Free Essays on Wordsworth

worth is talking about. Porphyro is surrendering to the desire, â€Å"the fire,† of his heart; meanwh... Free Essays on Wordsworth Free Essays on Wordsworth Wordsworth’s Nature In most of Wordsworth’s poetry he seemed to try and make the reader aware of their environment, of their dependence on it for health, sanity and ultimate happiness. He wanted to nature to confirm that love, joy and beauty were not just fragile human values but cosmic absolutes. Often Wordsworth used unique methods of sensory perception as well as combining the physical world with nature on a more personal, subjective level. Much of his poems use these and other techniques to display the possibility of living contently, looking within nature for inspiration and fulfillment. Wordsworth’s poem Animal Tranquility and Decay, which he wrote in 1798, merely twenty-eight years into his existence, displays his early realization of such perceptions. This poem uses a oblivious man walking as a subject to demonstrate the possibility of absolute happiness outside of physical pain. Animal Tranquility and Decay represents a connection between nature, as the physical world, a nd how we live (or the subject of the poem in this case) as a result of it. Wordsworth begins the poem with an simple image. A useful technique to introduce the physical setting of the poem. The little hedgerow birds, That peck along the roads, regard him not. He travels on, and in his face, his step, His gait, is one expression: every limb, The image of this man walking and the birds not paying him any mind, not caring about his presence, is very effective in beginning to create the character’s personality. This is not unlikely for Wordsworth to develop the personality of the characters in his poems with a minimal amount of words and although it is not always possible to decipher whether or not this is intentional, it is none the less effective in turning the poem into something more personal for the reader. Even Wordsworth’s word ch... Free Essays on Wordsworth In â€Å"The World is Too Much with Us,† William Wordsworth presents a conflict between nature and humanity. He repeats the title in the first line of the poem, emphasizing his main point that the aspects of everyday living numb us to the emotions evoked by nature. Wordsworth includes himself in his conviction of mankind, using â€Å"us† rather than â€Å"you.† Something that is â€Å"too much,† is in excess, and therefore tends to cause harm, like the world for us. The harm that Wordsworth discusses includes â€Å"wasting our powers.† Obviously he does not see us as incapable, by describing our abilities as â€Å"powers.† He feels that we waste our passions on â€Å"getting and spending† and neglect to notice how nature is being sacrificed for this progress. We have exchanged our hearts for the materialistic progress of mankind. Not only does an artificial system cause an emotional deficit, but it also alienates people from each other in a very subtle fashion. Wordsworth saw this in the people who give their hearts away, which he equates with a â€Å"sordid boon.† Unlike society, Wordsworth does not see nature as a commodity. The verse, â€Å"Little we see in Nature that is ours,† shows that coexisting is the relationship envisioned. Nature is given human traits to convey a more personal relationship to people. The verse, â€Å"This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,† gives the image of a woman exposed to the heavens. Wordsworth does not see this as shameful but rather honorable. Like the Sea, he wants people to open themselves up to the passions around them; but instead, we are indifferent to the pleas from nature: â€Å"it moves us not.† He describes us as â€Å"out of tune,† which means that we are not completely doomed, that there is hope to be reconciled with nature. In â€Å"The Eve of St. Agnes,† Porphyro demonstrates the passion that Wordsworth is talking abou t. Porphyro is surrendering to the desire, â€Å"the fire,† of his heart; meanwh... Free Essays on Wordsworth Romantic Poets William Wordsworth writes in his â€Å"Preface to Lyrical Ballads† that â€Å"if the views, with which they [the poems] were composed, were indeed realized, a class of poetry would be produced, well adapted to interest mankind permanently, and not unimportant in the multiplicity and in the quality of its moral relation† (mallor & matlock 574). It has been over two hundred years since Wordsworth penned these lines and yet they have not been lost nor have they been forgotten. The face of poetry has changed since the time of Wordsworth, although mankind’s unwavering fascination with poetry is a testament to its eternal magnetism. In his â€Å"Preface,† Wordsworth defines his poetry and his motivation fastidiously and when comparing the theory to the practice in the case of â€Å"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,† the reader cannot help but notice his strict adherence. In fact, because the poem is written as a first person narrative, and Wordsworth is the subject of his poem, he is writing about how he thinks, thus it is the very essence of theory in practice. Wordsworth asserts that : Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is contemplated till by a series of reaction the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, similar to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced and does itself actually exist in the mind (580). This explanation is exemplified in his poem, â€Å"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.† A lonely poet wanders through the country and is met with a â€Å"host† of daffodils. The tranquil scene affects him passively at first as he attempts to take in the scene, then later after returning home he contemplates his experience. After some contemplation, the poet realizes what â€Å"wealth this show has brought† (line 18). When the image is recollected during ... Free Essays on Wordsworth William Wordsworth William Wordsworth was, in my eyes one of the best know romanticist writers of his time. Most of his pieces talk about nature and religion. He, like most romantic poets of his time revolted against the industrial revolution and wrote many pieces about nature in order to go up against it. During the industrial revolution there were many factories being built up that took away most of the open countryside that everyone enjoyed. In these factories, workers were given long hours and little pay for their harsh working conditions. Wordsworth saw this and was appalled at how the factories could first come and take over the land and hire workers for practically no pay and long hours, so he wrote about nature to rebel against the factories. He wrote these poems to let people escape the reality of their lives and have something that was positive to live for. Wordsworth is considered a romantic because his writings were very imaginative, emotional, and visionary. He regularly discussed poetry with his friend Samuel Coleridge, who at the time was also a romantic writer. In their time as friends they wrote and discussed many poems, which later led to the writing of a prelude for his wife whom he had four children with. Originally Wordsworth was from England and was born in 1770 and graduated from Cambridge University. After he graduated he began his work on the idiom of the eighteenth century, which rebelled against the industrial revolution. Dorothy Wordsworth, William’s sister wrote a journal that her and her brother could read when he cared for her during the last twenty years of her life. Her works were not published for many years after she had died. Most of her writing was written without correct punctuation due to the fact that it would only be her and her brother that would be reading her writings. After his sister Dorothy died later on due to physical ailments which later drove her to insanity. ...