NAME: VYAS NUPUR H.

ROLL NO:  43 

PAPER NO : 3  (Literary Theory $ Criticism ) Western-1

Topic: Wordsworth ‘s themes of poetry

Date :14-10-15

Submitted to: M.K. Bhavnagar University Department of English.

Email id : nupurvyas1995@gmail.

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Introduction:

William Wordsworth is considered the pioneer of the Romanticism in English literature. ‘The Lyrical Ballads’ was published in 1798 under the combined authorship in word worth and Coleridge. This poetry collection is considered the mile- stone of 19^th century English poetry. In the preface to the lyrical ballads, Wordsworth at length, comments upon the nature and functions of poetry. He cherishes humble and rustic life as the source of poetry writing. Wordsworth says that the poet is men speaking to men wordsworth loved nature.so his themes are also natural.

                    He wants the poets to write and communicate in such a way that no class remains untouched. His poems under the category of children poems and like nursery rhyme. He uses meter and rhyme and figures of speech.

What according to words-worth should be the theme of poetry?

Theme of poetry

1)  Nature

2)  Memory

3)  Mortality

4)  Humanity

5)  Transcendence and connectivity

6)  Morality

7)  Religion

8)  Country life v/s city life

9)  The splendor of childhood

1]Nature:’’ Come forth in to the light of things ,Let Nature be your Teacher.’’

-These line by ‘Tables Turned ‘poem.

‘’I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o ‘er vales and hills’’.

-This line by ‘Daffodils

No discussion on words worth would be complete without mention of Nature.Wordsworth has connected with Nature in his later life. Nature and its connection to humanity make an appearance in the vast majority of Wordsworth poetry. through Wordsworth’s work, nature provides the ultimate good influence on the human mind words worth’s poetry of an holding up poems focus and has become the cornerstone of the romantic movement primarily because of him. For him nature is a kind of religion in which he has utmost faith in nature. Nature fills two major roles in Wordsworth's poetry  

1] Even though it is intensely beautiful and peaceful nature often causes Wordsworth to feel melancholy or sad. This is usually because even as his relishes in his connection with nature he worries about the rest of humanity most of who lives in cities completely apart from nature. Wordsworth wonders how they could possibly revive their spirits. In the end, however, he often decides that it is wrong to be sad while in nature. ‘A poet could not but be gay in such jocund company.’

2] Nature also gives Wordsworth hope for the future from past experience Wordsworth knows that spending time in nature is a gift to his future self, because later, when he is alone tired and frustrated in the busy, dirty city, he will be able to look back on the on a field of Daffodils he once spent times in and be happy again. All manifestation of the natural world from the highest mountains to the simplest flower elicit noble, elevated thoughts and passionate emotions in the people who observe these manifestation. Wordsworth repeatedly emphasizes the importance of nature to an individual’s intellectual and spiritual development. A good relationship with nature helps individuals connect to both the spiritual and the social world. As Wordsworth explains in ‘The prelude’ a love of nature can lead to a love of humankind.

2] Memory: For Wordsworth the power of the human mind is extremely important. In several of his poems he begins in a negative or depressed mood, and then slowly becomes more positive. Wordsworth’s Lucy poems marked with the quality of memory

‘’she dwelt among the untrodden ways, she lived unknown, and few could know, when Lucy ceased to be, but she is in her grave, and oh, the difference to me”

               For instance, in poems like ‘’Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey” and “I wandered lonely as a cloud” Wordsworth is in nature and he is happy but he becomes even happier when he realizes that he never actually has to leave his memories behind. He defines his poetry that “Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling recollected in tranquility” He believes that by recalling memories with calmness and to write a poetry. He observes nature and then he be collected his memory and write a poetry. once he has returned to the daily to the daily gloom of the City he will be able to remember the time we spent among the  nature and make himself happy again. “And then my heart with pleasure fills   and dances with [Daffodils”]. “The music in my heart I bore, long after it was heard no more”. The lines by [Solitary Reaper]

As Wordsworth begins to consider his own mortality memory is again huge comfort, because he realizes that even after he has died he will be able to live on in the memory of his family and friends, just as those who have passed on before him are in his memory. Wordsworth is especially heartened to know that his sister Dorothy with whom he spent countless hours will remember him fondly carrying him with her whenever she goes using memory and imagination individuals overcome difficulties and pain. The transformative powers of the mind are available to all, regardless of an individual’s class or background.

                The democratic view emphasizes individuality and uniqueness. Throughout his work, Wordsworth showed short strong support for the political, religious and artistic rights of the individual including the power of his or her mind. In the 1802 “preface to lyrical ballads” Wordsworth explain the relationship between the mind and poetry. Later poems, such as “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” imagine nature as the source of the inspiring material that nourishes the active creative mind.

3] Mortality:- Wordsworth fascination with death frequently shows up in his poetry like Lucy poems

“Strange fits of passion have I known”

“A slumber did my spirit seal”

“The education of nature”

“The solitary reaper”

“She dwelt among the untrodden ways”

               for instance, are a series of poems about young girl who may or may not have been a figment of Wordsworth's imagination and ultimately dies. We can say that all his Lucy poems belongs to our love poems Lucy maybe his beloved. Wordsworth looks at the event from several angles. In “She dwelt among untrodden ways” he focuses on the unexpected ness of her death in general. “In the three years she grew” Wordsworth creates a fanciful rationale for her death: Nature became entranced by her and promised to give her an incredible life’ but once all of her promises were fulfilled Lucy had to die.

“Slumber did my spirit seal” in this poems lines shows “No motion has she now no force, she neither hears nor sees;  Roll’d round in earth diural course, with rocks, and stones, and trees”

               This line shows the belief of pantheism means the belief that nature is God and every human being becomes the part of the universe after death. In “lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey” Wordsworth is comforted by the thought that he will live on after his death, because his sister Dorothy will remember him lovingly.

4] Humanity:- One of Wordsworth greatest worries is descent of humanity. As man moves further and further away from humanity he seems to be losing more and more of his soul. Often when Wordsworth is in Nature his invention he is saddened because he is forced to think about people trapped in cities unable or unwilling to communicate with Nature. In “London 1802” for instance,

  “We are a selfish man; oh! raise up, return to us again; as and give us Manners, virtue, freedom and power.”

  Wordsworth makes a plea to the poet John Milton to return and teacher humanity how to regain the morality and virtue it once had similarly in “The world is too much with us” Wordsworth worries that the world is to full of people who have lost their connection to divinity and more importantly to nature “Getting and spending we lay waste our powers, little we see in nature that is ours”

             5] Transcendence and connectivity:- The idea of transcendence did not gain full speed until the romantic movement moved to America, but Wordsworth was certainly a fun of the idea long before then. Trascendence” simply means “being without boundaries” for Wordsworth  this means being able to connect with people and things outside of oneself, especially in terms of nature. In his poem “A slumber did my spirit seal”

“A slumber did my spirit seal I had no human fears; she seemed a thing that could not feel. The touch of earthly years”

     It was Wordsworth’s Supreme aspiration to met aphorical transcend the limitation of his body and connect completely with nature. Mankind's difficulty accepting the beauty that nature has to offer saddened Wordsworth; and he found the loss of Such a gift difficult to accept.

6] Morality: In Wordsworth poems morality doesn't necessarily stem directly from religion, but rather from doing what is right by oneself by humanity and by nature. “ In London 1802”, Wordsworth complains that man’s morals are in the state of constant decline, but the morals he is talking about have more to do with following the natural process of life being free and powerful not tied down by city living for common thoughts. The most important lesson a person can learn according to Wordsworth is to be true to his own impulses and desires, but not greedy. A person should be available to help his fellow man, but should not be consumed by other peoples’ needs. He should be in communion with nature with humanity, and with himself.

      7] Religion: religion, while not as prevalent as in the poetry of enlightenment, does have a place in much of Wordsworth’s poetry. Often religion is included simply to help Wordsworth’s more pious readers understand the level of his commitment to and faith in nature. Wordsworth uses religious imagery and language in his poems in order to convey his ideas about the power of nature in humanmind and global Inter- connectivity

8] Country life vs City life:- Wordsworth was in favour of country life. He observed shepherd life and their daily routine life. He was lover of nature. He wandered lonely in the Nature. His most of poems shows shepherd life and their work. He   satire one of “ode to West Minister Bridge” on a city life. This poem is also under the category of nature poem. This ode is written where in London industrial revolution began and much developed City. Wordsworth’s poem

“The solitary reaper be hold her, single in the field, yon on solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself;

This lines show a girl was reaping the land with chanting song. This shows daily life of shepherd’s girl and living with nature.

Ode to Westminster Bridge,

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This city now doth, like a garment, wear  

The beauty of the morning; silent bare, ships, Towers, domes, theatres and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and  to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the Smokeless air,

Dear God! the very houses is seem asleep; and all that mighty heart is lying still!

                 This lines shows city life upon Bridge this was There was a time of industrial revolution. There time of winter and city was calm and silent early morning without smoke some lines shows city life with full of machines and towers.

9]The Splendor of childhood:-In Wordsworth poetry, childhood is magical magnificent time of Innocence. Children from an intense bond with nature so much so that they appear to be a part of the natural world, rather than a part of human social world. Their relationship to nature is passionate and extreme. Children feel joy at seeing a rainbow but great terror at seeing desolation of decay. In 1799 Wordsworth wrote several poems about a young girl named Lucy who died at a young age. These poems including “she dwelt among the untrodden ways” [1800] praising her  beauty and lament her untimely death. In death, Lucy retains the innocence and Splendor of childhood. Unlike the  children who grow up  lose their connection to nature and lead unfulfilling lives.

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