Wordsworth, A Seer and Mystic: Wordsworth is unanimously acknowledged as a mystic. Mysticism involves the perception of a divine unity behind the ordinary physical world. The mystic sees a divine unifying life in all lives and considers all things in the visible world as manifestations of the one divine life. In the words of Spurgeon, … Read more
Introduction: To Wordsworth, Nature appears as a formative influence superior to any other, the educator of senses and mind alike, the sower in our hearts of the deep laden seeds of our feelings and beliefs. It speaks to the child in the fleeting emotions of early years and stirs the young poet to an ecstasy, … Read more
Introduction of the Poem: Tintern Abbey was composed in the second week of July, 1789 during Wordsworth’s second visit to the banks of river Wye. The very title of the poem, i.e., Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the Banks at the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,’ gives the … Read more
The three stages of Wordsworth’s love of Nature: Wordsworth’s love of Nature passed through a gradual development. It can be studied in three stages. First Stage: In his first stage, his attachment to Nature was that of a boy who took delight in carefree pleasures and open – air joys. At first Nature was but … Read more
Tintern Abbey can be called a condensed spiritual autobiography of the poet. Like the Immortality Ode and Prelude, it deals with the subjective experience of the poet, and traces the growth of his mind through different periods of his life. Nature and its influence on the poet’s first visit, in 1793, to the valley of … Read more
The famous poem, “The Tintern Abbey” is called by Myres as “the consecrated formulary of Wordsworthian faith.” This poem is autobiographical in that it traces the development of the poet’s love of Nature from his boyhood to manhood. In the beginning, Nature was only secondary to the poet’s animal pursuits. In the second stage, his … Read more