Romanticism lasted roughly half a century throughout Europe and in the Americas. It covers many different styles and subject matters, most notably the subject of nature, as seen with William Wordsworth. In “Romantic Poets and Their Successors,” the author gives two possible reasons for the shift towards a focus in nature during this time period. The first explanation is that nature’s beauty began to seem more scarce and valuable due to the emergence of factories and industrialization during the Industrial Revolution. This became a way to capture the fading view of nature that the people had. The second explanation for this new embracing of nature was that it was viewed as a break from absolute monarchies. The wildness of nature was seen as a type of freedom of expression that would replace the strict regulations of the time.
Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” opens as the speaker recalls memories from five earlier of the same location. The full title of the poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798.” For a poem with such a specific title, Wordsworth does not describe the abbey; the poem is more of a reflection on his own life and memories. Wordsworth tries to describe the feelings which nature have brought him to his sister; he uses repetition when he refers to her as “My dear, dear Friend” (Wordsworth 116) and “My dear, dear Sister” (Wordsworth 121). While “Tintern Abbey” is a much longer poem, “The World Is Too Much with Us” is a sonnet. In this sonnet, Wordsworth says that people are too consumed in material things such as “getting and spending” (Wordsworth 2), and do not appreciate nature. This is an interesting observation for that time period, and it can still be applied today. In line three, Wordsworth capitalizes Nature, seeming to personify it showing its importance.
Compared to William Wordsworth, Rosalia de Castro’s poems are much shorter and seem to have simpler forms. De Castro even says that her form is strange in the opening lines of “You will say about these verses, and it’s true”, “that they have a strange, unusual harmony, / that in them ideas wanly glow” (de Castro 2). She also does not have as strong an emphasis on nature as Wordsworth does, but still has many romantic themes in her poetry. “Her intention, she said, was ‘to evoke all the splendor, and the sudden flashes of beauty, that emanate from every custom and thought of a people who have often been called stupid and sometimes judged insensitive or unfamiliar with refined poetry’” (Norton Anthology 505).
I also noticed how Wordsworth seldom described the abbey in “Tintern Abbey.” The poem was more of a nostalgic memoir to the narrator’s past and his childhood memories with his “dear, dear sister.” Wordsworth constantly described nature as a source of aesthetic pleasure and emphasizes the joyous emotions connected with nature. There are dramatic shifts in tone when he juxtaposes the narrator’s carefree childhood with the melancholic life the narrator currently lives. This is a parallel to Wordsworth’s message that humans have destroyed nature with the Industrial Revolution and that this transformation is permanent. It is interesting to note that these messages still are applicable in modern day and how humans associate memories with specific locations.
I enjoyed reading de Castro’s poems, especially “You will say about these verses, and it’s true.” The poem is just a description of her writing style and I was able to better understand her other poems as well. She mentions how the entire poem resembles a leaf falling from a tree and I found those lines powerful. I agree with you in that de Castro discusses more about her reflective thoughts instead of the aesthetics of nature. However, just like Wordsworth and others Romantic poems, whenever she mentions nature, the tone is tranquil and her writing format is more fluid, which gives the reader a timeless sense.
William Wordsworth believes that the best poetry is created by “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (323). This holds true for his poem “Tintern Abbey;” his emotions are directly stated and subtly supported through certain lines. He opens the poem “Five years have past; five summers, with the length/Of five long winters! and again I hear/These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs/With a soft inland murmur. — Once again” (Wordsworth 351). Repetition is a strong element in these lines. Immediately from the beginning, Wordsworth reveals that he has visited this place before. He feels so strongly that the reader must know this that he emphasizes by repeating “again” constantly. This is done because Wordsworth later addresses his growth in understanding from his previous visit. While he fell in love with nature before, he has come to realize that he merely loved it on the surface level of how pretty everything is. However, he is now able to grasp at the interconnectivity of the forces of nature. In addition, the first line not only tells the length of time that has passed, but also inadvertently shows the way he has felt during those “five long winters.” The line drags on, just like how those years felt to him. The cyclic repetition of “five” runs a parallel with the shifting of the seasons, the same thing repeating itself year after year.