William Wordsworth, Summary PDF

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WILLIAM WORDSWORTH He’s a member (with Coleridge) of the first generation of poets during the Romantic Age  the “poets of the lake”.

Life and Works : he was born in Cumberland (the “Lake District”, near Scottish border) in 1770  1790: he plans a walking tour of France and the Alpes, where he gets in contact witht he French Revolutions, which filled him with enthusiasm for the democratic ideals (Wordsworth himself hoped to the creation of a new social order). In 1791 he gratuated from St.John’s College in Cambridge  in 1793 he witnessed the brutal development of the Revolutions and the Declatation of War to France: these events brought him to a nervous breakdown  in 1795 he moved to Dorset with his sister, Dorothy, who always supported and helped him with his works. He met Samuel Taylor Coleridge and their friendship led to the development of the English Romantic Poetry  they produced a collection of 19 poems called “the Lyrical Ballads” (1798): the second edition of this collection (1800) comprehends “the Preface”, written by Wordsworth, which is considered a manifesto of English Romanticism. In 1799 he settled in the Lake District and wrote the “Lucy Poems” (5 poems, 1798-1801)  in the following years he wrote his best poems, published in 1807 and he completed his masterpiece, “the Prelude” (autobiographical poem, published after his death, 1850).

“The Preface” – The Manifesto of English Romanticism : Wordsworth declared that “ordinary and humble things” should replace elevate themes a sthe subject of poetry , because these are more interesting for the reader  he also criticizes the “poetic diction” (Augustan Age) explaining that a simple language is more fit to ordinary matters. The rural man is purer because he’s nearer to his passions: the poets is a “man among men”, but endued with a greater sensibility  he sees the life under a “certain colouring of imagination”, which make him go beyond the material reality.

Relationship Between Man and Nature : Wordsworth shares Rousseau’s ideals about the goodness of nature and the excellence of the child (Theory of the Good Savage: man can achieve the goodness only through the cultivation of his senses and feeling). Man and natura are inseparable because human emotions are arised by the contact with nature  nature = source of pleasure and joy + expression of God (Pantheistic View).

Importance of the Senses and Memory: Nature = world of sense perceptions through the Eye and the Ear  our moral character is influenced by our experiences of pain and love during our childhood: nature is good and it teaches to man how to love and act in a moral way (sensations created during the observation of nature can combine to generate more complex ideas. The “Recollection in Tranquillity”: the memory is seen as the major force in the growth progress of the poet’s mind  poetic creation = solitary act generated from the “recolletion” of an experience: the poet has an experience and because of this he feels an emotion, later, when he’s alone and in a “vacant mood”, he start thinking again to that experience through the use of memory  he feels the same emotion, but in a deeper way and this kindred emotion is used a base to create poetry, which the purpose of inducing the same emotion in the reader’s mind.

Poet’s Tasks and Style : poets are endued with a greater sensibility and they’re able to use the power of imagination to comunicate their knowledge (poet = teacher of feelings and morality).

“DAFFODILS” – COMMENTARY "Daffodils" takes place in the Lake District of Northern England, an area which is famous for its hundreds of lakes, gorgeous expanses of springtime daffodils, and for being home to the "Lakeland Poets": William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. In the first stanza Wordsworth, changing the point of view, imagines to be a wandering cloud and coming across a crowd of daffodils stretching out over almost everything he could see, "fluttering and dancing in the breeze": In the second stanza the speaker gives more details about these daffodils saying that the crowd of flowes reminded him of the Milky Way, because they seemed to be neverending. The speaker guesses that there were ten thousand daffodils, which were "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance". In the third stanza the speaker compares the waves of the lake to the waves of daffodils and declares that even though the lake is "sparkling," the daffodils win because they have more "glee." He then comments that he, like any other poet, could not be unhappy "in such a jocund company." Wordsworth, and looking at a field of daffodils beside a lake: these “fluttering and dancing golden daffodils” are described as an host which is stretching in a never-ending line. In the last stanza Wordsworth underlines that the observation of these sparkling and glowing flowers can induce happiness in the poet’s mind which, when is recollected in a state of tranquillity is even deeper infact the poet declares that his heart fills with pleasure and starts dancing like the daffodils were doing. The poem is simple and deals with the familiar subjects of nature and memory. The speaker is metaphorically compared to a natural object, a cloud and the daffodils are continually personified as human beings, dancing and “tossing their heads” in “a crowd, a host.” This technique implies an inherent unity between man and nature, making it one of Wordsworth’s most basic and effective methods for inducing in the reader the feeling the poet so often describes himself as experiencing.

“COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE” – COMMENTARY "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" is an Italian sonnet, the rhyme scheme of the poem is abbaabbacdcdcd. The poem was actually written about an experience that took place on July 31, 1802 during a trip to France with Wordsworth's sister, Dorothy Wordsworth. In lines 1 through 8, which together compose a single sentence, the speaker describes what he sees as he stands on Westminster Bridge looking out at the city. He begins by saying that there is nothing "more fair" on Earth than the sight he sees, and that anyone who could pass the spot without stopping to look has a "dull" soul. The poem takes place in the "beauty of the morning," which lies like a blanket over the silent city. He then lists what he sees in the city and mentions that the city seems to have no pollution and lies "Open unto the fields, and to the sky." In lines 9 through 14, the speaker tells the reader that the sun has never shined more beautifully, even on nature ("valley , rock, or hill"), and that he has never seen or felt such deep calm. He goes on to describe the way that the river (which he personifies) glides along at the slow pace it chooses. The poem ends with an exclamation, saying that "the houses seem asleep" and the heart of the city is still....