Tintern Abbey And Frost At Mid Essay

Tintern Abbey And Frost At Mid Essay, Research Paper English Essay In the 18th century, two important poets started the Romantic Movement, the two being William Wordsworth, and Samuel Coleridge. These two poets essentially gave birth to the Romantic Movement, starting with the co-produced works of the Lyrical Ballads. In the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth describes poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, and details his philosophy and the meaning nature has to him. The poem collection includes the poems which I am going to discuss, Tintern Abbey, by Wordsworth and Frost at Midnight, by Samuel Coleridge. These poems are both great poems, however Frost at Midnight is a conversational poem compared to the romantic poem, Tintern Abbey. Although

written by two different poets, both poems, Tintern Abbey and Frost at Midnight deal with the beauty and serenity of nature, and contrasting human distress, while reminiscing about the past, present and future. In the poems Tintern Abbey, and Frost at Midnight, happiness is derived from the beauty of nature and its deeper meaning and influences for the poets. Reading Tintern Abbey I got a sense of feeling of Wordsworth s love for nature and the understanding he has for nature. This is quite obvious with the lines (62-65): While here I stand, not only with the sense Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts That in this moment there is life and food For future years. In Frost at Midnight, happiness is not as evident, due to the poet s regrets of being reared in the great

city (line 52), and not raised in the country, and finding only beauty in the sky, and stars. This leads to the hope, and later happiness that his cradled son will be raised in the country, which is evident through lines (52-56): For I was reared In the great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim, And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars. But thou, my babe ! shalt wander like a breeze By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags In this quote, Coleridge hopes that his son will grow up in nature, and his hope brings happiness to him. Happiness is also connected to the character in Tintern Abbey, by returning to a loved and distant place that brought back feelings of enlightenment and calmness with the nature. This is shown in (line 49) “we see into the life of things.” In both

poems, the description of beautiful settings, one in the Wye Valley and the other of his imagination and hope, radiate the love of nature and the happiness it brings to people. In both poems, life is presented in a series of distinct phases, with recapitulation of memories, characterized by different responses to nature. In the first twenty-one lines, Wordsworth describes the scene as unchanged during the past five years. The poet emphasizes the lapse of time, saying, “again hear,” (line 2) “again do I behold,” (line 4) and “again I see.” (line 14). In line 22, Wordsworth shifts his attention from the present scene to sift through his memories of it. In Frost at Midnight, we see this again, as the man cradling the baby from line 28, recapitulates his memories and

distinct phases in time. For Wordsworh s poem, these memories have comforted and consoled him in the intervening years spent in less beautiful, more urban, city-like settings. They have also generated moods of calmness and a sense of peacefulness of the Wye Valley, to enlighten him. In such mood, another kind of perception comes, where “we see into the life of things” (line 49). It seems to the reader that Wordsworth is indeed quite deep in his love and understanding of nature, as his love for the Wye Valley is shown in lines 46-49: 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 Wordsworth is spiritually attached to the Wye, and retreats to it from the busy and worrisome world.