Poem Discussion:The composition of Tintern Abbey was inspired by Wordsworth’s two visits and walking tours on the banks of the river Wye in Monmouth shire in England. His first visit was in the summer of 1793 when he was alone and a young man of twenty three. At this time, Wordsworth was greatly thrilled and inspired by the over throw of political oppression by the revolution in France. He like other lovers of freedom expected that this revolution would when in a new era of liberty, equality and social brotherhood. So during this visit every sight and sound of nature appealed to his heart beyond measure because of his happy mood.
Five years have passed since, the poet visited the beautiful river Wye and now he is revisiting its banks, once again he hears the murmur of the river, and sees the steep and lofty cliffs in a wild surrounding which gives rice to the sense of deep seclusion. The landscape, because of its natural beauty and isolation, seems to be as calm and quiet as the sky above. Sitting under the dark sycamore once again the poet sees the plots of cottage ground, the orchard tuffs with unripe fruits, the hedgerows, the rural farms, and the curls of smoke rising from among the trees in silence.
The long absence of five years could not wipe out his memory of this beautiful scene. The beautiful objects of nature that he observed on the banks of the Wye have induced in him ‘sweet sensation’ to comfort him and sustain him during the period of mental and moral crisis. He is grateful to them for offering him an exalted mood in which he can perceive the reality above and beyond the earthly existence. The nature and the world seem to be incomprehensible but when the poet is in a calm and joyous mood, he feels somewhat relieved of the burden imposed on his mind by the riddle of the universe. In the moments of deep meditation the poet forgets his physical existence and his soul is illuminated to such an extent that he can see harmony in all the creations. This faculty of seeing harmony in the universe and the ‘deep power of joy of the Wye for consolation.’ has developed his insight which helps him understands the inner soul of the objects of nature.
The poet believes strongly in the healing power of the sweet memory of the Wye when he has passed his time in a gloomy mood on when his peace of mind has been disturbed by the sufferings of the world and the dull business of life, he has often turned to the ever sustaining memory of the Wye for consolation.
Nature has a special significance for Wordsworth. It does more than give temporary pleasure; it affects his whole being. The poem itself a’ recollected in tranquility’’ of the 1798 visit to the Wye ;in addition, the memory of the 1793 visit, and the memories retained during the five year interval. One vision is associated with another, and all are joined harmoniously within the poem. But nature has still another value for Wordsworth. It has the power of transmitting’’ feelings too/Of unremembered pleasure’’, moral feelings which are ‘’that best portion of a good man’s life’’, moral feelings which derive from forgotten events, or go back to a pre-existent state when the entire soul was pure, an innocent and moral essence. These feelings too, although’’ unremembered’’, constitute the’ best portion of a good man’s life’’.
Above all, Wordsworth believes the’ ’beauteous forms’’ of the Wye landscape bestow.
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………………… (38-42)
Nature provides solace for man; it lightens his burden of humanity. The ‘’beauteous forms’’ of nature lull the human passion into state of repose so that the poet may’’ become a living soul’’, a pure soul which can penetrate the corporeal forms of things and’ see into the life of things’’. It is through a power in nature, then, that the poet transcends nature’s material forms and contemplates a higher, more divine state of being.
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years.(66-67)
The poet’s description of the three stages of man’s life and his three stages of awareness is given in the next lines(65).During his first visit to the Wye, he had been a youth, still much like a child in its first state of awareness. His response to the scene was sensual, almost erotic,’ ’when like a roe/I bounded o’er the mountains’’. But as a youth he also had a second state of awareness; he was restless and troubled—‘’more like a man/Flying from something that he dreads’’. In 1798 visit is made by an older, wiser, quieter man ’’who sought the thing he love’’. He now knows the pleasures of youth (my boyish days) are ‘’coarser pleasures,’ ’experienced by the senses only, characterized by ‘’animal movements’’, with thoughtless and undifferentiated responses.
To me was all in all.-I cannot paint
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion; the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
There colors and their forms, were then to me
An appetite………………….(77-82)
The powers of awareness accompany maturity, and a sympathetic understanding of the saddening condition of man is acquired. A new sense sublime replaces the corporeal fire;thought it is apprehended the greet soul of the universe, a power which dwells in ‘the light of setting sung,/And round the ocean and the living air.(99-100) Therefore the third stage of life carries pleasure with it pleasure in the knowledge that the soul is activated by nature and the experience of the sense, which together instruct and guide being moral of the poet.
Turning next of his sister Dorothy, whom he address as my dear, dear friends’’ Wordsworth acknowledge his sense of loss and prays that his younger sisters whose pleasure in nature is still carefree and wild, may help him remember ‘’former pleas user a little which longer. He affirms his belief that nature is so designed as to lead man from ‘’joy to joy’’ and protect him from evil. Therefore, he may wish that Dorothy’s youth be blessed with nature’s joy. Later,’’ These wild ecstasies shall be matured/Into a sober pleasure, when thy mind/Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms/They memory be as a dwelling place/For all sweet sounds and harmonies…………..(141-145) But now, in her ‘’wild eyes.’ there can be seen still the instinctive joy of the soul newly arrives in the human world’’ these gleams/Of past existance’’ (151-152) .Later, these memories of early joy will comfort the girl grown old. Wordsworth urges his sister to remember always that the woods and cliffs of the Wye valley were even more dear in his second trip than on his first for the mature pleasure which the poet found in nature itself and for the memory of ‘’former pleasures.’’ Which Dorothy’s ‘’wind eyes’ ’recalled to him.
The End
