty, that his human soul is
connected to all of nature
• “Nature” is personified, it is
female – it sounds like Mother
Nature
• The speaker is sad when he
thinks about what human beings
have done with themselves
• The reader gets the impression
that the speaker thinks humans
have forgotten about their
connection to nature
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 speaker tells us more
about the poem’s setting: it’s full
of flowers, it’s really beautiful
• The speaker states that he
believes that flowers take
pleasure in their existence
• That’s kind of a strange faith!
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:-But the least motion which they made
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
• In addition to the flowers, there
are a lot of birds here
The birds around me hopped and played,
• The speaker acknowledges
that he has no idea what birds
think
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,
• Nevertheless, the speaker
thinks he knows what birds feel
– he thinks that, like the flowers,
the birds take pleasure in their
existence
• More specifically, the birds take
pleasure in the simplest facts of
their existence. They enjoy every
flutter of their wings, every peck
of their beaks, etc.
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
• Birds do it, flowers do it, even
trees do it: they all experience
pleasure in being alive
• The speaker suggests that he
has tried not to think this way –
perhaps to think more
scientifically – but he can’t help it
• What he is describing is truly a
“faith” – it is unverifiable, but his
belief is nevertheless
unshakeable
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?
• The poem ends with an If-Then
statement
• If the speaker’s feeling is
correct, if it is part of God’s
design, then his sadness
regarding what human beings
have done with themselves is
reasonable
•What have human beings done
with themselves? The speaker
thinks that they have cut
themselves off from nature, and
so cut themselves off from the
pleasure that nature offers every
living thing
What man has made of man.
• Wordsworth was writing in the
middle of the Industrial
Revolution. More and more
people were moving to Britain’s
cities. Men, women, and children
worked long hours doing
repetitive tasks for hourly wages.
• Smog was invented in London;
buildings turned black from the
air pollution…
• Perhaps Wordsworth’s speaker
is sad because when he’s done
sitting in the forest, he’ll likely
return to one of Britain’s cities
• Some people predict that
humans will be an entirely urban
species by the end of this
century
What man has made of man.
• Over the next one hundred
years, as many as three billion
people are expected to make the
move from country to city, and
so follow in the footsteps of
Wordsworth’s neighbours
• “Lines Written in Early Spring”
asks the reader to consider what
might be left behind when we
make this move
• Wordsworth’s poem reminds us
that we can decide what to do
with ourselves, what to make of
ourselves
• Industrialization, and the loss of
a connection to nature, is not
inevitable if we don’t want it to
be