William Wordsworth and the Romantic Age

The romantic age

The romantic age started in the 18th century and while the enlightment had emphasised the reason, Romanticism valued the irrational parts of human nature and the relationship with nature, immagination and emotions. Romanticism developed all across the Europe in art, literature, music and philosophy. In England it found its greatest expression in poetry. The english romanticism started with the publication of “Lyrical Ballads” (a collection of poems). There are two generations of romantic poets:
1. Wordsworth and Coleridge: focused on the relationship between man and nature;
2. Byron, Shelley and Keats: reflected the clash between the real and the ideal.
The language is simple and they used symbols to express the creative mind. There was a growing interest for the everyday life and great attention was paid to the countryside as a place where man could find his soul in close contact with nature as opposite to the industrial towns. During the Enlightment, nature had been considered as an abstracts concept, something that men could control thanks to the reason. For the Romantic poets, nature was a manifestation of God on Earth. Nature was a living being with a soul and man was part of nature. The romantic age was influenced by “the cult of the exotic”, an admiration for what is far away in space and time. To a romantic a child was purer than an adult because ha was not corrupted by the society so he was closer to God.

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born in Cumberland (now called Cumbria) in the English Lake District in 1770. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and in 1790 he went on a walking tour of France and the Alps. The imagery of walking often recurs in his major poems. He supported the democratic ideals of revolutionary France, and in 1791 he returned to France and fell in love with Annette Vallon, who bore him a daughter. The declaration of war between England and France in 1793 forced him to leave France. The didillusionment of these years where healed by reconnecting with nature. He was one of the most important romantic poet. His sister Dorothy was his most faithful friend and she supported him in his works. He met Taylor Coleridge and together they worked on a collection of poems called “Lyrical Ballads”. Wordswort was interested in the relationship between the natural world and humans and of the emotions that arise from this contact. He believed that man and nature are inseparable. Nature comforts man in sorrow, it’s a source of joy. He died in 1850.

Daffodils

“Daffodils” records the experience of a walk the poet went for with his sister, Dorothy, near their home in the Lake District. It is one of Wordsworth’s most famous poems, in wich he confess his love for nature, for his pantheistic vision (nature=manifestation of God). In particular, in the last verse, his feeling is pleasure in remembering that walk.
“…For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils…”
“…Perché spesso, quando sono sdraiato sul divano In uno stato d'animo vacuo o pensieroso, Lampeggiano in quell'occhio interiore Qual è la beatitudine della solitudine; E poi il mio cuore si riempie di piacere, E balla con i narcisi. “