Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey Essay

In Wordsworth’s â€Å"Tintern Abbey† the poem begins as we are taken from the height of a mountain stream down into the valley where the poet sits under a sycamore tree surveying the beauty of the natural world. This introduction through nature sets the scene for the poet’s blending of his mind with that of the natural world. Here Wordsworth does not dwell on the imprint of mankind on the landscape but on the connection of an isolated individual enveloped within the wild world of nature. Although he refers to the presence of man – vagrant dwellers or hermits his connection is with the untouched splendour of the countryside. From his perspective, looking out on the verdant landscape, the speaker ties his connection with nature to the past. He remembers that during his long absence from the Wye Valley, years which he spent living in the city, he found consolation in calling back the memories of his time spent in nature ‘But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the dim Of towns and cities, I have owned to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart.’ It is important to note here that Wordsworth is not merely finding comfort in fondly remembering a past holiday, but is unequivocally using the natural setting as his source for transcendence. By specifically using nature as his escape from ‘†¦the heavy and weary weight Of all this unintelligible world’ , he asserts that the purity of nature holds no ill memories of man’s unkindness. This ability to gradually retreat from the trials of daily life by calling to mind the solace found in nature is key to the concept that only through withdrawal from the world of society and immersion in the natural world can one rise above present strife. Wordsworth continues speaking of his connection with nature to the past by relating how nature has held prominence during all stages of his past life. But here he also imparts the importance his intimacy with nature will have in his future as he states ‘that in this moment there is life and food For future years’. Wordsworth realizes that the memories of the past will continue to provide pleasure and connection even as he grows old. In the final refrain, the poem suddenly shifts perspective back to the present and instead of considering his own connection with nature, Wordsworth now turns his attention to being in the sylvan valley with his sister, Dorothy. He compares his sisters simple, intense pleasure on nature with his own at the earlier stages of his life. He parlays that she will benefit from the love of nature as he has done and find in it solace from the ‘dreary’ scenes of adult life. However, Wordsworth’s message to the readers seems didactic as he addresses what he is meant to be telling his sister to us, ‘Our cheerful faith that all which we behold Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon Shine on thee in thy solitary walk.’ His hopes for the future are that his sister will also experience the healing powers of nature that he himself has experienced. By stating ‘†¦Nature never did betray The heart that loved her’ Wordsworth assures his sister that she too will find solace from the heartless world by her communion with nature and her memories of his day that they are spending together. Wordsworth’s ability to look to the future to predict memories of events that are happening in the present is ingenious and complicated. But Wordsworth beautifully clarifies this concept by using nature as the ideal link between recollection, foresight, and his relationship with another. Wordsworth neatly ties together the significance of nature not only with his previous experience of remembering nature, but also with how he sees the natural world affecting the future to pass on his message that he has clearly matured over the past years hence the poem being the last one in the anthology. He further states that even â€Å"if I should be where I no more can hear Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams of past existence† , their memories shared in nature will endure to give Dorothy solace as she grows old. By looking to the future, Wordsworth comprehends that because of their shared recollection of their communion in the outdoors, he and his sister will be tied together even after his death. Wordsworth Other poets * Believed ordinary life and ordinary people were important enough to have poetry written for them. * Believed poets to be ordinary people who lived more intensely than others and cultivated their imagination and expressive powers. * Poetry should be written in a language understood by most people ‘man speaking to man’ * Poetry should be written about situations of everyday life. * Through use of memory poetry could recreate events although not religious WW believed that poetry rather than religion was to be given the mission of bringing humanity together * Childhood experiences affected adult mind. * Believed that a poem must have a definite direction and that the reader should be very clear as to what the poem is actually about. * Believed that in order for a short metrical composition to be a poem, it must be organized clearly and, according to Wordsworth â€Å"also thought long and lovingly about† * Poetry should have passion and emotion and be of great pleasure. * The pleasures that Wordsworth was referring to man being â€Å"accustomed to† are those experiences that are derived from nature. Nature in this sense may be the emotion of an experience with living nature, such as a majestic observance of a mountain, or it may be in the sense of human nature, such as the natural presence of a mother’s love * William Wordsworth thought that the poem should speak directly from common life â€Å"by fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation† * Poetry was a tool to change peoples behaviour or as a learning mechanism. * Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.