Tintern Abbey ''Lines Composed a Few miles above Tintern Abbey on Revisiting Banks of the Wye during a Tour July 13 1798.''
by William Wordsworth.
The poem ‘Tintern Abbey’ was
written in july 1798 by William Wordsworth. It appeared with other eighteen
poems in the ‘Lyrical Ballads’. Like most other poems in this volume, this poem
presents his attitude towards the
‘Nature’. In this poem , the poet expressed his thoughts and feelings directly.
Some critics regarded it as ‘ a record of his spiritual development’. The poem
is a monologue in which the poet addresses himself, the spirit of Nature and
sometimes his sister. It is composed in blank verse[ pentameters without
rhymes]. The poem traces various aspects and stages of his relationship with
Nature. However the poem is regarded as
the finest achievements of the poet. Here he shows his philosophy of Nature and
the poem can be interpreted only in the light of Wordsworth’s own life.
Wordsworth’s attitude towards the ‘Nature’:
Nature was to Wordsworth a
living soul that reveals herself alike in the movement of stars, the yearnings
of the heart, the sleep of a great city,or the decay of flowers. Wordsworth
endeavoured in his poetry to find out beauty of nature in meadow, woodland, and
the mountain top and to interpret this beauty in spiritual terms.
Stages of the poet’s relationship with Nature:
1 .
The first stage
deals with the poet’s physical association with Nature and his complete
identification.(Lines 65-85)
2 .
The 2nd
stage deals with the transitional phase of poet’s admiration and awe for the
beauty of nature marked with sensuousness and aesthetic pleasures derived from
the natural phenomena.(Lines 15-120)
3 .
The 3rd
stage is the matured stage of the relationship with Nature. It is
transcendental where the poet can connect with nature emotionally, morally,
philosophically and spiritually. In this stage Nature tells or guides him to
the right path . In its absence, he can feel and hear in it ‘’the still, sad
music of humanity.’’(Lines 25-58 and 22-48)
After a long gap of five
years which seemed as long as winter nights Wordsworth revisited the bank of Wye
along with his sister Dorothy. Once again he feels the charms of nature in wild isolated land
where he finds peace and solace enough to rest. He watches those green fields
of cottage ground, the unripe fruits, the hedge rows. There is silence and
tranquility in the woods where perhaps the saints sit alone and meditate. This
landscape is one that touches his heart and soul. He had felt its presence in the din
and bustles of cities, in hours of work and exhaustion. These scenes of nature
have served him tranquility and peace. These recollections provide him with
the food for the coming years,to survive in the fever of the world. Earlier he
used to move among those barren crags, full of boyish pleasures, but now he has
matured with the years and can feel the presence of nature without any physical
consciousness. Even among human harshness and noise he could fool nature as the
guardian of his heart and soul.
The poet also expresses his
love and affection for his sister Dorothy who is also a friend of him. In her he
is able to recapitulate his former pleasures in nature as a youth, in her
bright and wild eyes he can read his own lost ecstasies.
Earlier he was unaware of the
message of Nature that sings the sad song of humanity.But now he can rely on
nature.Not only does nature fill him with joy but she also gives him such high
thoughts that are neither affected by selfish men and unkind treatment nor by
the cold greetings in the daily humdrum of city life.
The memory of these beautiful
scenes sustains him in the loneliness of the city with the feelings of ‘’unremembered
pleasure’’ and fills his heart with goodness and moves him to perform little
acts of kindness and love.
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