Lines

Wadsworth’s “Lines” reveals a powerful truth of humanity involving our perception of pleasure and how within the context of time, pleasure can be altered. He articulates the feelings that we all possess, to some degree, that it is hard to enjoy the moment when future stability is unclear. The poem immediately subordinates “present pleasure” (63), when it connects this pleasure to “thoughts / that in this moment there is life and food / for future years” (63-65). The poem suggests that in any particular moment we are still constantly striving for permanence. It is not enough to have “life and food” in the moment, because our instinct is to worry about a future reality when we may no longer possess them. In a sense, Wordsworth is discussing the tendency of all people to worry about avoiding death, rather than celebrating life.

             He goes on to say that he moves like a man “flying from something that he dreads, / than one who sought the thing he loved” (290), but in a way, this reality is unavoidable. The man who chases what he loves without considering the risk of such a chase does not survive. It is, in a sense, a requirement of survival to recognize the temporariness of life and somehow try to defy it.

            The poem also speaks to the struggle that all humans face in understanding and facing our loneliness. As the poem walks the reader through the “wild seclusion” (6) of nature, the reader comes to the “Hermit” as he “sits alone” in his cave (289). It is then the reader begins to connect with the Hermit, because in a way, we are all confined within our own cave, as embodied individuals, we are both figuratively and also very literally separated from everything around us. However, the poem conclusion restores hope to the reader, as it helps reconnect us with the world around. The poem suggests that while we all inherently exist in isolation, it is possible that the “green pastoral landscape” exists both for “themselves,” but also for “thy sake” (159).  This final line confirms the hope that we all possess that we can break through the barriers of our separateness and simultaneously live within our own world, while also living outside of the confines of our minds in order to connect with the larger world around us.

The Difficulty in Separating Wordsworth's Biographical Information from Tintern Abbey

It is difficult to analyze William Wordsworth’s Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798 without relating it directly with the author, who is also the subject and speaker of the poem. While we are taught to analyze poetry at a distance from it’s author’s biographical information, it is difficult to do this with Wordsworth’s poetry, particularly Tintern Abbey, because the entire work is based on a very particular personal experience. It is impossible to separate Wordsworth from this poem because his personal life is intertwined in it. It is also difficult to separate him from the poem because Wordsworth wrote so extensively on all of his poetry, and even provided his own footnote in the Norton edition.

The inspiration to write Tintern Abbey came from his experience revisiting the sight five years after his original visit. Wordsworth was so moved by his experience that he wrote the poem immediately after leaving over a 4 or 5-day period. Wordsworth not only revealed what it’s like for him to return to Tintern Abbey*, but he also revealed the impact that his first visit had on him. The landscape and scenery had such an impact on Wordsworth that he remembered very specific details like the “waters rolling from their mountain springs” (3) and the “steep lofty cliffs” (5) from his trip half a decade prior.

The scene at Tintern Abbey helped Wordsworth to develop his sexuality his theory of the interconnectedness in nature and spirituality. Through his experience walking through the natural landscape of Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth was able to understand “the unintelligible world” (40) of mystery. The beliefs that Wordsworth expressed in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads that nature have the capability to reveal some sort of truth. Wordsworth’s personal and spiritual beliefs are clearly intertwined in Tintern Abbey, and it is difficult to distinguish aspects of the poem like the theme, symbols and message from Wordsworth’s own beliefs. Maybe it is just the curse of being too informed about a poet, but I find it near impossible to analyze the poem without including Wordsworth’s biographical information and distinguish the speaker in the poem from the author because of the personal nature of the subject and the interconnectedness between Wordsworth’s own beliefs and those expressed in the poem.

*I refer to the entire natural landscape that Wordsworth describes simply at Tintern Abbey for convenience sake, even though the actual ruins are not included in the poem.

Anecdote For Fathers and Tintern Abbey

I thought "Anecdote For Fathers" was a really excellent poem because of the focus on the difference between adulthood and childhood. Upon reading "Lines," the difference became even more apparent. In "Anecdote for Fathers" it appeared that the father desired an understanding of the deeper significance in the world around him. Then, upon questioning of his son, he realized that innocence found more beauty in the world, than his own constant questioning. In class, the discussion focused largely on the Father's possession over the son and the son's thoughts. The Father sought explanation and in doing so, tried to force explanation out of something truly innocent that needed no explanation at all.
What I thought was particularly interesting was that divide between the two poems. In "Anecdote For Fathers," the father finally realized that seeing the world through innocent eyes was something to behold and something of considerable value. In Tintern Abbey, however, I saw a character that reminded me of the Father at the beginning of "Anecdote For Fathers." The speaker in Tintern Abbey was incredibly preoccupied with all of the details around him, that even though the beauty was not lost on him, it seemed to diminish it ever so slightly. The son in "Anecdote For Fathers" demonstrated the beauty in simplicity and not having a reason to everything, whereas the speaker in "Lines" finds himself in a deep seclusion. Lost in his own thoughts, the speaker eventually sees the bliss in the simplicity of nature, but not until after he has already almost overthought every detail of the world around him.

The Lady of the Thorn

While reading "The Thorn" I was struck by how close between the wailing woman and the thorn seemed to be related. Upon a review of the poem, It became clear to me that the woman an the thorn are one and the same, in the context of the poem. The first thing that drew my attention was the use of the word "wretched" to describe both the thorn in line 9 and the woman in line 68. Next the parallel stories of the thorn and the woman cement their symbolic relationship. The "hillock like an infant's grave" is the thing that binds the woman so closely to the hill, and the hillock is "a hill of moss." The thorn is also bound to the hill, being overgrown and "hung with heavy tufts of moss" that are trying "to drag it to the ground." In the same way that the moss of the hill has bound the thorn, the memories associated with her child from the hill ( and possibly even her child's grave) bind the woman to that spot. What I find most interesting is that the moss is described as trying "to bury this poor thorn forever." Following the parallel, the woman's sadness or guilt surrounding the infant's death is killing her, possibly by drawing her out into the extreme conditions of the hill or, more likely, just killing her with emotional distress. While I'm sure the link between the thorn and woman was fairly obvious and that this post is not revolutionary, the particulars of how Wordsworth correlates them so closely was of interest to me.

We Are Seven/ Tintern Abbey

When reading Tintern Abbey, I could not help but draw connections to We Are Seven. In both poems Wordsworth plays with the differences between a child and adult mentality. Upon first reading the concept seems vaguely reminiscent of Blake’s innocence vs. experience: a child existing in one mental state and then at some point in time crossing into another realm of thought. However, Wordsworth depiction of childhood lacks the naiveté of Blake’s Innocence. As Jenn mentions in her post, the child in We Are Seven possesses a contradicting yet perhaps more mature understanding death than the adult counterpart. She is in no way naïve and full comprehends the loss of her siblings yet refuses to be defined by the number and still whenever possible spends time with their graves: “My stockings there I often knit, my kerchief there I hem; And there upon the ground I sit, And sing a song to them” (41-44). Their relationship, as she discusses it, has transcended death to become something beautiful that the adult (Wordsworth?) cannot see.

            Tintern Abbey demonstrates Wordsworth’s progression through life at Tintern Abbey and suggests that his mentality has changed as he has grown and matured. “Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills…more like a man flying from something that he dreads, than one who sought the thing he loved. For nature then to me was all in all” (66-75). This description depicts, as the footnote states, a young boy’s “purely physical responsiveness.” It is not necessarily that he is naïve, but more that he fails to thoroughly observe and contemplate his surrounding. There is no sense of transcendence or awe at the sublime; the boy merely exists in the joy of the moment, which in itself is beautiful. Wordsworth matures to say, “For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity” (88-91). While quickly following he states that he is “still a lover of the meadows and the woods” (102-103), one cannot help but linger on the “sad music of humanity.” It is initially interesting how though Wordsworth is “looking” at nature, he can “hear” this music. This music seems to represent a connection between humanity and nature that occurs through maturity. However, while the speaker appears glad to have these profound thoughts on nature, I cannot help but harp on the “sad” and see the similarity to the young girl in We Are Seven. It is not that these children are necessarily oblivious, they perhaps just view the world with a simpler perspective that does not need rationality or explanation; it can just exist.

A Boyish Connection with Nature?

            While there are clear stylistic similarities between “Anecdote For Fathers” and “Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth’s depiction of the attitude toward a childhood bond with nature is far more hostile in the former than in the latter.

            In both poems, Wordsworth uses almost prose-like verse to tell a story and emphasizes both age and nature throughout. He is staying true to his doctrine: he uses the language of common people—mostly avoiding hifalutin poetic devices—and he writes with a clear purpose. In “Anecdote For Fathers,” he means to share a moment between a father and son as they go on a walk at the most foundational level. In “Tintern Abbey,” he means to share how his trip with his sister back to the banks of the Wye river prompted him to muse on the nature of time, perspective, interconnectedness, and nature itself.

            When I read “Tintern Abbey,” I couldn’t help but think about how much more peaceful this speaker’s poetic voice (Wordsworth’s voice) is than that of the father in “Anecdote For Fathers.” In Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem, he looks back on his interactions with the natural world as an adolescent, describing them as full of “animal movements” (74), “aching joys” (84), and “dizzy raptures” (85). He then goes on to assert that he feels a deeper appreciation with nature as an adult than he did “in the hour of thoughtless youth” (89). He now looks on nature with “elevated thoughts” and a “sense sublime” (95). In seeing the interconnectedness of the world around him, the speaker is better able to make a true connection to nature.

            In contrast, the speaker in “Anecdote For Fathers” seems to crave his old boyish connection with nature. He exhibits this to the point of almost animalistic craving. For example, he describes his son as though the son were a possession and he describes his insistence and intensity when he asks his son whether he prefers Kilve’s beach or Liswyn Farm. The father’s aching envy is clear when at the end of the poem he asks to know just a fraction of the son’s whimsical existence.

            I find it impressive that Wordsworth was either able to construct a false reality about his own worldview (in “Tintern Abbey”) or to construct such a believable speaker in “Anecdote For Fathers,” who so desperately wants to reconnect with his long-gone boyish relationship to nature but cannot.

Also on “We Are Seven”

The form of “We are Seven” reflects the back and forth nature of the two opposing ideas of the young girl and the speaker. The first sixteen stanzas have four lines and an abab rhyme scheme that reflects the back-and-forth of their different understandings of death. The poem relies on this dynamic as its tension comes from the opposition. The two ideas on death remain at odds even and especially at the end of the poem. In fact, while the speaker appears to have complete confidence of his assertion that “If two are in the church-yard laid,/Then ye are only five” (35-6), he does no more than repeat the same sentiment in an attempt to persuade her. In contrast, the girl’s responses are explanatory and detailed—she goes “Twelve steps” (39) to see their graves, she says she knits and sings and eats there. They are a part of her world, and therefore alive to her in a way—or at least a part of her existence. To the speaker, however, that “they are dead” (65) means there can be no further explanation or understanding of her two buried siblings.

While the two ideas are at odds throughout the poem, the discord is perhaps most apparent at the end. The girl repeats the number seven throughout, but she reveals her siblings in pairs, which leaves her as the odd one out. The evens and odds of the poem reflect the back-and-forth, again, of the argument that does not get settled, and the last stanza—the seventeenth, another oddity—even has an extra line. This abccb rhyme scheme in the final stanza stretches out the end. The rhyme between “still” (67) and “will” (68) reflects the stillness and solidity of the girl’s assertion, and the only word in the poem to not have a rhyme in its stanza is “dead” (65). This is perhaps appropriate as it coincides with the speaker’s exclusion of those who are dead from any kind of living consideration or integration with that which is alive. In contrast, though she knows they have died, the girl still sees these two siblings as having gone “away” (50). Heaven to her is just another place—like Conway or the sea—while heaven to the speaker is perhaps nonexistent, or at least so inconceivable that it can’t be spoken about by the living.

The speaker’s suggestion that he is “throwing words away” (67) in the final stanza almost questions the value of the poem in its entirety—the disagreement is never resolved, so what is the point? Not only does the speaker not convince the girl of anything, the girl apparently doesn’t change his views either, and the end of the poem is unsettling in its form and content. That the title of the poem is the girl’s assertion is also interesting—does it give some validity to the idea that the speaker doesn’t allow the girl in the poem? Of course, perhaps there is a kind of resolution set up in the first stanza—“A simple Child” (1) may not “know of death” (4) now, but someday will be old as the speaker (unless she dies young—what then?). The implication of the first stanza is that youth is innocence, that the speaker knows more than the child because he is older. It is then interesting that the topic of the poem is the death of children—doesn’t a girl who has lived to see two siblings die have more experience than someone who hasn’t faced death? Yet she retains her innocence, at least in the eyes of the speaker, by virtue of her youth. It is not that she hasn’t been faced with death, but that she cannot see it, even when it is in front of her, because she is young. The contrasting (assumed) age of the speaker sets up his side as truth for the reader before the girl has begun, as it is represented as the eventual understanding that any child will have with age. (The mention of the children who die in the poem does seem to complicate this assumption, though.)