In “An Evening Scene on the Same Subject”, Wordsworth portrays Nature as a teacher. The first stanza is a dialogue to a friend, in which the speaker says “quit your books”. Nature is portrayed as a better teacher then concrete books. But Wordsworth does not limit Nature’s teaching power to just books—that “one impulse from a vernal wood/may teach you more of man/…/than all the sages can”. Nature becomes the ultimate teacher in this poem, and the final stanza begins with the speaker saying “enough of Science and of Art;/close up those barren leaves”. This truly hits on the point, as Nature is being defined as more didactic than art, and an image of Nature is used to hit this point in a piece of poetry that is presumably a type of art.
I think the point Wordsworth makes here is similar to the sentiments of critics of the Picturesque Movement. Maybe Wordsworth is implying that Science attempts to teach us about nature but it exists in the realm of man and is actually a more of a manmade representation of nature than we would like to admit, just like the altered natural scenes in picturesque art. By looking to books to learn about nature we are separating ourselves from the actual object of study. Yet at the same time he compares both Art and Science to “barren leaves,” which seemingly establishing them as part of nature (though perhaps he is simply highlighting the connection between the three). It is a bit ironic that Wordsworth tries to teach us about nature through the art form of poetry, but at least he is urging readers to experience nature for ourselves as he so often does.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think there is definitely a truth to the fact that Wordsworth could be pointing out a level of separation through Science. As Laura mentioned however, there is some irony in the fact that this is coming to us through a poem, because even a poem requires separation from the experience itself. Though the poem calls to its reader to leave books behind we, in a sense, have to keep the poem with us, which almost seems counterintuitive to its message. However, as Laura mentioned, Wordsworth doe connect Art and Science to nature, so perhaps this poem can serve as a sort of gateway to an experience with nature without separation.
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