Tintern Abbey - William Wordsworth
When Wordsworth
has first visited the Wye In 1793, the sights and sounds of Nature intoxicated
him. Nature was then a passion with him and the spontaneous joy of senses
thrilled him. On his second visit to the place, he finds that the earlier
delight is lost to him. The beautiful sights of nature no more throw him into
that rapture, that ecstasy which he had known five years back. This change in
his attitude towards Nature is to be traced in the sad events of the French Revolution,
which left Wordsworth a thoroughly disillusioned and sad man. Wordsworth in his
early life was an ardent supporter of liberty and republican principles. When
French revolutionaries tried to overthrow the crushing yoke of monarchy,
Wordsworth greeted the new movement with great enthusiasm and fervour. To Him
the Revolution symbolized the regeneration of the suffering humanity. He
identified himself completely with the cause of the Revolution as is evident
from these lines.
And human
nature seeming born again.
But bitter
disillusionment was in store for him. The Revolution, which had started as a
cry for liberty, equality, and fraternity, for recognition of the innate
dignity of man, was soon turned into an instrument for annihilating these very
ideals. From a fight for liberty it was turned into a war of conquest. This
pained Wordsworth greatly and all his hopes were dashed to the ground. He lost
his faith in humanity, Nature and even in God. Recoiling from this disappointment,
he tried vanity to seek shelter in the dry intellectualism of Godwin, but it
was not the balm he so badly needed to comfort his hurt soul. For a long time
Wordsworth’s vision was obscured by this spiritual crisis which had brought
inner darkness and despair in its train. However, he gradually recovered his
confidence in Nature and human nature, thanks largely to the healing influence
of Dorothy. He confesses his debt to her.
She gave me
eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble
tears, and delicate fears;
A heart, the
fountain of sweet tears,
And love, and
thought, and joy.
Therefore, when
Wordsworth visits Tintern Abbey a second time he is not the same buoyant person
who had come there five years ago. Now he is a sad person, one who has
submitted himself to the chastening influence of suffering.
Thus Wordsworth
is deprived of his early raptures, yet he is compensated by Nature in others ways.
The impact of suffering on his mind has quickened his sensibilities and
sharpened his insight into the life of things. He now discovers a spiritual
life in Nature in contemplation of which he seeks his consolation. He realizes
that truth which was to sustain him in his after life. It is the firm belief of
Wordsworth that there is a preconceived harmony between Nature and the mind of
Man. This mystical philosophy is the cornerstone of Wordsworth’s poetry.
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