Tintern Abbey
William Wordsworth existed in a time when society and its functions were beginning to rapidly pick up. The poem, "A Few Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye...", which is published in the Lyrical Ballads, gave him a chance to reflect upon his quick paced life by taking a moment to slow down and absorb the beauty of nature that allows one to see life in all things. Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" uses the dramatic monologue, a poem in which the poet or speaker is addressing a listener who never speaks but is referred to, in order to take you on a series of emotional states by trying to sway himself, his sister, and eventually his readers. The loss of innocence and intensity over time is compensated by gathering knowledge and insight. Wordsworth proves that although time was lost along with his innocence, he in turn was able to gain an appreciation for the aesthetics that consoled him by incorporating all together, the wonders of nature, his past experiences, and his present mature perception of life. At the beginning of the poem, the reader gets a visual image of the pastoral settings that Wordsworth describes: "These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs/With a soft inland murmu
Part four raises an interesting concept of "Presence:" "A presence that disturbs me with the joy/Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime" (Lines 93-94). The "Presence" is that of God. God is in all things and has greatly influenced nature; therefore, nature is seen as the soul of Wordsworth's moral being. Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" deals with being aware of consciousness, and the understanding of where one fits into the scheme of everything within the world. Wordsworth looked into life as an active participant ready to grasp all knowledge and understanding that was available to him. Although he missed the abbey and lost some of his youth, he had gained ten-fold by being able to interpret his feelings through his own perception and knowledge. He had found a way to comfort himself; he had found a basis for hope in "Tintern Abbey". Wordsworth had become more thoughtful and saw the abbey in a different way than in his youth. He had learned how to appreciate things and wanted to encourage those values in his sister. Wordsworth had found the true comfort in nature and had included that respect for nature in his life. At the end of this dramatic monologue Wordsworth turns to his sister, Dorothy, and sees the same qualities in her that was once in him: "My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch/ The language of my former heart, and read/ My former pleasures in the shooting lights/ Of thy wild eyes" (Lines 115-118). Dorothy's experiences with nature are very limited, like Wordsworth's was, and now Dorothy possesses innocent and naive qualities about nature and life. In the concluding lines Wordsworth gives Dorothy a benediction: "My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,/ Knowing Nature never did betray.../And this green pastoral landscape, were to me/ More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!" (Lines 125-145). Without the proper experiences of nature, Dorothy will be naive for the rest of
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1296
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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