Monday, September 19, 2011
Written A Few Miles Above "Normal"
Well, its easy to say, this poem is enlivened with extremely rich contemplations. Lines that stir realizations and glorify the ecological connection man has with nature. I love the simplicity of diction. Its easily understandable and making simple of difficult is what art should be about. I'd like to examine some meaningful sayings of Wordsworth, which connect man to nature. Wordsworth acknowledges nature's connection to man in feelings, he felt "a sense sublime....whose dwelling its the light of setting suns, and the round ocean,... and in the mind of man." Wordsworth experiences/ "becomes a living soul," where he is then able to"see into the life of things." Such is natures harmonious power. Wordsworth is not saying that nature is mystical but its atmosphere takes the mind from towns, cities, weariness, and the stresses of daily human life to let a calm mind contemplate, which results into "seeing the life of things." I agree with Bates that Wordsworth is a deep ecologist of nature rather than an environmentalist.
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I completely agree with Adam's interpretation of Wordsworth and his poem. According to Bates' definition, Wordsworth is blatantly an "ecologist". Any sense of "environmentalism" (or separation of Nature) in "Tintern Abbey" serve to distinguish between the many varieties of natural beauty and purpose. No part of Nature is stands alone, according to the poem; different parts are just integrated into one working system. However, I do question Bates' definitions for ecology and environmentalism. It seems bizarre to imagine an ecological view as viewing Nature as a whole when the entire field of ecology segregates ecosystems into different niches, habitats, and species, while the idea of an environment (or environmentalism), which is a whole, complete system, suggests separation. I don't know, maybe it is just me.
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