Friday, April 20, 2012

The Love for Nature as Seen in William Wordsworth's "Lines Written in Early Spring"

William Wordsworth has essentially been recognized as being a lover of nature in almost all of the poems we studied this year. In his poem entitled "Lines Written in Early Spring", Wordsworth lies in a grove, surrounded by his beloved nature, but can only think sad thoughts. "In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts (3) Bring sad thoughts to the mind. (4) He quickly thinks about what man has done to man, meaning what man has done to nature to turn it into an industrialized nation.

Wordsworth's connection with nature in this poem is very evident. This bond is strengthened because he puts himself in the middle of nature as he describes the scene around him. He loves nature so much that he personified it and gave it the ability to make decisions and experience nature. "The birds around me hopped and played, (12) Their thoughts I cannot measure: -- (13) But the least motion which they made, (14) It seemed a thrill of pleasure. (15) To Wordsworth in this poem, nature does everything right and it is man who has failed by turning it into an industrialized place (or so the reader can imply). He can see where man is taking the world from a beautiful, elegant, naturalistic place, to a industrial society.

Wordsworth is so infatuated with nature that he feels like it is his obligation and responsibility to think of what mistakes humanity has done to harm nature. "Have I not reason to lament (26) What man has made of man? (27) He is very thoughtful of nature in this poem because he realizes that this might be the last thing left in life that is beautiful to him. Pretty soon it could be taken over by factories. Here, the reader can see his true feelings about the rural life and how he doesn't want it to be changed by the development of manufacturing.


1 comment:

  1. It is interesting that Wordsworth is so vague about what exactly he laments. He repeats that he grieves "what man has made of man" (8, 24), but he does not specify what that is and he purposely avoids giving details. You are right that readers often intuit that he laments not only the fate of man but also the fate of the natural world in the face of industrialization. This interpretation is bolstered by the scene of the poem and by his emphasis on how Nature has "link[ed]" his human soul to her creations. And yet, what do you make of his decision *not* to explicate the object of his critique?

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