Wordsworth, William - Opere (2)

William Wordsworth

Life

- France revolution => enthusiasm for the democratic ideals.
- The brutal developments of the revolution => disillusionment (healed only by the contact with the nature).
- Coleridge's friendship => crucial development of the English Romantic poetry => “Lyrical Ballads”.

Manifesto of English Romanticism

In his preface he says that:
- Subject should deal with every day situation.
- Language should be simple.
W's choice lies the fact that in humble rural life man is nearer to his own purer passions. Therefore the poet is not a man in an ivory tower, but a man among men, writing about what interests mankind..

Man and nature

- W shares Rousseau's faith in the goodness of nature as well as in the excellence of child.
- Interest in the relationship between the natural world and the human consciousness.
- Man and nature are inseparable.
- Nature is something that includes both inanimate and human nature.
- Nature teaches man to love and to act moral way.

The senses and memory

- Nature means also the world of sense perceptions.
- Sensations lead to simple thoughts, which later combine into complex and organized ideas.
- Memory is a major force in the process of growth of poet's mind and moral character.

Recollection in tranquility

- Imagination (intuition) is a supreme gift.
- All genuine poetry “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.