The Way Wordsworth and Heaney Present Nature and Rural Life in Their Poetry

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The Way Wordsworth and Heaney Present Nature and Rural Life in Their Poetry

Born 1770, in Cockermouth, William Wordsworth spent his early life and

many of his formative years attending a boys' school in Hawkshead, a

village in the Lake District. As can be seen in his poetry, the years

he spent living in these rural surroundings provided many of the

valuable experiences Wordsworth had as he grew up.

At the age of 17, Wordsworth moved south to study at Saint John's

College, University of Cambridge. Later, in 1790, two years after the

French Revolution had begun; he took a walking tour through France and

Switzerland on vacation. France obviously captivated Wordsworth's

attention, because a year later he made a return visit. This time he

met a French woman, named Annette Vallon, with whom he had an

illegitimate daughter.

As rivalry and conflict between England and France continued to grow,

Wordsworth made the decision to settle in Dorset with his sister,

Dorothy. There he met fellow poet and future colleague, Samuel Taylor

Coleridge. Three years on, Wordsworth and Dorothy moved again, this

time to Somerset, which was closer to Coleridge. This resulted in the

publication of 'Lyrical Ballads' in 1798, which was a joint collection

by Coleridge and Wordsworth.

A year later, William and Dorothy returned to their roots and moved to

Dove Cottage, Grasmere, where they could both share and revel in their

love of nature. Years later, after moving twice more, and getting

married, Wordsworth moved to Rydal Mount, where he spent the remainder

of his life, until 1850 when he died, aged 80.

Almost all of Wordsworth's poems share a common fac...

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... of his younger brother's death in the poem, "Mid-Term Break". This

poem finishes with a very matter-of-fact tone, with little or no

emotion,

"…..Snowdrops

And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him

For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,

He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.

No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year."

To conclude, we can see that Wordsworth's and Heaney's poetry shares

many similarities. Both poets explore the transition from childhood to

adulthood in depth, focusing on the factors which affect this journey.

In particular, they both concentrate on the relationship between the

natural world and a rural life and how influential it can be in the

formation of a person's character.

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