Final Paper In William Wordsworth’s poem ‘Strange fits of passion have I known’ he illustrates the Romantic view of nature and beautifully depicts the relationship between humans and nature. He uses a simple ballad form to relate the relationship between humanity and the natural world as one acting upon the other. He uses this simple dictation in his description of nature, which is real and concrete, allowing nature to be relatable to the reader, giving the poem a stronger impact on the concept of nature inspiring the mind. The poem begins with the narrator remembering a strange occurrence or “fits of passion”. This occurrence was one of great emotion that ultimately takes place in the last stanzas of the poem when the moon falls out of the sky and kills his lover Lucy. His connection with nature leads him to believe that such was possible. For Wordsworth presenting the Romantic ideals of nature was groundbreaking. Before this “strange fits of passion” takes place, Wordsworth sets the tone of the poem by stating that the narrator is unsure about telling the reader this occurrence. “I will dare to tell but in the lover’s ear alone”. He believes that only a lover or another in his same position would be able to understand what he actually encounters. The poem continues as the speaker takes a moment to reflect on the beauty of his lover Lucy as being “rose fresh is June”. His recollection of the evening’s events continues as he travels on horseback to Lucy’s cottage on top of the hill. He describes the journey and movement of the horse as it takes every step. The narrator on his horse “with quickening pace” traveled on “those paths so dear to him”. The meter is constant like the steady pace of the horse’s hooves against the ground. As he nears the cottage the horse quickens, as does the rhythm of the poem. The landscape through which the horse and Wordsworth travel is realistic. This nature such as “leas”, “orchard-plots” and “hills” are all tangible and not just a vivid idea of nature. The narrator was actually experiencing this physical nature, as it is also possible for the reader to go out into the world and witness these sources of nature. The moon is constituently referenced to throughout the poem and the narrator cannot take his eyes off it. He is associating the moon with Lucy because the moon is shining above where she is present. This proves that by experiencing nature humans can have certain feelings that become associated with that source of nature. Mental associations are formed with the natural world. It seems as though the moon has him in a trace-like state in which he is thinking about Lucy. Wordsworth mentions “in one of these sweet dreams I slept, kind nature’s gentlest boon”, which proves the narrator’s trace-like or daydreaming state of mind that is induced by starting at the moon. Nature’s gift is the ability to captivate the mind and send it on a journey of passion. As the narrator approaches Lucy’s cottage it seems as though the moon is slowly descending upon her, but in reality the narrator has just climbed the hill so the moon appears to be moving slowly down as he moves up. Wordsworth gives no motion to the moon and the only motion that takes place in the poem is that of narrator traveling along the path. His horse continued on until “ when down behind the cottage roof, at one, the bright moon dropped”. This shocking event awoken him from his daydream and caused a panic in him. He believed the moon came crashing down on Lucy, killing her. Nature caused these emotions in him such as nature can cause all different kinds of emotions in humans. Upon thinking about the death of Lucy all sorts of emotions build up inside of him. It is expected that the moon did not kill Lucy but nature did cause him to think this way. The narrator interacts with nature through the poem making it something that is tangible and real. The interaction between nature and humanity is possible in this world and can ultimately teach one more about the inner self. These were teachings from the Romantic era of literature in which Wordsworth believed and made present through his poetry. His view of nature was far from abstract and instead he wrote about nature in a manner which people could interact with and associate their emotions. Nature is not a separate entity from the self, instead it can teach a person about the self. The powerful dynamic between human emotions and nature are demonstrated very clearly in this poem. Through the poem ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a tour’, Wordsworth presents the memories that are created through admiring nature and the restorative qualities or “tranquil restorations” these emotions develop. He looks back on the past five years that have gone by since his first visit to Tintern Abbey remembering how much the memory of this scene meant to him and their impacts on his life. He relied on these memories to keep him sane from “the din of towns and cities”. They then led him to a blessed and spiritual meditative state. Wordsworth’s Romantic views of nature are even more evident in this poem because he presents his personal responses to show his impressions, the memory of what he felt before, and the thought of how he will look back on this moment in the future. The poem serves as a manifesto for Romantic poetry by using real language and scenes of everyday life to create a state of deep sensation. Wordsworth begins by describing the “beauteous forms” or memories of this place. The poet is shifting his attention from the place he is present to recapitulate his memories of it and the effects these memories have on his emotions. In a sense he is having a flashback in which he is reliving the emotions he felt during the past five years through witnessing nature. Man and nature are essentially meant to interact and nature can mirror the mind of man. He continues to describe that these memories are forever present to him such as a “landscape is to a bind man’s eye”. This comparison gives a reality to the importance of how the vivid imagines of nature drive his life and essentially they are forever a part of him. He felt somehow the memories were present in his “blood” and “felt in his heart”. They cannot be separated from the body such as the blood is essential for the body thrive. Though this Wordsworth is showing the effects of nature over time on the human body and soul. The “beauteous forms" comforted him when he was "lonely" or cooped up in the "din", of "towns and cities". These memories created a sense of calm or “tranquility” inside his soul that enabled him to reflect on his feelings of “unremembered pleasure” or the small insignificant things in life that have impacted him. This sense of calm granted him the time to restore and give thought to his life, making him a better man morally and ethically. This describes a transformation within the self. When he is not interacting in nature he is still able to be reach this “tranquility” by just reflecting on nature. This relates back to the Romantic idea that nature and human emotions are intertwined and nature can teach one about the self, creating a being that is more conscience of their inner selves and actions. The key to virtue for Wordsworth is to remember these memories of nature. The memories of the beauteous forms also give Wordsworth another gift that was even more "sublime," so lofty, grand, and exalted as to almost change his life spiritually. Sublime refers to the gift breaking all of the rules or norms of society by transporting people to a place they have never been before. It is an experience that is overwhelming and full of awe. This creates a blessed mood inside him that makes the weight of the world seem lighter. His emotions lead him to an out of body experience that is like no other. He begins to talk about his physical body as being suspended and even his blood almost stopping in his veins, “even the motion of our human blood almost suspended”. The memories of nature bring him to this spiritually high level or trance like state in which his body is moving in the direction of being divine. The concept of becoming divine is almost abstract in manner. He is able to experience this kind of meditative trance just from recalling the "beauteous forms" of nature. These images make him exceed the state of normal human life and “become a living soul” or angel. The “eye” is now “quiet by the power of harmony and deep power of joy”. He is no longer aware of his immediate and physical surrounding because of his meditative state. Now that he is not distracted by his surroundings, he is able to "see into the life of things," or see things as they really are figuring out how everything is interconnected in ways that cannot always be put into words. The theme of vision is a huge aspect of this poem. The poem is mostly about the speaker’s ability to compare what he sees in nature to his memory. This theme of vision was first presented when comparing “blind man’s eye” to the images of nature in this mind. The image of an eye then is used to describe the trance like state in enters. Eyes here are used to as windows to the mind, which nature opens when experienced. This is the result of natures powerful impact on humans. Nature allows him to first be comforted in times of need, creating a tranquil being that then can reflect on all asset of life. This “tranquility” leads him to a trance like state in which spiritually everything can be seen more vividly. And more than succor, more than simple tranquility, his communions with the beautiful forms of the natural world have brought him to a kind of ecstasy, a higher state of being. The idea of nature affecting someone to this degree is mind blowing. Wordsworth believes the memories of nature enables people to exceed the state of normal human life and move towards the direction of being divine. For Wordsworth nature itself does not move people, it is the memories of nature that creates this spiritual trace like state of being divine. William Blake is also a great poet of the Romantic era who emphasized the importance of nature and the imagination as an expressions of a much deeper reality. His ideas go beyond the basic ways of describing reality, indicating that there is a deeper entity in nature that sparks the imagination to flourish. In Blake’s poem ‘The Sick Rose’, he uses contrasting images in nature to discuss the issues of the nature of sexuality and love. This poem is part of Blake’s Songs of Experience, which explores the darker side associated with Romanticism. The poem opens up with stating, “O Rose, thou art sick”. The rose is essentially sick but taken literally this does not make sense because a rose does not have feelings and would not know if it was sick or even dying. Figuratively sickness is not a physical aliment but instead a mental or emotional pain. Red is the dominant color of roses. This color is also references later in the poem, “crimson bed of joy”. The symbolism of the red rose and the “crimson bed” contrast each other. The red rose is meant to be a beautiful thing or being then when contaminated in the “crimson bed” it is no longer beautiful and pure. Roses are often associated with women because of their beauty. Since roses cannot feel physical or mental sickness, it can be assumed the rose represents a woman. The rose or woman faces sickness because of an “invisible worm” that flies into her “bed of crimson joy” and destroys her with “his dark secret love”. This seems like a ridiculous notion that a worm can fly and destroy a rose with only a secret. The status of the “bed” is ambiguous and it could possible just be the place where the rose lays. It is not known for sure. The image of the beautiful rose contrasts greatly with the nature of the dirty and grotesque worm. These contrasting ideas create empathy for the rose. Some event occurred in which the worm causes the rose or woman to become ill and destroyed by love. It is a strange notion that love is causing death because love is usually associated with joyous life. The worm has contaminated the rose. Blake does not openly state why this has occurred and leaves many questions left for the reader to decipher. It can be inferred that the worm has committed some form of sexual or emotional harm to the rose. The sexual nature can be seen in the tone, meter and imagery of the poem. There is a rhythmic pace and the stanzas draw the reader forward to the climatic end in which the “dark secret love does thy life destroy”. The darkness of the poem is shown throughout Blake’s use of vocabulary such as the word “sick”, “night” and “howling storm”. It is obvious for his use of language and tone that this “secret love” is something sinful and sexual. The idea of a dark male worm destroying the beautiful rose in her “bed of crimson joy” is unsettling. The exact nature of this sexual harm is left unclear in the poem. By doing this, Blake wants the reader to interpret his work, and draw their own conclusions while reflecting upon them. This allows the reader to take part in the poem and react. The unsettling issue that is left unanswered is the idea that love can consume and destroy a life. Love is usually presented in a positive manner and not as a violent entity. This violence is sexual such as a rape. The line “has found in thy bed of crimson joy” screams forced entry or sex without consent. “Crimson” also could relate to the disturbing image of blood during intercourse. Through this poem Blake presents the thought-provoking themes of sexual, emotional harm and the nature of love. The tone of Elizabeth Bishops poem ‘Sestina’ is very melancholy, as reflected in the “rain” present first line of the poem and the “tears” seen throughout. The title of the poem relates to the style in which it is written. Sestina poems contain 39 lines in six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a three-line stanza called a tornada. The words that each line of the first stanza are used as line endings in each of the following stanzas, rotated in a set pattern. The words that Bishop ends each stanza resonate through the poem. The repeating pattern of the words: almanac, stove, house, child, tears, grandmother, suggest that the grandmother and the child are trapped in a continuous vicious annual circle of sadness. The weaving pattern of repeated words provides a distinct contrast and reflection upon the distant relationship between the characters. The poem creates an image of a real world, with no abstract ideas. Instead there is a scene of a grandmother and child. Little action is taken place between the grandmother and child besides having tea and drawling. The first stanzas focus on the grandmother and her emotions. “September rain” is falling on the house just as the grandmother’s “equinoctial tears” also beat down upon the house”. These mentioning of tears give away the sadness in the grandmother. At the start of the poem, the grandmother is telling jokes and laughing to hide her tears. The grandmother may pretend to be happy in order to maintain stability and provide shelter but she is unable to hide these feelings and the child can feel the presence of this sadness. When Bishop presents the child's perception of the teakettle in the third stanza, the language becomes more urgent and playful. The teakettle produces "tears" that "dance." The almanac is “birdlike” and hovers. The child comes forth in the poem, first through his or her perceptions of the grandmother and then through his or her drawing. The child draws a “rigid house and a winding pathway” with a man who has “buttons like tears”. There is a presence of tears in the child’s drawing. The cause of the characters' sadness is never stated but the man whom the child draws may suggest that someone, the grandfather or perhaps the child's father, has passed away or left. Through the use of more playful language when describing the child, it can be inferred that the child has been about to deal with this loss or sadness more then his or her grandmother. The child’s mind turns the almanac into a bird, gives speech to the stove and almanac. This may be the child’s way of coping with the sorrow that has been cast upon the family. The child seems to have a different manner of dealing with her emotions through the expression of art. The words house, almanac and stove become more than just objects in the poem. They have a deeper meaning that helps to identify the emotions of the characters. The atmosphere of the “house” at the end of the poem is more tense then the beginning. It seems to be growing more rigid. The stove brings warmth to the grandmother in this cold and rainy setting. An almanac is an annual publication of information that relates to weather, such as farmers planting calendars and tide tables. The word almanac brings about the idea of a cycle of nature; possibly such as the cycle of sadness the grandmother seems to be stuck in. In the poem the almanac speaks, saying, “I know what I know”. It seems as if the grandmother uses the almanac as a guide to tell her what she knows or what to do with her life. The almanac seems to act as a record of this horrible event that will not go away. The grandmother is continuously present in this repeated cycle of life, which is difficult to break away from the almanac and cope with her feelings. Instead she hides them in order to be strong for her grandson or granddaughter. Her sadness will continue as indicated by the final three lines, “Time to plant tears” again stated by the almanac. By planting tears the sadness will continue to grow just as a planted seed with grow. The final two lines of the poem “the grandmother sings to the marvelous stove and the child draws another inscrutable house” indicate that the occurrence in the poem will happen again or will continue to occur as a repeated action. This repetition symbolizes that repressed feeling will continuously taunt you until you comfort your feelings. Bishop shows the reader the effect of not dealing with loss through the character of the grandmother. She will forever live a life guided by the sadness of the almanac until she confronts her feelings. The style and symbolism of the poem help to prove Bishop’s thoughts of the repetition and emotions associated with concealing feelings.