The Nature Poet: William Wordsworth

Nature was William Wordsworth's favourite subject for poetry. That is why he is called 'the' Nature poet. He produced Nature poems in such abundance that a reader will be lost among them. Not all of them are superior. As a fact, some famous critics have commented that the pathway to his superior poems are obscuPoems on Nature were a rarity in William Wordsworth's time in England.

Almost all wrote about Kings, Knights, Heroes and their mighty deeds. A few were called Cockneys who wrote about the life in cities, especially in London.Even Wordsworth was one among them once. But his Solitary Reaper changed things.

It was a pure poem of feelings and emotions evolving from man's attachment to the mother earth. There was no chivalry in a solitary reaper standing on a field in a lone mountain valley reaping and singing by herself, but by it's beauty of images, perfection of presentation and richness in musical content, it pleased people and there was demand for more which the poet promptly satisfied. Whether he liked it or not, he began to be considered the Nature poet.It is true, many of his Nature songs are superb, particularly Resolution And Independence, also titled The Leech-Gatherer. rWilliam Wordsworth was born in Cumberland in 1770 and died in 1850.

He is usually associated with Coleridge and Southey in the "Lake School" of poets. Few men have so completely devoted their lives to serene contemplation of the sublime in Nature. He was not primarily a poet of Nature but rather an intermediary between Nature and man. He lived a long simple life, kept his sympathies with Nature and man, and gave the world richness in poetry devoid of picturesque and romantic details.There is much that is trivial and commonplace in Wordsworth's poetry, but there are gems of thought in it which reflect whole-truth.

These thoughts are guide-posts in a philosophy which is not limited to country, race, or religion. Wordsworth's Use of the Word Nature Wordsworth used the word Nature to symbolize the inexplainable, unknowable oversoul which human hearts yearn to know. The word Nature was seldom used by him to mean the natural, physical world about us. Sometimes he spoke of the nature of those inherent, indestructible qualities which are discerned in what is commonly known as Human Nature.Occasionally, he referred to human nature as the Mind of Man, but, no doubt, this is a flower of symbolism and poetical expression.

His conception of Nature was in the sense that Nature is alive; that Nature is in man as much as man is in Nature. In the range of his philosophy he gave us abstract ideas of the whole which we can ponder upon as our own. The eye and ear are tuned to universal truth. He makes us conscious of it through our senses, and feeling as we do, we ask "What is it? " In all things, in all Nature, in the stars Of azure heaven, the unenduring clouds,In flower and tree, in every pebbly stone That paves the brooks; the stationary rocks, The moving waters and the invisible air. .

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from link to link It circulates, the Soul of all the worlds. Activity is Manifest in All Life Wordsworth's philosophy of life is not disturbed by Nature's multifarious activities. Action is in the core of creation. No living entity can shun action because the very law of its nature compels it to act.

Perfectness, in the spiritual sense, is not attained through supine inaction and self-defensive renouncements.Most of life, as we know it, is physical sense-life, susceptible to physical reactions in a material world. Activity has a glamorous influence upon mortal mind. But the inner self of the mortal, which is the core of Being, is not seared by flames, overwhelmed by waters nor withered by dry wind.

That part of mortal which is the essence of life is impenetrable, unassailable, invisible, immortal. It is not touched by mortal tribulations. If there is unrest within the soul, then to have power to compel rest is a noble accomplishment. To know and feel the strength of passion and subdue it is a step in mastery of self.The imagination is enthralled by sensible impressions, but loftier human minds seize the sensible impressions and through them feel the vivid, spiritual life in universal Nature.

They break through the bonds of physical encasements, reach the utmost boundary of mortal mind, and vision the higher plane on a spiritual level. Wordsworth did this very thing, for he writes: Such minds are truly from the Deity For they are Powers; and hence the highest bliss That flesh can know is theirs — the consciousness Of Whom they are, habitually infused Through every image and through every thought,And all affections by communion raised From earth to heaven, from human to divine. Eliminating the Personal Element As a poet, Wordsworth submerged his personal relationships. He did not mimic Nature by trying to reveal her likeness to his own moods. The daffodils, the waves, the clouds and the stars are never tinged by self of the poet.

He uses poetic expression to eliminate self, and reveal a higher plane of life than human life. He strengthened his faith in universality of life through better understanding of spiritual manifestations in Nature.Intuitions, inspirations and emotions were more than knocks at the gates of an invisible world — they were the eyes and ears of his inner self. Through them the higher part of self gave to mortal self beauty, grandeur and purpose in creation.How else may we glimpse the sublime? In the lines on the Herdsman, Wordsworth was aware of these powers: A Herdsman on the lonely mountain top, Such intercourse was his, and in this sort Was his existence, oftentimes possessed O then how beautiful, how bright, appeared The written promise. Early had he learned To reverence the volume that displays The mystery, the life which cannot die; But in the mountains did he feel his faith.

All things, responsive to the writing, there Breathed immortality, revolving life, And greatness still revolving; infinite.There littleness was not; the least of things Seemed infinite, and there his spirit shaped Her prospects, nor did he believe, he saw. Universal Brotherhood The doctrine of universal brotherhood has an important place in Wordsworth's philosophy. It is breathed into the very life of his poems, which express the all-pervading love that permeates every spark of divinity. A ceaseless intercommunication of unutterable love flows through all things.In Wordsworth's philosophy every part of the whole universe is linked with every other part.

Every living entity gives and receives honor and does honor, each to the other. The tree, the cloud, the cricket, the flower, through their own life and character, make us feel the spirit of friendliness and helpfulness. The theme of brotherhood, like a silver stream, runs through the woodland of Wordsworth's poetry. It is found in intercommunication of all things and is the interchange of life and joy. In the poem entitled "The Excursion," Wordsworth describes Nature's play upon the earth's surface just after a storm.