Poems on the Naming of Places

I want to post about this poem specifically because of the ideas explained by Wordsworth in the advertisement beforehand. He explains how the naming of places can be associated with incidents and feeling experienced by local residents that give the places peculiar interest. This is an idea critically explained by James McCusick in an essay earlier this year titled “Coleridge and the Economy of Nature”. McCusick pints out how poetry composed in a specific region “often adopts the persona of a speaker whose voice is inflected by the local and personal history of the place he inhabits” (McCusick 1). This is a central idea not only to Wordsworth’s Poems on the Naming of Places but all of our literature. The naming of “Emma’s Dell” incorporates the perspective of a man familiar with the region, its seasonal changes, its natural sounds and its inhabitants. Struck by the peculiar beauty and pleasantness of the dell on a specific day, he decides to dedicate it to his dearly beloved Emma. In sharing his sentiments with local shepherds, the name carries “Years after we are gone and in our graves” (Wordsworth 377). Consequently, as generations pass and the name becomes popularized, many will learn of the name “Emma’s Dell”. By understanding the origins of the location’s name and the words used to describe it, readers can experience a more authentic perspective from the view point of a local resident. This device in language described by McCusick and utilized by Wordsworth is extremely important in bridging the communication gap we discussed in class concerning the Knight and Shepherd in Heart-Leap Well. By properly conveying names and language in the context of a specific locality, readers can then experience something unavailable to them in their own locality.