Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tintern Abbey and the Importance that Aesthetics has on Memories
This entire poem is about a return visit. Wordsworth was obviously here five years earlier like he states at the beginning of the poem: "five years have passed; five summers, with the length of five long winters! and again I hear these waters, rolling from their mountain-springs" Throughout the poem, Wordsworth mentions how the memory of this beautiful place has been with him whenever he has needed to recall these images of beauty. The importance of memories in this poem and to this poet is something that we saw a lot last week when discussing the "Lime Tree Bower". Reconnecting with the past allows Wordsworth and his readers to remove themselves from the hardships of this world, and the usage of memory as a motif in this poem is something not uncharacteristic of a lot of poets of this day. It makes you notice the extreme differences you see with this poem calling upon the beautiful memories to be had in this world with something like Bill McKibben's eaarth, which points out a much different colder reality about the planet we live on today. However, there aren't too many differences as McKibben calls upon memories in a different way, by exclaiming the planet we use to live on called "Earth" no longer exists, only memories of it do. I am excited to hear him speak.
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I like that Maryclurrr focuses on the idea of memories in this post. The idea that when one recalls a memory and returns to that moment in their subconscious, the aesthetics of the specific setting are highlighted in the mind, as if they were central to the moment all along. This concept aligns well with the ideas in Mckusick's essay on "Coleridge and the Economy of Nature". Mckusick recognizes how artists like Wordsworth and Coleridge chose their language carefully in the context of the human consciousness and the "forms of nature" that surround it at any particular moment. This idea lies at the heart of colloquialism and ultimately communication. As we cover modern topics such as McKibben's literature,I feel that this idea of aesthetic recollection becomes increasingly significant. As nature comes closer to being a memory in itself, it seems that we threaten the very way our minds function in recalling a pleasant memory, or even setting one's mood on a sunny/gloomy day.
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