If you couldn't guess by my several question marks, I don't know the answer. Is it perhaps that he saw the world changing under his feet? That a more visceral connection with nature seemed like it was slipping away as industry evolved but maybe he could retrace his steps to an age when things were different? Or is this perpetual? Do we always feel ourselves to be newly disconnected? Hoping that if we can just think our way back or cut ourselves off or unify our spirits that then we'll rediscover what was lost? He felt disconnected from what it meant to be human and how that affected his connection to the truth of life over a hundred years before the automobile. But what is interesting to me is that Wordsworth felt this impulse to separate himself from technology and recenter in nature. These are big aspirations for poems about rowing boats and herding sheep. The poetry is a path which he hopes will lead him to the single story, the unifying narrative of who he is, why he is, and his place in the universe. He is trying to go back as far as he can in his memory, back to the core of who he's been, hoping to discover his first sensations of wonder, unity, and joy. The quote above, extracted from the Two-Part prelude, could be read as the thesis statement of Wordsworth's project in these three long poems. "There are in our existence spots of time Notes at the foot of each page include glosses of difficult words, background material and useful comparisons with Wordsworth's own poetry, and that of S. Jonathan Wordsworth, the poet's great-great-great nephew, has written a full critical introduction to the selection. This volume constitutes the first unified approach, at student level, to Wordsworth's mystic response to nature and the processes of growing up. It is prefaced by two poems that form a natural introduction: The Pedlar, the poet's first autobiographical work, and Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth's much more widely known meditation upon the continuing influence of nature in his life. The text of this two-part Prelude has been in print since 1973 but has not until now been readily available. This complete, self-contained work includes most of the beautiful poetry that has made the longer Prelude famous. But by 1799 the poet had already written a version covering his childhood and adolescence in under a thousand lines. His great autobiographical poem The Prelude runs to thirteen books in the text of 1805. This volume is an excellent introduction to Wordsworth's poetry.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |