English Language & Literature Third Year- Second Semester

Romantic Poetry 2025 Third Lecture

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William Wordsworth, (1770–1850) Cockermouth, Cumberland in England, he lives for 80
years. He was from a prosperous family. He lost his mother at an early age and was raised by
his father, along with his siblings. He spent much of his childhood in the Lake District, an area
that would later inspire much of his poetry. He was a major English Romantic poet (founder).
He is known for his celebration of nature, his exploration of human emotions and experiences,
and his innovative use of language. His poetry gained much recognition by the church and the
state. He was chosen to be a poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.
He was the person who set the foundation of Romanticism as a movement. In his first
collection of poetry, Lyrical Ballads, which he coo-published with Coleridge, he wrote an
introduction explaining the foundation, the meaning and the concept of Romanticism.
He defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings that take its origin from
emotion recollected in tranquility.”
He was against the Industrial Revolution and the way people started to leave their lives.
Main Characteristics
Emphasis on emotion, imagination, and individualism.
Rejection of rationalism and classical traditions.
Interest in the supernatural, folklore, and medievalism.
Exploration of exoticism and the distant past.
Romanticism: Focus on Emotion and Imagination rather than Reason (Classicism).
Prominent Romantic Figures
William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy B. Shelley, John Keats,
John Clare and William Blake.

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye
during a Tour. July 13, 1798 BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Wordsworth's poetry is characterized by its focus on nature, childhood, memory, and the power
of the imagination. He believed that poetry should be written in the language of common speech
and that it should express the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Wordsworth's poetry
often reflects his belief in the spiritual significance of nature and the importance of individual
experience.

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Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The full title of this poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting
the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.” It opens with the speaker’s declaration
that five years have passed since he last visited this location, encountered its tranquil, rustic
scenery, and heard the murmuring waters of the river. The poet remarks that five years have
passed, with five summers and five long winters. Once more, the poet listens to the gentle
murmur of the waters flowing from their mountain sources. He looks upon the steep, towering
cliffs that evoke feelings of profound seclusion, blending the landscape with the serenity of the
sky.

The day is come when I again repose

Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
With some uncertain notice, as might seem
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.
The poet describes a day when he finds himself resting beneath a dark sycamore tree once again.
From there, he looks out at the small gardens and orchards, which, in this season, are covered
in green leaves and young fruits, blending into the surrounding trees. He notices the wild and

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irregular hedgerows, almost like playful lines of trees, and the peaceful farms, surrounded by
greenery. Wisps of smoke rising silently from the trees add a sense of mystery, as if there are
wanderers in the nearby woods or a hermit living alone in a cave, warmed by a fire.

It is obvious that it is springtime because there is an emphasis on the greenness of the scene,
and actually, what he highlights in this particular stanza is the passage of time.

He is stressing the ticking of one’s own clock of life. Now he comes again to see the scene is
perfect! It is as beautiful as ever, and as green as ever, and it is an invitation of man to have a
closer look at nature and enjoy its beauty.

Moreover, it is an invitation for man to be with one’s self and to reflect upon one’s own life
and its meaning and significance. “Hermit” here stands for anyone who introspect and
meditate about the world. Hermits usually isolate themselves from human company and go to
live in a natural place like mountains and hills. Now after the description of the beautiful
scene, the poet talks about what happened during those five years.

These beauteous forms,

Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
The poet means that although they haven't seen these beautiful sights for a while, they haven't
felt as significant to them as a landscape would to someone who cannot see at all. This
comparison highlights the poet's lack of emotional connection or appreciation for the sights
despite their beauty, emphasizing their personal detachment or indifference towards them.

Between my prior experience and this one, I have remembered this scene continually. I have
remembered this scene of pure green springtime, nature in moments of weariness and
loneliness, in small rooms and far away cities (when I was in France). I owe these scenes sweet
sensations and nice feelings. I remember them in hard times, they were to me like a cure, like
some sort of therapy; they have given me reason to go on, and they were not just passing
sensations. They were sensations that deep in the mind and heart.

Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;

And passing even into my purer mind

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With tranquil restoration:

These feelings were not passing ones. They went through my veins, to my heart, to my mind.
They are pure sweet feelings, which offered happiness during hard times. In these lines, the
poet refers to his theory about the way the human mind functions. He is also talking about the
effect of nature on us. When He remembers this natural landscape, he feels sweet sensations
and feelings in his heart. Although the very experience of standing near Tintern Abbey and the
river of Wye is over and something of the past, they still preserve their effect on his mind in
times of weariness and loneliness. Therefore, the very experience is coming to his “purer mind”,
his consciousness. This fascination of natural world is a characteristic of Romantic poetry.
Nature has positive effect on man.

—feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love.
What is the best portion of our life? It is our childhood or as Wordsworth refers to it “the perfect
ideal” stage of our life, so when he remembers this gorgeous natural landscape, he the very
memory of nature triggers the child in him. Our childhood memories fade, and what remain are
the feelings of pleasure. They are little because they are childish, “nameless” and
“unremembered” because the very experience is lost in the unconsciousness.
Nor less, I trust,
To them I may have owed another gift,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,—
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep

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In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
So nature enables us to cope with harsh realities of life. The industrial revolution had negative
effects on life in England, so nature became the only solace and escape. Nature has a sublime
effect on man.

The poet moved to talk about death. He is talking about the separation of the body from the
soul. The body this entire existence is a “mystery” and “unintelligible”. This life becomes
lighter when we have that serene mood that is prompted by nature.

So nature enables us to go on in this life until we depart this physical life into the lightened
spiritual one. There is a very important image in this stanza. “Corporeal frame”. It means that
our bodies are nothing but a lifeless form, and the soul is more sublime. Our physical existence
suspends, and we live spiritually. Therefore, it is the suspension of the physical world and the
launch of the spiritual one. It is the moment of realization of human mortality that makes us see
into “the life of things”.

While with an eye made quiet by the power

Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things. When the eyes of the dead become quiet, this quietness is
because of the harmony and the deep power of joy.
Form
“Tintern Abbey” is a lyric poem written by the British poet William Wordsworth. “Tintern
Abbey” is composed in blank verse, which is a name used to describe unrhymed lines in iambic
pentameter. Its style is therefore very fluid and natural, but the poetic structure is tightly
constructed. Wordsworth’s slight variations on the stresses of iambic rhythms is remarkable.
Lines such as “Here, under this dark sycamore, and view” do not quite conform to the stress-
patterns of the meter, but fit into it loosely, helping Wordsworth approximate the sounds of
natural speech without grossly breaking his meter. Occasionally, divided lines are used to
indicate a kind of paragraph break, when the poet changes subjects or shifts the focus of his
discourse.

The subject of “Tintern Abbey” is memory—specifically, childhood memories of communion

with natural beauty. This subject is hugely important in Wordsworth’s work. The poem’s

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imagery is largely confined to the natural world in which he moves. The poem also has a subtle
strain of religious sentiment; though the actual form of the Abbey does not appear in the poem,
the idea of the abbey—of a place consecrated to the spirit—suffuses the scene, as though the
forest and the fields were themselves the speaker’s abbey.

Figures of speech:

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