ESPECIALLY INTERESTING RESPONSES FROM WEEK ONE, Posted Week 2

Jenna Reinhardt
The disagreement between the child and the narrator represents the conflict between the rational and the emotional.  The dispute over whether her deceased siblings continue to be a part of the family illustrates the contradictory ideals of the Enlightenment and Romantic periods in English Literature. The narrator represents the more rational, scientific principles while the young girl embodies the more emotional ideals of the Romantic Era. This young girl’s argument reaches beyond the rational and the scientific. She surpasses the logistics of death to a more emotional reality, one in which her family is still seven. The little girl’s argument represents a subconscious desire to reject the permanent separation of death and focus on the emotional ties between the living and deceased. While her siblings are undeniably deceased, she still believes them to be part of the family. Her constant use of “we” and “us” describe a continuing familial relationship between the living and deceased siblings. The emotional ties to her departed siblings endure in the face of cold rationality. Her emotions have become her reality, a reality in which her family is still seven. Her steadfast belief in this concept slowly undermines the narrator’s rationalism. He is so fixed in his rational certainty that he is unwilling to accept her purely emotional argument. The narrator’s inability to comprehend the girl’s belief casts him in a obstinate, adverse light.

Professor's reply: The feature in this response that I especially enjoyed was Jenna's observation of the pronouns "we" and "us" as suggesting continuity between the living and the dead negotiated by feeling and communicated through poetry--the discourse of emotions rather than logic.

Jonathan Cheng
I find it extremely interesting how the preface of Lyrical Ballads serves as a portal between two different time periods of artistic expression. I took special note as to how the quality of being “anti-theatrical” becomes manifest in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. It is William Wordsworth’s belief that the modern poet must write in “such a language arising out of repeated experience and regular feelings” (265). Wordsworth is trying to take art forms out of the hands of the aristocracy and the courts and into the minds of commoners, because it is their everyday experiences that comprise much of the art. This goes along with the anti-theatrical components of British Romanticism, as these false caricatures were created as forms of entertainment for, in most cases, those who could afford attending the theatre. Wordsworth tries to make poetry about “incidents and situations from common life” (264), because it puts emphasis on individual experiences in individual lives and tries to take the focus away from social and material concerns. These individual experiences can be found in Tintern Abbey in the form of what would be known as the Romantic Sublime. A sort of awe exists that Wordsworth claims can only be found in the serenity of nature, for it forces one to realize the meekness of the individual experience with respect to the grandness of the world.

Professor's response: I loved the way the "sort of awe" to which Jonathan referred to here spoke to the calming effect that Allison experienced reading Wordsworth (below). Perhaps the "meekness of the individual experience"--our unimportance within the history of the world--is a good antidote to over-aggressive individualism?

Allison M. Hawkins
Upon first reading William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” I was struck at how much it reminded me of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Both poems follow a chronological style and discuss different stages of life; however, I found “Tintern Abbey” more tranquil, while “Song of Myself” left me slightly disconcerted. In examining why this difference in feeling occurred after reading two seemingly similar poems, I discovered that I connected with Wordsworth on a level that I believe he wished his readers might. After discussing the six distinguishing characteristics of Romanticism in lecture this past week, Professor Saville noted the Romantic poets’ interest in writing for common humanity, rather than elite social classes. Wordsworth’s poem is permeated with diction that encompasses “all” and “we,” (Example: “We are laid asleep / In body, and become a living soul / …We see into the life of things”) signaling an effort to appear anything but pompous or arrogant. In Whitman’s style, there is a clear division throughout the poem between “I” (Whitman) and “you” (reader). Therefore, although upon first examination I found Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Whitman’s “Song of Myself” to be quite similar, the diction encompassing all members of humanity appealed more to me as a reader and I felt as though Wordsworth equally desired this unwritten connection between himself and his readers.

Professor's reply: I agree that sometimes Whitman's work seems self-promoting, but aside from the use of those plural pronouns (which Jenna also noticed above), what other poetic techniques can you find where Wordsworth suggests that he's creating a community of readers?

Alex Lambert
Wordsworth’s comparison between the pastoral imagery and youthfulness in “Tintern Abbey” comes together in the fifth movement. He says to Dorothy:
            May I behold in thee what I was once,
            My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,
            Knowing that Nature never did betray
            The heart that loved her; ‘tis her privilege,
            Through all the years of this our life, to lead
            From joy to joy (120-125).
Wordsworth’s speaker is pushing Dorothy toward a life spent admiring and existing in nature, for that life has been fulfilling for him; however, it is also his opportunity to relive his youth through her, for he describes Tintern Abbey as having changed greatly since he first came upon it. The poem combines two types of poem: that of pastoral, and of carpe diem. Through the underscoring of nature’s effect on one’s life, Wordsworth shows Dorothy that the enjoyment of the Abbey will bring her joy throughout her life. He presents also the importance of creating memories, since the moments spent in natural settings can be relived through memories. He says that the mind “shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,/ Thy memory be as a dwelling-place/ For all sweet sounds and harmonies” (140-142). Thus, what has already been lived can be relived through the use of memory. Wordsworth portrays the spending of time in nature as crucial, because without it, no such memories exist.

Professor's reply: I very much appreciate your emphasis on conserving and reliving the "lovely forms" through memory. Do you think poetry plays a special part in such reliving, different from, say, a journal entry, or a snap-shot? As you'll see, this becomes an especially interesting issue in the case of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Also, Alex, what exactly has changed according to the speaker? The Abbey, the Wye Valley, the speaker himself?

Maria Wieromiejczyk
‘We are Seven’ is a poem that tackles different types of knowledge, and compares the logical reasoning of the adult mind to the free and innocent mind of a child. This theme reminded me of William Blake’s poems, and the ways in which he contrasts ‘Innocence’ and ‘Experience’ because this idea also seemed prevalent in this poem.

The little girl clearly represents purity and innocence, shown by the way she is aligned with nature (‘She had a rustic, woodland air’ (Wordsworth  1798) as well as by her beauty (‘Her eyes were fair, and very fair –Her beauty made me glad’). Moreover the narrator instantly assumes she is naïve, and does not yet know the ways of the world, shown when he first introduces the girl to the reader: ‘A simple Child… What should it know of death’.

Experience is represented in this poem by the narrator. He represents logical thinking and reasoning, which in the post enlightenment era of poetry was exactly what Wordsworth was fighting against. He is unable to grasp the idea that the little girl still feels connected to her brothers and sisters despite the fact they are dead. To him a body that cannot move is forever gone, while to her there is something that remains: “Their graves are green, they may be seen”. Whilst her way of thinking is not logical, it is by no means less valuable. Wordsworth presents this little girl in the poem as innocent, yet she is by no means  naïve. She has lived through hardships, and experienced sadness, yet she still embodies a childhood purity and is not yet corrupted by the inability to believe in things which cannot be explained through logic and reasoning.

Professor's reply: The Blake comparison is a good one. Maria's distinction here between "innocence" and "naivety" are especially well chosen to illustrate the difference between kinds of absent knowledge: the first kind, the innocence that is the opposite of "knowing" (as in "a knowing smile," a nudge-nudge, wink-wink knowledge) seems to be what Wordsworth affirms in both "The Rainbow" and the "Immortality Ode."

Julie Chamberlin
Upon reading William Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads, my initial response was in disagreement with his assertion that true poetry must reflect upon “incidents and situations from common life” and do so “in a selection of language really used by men” (264) in order to achieve the pinnacle of its potential to convey knowledge and feelings. Common life and plain language are ambiguous statements, for the relative literate ability of the common people changes so drastically within the parameters of time and geography that language that might inspire one man might befuddle the next. John Dryden, whose words Wordsworth criticizes as coming from an era “accustomed to…gaudiness and inane phraseology” (264) argues in The Author’s Apology for Heroic Poetry and Heroic License that figurative language such as metaphors and hyperboles “used judiciously and placed in poetry as heightening and shadows are in painting, make the figure bolder, and cause it to stand off to sight” (Dryden, Norton Anthology Vol. C, 2130). Why then, if the chief attribute of a poet is his “greater promptness to think and feel without immediate external excitement,” (272) is it not natural that a poet should use elevated language to describe such inclinations that supersede the perceptions of the common man? The skeleton of Wordsworth’s argument that poetry should be accessible to the common man in order to achieve the greatest potential of spreading knowledge is sound; however, I question whether the use of ornamentation really detracts from that meaning or rather enhances it.

Professor's Response: Wordsworth seems to be negotiating between oppositions here, doesn't he? He wants to claim special abilities, yet work on behalf of ordinary men, and he wants to write poetry (by definition an aestheticized discourse), yet use ordinary language to do so. I love the way you call Wordsworth to account here, citing a choice passage of Dryden against him. Great! That said, perhaps it's possible to limit the degree to which one ornaments one's language without making it inaccessible?

Jasmine Lee
A stark contrast is portrayed between child and man in William Wordsworth’s poems of life and death. For the child, death isn’t something that is finite and sober, it is just another aspect of reality. The girl in “We Are Seven” explains that she interacts with her dead siblings as if they were still alive, an attitude that is not apparent (or at all similar) in “Slumber,” in which the main speaker consciously compares the vibrant youth to the somber death of the “babe.” These two poems deal with the goings-on of regular, humble people, and on a topic that doesn’t involve a king’s coronation or a stately funeral.

Professor's Response: Although there are no kings' coronations or stately funerals in these samples from Lyrical Ballads, I find a monumental quality in them that prevents them from becoming commonplace. I then ask myself where that monumental quality comes from?

Trent Starcevich
Was William Wordsworth a Platonist? There is ample evidence from the second stanza in "Tintern Abbey" that the beliefs Wordsworth espouses are not new at all, but rather, some of the oldest around. The belief in the powers of the "beauteous forms" (22) and the "passing into the purer mind" (29) are all straight from Plato's Theory of Forms. Further, in last stanza Wordsworth goes even further saying that "thy mind/Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms" (ll. 139-140). Wordsworth is simply taking the Platonic idea, that outside there exist the perfect and unchanging Forms of Things, and modifies it. The Forms do not exist outside of our perception, but can be found within nature. This is the central idea to Wordsworth's philosophy: that beauty can make us better, maybe even more, human.

Professor's Response: I applaud your hypothesis of a Platonic influence in Wordsworth--it's observant and convincing. I long for you to push on and ask what the poet does that philosopher doesn't do. For instance, Wordsworth seems far less committed to ideal forms than to very material, local environments which bear the mark of history. The effect seems to be to invite his reader to develop attachments to specific places, so that to read "Tintern Abbey" makes us feel we're investing emotionally in the English countryside of the Wye Valley. Perhaps one effect is to create a community of English readers, all tied to England, via this English literature? Does this mean that Englishness is primarily a feeling?