Ode: Imitations to Immortality

Right now I’m one week behind on the readings so this is why I’m blogging on 'Intimations' now, opposed to a week ago when you guys covered it in class. I skipped class that day, I was a little tired, so yeah, hopefully it won't seem like deja vu for any of you.

Um, 'Intimations' is a very interesting poem. It really stresses the Wordsworthian idea that supports the idealism of youth over the adult life. I thought the most important lines were found here on the top of page 299 (it’s in the fifth stanza):

“ Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! ”

Wordsworth brings up quite the philosophical debate. He’s saying that in youth do we closely resemble the essence of heaven, and are nearer to it’s perfection in remembrance; as we get older we lose this essence, and the closeness towards the celestial. Another key theme is the idea of immortality; of course the word is squeezed into the title ( I had such a difficulty finding the poem in the book because it wasn’t under its original title, rather ‘There was a time’. Fie to those editors and their inconvenient categorizing ). Wordsworth is saying that children cannot conceive the concept of mortality ( ie. ‘We are Seven’). This naivety of the profoundness of mortality enables the fruitful thoughts, ideas, and splendor that accompany us when we are young. The speaker of the poem, I would argue is Wordsworth himself; the poem is too emotional, and seemingly personal, to figure otherwise. I wonder though, why Wordsworth (speaker) in this state of nostalgic lamentation for most of the poem, can all of a sudden end on such a high note. In the last stanza he's like 'what the hell! With all this nature around me how can I be so sad ? '; I found his concluding enthusiasm quite amusing.

After reading this poem, and reflecting on the others we've read, I get the impression that Wordsworth is perpetually stuck in this ongoing ebb and flow of emotions that revolve around nature and reality. It's like he's only happy when living in the 'now', opposed to lamenting on the past. Living in the 'now' is actually a philosophical idea that exterminates the negative thoughts that bring you down when you think emotionally about the past, or when fabricating a negative image of yourself in the future. These concepts are touched on in Stephen Covey's " Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ", and Eckhart Tolle's " The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment". If you get a chance, read Covey's 'Seven Habits' it's worth your time.

Aiight, Ciao

Dissecting Michael on top of Tintern Abbey

Yikes! Did anyone else find the mid-term difficult? It was a doozy. I think I'm going to pay closer attention to detail this semester. Alriiight, enough post-test babble...

As I wander lonely as a cloud I found myself jumping into two poems: 'Michael' and 'Tintern Abbey'. Both were very interesting reads with juicy similarities in themes and variations that I will comment on later, but first I'll turn my attention to 'Michael'.

This poem, not uncanny of many Wordsworthian poesy is written in blank verse, and reads like a story. This poem is powerful, and the language in the story is what makes this poem so rich. The loving relationship of father (Michael) and son (Luke) is what establishes the emotional aspect of the story. Wordsworth is able to wrap these two elements together nicely:

" why should I relate that objects which the Shepherd loved before were dearer now? That from the Boy there came feelings and emanations--things which were light to the sun and music to the wind; and that the old Man's heart seemed born again? " (lines 198-203)

This positive mood in the early stages of the poem falls deleteriously at the end. When Luke takes a turn-for-the-worst in the city, the emotional response is profound. Because of such a sudden reversal of mood in combination with the carefully crafted language of Wordsworth, It felt like I sank into a deep sadness, deeper then I would have originally expected. Again, Wordsworth is uncanny of eliciting a sympathetic response in the reader. This time the muse of our sympathy is Michael. Michael is a character of unwavering devotion and diligence. He is a hard worker with a strong mind. Even when he hears about the unfortunate fate of his son, he does not break down and let his emotions take over. This is what I felt made the story so profound; The emotional solidarity of Michael.

One of the longest names for a poem that I've ever come across " Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798 " is an interesting poem about revisiting nature. There are many many themes and ideas that can be dissected and rehashed and what not, so I will only graze over a few. First off, Wordsworth like many other Romantic Writers of his time was obsessed with this idea of the Sublime. The term Sublime in terms of poetry is defined as the transcendental feeling one can attain which is often conveyed by the Poet to the reader through the convention of writing (this is just my understanding of the definition). This was a goal for many of the Romantic Writers. The Greek rhetoritician and philosopher Longinus wrote an essay on the Sublime and it stood as an early source of explanation:

“ There are, it may be said, five principal sources of elevated language. Beneath these five varieties there lies, as though it were a common foundation, the gift of discourse, which is indispensable. First and most important is the power of forming great conceptions, as we have elsewhere explained in our remarks on Xenophon. Secondly, there is vehement and inspired passion. These two components of the sublime are for the most part innate. Those which remain are partly the product of art. The due formation of figures deals with two sorts of figures, first those of thought and secondly those of expression. Next there is noble diction, which in turn comprises choice of words, and use of metaphors, and elaboration of language. The fifth cause of elevation--one which is the fitting conclusion of all that have preceded it--is dignified and elevated composition. ” – Translated Excerpt from ‘On Sublimity’

In 'Tintern Abbey' in particular I found that Wordsworth was trying to convey elements of the Sublime, where he notes that nature is the optimal landscape for such transcendent thoughts and ideas to be elicited. In the poem Wordsworth seems to shift paradigms and look through a lens that sees him as he once was. And this identification makes him realize that who he is now, is not as good as what he used to be. One of the problems that Wordsworth alludes to is the “ sad music of humanity ”, a world that youth is devoid of. Wordsworth seems to chide the grown up world, and wherein he thus creates another set of dichotomies: the natural world vs. The human world.

In 'Michael' we see that the rural landscape that is the setting for most of the poem, is the natural world that Michael, Luke, and Isabel live in. The themes of love, and prosperity, and youth seem to revolve around this world. It's not until Luke moves to the city that the negative events begin to unfold. Thus further exemplifying the Wordsworthian bias that the natural world is good, and the human world is bad.

Unfortunately, the world we live in now, the dawn of the 21st century, is slowly wiping out the natural world because of our excess usage of natural materials that destroy nature in order to create and develop an artificial world devoid of the wonderful qualities that accompany this endangered rural landscape. But that's just my opinion.


Ciao, and Happy Blogging!

The Thorn

Happy New Year! I'm sure like myself you are trying to shake off all the rust from the break, so you will forgive me if this blog is not up to par.

I read 'The Thorn' a few days ago, and although I enjoyed the poem, I had difficulty with the themes and ideas. This poem struck me with it's intensity of sorrow and darkness. The beginning of the poem was typical of the Wordsworth I've read in the past. It's like he takes a brush and paints this beautiful landscape of nature with his crafty use of language. Wordsworth has such passion for the rural landscape that he is able to describe nature so meticulously, and I found he was able to emphasize feelings of sorrow through repetition. He shows the lamentation of Martha Ray as she articulates " Oh misery! Oh misery! Oh woe is me! Oh misery! " in Shakespearian fashion, as well as a great use of alliteration " Cuts like a scythe, while through the clouds ", in order to evade the gaudiness of rhetorical tropes. What I really like about Wordsworth's writing, 'The Thorn' being a good example, is that he is able to connect the social world with the natural world.

Wordsworth sets us up for this bewilderment of the lamenting Martha Ray as the speaker asks in the eighth stanza " why sits she beside the Thorn ", and " wherefore does she cry ". The latter question, being of more importance, seems to have been triggered by the mysterious death or disappearance of Martha's young child. Wordsworth follows up this question with a duality of opinion whereby the townsfolk believe that Martha Ray murdered her daughter, and in opposition the sympathetic notion from the speaker who believes she is innocent. Although the question of how the child died is unanswered, Wordsworth makes the point that there is a cruelness to society. Martha had to escape society and turn to nature, but was it by choice or force? Wordsworth does not answer this question either, but he does allude to both being possibilities. In the end I found the story left me perplexed, as there were way too many questions left unanswered. But poetry likes to show and not always tell, and I have learned to except that.

Ciao