An Imaginary Life by William Wordsworth and David Malouf In both William Wordsworth’s poems and David Malouf’s novel, An Imaginary Life, it is evident how different times and cultures affect the quality and importance of the relationship humanity can have with the natural world. Themes that are explored in both texts include interaction with nature, the role of nature in childhood and adulthood, religion and the role of language. These all show the quality and importance of humanity’s relationship with nature and how times and culture influence the relationship. Although they are influenced by very different cultural and social values, both writers have the same goal, which is to understand nature and become a part of it. Wordsworth learns through his interaction with nature in “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,” and “It’s a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free,” that there is a spiritual presence in the landscape. Ovid’s interaction with nature helps him break down the divisions between people and their environment to become at one with it. Both writers demonstrate how interaction with nature is necessary to appreciate it. The importance of humanity’s relationship with the natural world is shown through the main characters interaction with the environment. The different contexts of the authors make Wordsworth’s relationship with nature not nearly as physical as Ovid’s. He is a gentleman from the early nineteenth century, and he would not “bush bash” to get places. To him nature is just a source of pleasure and a way to get closer to God. This is a reflection of his context and culture as this is what he is accustomed too. His world is much more civilised, “Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke.” This demonstrates the domestic elements of his world. There is a contrast in environments in Tintern Abbey and the landscape around Tomis in An Imaginary Life. Wordsworth’s environment appears to be fertile and suited to agriculture because it is domesticated but Ovid’s hasn’t even been explored. Wordsworth never loses himself in nature because the line between God and earth always remains. A contrast to Wordsworth’s idea of interaction with nature is the child in An Imaginary Life. The child is at one with nature because he is part of it. At the beginning of the book Ovid’s ... ... middle of paper ... ...guage and the earth end up reflecting one another. “The true language, I know now, is that speech in which we first communicated, the child and I . . . Latin is a language for distinctions, every ending defines and divides. The language I am speaking of now . . . is a language whose every syllable is a gesture of reconciliation. William Wordsworth’s poems and David Malouf’s, through the character of Ovid, explore the relationship between people and nature. By interacting with nature the characters in both texts learn from the land, to create a relationship with the natural world. This interaction is very important for the characters to have a comprehensive understanding of the wild. Their worlds differ as a result of their historical contexts which they are written. The culture of the writers is reflected in their writing. Wordsworth feels a spiritual presence and gains happiness from it. Ovid spends his time searching for answers to find out how he can become a part of the natural world. Wordsworth and Malouf’s main characters recognise the importance of becoming a part of the natural world so they can understand themselves and their relationship with the rest of the world.
Sarah Orne Jewett’s “The White Heron” is a timely piece that depicts the struggle between nature and civilization, between the wild and the modern. The bright, beautiful forests and waters of Northern New England clash with the modern scientific advancements of man. Within her story, she describes a young girl named Sylvie whom is very closely connected with nature itself, grow up in the New England countryside far away from other people, even being described as, “afraid of folks” (670). One of her only friends is a cow named Mistress Moolly, and she often submerges herself within the delicate yet intriguing wildlife around her home. She loves being one with nature and she has even become seriously familiar with the lay of the land as well as most if not
When thinking about nature, Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” John Muir and William Wordsworth both expressed through their writings that nature brought them great joy and satisfaction, as it did Andersen. Each author’s text conveyed very similar messages and represented similar experiences but, the writing style and wording used were significantly different. Wordsworth and Muir express their positive and emotional relationships with nature using diction and imagery.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
...h the natural environment, utilizing the ageless and continuous attributes of the natural environment. This ideal is fulfilled in the last section of the novel, where both Ovid and the Boy are repeatedly described as being 'there', showing the ability of the natural environment to provide unity and irrelevance of human constraints.
Authors’ Steven Crane and Jack London are known for their stories using naturalism, the struggle between man and nature. Naturalism is like realism, but it explores the forces of nature, heredity, and the environment on human beings, who are faced with the forces of nature. Both “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” demonstrate how inferior and small humans’ really are to nature. Humans cannot control nature or determine its outcome. In both stories nature is the antagonist constantly challenging the humans’ ability to survive. I chose the topic over naturalistic elements because I enjoyed reading these stories. Both stories have a strong since of naturalism in it and both authors’ are known for naturalistic features existing in their writings. In this paper I will give you more of an insight to what naturalism is and what naturalistic elements are present in the two stories listed above.
He uses the poet William Wordsworth to convey this relationship. Wordsworth’s remembered experience of the Lake District conveys a sense of natural beauty through the country with a binary comparison to the city. De Botton states that the city is full of “smoke congestion, poverty and ugliness” and that “City dwellers have no perspective”. He describes the country as having “sanity, purity and permanence” These two different landscapes are juxtaposed conveying the influence that it has on the individual. This demonstrates that there is a connection between people and landscapes. De Botton presents the idea that “City dwellers began to travel in great numbers through the countryside in an attempt to restore health to their bodies and more importantly harmony to their souls.” This effectively illustrates that there is a relationship between individuals and landscapes. In this case nature or natural landscapes create and promote healing or life-altering experiences. This idea of contrasting landscapes is further explored, as de Botton comments on Wordsworth’s view stating that “our identities are to a greater or lesser extent malleable” and that they “change according to whom – and sometimes what – we are with”. This is an important and central argument conveying the idea that the relationship between real landscapes and individuals can create an impression on our
In his poem, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” Wordsworth recaptures his admiration for Tintern Abbey, a place on the banks of the River Wye in Southeast Wakes. He discusses how he hasn’t visited Tintern Abbey in five years, yet he remembers every detail of the landscape and every feeling he experienced when he was younger. Wordsworth writes, “These beauteous forms, / Through a long absence, have not been to me /As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:” (23-25). Wordsworth is telling the audience that this is not a new unfamiliar scene to him, as it would be for a blind man, but instead a beautiful familiar picture and though it has been a long time he remembers it vividly. As he describes the landscape, he uses words such as “tranquil” and “pleasures” to emphasize the beauty and joy he receives from the land. With such description, Wordsworth conveys to the audience a tone of appreciation and fondness. The reader knows that Wordsworth has a great love for this place.
...orld around them. Outside of the skyscrapers and fast cars, lies a simplistic, natural world; the same, although transformed, beautiful world that caused John Constable and William Wordsworth to pursue its nature further. Even though the differences shown between Constable and Wordsworth’s works, the blatant similarities is the love for the raw natural world and the importance of nature in one’s life. In both works, Constable and Wordsworth indirectly ask the audience to pursue a similar appreciation and further understanding of the beautiful world people often take for granted.
Romantic poetry conjures in the mind of many people images of sweet, pastoral landscapes populated by picturesque citizens who live in quaint houses in rustic villages, with sheep grazing on green-swathed hills, while a young swain plights his troth to his fair young maiden, who reclines demurely amidst the clover and smiles sunnily. William Wordsworth is perhaps the archetypal Romantic poet; his most famous poem, "I wandered lonely as a cloud", would seem on first reading to support the traditional, one could say stereotypical, image of a Romantic poet. Even his name, Words-worth, reinforces that image. And yet, upon looking more closely and carefully at his works, it becomes clear that the emotions which motivate his creativity are not solely a love of nature and pastorality.
William Wordsworth has respect and has great admiration for nature. This is quite evident in all three of his poems; the Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey and Michael in that, his philosophy on the divinity, immortality and innocence of humans are elucidated in his connection with nature. For Wordsworth, himself, nature has a spirit, a soul of its own, and to know is to experience nature with all of your senses. In all three of his poems there are many references to seeing, hearing and feeling his surroundings. He speaks of hills, the woods, the rivers and streams, and the fields. Wordsworth comprehends, in each of us, that there is a natural resemblance to ourselves and the background of nature.
Nature inspires Wordsworth poetically. Nature gives a landscape of seclusion that implies a deepening of the mood of seclusion in Wordsworth's mind.
Through the ingenious works of poetry the role of nature has imprinted the 18th and 19th century with a mark of significance. The common terminology ‘nature’ has been reflected by our greatest poets in different meanings and understanding; Alexander Pope believed in reason and moderation, whereas Blake and Wordsworth embraced passion and imagination.
In poetry the speaker describes his feelings of what he sees or feels. When Wordsworth wrote he would take everyday occurrences and then compare what was created by that event to man and its affect on him. Wordsworth loved nature for its own sake alone, and the presence of Nature gives beauty to his mind, again only for mind’s sake (Bloom 95). Nature was the teacher and inspirer of a strong and comprehensive love, a deep and purifying joy, and a high and uplifting thought to Wordsworth (Hudson 158). Wordsworth views everything as living. Everything in the world contributes to and sustains life nature in his view.
"The Poetry of William Wordsworth." SIRS Renaissance 20 May 2004: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 06 February 2010.
Many poets are inspired by the impressive persona that exists in nature to influence their style of poetry. The awesome power of nature can bring about thought and provoke certain feelings the poet has towards the natural surroundings.