Explain the relevance of the
concluding portion of “Tintern Abbey” with close textual references to support
your argument.
Answer: In the concluding
portion of the poem Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth
pays a glowing tribute to his sister Dorothy. His feeling of love for Nature is
combined with a feeling of tenderness for Dorothy. “Nature”, he says, “never
did betray the heart that loved her.” He advises Dorothy to submit herself
completely to natural influences because Nature has a purifying, ennobling and
elevating effect on man and leads him from joy to joy. He asks her to let the
breeze blow freely against her cheek and the moon shine freely on her brow. He
calls himself a worshipper of Nature and urges Dorothy to develop an intimacy
with Nature because the sweet – memories of this intimacy with Nature will be
a comfort to her in the misfortunes and troubles of life.
The concluding portion of the poem indicates that nature has brought both the poet and his sister together, providing a shared experience linking them together. So, if he dies she will still have access to him through this shared mind or shared experience, highlighting the immortality of both the soul and nature. However it may not only be the immortality of nature the poet wants to bring to light.
