Wordsworth Sand Coldridge's Attitude Toward Nature.

Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s Attitude toward Nature
Wordsworth has chosen simple and rural setting for most of his poems. Because rural setting is
closer to nature where special essence of the heart finds a better soil in which they can attain
their maturity. Wordsworth talks about fundamental aspects of human emotions, passions which
actually make us human. These emotions or essence of heart can be better nurtured if we are
living in the natural environment. He portrays nature as serene and soothing inspiration for life.
Wordsworth emphasizes the connection between human and nature with a view to represent
nature as the cure for all our mental maladies rooted in urban life. As the poem ‘I Wondered
Lonely as a Cloud’ is about the poet’s mental journey in nature where he remembers the
daffodils that give him joy when he is lonely and bored. The poem shows the relationship
between nature and the poet, and how nature is the source of joy and beauty which influences the
poet’s feelings even when he is not around that patch of daffodils. In ‘Tintern Abbey’ the poet
often felt comforted by his memory of those ‘beauteous forms’ of nature when he was lonely in
the noise of towns and cities. When he was totally tired by a long day in the big city, he felt that
memory of his view of nature could restore him to tranquility or calmness. The view of nature
takes him to a place where physical body is asleep and only the soul is awake. The speaker of the
poem is no longer aware of the physical surrounding because of his trance like state. The poet
has presented nature as the source of tranquility in ‘Tintern Abbey’. Further in ‘Tintern Abbey’
when the poet gets matured, in the presence of nature he is able to hear sad music of humanity;
he can sense some universal and timeless connection between human and nature. That
connection makes human able to see into the life of things. In ‘Tintern Abbey’ Wordsworth
reflects the notion that the root of all our mental maladies is human’s detachment from nature,
therefore, closer to nature humans have the chance to flourish as better humans. In ‘Tintern
Abbey’ he also talks about a united spirit connecting the universe, nature and us which reflect the
pantheistic attitude of Wordsworth.
For Coleridge, nature holds the important keys to comprehend the meaning of life. Coleridge
does not hold much descriptive treatment of external nature as Wordsworth but he depicts nature
with vibrant imagination. As a romantic poet, to Coleridge tries analyze and logically explain the
relationship between imagination and nature. He makes nature alive in his poetry, invests it with
an indwelling spirit. In ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ nature has taken up itself to punish
the mariner for his act. The act of killing the albatross can be seen as an attempt to master the
nature but a sudden lack of wind that strands the ship in desolate waters, and the Mariner and
sailors begin to die of thirst, it symbolizes nature is more powerful and terrifying than man can
comprehend. The poem does not only portray nature as an elemental force that should be feared
by humans. Instead, the poem portrays nature as being an expression of the spiritual world. . The
Elfish moonlight reflected on those wet sea creatures that creates an artistic picture and
somehow, he finds beauty inside it and then, he blesses them unwillingly and prays for them.
Therefore, he gets the sympathy of God and finds himself at the shore of his city, it symbolizes
as a person interacts with nature they also interact with the spiritual world. In ‘Kubla Khan’ the
poet wants us to focus on the wild aspect of nature For example, the river in the poem is moving
fast and furiously, it bounces off rocks and creates a lot of ruckuses. The poet has presented
nature in ‘Kubla Khan’ in a fantasy tone. The violent river, deep and icy cave, gloomy ocean
without any light; all these imageries turn nature into a mystical being.
William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge both are devotees to nature but Wordsworth
conceived nature as the source of inspiration for the finest emotions of humans whereas
Coleridge conceived nature as a mystical being and a place of symbols, of important abstract
meanings that he used in his poems.

Critical Essay
On
Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s Attitude toward Nature
Submitted to: Shafiqur Rahman
Course Code: Eng 245
Course Title: Romantic Poetry
Submitted by: Fatima Farid
ID: 2017-1-40-068

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Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s Attitude toward Nature

pantheistic attitude of Wordsworth.

meanings that he used in his poems.

Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s Attitude toward Nature

Submitted to: Shafiqur Rahman

Course Code: Eng 245

Course Title: Romantic Poetry

Submitted by: Fatima Farid

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