Divinity in It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

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Divinity in It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries the style of poetry changed drastically. Poets shifted their focus away from the audience and concentrated on the internal self. This created the expressive, lyric poetry we now recognize as typical of Romanticism. William Wordsworth is one of the most famous of the Romantics, as well as author of "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free." Written in 1807 after a trip to France to visit his daughter, "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free" focuses on Wordsworth's view of nature and childhood as essentially divine.

Written as a Petrarchan sonnet, "It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free" can be divided into two parts, an octet and a sestet. The octet introduces the reader to Wordsworth's pantheistic view of nature. His reference to "the mighty Being" (6) may be interpreted as: God, nature, or God manifested throughout nature, which exemplifies pantheism. Divinity is evident in God, and in nature through three main qualities: power, eternity and perfection. In "It Is ...

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