While Wordsworth’s Prelude
discusses various occurrences of death, he primarily focuses on death’s
aftermath: what is left behind. Book 5, appropriately titled “Books,” seems to
suggest that books have the power to immortalize humanity.
“Stretched forth the shell towards me, with command/ That I
should hold it to my ear. I did so/ And heard…An ode in passion uttered, which
foretold/ Destruction to the children of the earth” (92-98).
“It was even so/ As had been spoken, and that he himself/
Was going then to bury those two books—The one that held acquaintance with the
stars,/ And wedded man to man by purest bond/ Of nature, undisturbed by space
or time” (101-106).
The books mentioned in Book 5 seem
to possess a surreal amount of knowledge. In the first quote, the books serve
as the source of knowledge of a sort of apocalyptic destruction. The second
quote indicates that burying the books will allow them to survive when humanity
no longer can; however, it suggests that the survival of books creates a “bond”
that allows for men to be immortalized.
Wordsworth continues to explore the
after-math of death throughout the Prelude and examines what others leave
behind. The next story depicts a boy who died young therefore leaving behind
nothing but a memory and a grave. Over time, the world is the same; however,
the boy is forgotten. The next story depicts a man who has lived a full life
and leaves behind clothes. While he leaves behind something tangible, it will
eventually be removed and does not seem to hold the same power that books do. Later
on in Book 11, the idea of writing withstanding time is paralleled with the
murderer’s engraving.
Despite this surface analysis (and
although I cannot fully piece together what Wordsworth is attempting to say)
Wordsworth does not appear to agree with this logic. Although the man who
drowned does not leave behind any piece of written art, his spirit possessed a “dignity,
a smoothness, like the works of Grecian art and purest posey” (480). His life
appears to be equivalent to the work left behind by others. Do books immortalize
us or does Wordsworth view that as a notion contrived by poets and authors? If
they do, can a memory of a life be of equal worth?
I think Wordsworth seems to constantly try to produce a voice for all poets. But there is no possible way for Wordsworth to escape his own personal preferences and biases. Therefore, every time Wordsworth speaks about poets and their own notions, he is talking about what he considers poets to be and what their notions are. Since he does this so often, it is very hard to tell if he is trying to suggest that this is an overarching view of all writers or if he believes this is a fact.
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