William Wadsworth: Champion of the Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Feelings
In his "Preface to Lyrical Ballads," William Wordsworth concentrates his attention on how truth is discovered through poetry. His assertion is that "all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth Preface 19). From this assertion, the poet draws a clear connection between the perceived experience and the poetic expression of that experience. In Wordsworth's poetry, this overflow of feelings manifests itself primarily through the experience of nature. This theme of experience serving as stimuli for poetry can be seen in "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood," "The Prelude," and "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," where the poet captures the experience and the raw emotion associated with it through poetry. These poems illustrate Wordsworth's notion that from experience springs forth poetry and these two aspects operate together to heighten his relationship with nature, poetry, and self. In "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood," the first stanza captures what the poet is learning from experience, which is the fact that it changes over time. The poet tells us that every "meadow, grove, and stream" (Ode I.1) that once seemed "Ap
This same type of recognition can be see in "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," where the poet is reflecting on what was and comparing it to what is now. His memory of five years is triggered by the waters, whose "rolling from their mountain-springs/With a soft inland murmur" (Lines 3-4). Again, we see how the poem is triggered not only by the poet's experience but also his emotional response to how things have changed. The hills served as an escape for him as he follow "Wherever nature lead: more like a man/ Flying from something that he dreads, than one/who sought the thing he loved" (Lines 67-8, 70-2). Here we see the young boy relating to nature and experiencing it in its fullness. As the poet matures and returns to the same place, he realizes his connection to nature and how "The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,/Their colours and their forms, were then to me/An appetite; a feeling and a love" (78-80). This passage indicates a change much like the one we see in "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood." He acknowledges that a change has occurred but that the change is not necessarily negative, though it may sadden him slightly. The powerful overflow of feeling that arises within him is "To look on nature, not as in the hour/Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes/The still, sad music of humanity" (89-91). The experience also places within him "presence that disturbs me with the joy of elated thoughts; a sense sublime/Of something far more deeply interfused" (94-6). Here we see how the poet accepts how life changes and can still appreciate the beauty of nature. So also hath that intellectual love. (XIV. 203-6) My earliest visitations, careless then Organic pleasure from the silver wreaths And lastly, from its progress have we drawn
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Approximate Word count = 1230
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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