Nature as God Essay example

Many American authors during this time period questioned the value of nature. At the time, 1800-1850 came the rise of American Romanticism where many began to have individualistic ideals. They wrote poetry and prose regarding these ideas. These Romantic writers keyed into the transcendentalist ideals to show their view about nature and its focus on both truth and pantheism. Three authors who focus on nature in their prose and poetry are William Cullen Bryant, James Russell Lowell, and John Greenleaf Whittier. In Walden, Thoreau, reveals the importance of discovering nature’s richness. In “The First Snowfall”, James Russell Lowell writes about nature to bring patience even at the darkest time. In “Nature”, Emerson expresses his view, as humans

Wordsworth stood on the cliff 'not only with the sense of 'present pleasure'; (63) but he joyfully anticipated the moments 'for future years'; (65). He came back to reality and began to analyze the situation after his reminiscing. Wordsworth realized that he had lost some guidance and was searching for the presence of nature when returning to the Wye. He remembered when he used to wander and roam as free as a roe but as he matured he felt content with tapping into his memories of his youth because as Wordsworth stated, 'That time is past? other gifts have allowed; for such loss, I would believe, abundant recompense'; (83-88). He realized that he was involved with more mature things in life because he had become more intelligent through the years and saw nature in the light of his intelligence. Yet, he insisted that he was 'still a lover of the meadows and the woods, and the mountains; and of all that we behold from this green earth'; (102-105) but indeed, in a more composed way.

Wordsworth questions the amount of recognition that nature gets from people in today society. He almost uses a guilt trip method to make his reader ask themselves if they have given nature the tribute it deserves. When I was assigned to read this text, I found myself so wound up in school and activities and busy work. So much so that I hadn’t had time to enjoy things around me and the things out the window or under my feet. “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: little we see in Nature that is ours; we have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” (page 790, line2) This text approached me at a perfect time to help me to step back and appreciate the small things that surround me each day. Senior year can be overwhelming more than once and it is always a refreshing breath to stop and smell the roses, metaphorically and literally. Therefore, I am thankful for the impact that this text had on me and the timing of its

When Janie and her husband are living on the muck, a hurricane comes to threaten their home lives. The destruction and fury of nature shocks them into questioning their faith of God, and themselves. When the storm is about to arrive, Tea Cake doesn’t believe that it is, convincing one of his friends and Janie to stay. Upon arriving, and seeing how ferocious the storm is, the three end up questioning their faith. They feel miniature being in the face of God. Hurston writes,” They sat in company with the other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God,” (161). Making a reference to the title, God is nature, and in this moment the three realize they have no power to control “God”, no matter if they keep their faith or not. Because of his mistake, Tea Cake ends up also questioning the love Janie has for him. He asks her whether or not she would be happier in her old, big house, away from the storm, and she simply says “Naw.” She tells him that everyone has their time to go and they have no control over it, however she is happy to just be with him (159). Janie knows she can’t control anything, and it doesn’t worry her. She’s happy living in the moment with her

Through some of his toughest times he was out there seeking adventure. “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils.” Before Wordsworth saw the field of daffodils he was lonely and depressed. But with the beauty of nature it helped to transform his mood for the better. “For oft, when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon my inward eye.” “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Furthermore, When Wordsworth is alone lying on his sofa, a feeling of bored and sadness rush over him. But when the daffodils come to his mind he is able to imagine his adventure with them, and that brings him joy and happiness.

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth, a poem that discloses the relationship between nature and human beings: how nature can affect one’s emotion and behavior with its motion and sound. The words the author adopted in this poem are interconnected and related to each other. They are simple yet profound, letting us understand how much William Wordsworth related his works to nature and the universe. It also explained to us why William Wordsworth is one of the greatest and the most influential English romantic poets in history. As Robert DiYanni says in his book, “with much of Wordsworth’s poetry, this lyric reflects his deep love of nature, his vision of a unified

Although both men are both devout Christians, they have different views. For instance, William Blake wrote his poems in order to teach children the necessity of being in church and accepting Christ as a personal savior. Many of his poems stress how important it is to know God and how their faith can save them from their worries. An example of this is in the poem "The Chimney Sweeper" when the little boy had a dream about an angel setting free men that were trapped in a black coffin. Throughout his poetry, Blake uses many nouns to indicate the biblical meaning of something. For instance, in the poem "The Lamb", he uses the lamb as a metaphor for Jesus Christ to show that he too was a humble lamb. This metaphor showed that Jesus is close to us humans by using the word lamb to describe both children and Jesus Christ. However, in Wordsworth's poems, the topic of religion is seen through a more naturalistic view. In other words, William Wordsworth viewed that in order for religion to be truly appreciated it must be in nature where God truly is. This view is seen in his poem "We are Seven". The setting of the poem takes place outside of a churchyard in which the narrator and a little cottage girl are discussing her family members. Wordsworth did not use his poetry to show the importance of going to church or being a Christian like Blake did, however, he did use children to show that they are the ones closest to God. In Wordsworth's poetry, the child is what is able to be free in nature, and since nature is where God is that meant that the child was the closest to God. Not only were children used to show the importance of religion to Wordsworth but is also shown through the capitalization of some of the words throughout his poems. Words such as Boy, Girl, and Creature were all capitalized to show that God created all things, and these nouns were capitalized to show that God was

It also gives a reference to 'God', which immediately gives the poem a more heavenly and important meaning. This isn't to say Wordsworth does not use any devices to help deliver his thoughts to the reader. He uses personification a lot throughout the poem, 'in his first splendour,' is a good illustration of this. It also mentions that it 'houses seem asleep And all that mighty heart is lying still!' which suggest this image that London isn't an industrial and mechanical city, but is

Unlike society, Wordsworth does not see nature as a commodity. The verse "Little we see in Nature that is ours" (3), shows that coexisting is the relationship envisioned. This relationship appears to be at the mercy of mankind because of the vulnerable way nature is described. The verse "This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon" (5), gives the vision of a woman exposed to the heavens. In addition, the phrase "sleeping flowers"(7) might also describe how nature is being overrun unknowingly.

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

(ll. 1-4) describes how nature is supposed to be a blessing, but turns out to be distasteful. The line, “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers” (ll. 2) explains how we’re wasting our natural powers of viewing the free nature that we own. Our powers could be to nurture and to appreciate the world. By using contrasting words in a” sordid boon!” (ll. 4), William Wordsworth describes how we are being immoral and turning a blessing (i.e. nature) into something undesirable.

In "Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey", Wordsworth uses imagination to help him and others to live in the physical world peacefully. He recalls playing in Tintern Abbey, a forest nearby there and played in it when he was young. Now he comes back for different reasons. He escapes the world which is individualism and goes to the forest to get away from all the burden. He tells his young sister that she can always come here to get away from her problems as well. In the poem, Wordsworth uses nature to solve problems in life.

Wordsworth expresses his desires to be a pagan. Wordsworth relates spirituality with the importance of nature. Wordsworth reads, “Great god! I’d rather be;/ A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;/ So might I, standing on this pleasant lea;/ Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn” (9-12). This further supports Polytheistic Religions as they support a separate god for each element of nature and his extreme wish to be a Pagan. Wordsworth’s desire to be a Pagan allows Wordsworth to see Ancient Gods and achieve spiritual condolence. Wordsworth considers two gods, “Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;/ Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn” (13-14). Proteus who is able to change his shape to his desire and Triton having the ability to control the waves of the sea by a horn proved the importance of changing and having a relationship with

Further along in the poem, the Being makes "a sound like thunder" (8), another symbol of strength and power. One of the most important features of a divine being is eternal existence. Wordsworth describes nature as being in "eternal motion" (7); it is constantly changing and evolving. A third quality essential to divinity is absolute perfection. One scene in the poem depicts the sun sinking from the heavens down into the sea. Wordsworth creates an image of such harmony and perfection; it is hard to question the divine essence of nature.

Where Wordsworth focused too on love and nature at first, he then took on more spiritual subjects. Further, if we assume that Wordsworth’s imitation of “The Retreat” was intentional, then Vaughan may have even been a poetic model (in some sense) for Wordsworth later in life. True, Wordsworth is not generally considered a religious poet; he would never have originally considered Vaughan a model because of the latter’s extreme religiosity. Yet if these two poems don’t echo in godly gestures per se, they do in a more spiritual sense—and perhaps Wordsworth, as a man confronted with his own mortality, found Vaughan’s treatise on the spirit’s immortality a sympathetic sentiment. Thus by comparing the two, we also might better understand Wordsworth’s poetic progression.