Kristina Joshevska

William Wordsworth’s understanding of the relationship between man and nature One of the reasons why Wordsworth has his place among the Romantic poets is his unique philosophy about poetry, man and nature. “What he has to tell us of the workings of his mind is neither simple nor easy to understand; his attitudes towards nature and its influences on man are extremely complicated, and have been long and laboriously discussed from every possible standpoint.”(Drabble, 1966, p.73). In ​Tintern Abbey, the poem with which ​Lyrical Ballads closes, for the first time we can see his elaborate and complex passion for nature. Revisiting the banks of the river Wye after five years makes the poet realize the influence of nature on the human mind. He places an emphasis on how an adult develops from a child and how being absorbed in nature allows one a deeper connection to humanity. He explains childhood as the stage of his life when he was learning about the world and bonding to nature. As an adolescent he experienced nature instinctively and perceived it as a mysterious and fearful place. This stage is described with the use of oxymorons - “dizzy raptures”, “aching joys” and “wild ecstasies”. The memory of bonding to nature as a child and as an adolescent reappears now when he’s matured and his mature mind offers him to look at nature differently, thus he doesn’t comprehend nature only through his senses anymore but applies thought to them. “In this poem we see Nature as Comforter, as a doorway into a state of visionary trance-like insight, as the object of appetite, as the object of passion for the picturesque; the nature of the ardent sightseer, as a source of the spirit of the world, or as the physical embodiment of God himself, as the union or meeting point of the inner and outer worlds, as the source of and guide to human morality,” and “as a source of simple joy and pleasure.”(Drabble, 1966, p.73-74). His poem ​I wandered lonely as a cloud isn’t just about the pleasure of seeing the beautiful line of daffodils beside the lake but also about the happiness that image brought to him when he happened to recollect it in tranquility while being bored in the busy and selfish city or when he was in a pensive mood. This poem can be also interpreted as “an account of the experience of poetic creation.”(Durrant, 1977, p.20). With the help of his imagination Wordsworth shapes this crowd of daffodils in a pattern and changes their colour from yellow to golden. This orderliness and brightness suggest switching a light on in the poet’s mind which directs him in the creative act. Thus, in nature he finds inspiration and a way to become more open to creativity as a poet. In his sonnet ​Composed upon Westminster Bridge​, ​Wordsworth mainly uses personification in order to describe the unity of man and nature. He gives the city the ability to wear the “beauty of the morning” as a garment and it is also referred to as person with a mighty heart, the sun steeps “in ​his first splendor”, the river glides at ”​his own sweet will” and the houses “seem asleep”. With all these personifications Wordsworth suggests that nature is a living being with a soul. He was indeed very different from the poets of his age in his way of understanding nature. Wordsworth developed his individual profound view on nature and its effect on humankind. He believed that the spirit of God is present in the natural objects as well as in human beings and that there is a dependent harmony between nature and man. “Nature reveals to him, in ways without a number, fascinating and mysterious openings into the apparently impenetrable depths of things.”(Hoskins, 1921, p.7). List of references: • Drabble, Margaret. ​Literature in perspective – Wordsworth​, ed. Kenneth H. Grose, London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1966 • Durrant, Geoffrey. ​William Wordsworth,​ ed. Robin Mayhead, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977 • Hoskins, Elizabeth, "The relation between man and nature in Wordsworth's poetry." (1921). ​Electronic Theses and Dissertations​. Paper 638. ​https://doi.org/-/etd/638 Kristina Joshevska