William Wordsworth and Romanticism

William Wordsworth and Romanticism (subjectivism) 姜州阳2220102236 Wordsworth is the representative poet of the early Romanticism. He published Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with Coleridge, which declared the beginning of Romanticism. He broke with the traditional forms of poetry initiated by Alexander Pope, and stressed poets’ feelings. Wordsworth is most celebrated for his poetry of nature. He chose subject from low and rustic life. Take the poem the solitary reaper as an example, it is a poem that strives to recapture single scenery in time and space, which reflects his own philosophy of poetry, i.e., that a poem is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. This is one of the significant characteristic features of the romantic movement—subjectivism. Whereas neo-classic poets view poetry as “a mirror to nature”, romantic poets are interested in the feelings, thoughts and experiences of the poets themselves instead of facts. They attach more importance to the mind of the poets, not the object world. The songs of the young girl reaping in the field are incomprehensible to Wordsworth, but what he appreciates is its tone, its expressive beauty and the mood it creates within him rather than its explicit content. Doing reaping is like writing poems. Wordsworth intents to praise the beauty of music, poetry and their fluid expressive beauty, the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”that Wordsworth identified at the heart of poetry.To Wordsworth, it is the feeling, not the content that really makes sense. Another famous poem wrote by Wordsworth is I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. The theme of the poem is about the soothing effect of memories on human thoughts. The plot is quite simple. Wordsworth wandered like a cloud floating above hills and valleys, and then he encountered a field of daffodils beside the lake. He was absorbed by the beautiful scenery and feels delightful. However, he wrote “I gazed-and gazed-but little thought/ what wealth the show to me had brought”. Later, when he feels “vacant” and “pensive”, the memory flashes upon his mind and his heart fills with pleasure. The poet described the pleasure that the natural scenery brought to him and emphasized on how the experience (the memory) benefits him in his later life. That is typical of romantic poems. In our life too, there are moments which we have enjoyed without realizing what wealth it has brought to us. There are times when we sit vacantly or in a pensive mood and suddenly such small moments flash back into our mind and bring certain happiness in us. We may have forgotten those moments now, but when we are sitting alone, sometimes we can recollect those moments and our heart will be filled with warm bliss. The poem’s main brilliance lies in the personification in its early stanzas. The description of natural objects is modified by the poet’s feelings, which is apparently romantic. The speaker is metaphorically compared to a natural object, a cloud and wandered lonely. The daffodils are continually personified as human beings, dancing and “tossing their heads”. The technique act effectively for instilling in the reader the similar feeling, by which implies an inherent unity between man and nature and sings of the harmony between things in nature and the harmony between nature and the poet himself. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey is also a significant poem wrote by William Wordsworth. “Five years have past”, the poet hear again the water flowing and behold again these steep and lofty cliffs. The intoxicating scenery made the poet’s peaceful heart again filled with all sorts of feelings. William Wordsworth then was lost in his thoughts. He wanted to find the right direction of life through meditation of nature. Wordsworth blended his feelings in the natural objects. With his rich imagination, all objects become lively. The poet has not been so sentimental and puzzled as he was before; he gradually realized that difficulties are also part of the harmonious nature. As William Wordsworth said himself, “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” At the peaceful moment, Wordsworth let his feelings flow out naturally, and integrates the feelings to the natural objects. His feelings and the nature are united together. In this way, the objects around him become full of vibrant and the readers felt the same as they experienced the scenery personally. That is exactly the characteristic of romanticism. Subjectivism is a crucial characteristic feature of romanticism. Wordsworth’s all these three poems reflected this important feature. He attaches much importance to feelings in his poetry. He said “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”. The powerful feeling embodied in his poems becomes a striking point in his poetry which will last forever