The Legacy of Romantic Poets: Wordsworth and the Connection with Nature

The Generations of Romantic Poets

Romantic poets in England are usually divided in: First Generation (Wordsworth and Coleridge) and Second Generation (Shelley, Keats and Byron). The main features of first group are: the focus on common life and the importance of imagination; they use a simple language. Instead, the main features of the second group are: the poet as a bohemian and the poet as a rebel; they use a raffinate and difficult language.

The Life of William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born in Cumbria, in the Lake District in 1770. He attended St. John’s College and he moved with his sister Dorothy to Racedown Lodge. He visited France and become a supporter of French revolution. He developed a close friendship with the poet Samuel Coleridge, with whom he published “Lyrical Ballads”. Then he moved to Dove Cottage and for many years he worked to a large poem, “The Prelude”, that describes the development of his ideas and of his poetry. In 1843 he became England’s Poet Laureate. He died in 1850.

Main Themes of Wordsworth

Wordsworth uses natural language of common speech. In fact, he rejects the refined forms of 18th century poetry.

The main themes of Wordsworth are: the importance of feelings, the nature (an uncontrollable force that dominates man’s life), the childhood and the memory of childhood in adult life.
Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poems, published in 1798 by Wordsworth and Coleridge. It is very important for its preface, where all the ideas are described: the choice of a new type of language, who is the poet and what is the poetry. This preface is considered the starting point of the Romantic new approach to poetry, which broke away with the Neoclassical tendencies. Wordsworth suggests using the language of the common people, different from that used by the poets of the 18th century. According to Wordsworth, the poet is a man speaking to other man, endowed with a greater knowledge of life and nature. Poetry is the realm of truth and imagination. Wordsworth says “poetry has its origin in emotions recollected in tranquillity” because a good poet must ponder over them long and deeply.

Poetry and Nature

The text is based on an autobiographical experience: a walk with his sister Dorothy near his home in the Lake District. Wordsworth is reminiscing when he saw a great quantity of daffodils which made him feel happy and in contact with nature. The flowers are personified, in fact they are described as a dancing crowd whose beauty is superior to everything else. The key of the poem is joy. The sight of the flowers brings the poet joy but he doesn’t realize that at the moment but only later, when he is alone on his sofa and his memory brings back the scene. This poem explores the relationship between nature and humanity.

The Importance of Nature for Humanity

There are two key points: humanity is not separate from nature, but part of it; the natural world is essential to human happiness.
In this poem, Wordsworth expresses his joy and excitement at the sight of a rainbow in the sky. He tells us that it was when he was a child, so now that he is a man and it will be the same when he gets old. The child is the father of the man because children, who appreciate the perfection of nature in a spontaneous way, can teach adults the same joy.