Trace
the gradual development of Wordsworth’s attitude to nature as recorded in
‘Tintern Abbey’.
Or
Discuss the three stages of Wordsworth’s growth as a poet of nature as recorded
in Tintern Abbey’.
Or
Bring out some of the autobiographical elements in ‘Tintern
Abbey’.
Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ is a personal, autobiographical poem. Contemplating the landscape of the Wye, Wordsworth compares his more sensual perceptions when he was younger with his more thoughtful perceptions as an older man.
Having been gone from the Wye for five years, Wordsworth notes that during that absence, he would mentally return to the scene for "tranquil restoration" during "hours of weariness." Wordsworth returns to the Wye to experience its nature again. He believes that, like his experience five years prior, this new experience at the Wye will give him present and future joy:
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years.
From lines 65-111, Wordsworth describes the transition from his youthful experiences with nature to his more thoughtful perceptions later in life. When he was younger, he experienced nature primarily through the senses, somewhat passively:
Their colours and their forms, where then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
