The Impact of William Wordsworth

“Fill your paper with breathings of your heart.” William Wordsworth was a poet who not only inspired himself, but also inspired a number others. As some may know he was a son, brother, and a father. But most importantly, he was a famous poet. He never once let his rough and tragic lifetime get in the way of his creative writing.

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

William Wordsworth existed in a time when society and its functions were beginning to rapidly pick up. The poem that he 'Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye', gave him a chance to reflect upon his quick paced life by taking a moment to slow down and absorb the beauty of nature that allows one to 'see into the life of things'; (line 49). Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey'; takes you on a series of emotional states by trying to sway 'readers and himself, that the loss of innocence and intensity over time is compensated by an accumulation of knowledge and insight.'; Wordsworth accomplishes to prove that although time was lost along with his innocence, he

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

As Wordsworth highly values nature, he also believes society is flawed and that society is corrupting nature as well as its natural beauty. Wordsworth suggests that people need to connect to nature and those who part from nature will be “out of tune” (8). “I discovered more distinctly the black sides of Jura and the bright summit of Mont Blac . . . the sky and late are blue and placid.” (Shelley 78)

William Wordsworth is another Romantic Writer that uses the recollection of memory and emotions to advance his poetry beyond traditional limits. In the introduction of William Wordsworth in The Norton Anthology, an excerpt describes Wordsworth’s use of memory in his work:

Towards the middle of the 1770s, William Wordsworth was born on April 7th in Cockermouth, England into a middle-class family as the second born out of five children (“William Wordsworth”). His mother and father worked upon very wealthy families to make a living, and provide their children with a respectable life and a pleasant home (“William Wordsworth”). For instance, “His father John Wordsworth, was a legal agent to wealthy landowners and his mother came into the marriage from a conventionally respectful merchant family” (“William Wordsworth”). Although, Wordsworth did not typically express many descriptions about his parents, he felt very close to his father because of the poetry they shared and studied upon together (“William Wordsworth”).

Each consecutive literary movement comes with new attitudes about writing styles and techniques. Whether it exists as a critical element in the poetry of the Romantic and Transcendental periods, or as a seemingly infinitesimal element of the Jazz Age, nature is a key component that appears throughout poetry. Although “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, “Song of Myself”, and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” are each from different literary periods, they are all tied together by a common thread: nature.

He also wrote Songs of Experience but after the Industrial Revolution. William Wordsworth, on the other hand, continued on an optimistic route and ignored the Industrial Revolution in his poems. He instead wrote about nature only and its beauty. Previous Augustan poets were more controlled and rule governed. They were also concerned with order.

By contrast, Wordsworth takes a completely different approach to poetry where he relief heavily on his senses. Wordsworth relied on his senses to produce images that he could then use to produce his poetry. Wordsworth describes, "I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility" (303). He continues, "Now, if nature be thus cautious in preserving in a state of enjoyment a being thus employed, the poet ought to profit by the lesson thus held forth to him" (303). These lines indicate the chief mission Wordsworth find himself on when writing poetry. Thus, because nature can produce such feelings in the poet, the poet must therefore rely heavily on what he sees. In order for him to have "powerful feelings" to recollect on he must first have a visual aid to send him into this "spontaneous overflow." This is one of the core differences between Blake and

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” these are the words of William Wordsworth, an English Romantic Poet that helped pave the way for Romanticism in the early nineteenth century. John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, also English Romantic Poets, were influenced by Wordsworth’s works. All are known for their many beautiful and revolutionary poems. They allowed influences of life and their surroundings to contribute to their works of art. The challenges of life create a pathway to creative imagination.

William Wordsworth had felt quite lonely for a while and drifted about aimlessly without any memories to relish on. After wondering around the bay with his head down, he decided to look up at his surrounds which left him awestruck. From a glace, ten thousand daffodils lay there lining the coast of the bay. As the wind blew across the land, they danced in joy. The waves join in on the dancing, the flowers still outdid them in sparkling glee. Furthermore, they seemed to go on endlessly which left Wordsworth in disbelief. As Wordsworth lay on his couch “In vacant or in pensive

Wordsworth struggled early in his life as his mother died when he was only seven years old and he was an orphan till he was the age of thirteen. He went to Hawkshead a Grammar school where he wrote his first poetry and did very well despite having all the struggles in his early life. He went on to study at Cambridge University where he struggled during his time there, but he managed to graduate in 1791. In 1790 he took a trip to France where he was a huge supporter of the republican ideas in the midst of the French Revolution. Wordsworth loved France so much that he decided to make another trip the following year. During his next trip he would meet Annette Vallon in which he got her pregnant. The two slight a life together where they were deep in love with one another, but after a declaration of war between England and

Technological advancement and social "progress" were steps backwards for Wordsworth and thus he looked to the past for his inspiration.

William Wordsworth was a Romantic poet best known for his works that emphasized his appreciation for nature. His passion for nature strongly influenced his poetry, especially ?Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.? Using his memories from his previous visit to Tintern Abbey to he expresses his appreciation and awe for nature. At the same time, his goal is to persuade others to feel for nature as he does. In ?Tintern Abbey,? Wordsworth demonstrates the core values of the Romantic Era by revealing nature?s superior power and the unity between nature and humankind.