“Michael” and the Sprawl of Eternity

“Michael” begins as a meta-narrative, with the speaker reciting the tale of a Shepard who passed away years before.  The story of Michael appears to come to a melancholy end, with the Shepard’s son having lost his way and leaving the old man without a legacy.  However, Michael’s memory is able to endure through the speaker’s account of his troubled life.  “Michael” is a poem that speaks to the redemptive power of storytelling, and the renewed life it can provide.

            Wordsworth begins by articulating how the ultimate storyteller is (in typical Wordsworth tradition) nature.   The speaker, wandering the brook, observes a pile of stones.  This pile of stones provides the introduction to the story of Michael, for they are the remains of the Sheep-fold he was unable to complete.  The unfinished structure, which the speaker says one “Might see and notice not” (16), may be of middling interest to the casual onlooker but were in fact the basis of Michael’s livelihood, and the bane of his final days as he was unable to lift the final stones.  There is a story of tragedy behind the simple rock pile – that of a man who loved his son only to see him go astray.  The fact that such a structure carries so much of a legacy speaks to the fact that nature has an infinite number of stories – a bountiful history - if one would just observe it.  The speaker reflects on the impact nature has on him with the lines, “Nature, by the gentle agency / Of natural objects, led me on to feel / For passions that were not my own” (29-31).  Nature allows the speaker to embody the feelings of someone else, to imagine himself (for instance) in the place of Michael the Shepard.  The tangible, physical objects of nature transport the speaker to a new emotional space.  The speaker argues that he can learn more from nature than any human or any book, for he can consider “On man, the heart of man, and human life” (33).

            The speaker coveys how he himself will live on due to the fact that he is reciting the story of Michael.  He states, “youthful Poets” (38) “Will be my second self when I am gone” (39).  Though the speaker may die, the inspiration his words give to future generations of artists will continue to endure.  In effect, the speaker is fighting to be remembered just as he is advocating for the reader to remember Michael.  In many ways, the speaker directly reflects Wordsworth, who through his writing became immortal (his poetry is still widely read today).  The speaker states his story is, “unenriched with strange events / Yet not unfit, I deem, for the fireside” (19 - 20) – essentially, a simple folktale.  However, because it is unadorned and simplistic – like the poetry in the language of the everyman Wordsworth advocates for in “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” – its impact is enhanced.

            Finally, the speaker pays tribute to Michael himself through his storytelling.  The speaker makes clear that Michael meant to uphold his legacy by passing his land down to his son.  However, his son fell into temptation and the Michael was left to care for the land alone.  By telling the Shepard’s story, the speaker is able to give Michael what he so desired in life.  He is able to let the Shepard’s memory endure even past his death.  Nature may stand as a monument to the Shepard, but it is poets such as the speaker that give objects such as the Sheep-fold meaning.  The speaker will ensure that Michael lives forever, just as he will through the pages of Wordsworth.