–In what sense does “Tintern Abbey” offer readers a “religion of nature”? What are some of the specific ways in which nature works as a substitute for traditional religion?
–Why do you think Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title? What is the significance of this poem’s full titile?
–In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey,” the speaker turns to his “dear friend.” Who is this friend and what role does he/she play in the poem?
–“Composed upon Westminster Bridge” and “The World Is Too Much with Us” are both sonnets. Why do you think a poet might choose to work with such a highly structured form?
–Describe some of the ways in which Wordsworth’s poetry conforms to some of the features of Romanticism that we’ve discussed. What evidence can you find to illustrate this?
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In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey,” the speaker turns to his “dear friend.” Who is this friend and what role does he/she play in the poem?
The speaker’s “dear friend” is his sister which is stated in line 121 (“My dear, dear Sister!”). Throughout the poem, the speaker has been reminiscing his time at this place and how it’s importance. The speaker wants to share with her his adoration for Nature. He also states in this final stanza that she (the sister) will never forget this place and like him, will find it a place of escape in both reality and memory. The speaker wants his sister to remember everything that he has told her of his paradise. Thus the place is important because it is giving the same gift it gave to him to her.
Often we simply need to take a step back and be present, with whatever is around us, with whatever is going on in our lives; and appreciate that that is the reality of things. Nature does so effectively, and consistently; humans struggle because of social constructs they’ve created, motivated by fear.
“Tintern Abbey” or any natural landscape, if carefully observed, without judgement [therefore with an open mind], can teach us about how the system of life works. And therefore, how branches of such system, like traditional religion, were born. Observe nyc streets at 8:40am or 5:10pm; cars are moving, people are moving; they all have the same objective: to survive. In the same way cars and people move through the streets to go to work, work, and bring the food back home; so do erythrocytes travel through veins and arteries to transport oxygen to our tissues; and so do the bees when they transport pollen from plant to plan to enable them to reproduce. All this happens so harmoniously in nature.
We simply need to let the “quietness and beauty” of nature sink in, so that no “evil tongues/ Rash judgments.. No all/ The dreary intercourse of daily life../ Shall disturb/ Our cheerful faith.” Traditional religion, for thousands of years, has tried to teach man what nature teaches us everyday, given we are open to take such lessons. Why would we want to slaughter an elephant if we don’t like anyone to slaughter us? That’s something we can understand just by observing nature and empathizing with it; yet it had to be written in the Bible, Quran, and the Bhagavad Gita for people to believe in it. This happens because most of humanity leaves in the world without, and doesn’t realize that the real change is made by the world within.
–Why do you think Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title? What is the significance of this poem’s full title?
Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title to show that the location and the date of his visit greatly influenced his perspective on the world and inspired him to write a poem about it. This is because throughout the poem, the speaker reflects on how his revisit to his childhood place made him become more appreciative of nature, and the simple surroundings in which he was raised in. As he sees the woods near the Abbey, the speaker has flashbacks of himself as a child wandering through these woods and being happy. The sub-title, “On Revisiting the Banks of Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798,” is significant here because the speaker is now looking back at these childhood memories, with the realization that being surrounded by nature, raised him to be more sincere, kind, and empathetic towards others. However, now he is an adult and his surroundings are distanced away from the wilderness of nature and he notices that adults around him are not as sincere or joyful in their daily-life. The poem’s full title, thus signifies that the place where he was raised, is now seen as almost like holy or blessed. As a child he never thought of these surrounding as special, yet as an adult, he appreciates them, “with warmer love-oh! With far deeper zeal /Of holier love”(155). This quote shows that he is now attached to the Tintern Abbey more than ever because of the strong impact it continues to have on his character and the aspects that he treasures.
This poem is also similar to Marcel Proust’s novel, In Search of Lost Time, because in this novel, Proust writes about a visit to his childhood house and after he tries a madeleine cookie, he remembers very detailed moments of his life as a kid. Similarly to Wordsworth, Proust misses these childhood memories because he grew up away from the city, was surrounded by nature, and this experience helped to shape his character as well .
–Why do you think Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title? What is the significance of this poem’s full title?
“Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” is the title of the poem. This title does not tell the readers exactly what’s the poem is about. It just infers that Wordsworth was taking a walk and suddenly came out with this poem, something spontaneous.
“On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798” is the subtitle of the poem. The word “Revisiting” tells the readers a lot of things about this poem. By this word we can infer that Wordsworth evokes memories of the landscape in this poem. That he will describe his feelings and experiences about this landscape throughout his writing, and compare the first time with the last time he went.
Describe some of the ways in which Wordsworth’s poetry conforms to some of the features of Romanticism that we’ve discussed. What evidence can you find to illustrate this?
The poem starts off establishing the romantic path Wordsworth was taking. He starts off talking about the “five summers”, the country side is quite sunny and usually has long “winters” as well. Wordsworth also comments about “mountain-springs with a soft inland-murmur.” The first few lines of the poem basically gives away the fact that this is a romantic poem which Wordsworth was talking about. The subtitle also gives away that he is talking about the countryside. “the banks of the Wye” is a river situated in England.
Another evidence of Wordsworth’s romanticism can be found in his portrayal and mentioning of the “Hermit”. Hermits usually dwell outside of a city in rural areas. The whole poem is a romantic’s paradise.
In what sense does “Tintern Abbey” offer readers a “religion of nature”? What are some of the specific ways in which nature works as a substitute for traditional religion?
“Tintern Abbey” offer readers a “religion of nature” by using the location as his encountering of God. This pasture surrounded by “groves and copses” and pastures serves as his comfort, he realizes this fairly recently as 5 years before this re-visitation, it was all about ‘animal pleasure’ but now has become his place of worship. Nature works as a substitute for traditional religion because the presence of being surrounded by the meadows, woods, and mountains can be comparable to feeling closer to God and in an enlightened state.
Why do you think Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title? What is the significance of this poem’s full titile?
Title is something authors use to let the auidence know something that they wanted them to know before the reading. Or an insight on the text to follow. Wordsworth gives his poem a really percise tittle, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey”. To answer this question of why he did this, we must look at how he defines poetry in general. Wordsworht defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its orgin from emotion recollected in tranquility. According to him poetry isn’t something you think long and hard about, there aren’t any formulas, but its this overflow of emotions that hits you in the moment. Thus, he wanted his audience to know this poem was spontaneous, he was few miles above tintern abbey when it hit him. That he wasn’t sitting down on his desk thinking about specific pattern, when he composed these lines, he was in the moment, one with nature and he expressed his averwhelimg emotions at that time into words.
–Why do you think Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title? What is the significance of this poem’s full title?
William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey: On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798” has a precise and detailed subtitle. I think the author wants to emphasize the theme of the poem. He also wants to show the meaning of a poetry; it is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling. When the words come to his head, he writes it down. The significance of this poem’s full title is that it is like a preface to the reader. We know the setting of the poem by looking at the title. Also, we know that that is not his first time visiting Tintern Abbey, he is revisiting. This poem is about memory, instead of the experience of the visiting.
I agree with Xuiling. Wordsworth desire to sub-title his poems with an exact location indicates the place where he got his inspiration. Thus, the site retains more relevant affection to him over any other destinations; at the same time, it does indicate an existence of a spectacle that he admired the most. Since it was the ruins of an old cathedral, the place contains a certain feel of history embarked upon millennium of events and styles that nonetheless inspired Wordsworth imagination and memories of the life in the past.
–In what sense does “Tintern Abbey” offer readers a “religion of nature”? What are some of the specific ways in which nature works as a substitute for traditional religion?
“Tinern Abbey” offer readers a “religion of nature” through the idea of pantheism or belief that reality is identical to divinity. Religion in theory offers worshippers a haven for comfort from the external forces that impede a regular person’s life. For the narrator, the few miles above Tintern Abbey became a place for him to feel connected to a greater power, and where he can take off the unknown burden off his shoulders in which the city-life had placed upon him.
The ties to nature in this poem were apparent with the many descriptive words to describe the grassy environment. The experience of visiting since his last presence became an epiphany for him because he realized this place was more than just a countryside. It became an environment that emotionally cleansed him as well as pass his legacy and realization to his younger sister. All this is seemingly related to nature because on paper, they both have similar goals and effects.
In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey”, the speaker turns to his “Dear Friend” and the speaker friend is his sister. She played a very significant role in this poem because before he visited Tintern Abbey alone and have different experience and memories, but, now, he visited Tintern Abbey with his sister, which is going to help him in having different experience of nature and the time he enjoyed with his Sister. And overall, We can say that he enjoyed going to Tintern Abbey with his family member which gives him new experience and memories.
In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey,” the speaker turns to his “dear friend.” Who is this friend and what role does he/she play in the poem?
In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey” the speaker turn to his “dear friend” and he’s referring to his dear sister Dorothy. She played important role in the poem and she the main reason why he feel so connected to the nature. Before he visits there alone and he has different memories but he is bringing up his sister and now he has different feeling and memories that he is going to hold for his rest of life.
In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey,” the speaker turns to his “dear friend.” Who is this friend and what role does he/she play in the poem?
In the final portion of “Tintern Abbey”, the speaker turns to his “Dear Friend” and the speaker’s dear friend is his sister who was motioned in line 121. The speakers sister played a significant role in this poem as before this visit he visited Tintern Abbey alone and is now having a different experience as he is with his sister. Being with his sister has helped the speaker have a different experience with nature.
–In what sense does “Tintern Abbey” offer readers a “religion of nature”? What are some of the specific ways in which nature works as a substitute for traditional religion?
Throughout the story, Wordsworth is constantly reminiscing of the past in which there was so much beauty within it. He believed it was more than just what had met the eye and that there was a spiritual aspect of it. There was a healing property to it for him, which brought him happiness and brought back pleasant memories. Similar to believing in a higher spiritual being for this kind of properties.