Analyzing One of the Greatest
The Romantic time period began in the 1700s and ended around the mid nineteenth century. This is where William Wordsworth began to shine his talents of astonishing poetry. One poem in particular is written for his wife, Mary, “She Was a Phantom of Delight”. The goal of this paper is to explain how the Romantic Era influenced William Wordsworth in his poem, “She Was a Phantom of Delight”.
To begin, “She Was a Phantom of Delight” was written by, William Wordsworth. He was born April 7, 1770, Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. Wordsworth early learned to love nature, including the pleasures of walking and outdoor play. He equally enjoyed his formal education, demonstrating a talent for writing poetry. (4: 1705).
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His accomplishments were achieved by using the criteria of form, word choice, and images.
The form of “She Was a Phantom of Delight” is continuous; Wordsworth uses form to distinguish the period of development of his perspectives of his wife over time. The first stanza of 10 lines describe his wife in the beginning of their relationship, the second is describing his perspective of when e pet her on a more personal level. The third stanza is describing his clear perception of who Mary is.
Another criteria, William used to succeed is purpose is word choice. For example, He uses “Phantom of Delight“(Wordsworth, 1) to describe she seemed to be too perfect to be real, which intrigued him to meeting her. Also, when he “saw her upon nearer view…” (11) this is when he finally meets her then he describes “her household motions light and free…” (13) this is describing that he sees her as a wife, doing household duties. Lastly, when he says “and now I see with eye serene / The very pulse of the machine” (21-22) he uses these words to describe she is which is a hardworking, independent woman.
One other criterion, used by Wordsworth to dignify the purpose of this poem is external images. In the first and last stanzas, he uses words to create a visualization of how she is in the time period of their relationship. For example, “A dancing shape, an image gay, / To haunt, to startle, and waylay” (9- 10) which
Coleridge sees the effect the writings of the Romantic Era has on those who are not writers which make the assistance of memory and dreams in the writings much more significant. Along with Coleridge’s significance to the Romantic Era, William Wordsworth also contributed to the movement of memory and dreams in the writings of the Romantic Era.
Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This
Wordsworth demonstrates his use of tone and syntax in the following stanza, “Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.” The tone of the stanza is joyful because he is happy when he talks about how beautiful the daffodils are. This shows how his relationship with nature is positive since he is happy when watching the daffodils. Wordsworth uses traditional syntax in this stanza. He uses several phrases divided by commas to describe the daffodils and their movements. This gives the stanza a playful pace which again expresses that his relationship with nature is happy and
Wordsworth was drawn from despair by a woman and by nature in the Prelude,
Throughout “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” William Wordsworth shows his relationship with nature through his choice of diction, fantastic descriptions, and shifting mood of his poem. There are also many words and phrases that Wordsworth included into his poem that shows how he feels about nature. These phrases are well written, extremely descriptive, and show how Wordsworth is influenced by the wild: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, “When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils", “Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way, they stretched in never-ending line along the margin of a bay: ten thousand saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in sprightly dance”, “The waves beside them danced; but they out-did the sparkling waves in glee”, “I gazed—and gazed—but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought”, and “For oft, when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye [...] and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Another phrase, which indicates that the flowers were so beautiful that no true poet could be sad in their presence, also builds upon Wordsworth’s relationship with nature. These particular lines in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” show how Wordsworth’s mood shifts from somber and lonely to joyous and content. The lines also show how the gorgeousness of nature sticks with
was pleased by all men, and the Duke was struggling to find a way to
Therefore, if I were to say, as I walked in the party, noticing the disco ball, I saw it spin like a spinning wheel. You would then be able to imagine how fast a spinning wheel spins and connect it to the disco ball. Anyhow, using his imagery in his writing Wordsworth was able to show the reader his experiences in his journey to “the summit o of a craggy ridge”. (Line 14). One example where Wordsworth uses imagery is when he talks about his venture into the quiet, foggy, spooky lake.
In the first poem, “Three Years She Grew”, nature is like an overprotecting mother figure. Nature has all the power over this young girl and uses this power to shape her into a beautiful young women. The quote, “And beauty born of murmuring sound- Shall pass into her face” shows how nature gave the gift of beauty to this girl, because nature cares deeply for her like a mother would (Wordsword29-30). The main literary device that Wordsworth uses metaphors, he is metaphorically using nature as a mother figure. This is also represented in the lines
Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads were published in 1789, with no preface as an “advertisement.” Another Lyrical Ballads, this time with two volumes, a preface, and no poetic diction, was published in 1800. In 1802, another Lyrical Ballads was published with two volumes and a preface. Wordsworth’s Elegiac Stanzas are an internalization of epic. Nature, memory and imagination all play a huge role in the poem, as does imagination’s relationship with knowledge. Wordsworth talks about imagination as an absolute ideal, although that is dangerous because it divorces us from the rest of the world.
During the late 17th and early 18th centuries the style of poetry changed drastically. Poets shifted their focus away from the audience and concentrated on the internal self. This created the expressive, lyric poetry we now recognize as typical of Romanticism. William Wordsworth is one of the most famous of the Romantics, as well as author of "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free." Written in 1807 after a trip to France to visit his daughter, "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free" focuses on Wordsworth's view of nature and childhood as essentially divine.
Wordsworth uses imagery to convey positive images of confined spaces. The first instance of this is in the introduction of the poem, “Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room” (Wordsworth 78). A nun is not unhappy with her small room because she is able to find peace there. This is where nuns are able to connect with god. The connections that they feel there helps to provide them with comfort. Even though it may be a small room, it is what they are familiar with and have grown accustomed to. Over time they probably haven’t noticed the small space of the convent because it has been over shadowed by the positive memories formed within the building. Imagery is used throughout the poem to continually convey the theme. All of the images that Wordsworth portrays lead to the same conclusion. Each image that Wordsworth creates in the poem is of a confined space. However, the subject of the image is never trying to flee from this place. In many instances they are drawn towards these compact spaces. All because of the same general reasons, it is comfortable, safe, and familiar.
A new chapter in the history of English poetry opened with the publication of “Lyrical Ballads” which were the results of Wordsworth and Coleridge friendship after the revolution. They included two different kinds of poetry in these ballets. Wordsworth talked about the subjects that were chosen from ordinary life and he
He talks about the fruit in the plots on the ground that will not become ripe, and as I can see in the painting the fruit is dead and not riping. He talks about the shrubs growing all over and I can see that in the painting. To me the words are showing sadness for the way it looks and I can feel the sadness just by looking at the painting. He talks about no animal life being around and in the painting there is no animals. He talks about the mountains and cliffs. Life, hills, rivers, and his love of nature is also mentioned and in Constables paintings there are hills, rivers, trees and animals , as Wordsworth has mentioned about nature. Wordsworth loves nature and all three paintings show nature at its finest and lowest of nature. In my opinion Wordswoth wanted to show how he felt about nature by showing how upset he feels about the abbey and his poem just happens to have some similarities to constables paintings also. I believe he did a wonderful job showing his view on
In conclusion, William Wordsworth is one of the best romantic poets; actually he established the romanticism in the English literature. Now, we can say that the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is the pest representation of romantic poetry. It contains most of the characteristics of good romantic poetry. Such characteristics as subjectivity, the love of nature, love of beauty, and joyful memories of the past. In addition, Wordsworth was influenced by his Sister Dorothy who inspired him to write many of his poems. We can always find a source for William’s
essfully analyze the poem written by William Wordsworth (“it is a beauteous evening, calm and free”) we need to look at some aspects such as the sonnet form, syntax, diction, figures of speech and sound effects in order to comment on nature and the nature of the child. This poem was one of William Wordsworths excellent sonnets which he wrote from his personal feelings and experiences after meeting his daughter for the first time after ten years in the early 1800’s.