Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Nature in poetry
Nature romantic poetry
Treatment of nature in romantic poetry. introduction.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Nature in poetry
Both the poems “Dover Beach” by Mathew Arnold and “Calm is all Nature as a Resting Wheel” by William Wordsworth; are nature poems written by poets of the Romantic era. Both poets use clear imagery to convey the theme of nature being magnificent, calm and peaceful. In the poem “Dover Beach” by Mathew Arnold, the poet starts off by describing the setting; a nightly scene at the seaside. He sets a scene of peace and beauty. He states that the sea is “calm” to give the reader a picture of how peaceful and quiet the seaside is at that very moment. He goes ahead to show us that the night is bright and “fair”which means it’s beautiful. The night looks beautiful because of the light that “gleams” and later goes and also because of the moon. The night air is so lovely that the poet doesn’t want to experience it alone and calls the lover to come and join him as he appreciates “the sweet night air”. Arnold describes the night air as “sweet.” He goes ahead to invite the lover to come and smell the fresh air and its sweetness and tranquillity. The poet uses “sweet is the night air” to show us how lovely and peaceful the night looks and smells when everywhere is filled with clean and smokeless air. The poet makes the seaside look like a cool and calm place on that night. Then, the poet uses “Listen” so as to shift the reader’s attention from visual imagery to auditory imagery. The beauty of nature can not only be seen, but can also be heard. The poet uses listen with an exclamation mark, to grab the reader’s attention, leaving the reader alert and eager to hear what he has to say.He goes ahead to mention the “grating roar of pebbles”which is a harsh sound produced by the pebbles as they are moved by the roaring waves that “draw ... ... middle of paper ... ..., nature removes his stresses of life and provides peace and comfort. The poet keeps repeating“home” to emphasize on the point that harmony can only be found and felt while at home.“oh! Leave me to myself,” the writer is all alone in nature with no one around to console him.When the writer is sad, he prefers isolating himself but being surrounded by nature which takes away his pain and sorrows. It is clear from the poem that the writer experiences some relief when surrounded by nature and it’s only in the beauty of nature the writer can spend time thinking about.The poet successfully conveys nature as harmonious In both poems “Dover Beach” by Mathew Arnold and “Calm is all Nature as a Resting Wheel” by William Wordsworth, both poets use explicit imagery to make their poems an incredible work of literary art, in conveying their appreciation and love for nature.
(ll. 19-24) Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This small
Have you noticed that we feel a powerful desire to connect with nature during difficult times? Whether we are injured, depressed or sad our inclination towards nature increases. Patients in hospitals recover faster if they are in a room with a nice view. Why? Because nature is so pure and powerful that can restore our spirits and heal our bodies and minds. The beauty of nature has been praised in art, poetry, writings and films. Naturalists, poets and writers have documented the many benefits of spending time in nature. "Calypso Borealis" by Muir and "I wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by Wordsworth are two great pieces of literature where our hearts are filled with an indescribable emotion. John Muir and William Wordsworth express their relationship
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.
Towering whitecaps hurl pebbles onto a moonlit beach like children splashing each other, as tall pale cliffs stand behind them watching; their white faces glitter with parental pride. Over and over, the shallow water is filled with the flying stones. From watching the tides, humans have thought that the Ocean is a living force due to its sudden tendency to wreak havoc with seemingly random storms. People that live today know better, and have come to appreciate the Ocean for all the benefit it provides. However, many poets do not see the sea the same as the rest of us. Take for example the poet and scholar Matthew Arnold. His poem Dover Beach is deeply pessimistic, and possesses negative
Matthew Arnold begins his poem by describing a calm, beautiful scene. Dover Beach is lying "fair" in the moonlight. It is high tide and he sees the coast of France and "the cliffs of England... / Gleaming and vast, out in the tranquil bay." All seems lovely and quiet. According to Baum's research on the date and circumstances of the poem, Arnold is probably speaking to his new bride (86) as he says, "Come to the window, sweet is the night-air." But gradually the reader senses a shifting of mood and tone. Now he describes the "line of spray... / Where the sea meets" the land as "moon-blanched." And the tide, tossing pebbles as it comes, is a "grating roar" with a "tremulous cadence slow" that "bring[s] / The eternal note of sadness in." This melancholy mood grows deeper as he thinks of man's long span of history-- "The turbid ebb and flow / of human misery."
Bryant took advantage of the freedom given through the Romantic era that allowing him to be creative reasoning and expressed deep emotion through his writings. According to Muller, “Bryant combined simplicity and emotion with careful observation of the world of nature.” (110) Greatly influenced by the British writer Wordsworth, Bryant’s poems established simplicity and literary smoothness into a flawless and effortlessly communicated theme of nature. Bryant’s poem, To a Waterfowl, follows the guidelines of romanticism depicting the relationship between man and nature with simple language and imagery. The poem displays the graceful flight of a waterfowl making a journey through the wetlands to arrive at a predetermined destination before the seasons change. Bryant describes a beautiful scenery using imagery throughout the poem. “Whither, 'midst falling dew, while glow the heavens with the last steps of day, far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue, thy solitary way?” (Sturges, 26) The first stanza introduces the setting of the poem around some sort of body of water and gives detail of the approaching sunset. Bryant’s extensive use of imagery shows his eye for detail and love and respect to the environment around him. Also prominent in the poem is the fragile relationship between man and nature. The speaker in the poem goes
Conversely, Walt Whitman proposes that nature is there to enrich a man’s life and is there to serve man. Whitman explores this in his poem, “Give Me the Splendid, Silent Sun.”Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev’d, recluse by myself, for my own ears only;/ Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities!” Whitman proposes that nature is a safe space for the man to enjoy life and be free. This is wildly different than London’s idea of nature where nature is Law and is
The poem “The Lake Isle of Innesfree” by William Bulter Yeats can be defined in so many ways. However, the theme of the poem is ‘I desire an ideal place where I will find peace and happiness.’ The theme of peace in nature is shown vividly throughout the poem. To describe this theme, Yeats uses rhyme, tone, imagery, alliteration and metaphor to illustrate his desire of leaving the dismal city and finding peace in nature.
All in all, throughout all the history of American poetry, we can easily find numerous poems concerning nature from different angles, for nature will never betray a nature-loving heart just as William Wordsworth says.
Wordsworth and Hopkins both present the reader with a poem conveying the theme of nature. Nature in its variety be it from something as simple as streaked or multicolored skies, long fields and valleys, to things more complex like animals, are all gifts we take for granted. Some never realize the truth of what they are missing by keeping themselves indoors fixating on the loneliness and vacancy of their lives and not on what beauty currently surrounds them. Others tend to relate themselves more to the fact that these lovely gifts are from God and should be praised because of the way his gifts have uplifted our human spirit. Each writer gives us their own ideals as how to find and appreciate nature’s true gifts.
In William Wordsworth’s poems, the role of nature plays a more reassuring and pivotal r ole within them. To Wordsworth’s poetry, interacting with nature represents the forces of the natural world. Throughout the three poems, Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey, and Michael, which will be discussed in this essay, nature is seen prominently as an everlasting- individual figure, which gives his audience as well as Wordsworth, himself, a sense of console. In all three poems, Wordsworth views nature and human beings as complementary elements of a sum of a whole, recognizing that humans are a sum of nature. Therefore, looking at the world as a soothing being of which he is a part of, Wordsworth looks at nature and sees the benevolence of the divinity aspects behind them. For Wordsworth, the world itself, in all its glory, can be a place of suffering, which surely occurs within the world; Wordsworth is still comforted with the belief that all things happen by the hands of the divinity and the just and divine order of nature, itself.
Nature inspires Wordsworth poetically. Nature gives a landscape of seclusion that implies a deepening of the mood of seclusion in Wordsworth's mind.
The poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth is about the poet’s mental journey in nature where he remembers the daffodils that give him joy when he is lonely and bored. The poet is overwhelmed by nature’s beauty where he thought of it while lying alone on his couch. The poem shows the relationship between nature and the poet, and how nature’s motion and beauty influences the poet’s feelings and behaviors for the good. Moreover, the process that the speaker goes through is recollected that shows that he isolated from society, and is mentally in nature while he is physically lying on his couch. Therefore, William Wordsworth uses figurative language and syntax and form throughout the poem to express to the readers the peace and beauty of nature, and to symbolize the adventures that occurred in his mental journey.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
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.