Pioneers of Imagery: William Wordsworth and John Constable

In any form of art, some of the most valuable skills to posses are a keen eye to detail and a great sense of accurate depiction. Whether it is a poem or a painting, throughout (art) history audiences have witnessed various talents that show strength in description and depiction, either through words on paper, or a brush on canvas. Two pioneers of such imagery, although showing diverse types of projects, are William Wordsworth and John Constable. Wordsworth, a famous poet known for many popular poems during the romanticism era, shows the audience his beautifully descriptive wordplay no purer than that in his conversation-style poem known as “Tintern Abbey”. While although an inferior poet to Wordsworth, John Constable was a talented English romantic painter, best known for his detailed paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home. Although Wordsworth and Constable contrast in numerous ways, both share a bond with nature and a great love for depicting it.

William Wordsworth, a prized English romantic poet, was known for various talents and works ranging from poems to his own theatrical plays. While all of Wordsworth’s art showed his range of talents, one blank verse poem referred to as “Tintern Abbey” showed his way of using beautiful wordplay and imagery to depict a nature scene that makes the audience feel as if they have lived in this very place their whole life. Wordsworth begins the poem informing the audience he has not seen this said place for five years, and is beginning to feel the serenity that this place has brought him in the past. He takes the audience through the “quiet of the sky” and paints a mental picture of clumped orchids “with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue”. He writes about ...

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...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.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bailey, Anthony. John Constable: A Kingdom of his Own. 2nd. London: 2007. Print.

Parkinson, Ronald. John Constable: The Man and His Art. London: V & A, 1998. 9. Print.

Thornes, John E. John Constable's Skies. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press, 1999. 51-56. Print.