Give a critical application of Wordsworth's peom "to the skylark".400 words
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Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” is a landmark in the history of English literature. The poem was published in The Lurical Ballad, in the year 1798. The year 1798 is officially regarded as the year of the beginning of Romanticism. of which was Tintern Abbey of Wordsworth is undoubtedly one of the best products of the English romantic poetry of the 19th century. It is also one of the finest poems of Wordsworth included in the “Lyrical Ballads”. It was written in July 1798 when the poet revisited Tintern Abbey with his sister Dorothy after a gap of five years. There is no doubt that this famous poem is a great clue to an understanding of the thoughts and beliefs of Wordsworth. It may be regarded as a record of the poet’s growth of mind or his spiritual development. It describes clearly the gradual development in the poet’s attitude towards Nature.
The poem falls into three parts: the description of the scenery, an account of the poet’s philosophy of nature and his address to his sister Dorothy. In his second visit to Tintern Abbey also he happens to experience the same kind of beauty there that he experienced in his first visit. He hears the murmuring sound of the water of the river Wye and enjoys the beautiful landscape around him. He lies under the Sycamore tree and looks at the unripe fruits and green grass. He had been absent from this beautiful landscape for long five years. During these five years the memories of the beauteous scenes had been refreshing his mind even amid the din and bustle of city life. He is sure that this pleasure that he has experienced in his second visit to Tintern Abbey will be a source of pleasure and happiness for the future.
The poem gives us a graphic account of the evolution of the poet’s attitude towards nature. Three distinct stages are discernable in the development of Wordsworth’s attitude to nature. The first stage is marked by the animal movements of childhood when he felt a coarser boyish pleasure in the presence of nature. At this stage he was like a deer running over the mountains and on the banks of the rivers and the streams. The second stage is characterized more or less by his passionate love for the sensuous beauties of nature; the sounding cataract haunts him like a passion; the tall rock, the mountain, the fragrance of flowers, the murmur of the running streams, the chirping of the birds and the sounds of the waterfalls and the deep& gloomy woods –all are to him an appetite, a feeling and a love. In the third and final stage the poet discovered a sense of divine spirit in every objects of nature. The poet then exhorts his sister Dorothy to have confidence in nature for nature never deceives anyone who worships her. He advises Dorothy to put herself under the eye of nature for nature removes all kinds of human agonies and leads man from joy to joy.
The poem is highly autobiographical. Like “The Immortality Ode” and “The Prelude” it deals with the subjective experiences of the poet in different stages of his life and traces the growth of his mind. In other words the poem deals with the influence of nature on the boy, the growing youth, and the man. The gap between his two visits is five years and in these five years several changes have come to Wordsworth and he has hinted at the changes in the poem. Truly speaking, the poem cannot be understood without paying attention to Wordsworth himself and his feelings for Dorothy. Wordsworth seems to have written the poem from an entirely personal angle because almost every sentence begins with the word “I”. In fact, he has not simply painted a picture of the landscape with a river and trees, but of something much more complicated; perhaps he has tried to describe the inner working of his own mind.
Many critics are of the view that this poem is the microcosm of Wordsworthian poetry. Some of the critics have seen in Wordsworthian poetry all kinds of religious and philosophical beliefs, and they have argued fiercely whether he is a pantheist or a Platonist, many a Christian mystic of nature or an atheist or a follower of Godwin or Rousseau. But whatever it is, nature to Wordsworth is of highest importance. Nature is a true friend of man who never betrays anybody; it soothes the afflicted mind and finally leads man from joy to joy.
“The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being”.
The poem is a clear illustration of Wordsworth’s theory of poetry that poetry is the emotion recollected in tranquility. His poetic genius finds full expression in this poem. The easy flow of blank verse, the originality of thought, the richness of imagery and the melody of versification combine to make the poem one of the finest specimens of English poetry There is impassioned music in the versification. Of course, it should be admitted that though he advocates the use of simple language in poetry, he himself seems to have violated his principle.