There is something about Wordsworth that I really enjoy. I don't know if it's his style, or his command over the thematic elements he explores, but I find myself relaxed when I read him. Which I think is quite odd, because his lack of rhyme style and seemingly sporadic shifts through time in The Prelude would indicate something that takes a little more effort to enjoy. Or in essence, a clear rhyme scheme (at least for me, ordinarily) is a definitive structure and it sort of gives me certain guidelines to follow in a poem. Normally, free verse stresses me out. But not with Wordsworth.

This poem coincides nicely with an element of our course that we explored earlier in the semester. In The Prelude, Wordsworth gives credit to Nature for the fruition of mentality of mankind. In the beginning, Wordsworth says that Nature stimulates and focuses thought, as evidenced by the stream that leads to his dreams. This sort of implies that Nature has control over mankind, yet that is not the case in the poem. 

My favorite lines of the poem are lines 122-129. The way Wordsworth describes "mighty forms that do not live like living men" is so powerful. It kind of reminds me of the way Schopenhauer describes the relationship of intelligence and will, how man uses intelligence and rationality to explain certain phenomenon, like a grid that organizes something wild. And all of this occurs because of that cliff. Man divides and affects Nature, but Nature will always recover. Man owes Nature so much, but does not truly belong. Something I'm curious about: what does the cliff represent in the poem? It stops the narrator multiple times and it seems to be the physical barrier between man and the limitless sky. Is it that Nature is okay in certain aspects, like the trees and what gives man inspiration, but somethings are not accepted? Like man's blatant ignorance of some aspects of Nature ruin the other elements?

I agree with a post further down. Wordsworth's recollection of his memories is a perfect example of collecting the self/poet. Retrospect of memory is what ultimately leads to self identity (something that Locke and Hume expound upon in their epistemological accounts).

I don't know why I see so many similarities between philosophy and elements of this class. Sorry!