UNDERSTANDING
THE
POETRY
OF
WILLIAM
WORDSWORTH
UNDERSTANDING
THE POETRY
OF
WILLIAM
WORDSWORTH
by
Robert A. Albano
MERCURYE PRESS
Los Angeles
UNDERSTANDING THE POETRY
OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Robert A. Albano
First Printing: December 2009
All Rights Reserved © 2009 by Robert A. Albano No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
MERCURYE PRESS
Los Angeles
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Wordsworth and the Romantic Period 7
2. Tintern Abbey (explication)
17
3. The Intimations Ode (explication) 43
“Tintern Abbey” (complete poem)
79
“Intimations Ode” (complete Poem) 85
CHAPTER 1
WORDSWORTH AND THE
ROMANTIC PERIOD
WORDSWORTH’S EARLY YEARS
William Wordsworth was most certainly one of the most influential of the Romantic poets. During the era of the Romantics in the early nineteenth century, Wordsworth wrote many great poems. Two of the best are “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality.” These two poems reflect several motifs or ideas that are common to the Romantic poets, especially (1) a reverence for nature and (2) the idealization of childhood.
William Wordsworth was born in 1770 and died in 1850. His poetry often focused on the relationship between man and nature. Like all of the Romantic poets, his work shows a remarkable contrast to the literature of the previous era, the Neoclassic Age.
Where the Neoclassicists were organized or structured, orderly, and artificial in their approach, the Romantics were unlimited or boundless, free, and natural.
Where the Neoclassicists placed an emphasis on reason, the Romantics emphasized emotion.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth Neoclassicists
Romantics
organized, structured
unlimited, boundless
orderly
free
artificial
natural
Reason
Emotion
Wordsworth’s poetry is also remarkable for being both simple and complex at the same time. Wordsworth presents complex ideas and philosophical concepts through a simple subject matter and language.
The second of five children, Wordsworth was born in northeast England in 1770. In 1778 Wordsworth’s mother died; and his father, who had earlier been rather successful in business, found himself in debt. However, his father did manage to send young William to a good boarding school when the boy was nine years old. Prior to that, William received most of his education from his mother.
Disaster struck again for Wordsworth when he was thirteen years of age (in 1783). His father died.
Wordsworth was fortunate, though, that his uncles became his new guardians; and they saw to it that Wordsworth continued his education at the boarding school Wordsworth graduated at age 17 (in 1787) and then enrolled at Cambridge University. His guardians expected him to be a clergyman, a member of the church, when he graduated.
Before he graduated, the 20-year-old Wordsworth took a break from his studies in 1790 in order to take a
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth 9
walking tour through the Alps, the mountain range in central Europe and ranging along the borders of Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, and Austria. This experience with nature – among others – convinced the gifted scholar that the life of the clergy was not for him.
In 1791 Wordsworth graduated with honors from Cambridge. He then moved to London. A few months later Wordsworth moved again, this time to France. He fell in love with a French girl there. Her name was Annette Vallon.
In the following year (1792) Wordsworth and his girlfriend Annette had a child, a daughter whom they named Caroline. However, a lack of money as well as the growing tensions between England and France forced Wordsworth to return to England without his fiancé and daughter.
Wordsworth’s experiences in the Alps became the subject matter for his first published work in 1793, Descriptive Sketches. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge hailed the work and lavishly praised Wordsworth as “the best poet of the age.”
Because of his ties to France, the years prior to the French Revolution were ones of great despair and suffering for Wordsworth. Wordsworth worried about the political crisis and how it was affecting Annette Vallon and his daughter Caroline.
Later, in 1797, with his sister Dorothy, Wordsworth moved to Somerset, in southern England. The time he spent there contributed significantly in restoring his mental
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth health. At Somerset Wordsworth became close friends to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The two intellectual men shared a passion for poetry, and they influenced the writing of each other in numerous and profound ways.
PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS
In the following year, 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge produced a joint collection of poetry entitled Lyrical Ballads. Among other poems in this work is the highly regarded “Tintern Abbey.”
Lyrical Ballads was highly successful, and it entered a second edition in 1800 and a third edition in 1802.
For the second edition, Wordsworth added a Preface. And in the 1802 edition he expanded that Preface even further.
This Preface today stands as what critics refer to as the pivotal turning point of English Romantic criticism.
They also use the word “manifesto” to describe it. The word manifesto is often used in politics when a political party or organization wishes to declare its goals or principle guidelines or intentions. To call Wordsworth’s Preface a manifesto, then, suggests that it somehow collectively represents the unified thoughts of the Romantic poets.
Nothing could have been further from Wordsworth’s intentions. The poet was not issuing any kind of political statement, nor was he suggesting that any type of organized movement enveloped the Romantic writers.
Yet, nevertheless, his Preface does encapsulate the trends and development of poetry in his age. The Preface examines the subject matter and language of poetry as well as addressing the question, “What is a
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth 11
poet?” Although the Preface is too lengthy and complicated to examine adequately in this introduction, the student should be aware of some of the key concepts that appear in it.
KEY CONCEPTS OF THE PREFACE
(1) First, Wordsworth defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Unlike the Neoclassicists, who kept their emotional voice in check, Wordsworth declares that an abundance of emotions forms the core of poetry. Such feelings exist within the poet as a result from his contact with nature, which exists outside or separate from the poet.
(2) Second, Wordsworth declares that poetry is free from rules. The poet is free to explore, bend, and even break the conventions of poetry. No established meters or rhythm need to be followed. And ideas or concepts can be explored as freely as rhythmical patterns.
(3) Third, nature forms the primary subject matter of poetry. And nature becomes, in a sense, a reflection of the poet’s own soul.
(4) Fourth, ordinary items, everyday objects, the commonplace are endowed with a special quality or glory. The poet may esteem and honor a tree, a small stream, or even a little child. Such are wonderful and marvelous creations of nature.
(5) Fifth, the beauty of nature contains a strange or even supernatural quality that affects the beholder in a positive and spiritual manner.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth One must keep in mind, though, that Wordsworth was not establishing rules here. He was merely recording his thoughts on the nature of poetry during his age –
especially as it appears in his own poems and those by Coleridge.
Wordsworth, like all of the Romantics, believed in the Individualism of the poet. Poets should not conform to rules, and Wordsworth would definitely not want other poets to use his poems as inspiration for their own creations or to imitate his own style of writing poetry.
AFTER LYRICAL BALLADS
After the third edition of Lyrical Ballads was printed, Wordsworth also was able to settle his personal affairs. In 1802 Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy took a trip to France. There he met his former girlfriend and his ten-year-old daughter. William helped them out financially, but the love that William Wordsworth and Annette Vallon once felt for one another no longer existed.
Later that same year, William Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson, a friend whom he had known since childhood. Their marriage was a successful one, and they had five children.
Wordsworth scholars generally point to the years from 1797 and 1807 as the period when Wordsworth wrote his greatest poetry. Of course, this time frame includes the poems found in Lyrical Ballads. And it also includes the
“Intimations Ode,” which first appeared in 1807.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth 13
Several critics suggest that Wordsworth’s poetry after 1807 does not measure up to that which he wrote earlier. However, Wordsworth’s reputation as a great poet continued to grow over the next few decades.
In fact, as late as 1843, more than a decade after the Romantic movement had ended in England, Wordsworth was honored with the title of Poet Laureate. He was declared as the chief poet of England.
William Wordsworth died in 1850. He was the last survivor of the six truly great Romantic poets. Keats died in 1821, Shelley in 1822, Byron in 1824, Blake in 1827, and Coleridge in 1834. The final chapter on Romanticism was now at an end.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth THE PRIMARY TOPICS OF WORDSWORTH’S POEMS
(1) First, Wordsworth viewed nature as a teacher.
Nature instructs all of us when we are young and prepares us for our adult lives.
(2) Second, a relationship exists between childhood and adulthood. Wordsworth does not just mean this is the obvious sense. Rather, he points to a mystic or supernatural connection between these two distinct stages in life.
(3) Third, Wordsworth does believe that there is meaning in life, and such meaning can be apprehended or understood through a relationship with nature.
(4) Fourth, despite the positive affect of nature upon man, there also exists a conflict between man and nature.
At times Wordsworth depicts nature as a mysterious or divine presence. It possesses a supernatural quality that surpasses the understanding of man. Thus, nature, although an object of beauty, may also be, at the very same time, an object of awe or even fear.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth 15
MOTIFS IN ROMANTIC POETRY
The reader of William Wordworth’s poetry should attempt to discover which of the motifs common to many romantic poets are included in Wordsworth’s own work.
There are primarily eight of these motifs to look for.
1. a reverence for nature
2. nature’s appearance is largely subjective, formed by the response of the human mind
3. expressionistic imagery (images are not realistic but often represent the internal thoughts and moods of the speaker)
4. the conflict between desire and the mundane world (not unlike a conflict between reason and emotion) 5. a portrayal of the sensitive, alienated artist 6. praise of the primitive
7. the idealization of childhood 8. the nature of genius
Not all of these motifs will appear in Wordsworth’s poems, but most of them do.
CHAPTER 2
TINTERN ABBEY
INTRODUCTION
In one of his greatest poems, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey,” the speaker recounts a physical journey where he returns to one of his favorite boyhood haunts, a scenic river bank. Yet more important than the physical journey is the mental one, in which Wordsworth recalls the past and his memories regarding the healing power of nature.
“Tintern Abbey” was written in 1798 and was included in Lyrical Ballads. The complete title is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour. July 13, 1798.”
The poem pays homage to the restoring powers of nature.
The poem recounts an actual event at an actual location. Tintern Abbey is located in Wales in close proximity to Bristol, Monmouth, and Gloucester. In the summer of 1798, Wordsworth took a walking tour there with his sister Dorothy.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth Wordsworth had been there once before, by himself, five years earlier, in 1793. The year prior to that, in 1792, Wordsworth had been forced to leave his girlfriend and their baby daughter in France. That separation left Wordsworth feeling extremely depressed and full of despair. But the walking tour that he took above Tintern Abbey contributed significantly to bringing the young Wordsworth, then only 23 years old, back to health.
In 1798 Wordsworth returned to the scenic spot with his sister Dorothy. His hope was that the magical powers of the landscape would affect her as it did him.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth 19
STRUCTURE
The poem is 159 lines long and is divided into five stanzas.
(1) In the first stanza, lines 1 to 22, Wordsworth describes the locale and mentions how it awakens memories from five years before.
(2) In the second stanza, lines 22 to 49, Wordsworth provides a flashback recalling how the beauty of nature has helped sustain and revive him at those times in the past when he felt weary or depressed.
(3) The third stanza is brief, comprising lines 49 to 57. Wordsworth questions his belief, his philosophy regarding the power of nature. But he does not question his own experience.
(4) The fourth stanza is the longest, extending from line 58 to line 111. In this section Wordsworth contrasts the present moment with his reflections of boyhood.
(5) In the fifth and last stanza, from line 111 to 159, Wordsworth focuses on his sister Dorothy and how she is gaining the gifts of Nature that he had obtained in the past.
Wordsworth depicts nature as a protector or guardian
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth STANZA 1
The first stanza begins with the following lines: FIVE years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters! and again I hear These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs With a soft inland murmur.--
The opening passage uses typical seasonal imagery, with summer representing a pleasurable time in life and with winter representing a cold and harsh time. Wordsworth informs us that five years has passed since his last visit.
But the poet is also suggesting that those past five years have not been easy. Wordsworth describes the winters with a simple adjective, long. The summers are not described in this way. Wordsworth is indicating that he has experienced more of the harsher moments in life and not so many of the pleasurable ones.
With another simple adjective – the word soft –
Wordsworth describes the sound of the mountain springs.
Wordsworth indicates the gentleness and tranquility of the surroundings and offers these up as a contrast to the harsh times of the past five years.
The stanza continues:
Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth 21
Wordsworth establishes a connection in these lines between the wild secluded scene of nature and the deeper, secluded thoughts of the speaker. The speaker is thus connected to nature. The word wild – yet another simple adjective –
may thus also describe the thoughts of the speaker. His thoughts are wild due to his depression or despair.
Yet the speaker also establishes another connection, this time between the wild landscape of nature and the quiet of the sky. The sky lends its quiet calm upon the wild and unruly growths of nature. And since the speaker’s thoughts are connected to the landscape, the quiet charm of the sky also affects him. The speaker absorbs the calm and quiet presence of nature. And the speaker sits down to relax under the shade of the sycamore tree.
The day is come when I again repose Here, under this dark sycamore …
Wordsworth may have specifically mentioned the sycamore because of its symbolism. In Egypt the sycamore is the Tree of Life. And in the Bible the tree is a symbol of rejuvenation. Of course, Wordsworth finds Nature to have restorative or rejuvenating qualities. So the symbolism is appropriate.
During the Renaissance, the sycamore took on an entirely different meaning. It is associated with dejected love or, simply, sad love. The sycamore appears notably in one of the songs that Desdemona sings in the play Othello.
This symbolism is also appropriate for Wordsworth, who is sad over having to leave his girlfriend in France. And quite likely, Wordsworth could have intended both meanings.
Understanding the Poetry of William Wordsworth This Renaissance symbolism may have been created by poets who were always on the look out for puns and wordplay. The word sycamore sounds like "sick amour,"
meaning a sick or sad love. For Shakespeare's Othello, another pun could be intended. Sycamore sounds similar to
"a sick Moor." Othello was a Moor, the Moors being a tribe of people in northern Africa. Othello’s jealousy is a
“sick amour” or sick love; and, so, Othello is a sick Moor.
In describing the landscape, the speaker in “Tintern Abbey” corrects himself.
Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines Of sportive wood run wild.
