One of Wordsworths Poems and the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads - Essay Example

The Role of the Memory is one of the Most Important Elements to Wordsworth’s Theories about the Relationship between Nature and the Human Mind. Describe that Role, Drawing on at least One of Wordsworth’s Poems and the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. William Wordsworth’s second edition of Lyrical Ballads, of 1800, had an extended preface, found to be full of wisdom by Victorian readers like Mathew Arnold, but Modernists like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were skeptical of Wordsworth’s theory; his theories were inspired from poets like John Milton. The preface has become a source of complications of Wordsworth’s poetic theories. According to Wordsworth, poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” (Poetry Foundation, “William Wordsworth 1770–1850,” par. 9). Here comes the role of memory, one of the most significant elements to Wordsworth’s theories about the relationship between Nature and the human mind. The role of memory is quite evident in one of Wordsworth’s most powerful early poem, “Tintern Abbey.” Pondering over his memories of the Wye River valley that nurtured him, Wordsworth wrote: Though absent long, These forms of beauty have not been to me, As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet (Poetry Foundation, “William Wordsworth 1770–1850,” par. 10). For Wordsworth, reflecting on the past memories was like appreciating the surroundings and how those memories would remain fixed to recollect whenever he wanted. William Wordsworth went back to that River Wye along with his sister, Dorothy, in July 1798. Through his poetry, he recaptured the changes brought about by time. These emotionally perceptible changes prompted Wordsworth to discuss them, and during the process of discussion, he provided an inkling of the internal functioning of memory. Not only did Wordsworth state the real time, but the area that he revisited through the title of his poem, quite in detail. The title mentions that he was sitting on a spot, some miles above a forlorn abbey in the valley of the river Wye; he was able to get a larger view of the surroundings from his sitting position. He states “sitting under this dark sycamore" (Wordsworth 10). At the start of the poem Wordsworth mentions thrice that “five years have past” since he last came to that place (Wordsworth 1). It looks as if he desired to come again and again to Tintern Abbey. Wordsworth describes the natural surrounding landscape through the memory lane in minuteness of description, as he has done in other poems, composed before “Tintern Abbey” in the 18th century. He creates a visual scene through adjectives and verbs like the sound of “rolling” waters, and the “steep and lofty cliffs” (Wordsworth 1-3). Memory becomes a tool of describing the relationship between Nature and human thought when Wordsworth uses the first person pronoun “I” to describe his individual connection with the location, and how he is impressed by it (Sng 1). The exact position of the place, whether it is the Abbey or the valley, becomes clear when Wordsworth mentions at the finish of the Lyrical Ballads that he composed the poem while leaving the banks of the River Wye, which positions him downward and not above the Tintern Abbey. Rather than stressing on the actual position of his place, it was Wordsworth use of his creativity in looking what he wanted to perceive in idyllic scenery. As he glanced down on the huge valley, his imagination created a blend of both the past and the present, just as anybody might glance at an old town after five years.  The Wye valley visual in 1798 is not actually described as much as Wordsworths copy of the surroundings in his memory in stanza two. Wordsworth finds the valley atmosphere full of tranquility:  “Though absent long, These forms of beauty have not been to me,” which indicates that he carried along with him in his memory the peaceful surroundings of the Tintern Abbey when he was away from it in the past five years (Wordsworth 24-25). “Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart, /And passing even into my purer mind,” tells that the beautiful objects of nature were with him all the time (Wordsworth 29-30).  Wordsworth creates a difference between nature and urban life, which is the “fever of the world” and the mesmerizing effect of “sylvan Wye!” (Wordsworth 55-58). Wordsworth never felt himself at ease with the urban life style when he stated, “in which the heavy and the weary weight, of all this entire unintelligible world,” (Wordsworth 41) but he claims that nature has been kind to him, letting to remain peaceful, and also has offered wisdom, as “we see into the life of things” (Wordsworth 50). Using his memory to view and reflect natural beauty and find a soul that “connects all living things” (Jugel 1). “Tintern Abbey” was purposed to record an act of foretelling, until Wordsworth finally felt that nature and the leverage of memory had awarded him wisdom “into the life of things” (Wordsworth 50). Good memory is not the only element for Wordsworth to finally trace out his realization. Wordsworth feels melancholic when thinking about how the town has changed in the past five years. Feelings may change, making a person different from what he might be five years back. Same is with Wordsworth, as he recalls how emotionally attached and dedicated he had been once with nature when he revisits the Wye. He contrasts his past emotions with the present; in the past, his emotions were clean, while the present is full of challenges, “to me was all in all.—I cannot paint,” (Wordsworth 76). He states his heart loss due to the missing link that he once shared with nature. As a “thoughtless youth,” (Wordsworth 91) he could not comprehend the “life of things,” (Wordsworth 50); he needed wisdom to find out or reflect. The lines, “For I have learned/To look on nature, not as in the hour/Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes/The still, sad music of humanity, /Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power/To chasten and subdue”, are quite significant lines, pointing towards some achievement of Wordsworth. Wordsworth had achieved, “a motion and a spirit, that impels/ All living things” (Wordsworth 101-102). In the final stanza, Wordsworth addresses to his sister Dorothy, using words “remember” and “forget”. It once again reinforces how memory plays the role of one of the most important elements in “Tintern Abbey.” The initial stanzas stress on remembering the past and the reason of remembering the past is explained by Wordsworth via request “Nor wilt thou then forget. (Wordsworth 156)” Probably, the strength behind Wordsworths last address to Dorothy and to readers is his wish for some type of immortality. Like “these beauteous forms” (Wordsworth 24) of the Wye valley would remain with him forever and he used them to soothe his emotions in some way, the ditto he expects from Dorothy and readers to get nurtured from his poem.   There should be no doubt that “Tintern Abbey” has imparted Wordsworth with a type of immortality, as we still cherish reading his works (Sng 1). How we ponder over some things can refresh past memories, but the surrounding take a different look from what it used to be in the past. Wordsworth desired to attain the inside immortality, residing in all human beings through Tintern Abbey that happened to be a link between time and space that took him five years back to relate to things in mind and soul.  Works Cited Jugel, Mathias L. “Romantic Audience Project.” Romantic Audience Project. 5 May 2007. Poetry Foundation. “William Wordsworth 1770–1850.” 18 June 2014. . Sng, Vincent. “Romanticism” William Wordsworth. 8 May 2007. Wordsworth, William. “RCHS HYPERTEXT READER.” RCHS HYPERTEXT READER. 6 May 2007. Read More