More about memory...

I wanted to share or rather elaborate more on some thoughts I had in class.
Nature as a backdrop seemed to be there because Wordsworth could easily go back to a memory by describing the nature he saw. He must have experienced the sublime and in the present, when writing the poem, wanted to familiarize himself with that same feeling. So in this case to think about the physical-nature-he might be able to capture what feeling he received from nature or in the presence of nature. I was actually thinking about this the other day when I felt like I don't really feel the same anymore because I don't contemplate as much or have nice feelings of melancholy (somewhat like the "guilty pleasures" we talked about in class). I wondered how could I feel like that again? Maybe if I start doing things I did back then like paint. I'm not sure what would work, but I know that when I have tried to explain this good melancholy feeling (maybe like the sublime who knows), I always start of by describing what I used to do around the time I experienced those feelings.

Have you ever seen nature look so beautiful?

When I think about what we've read of Wordsworth's I can't help but think of some of the amazing places I've been lucky enough to go. I adore the country of Ireland and have been lucky enough to go several times...it is my Spring Break destination. I thought I had seen nature at it's most beautiful...that is until I visited the Emerald Isle for the first time.

I totally took this! It's ok to be jealous!!!! 

The fist time I stood at the Cliffs of Moher and looked off the edge of a continent it took my breath away. I can totally understand why Wordsworth felt the way he did about nature. I have seen the majesty of what nature has to offer and I am in awe. In Northern Ireland there is a formation called the Giant's Causeway which is 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.

This is at the Giant's Causeway...just not the impressive part

Don't let the science fool you! This was created by Benandonner running away from Finn MacCool!

I think that everyone should have at least one experience in their lives that could lead them to having a Wordsworth moment. When I am having a particularly bad day I can not only look at images...but place myself there in memory. And though the experience itself was amazing, my ability to return there over and over is more amazing.

Wordsworth train of thought

While reading the Prelude, I found myself very scatter brained. I do like the fact that Wordsworth explains the feelings that we have during an experience are connected to the objects in which our memory holds on to. Wordsworth says, " Far other feelings were attached- with forms that yet exist with independent life, and, like their archetypes, know no decay." He talks about certain memories he has in his life that he began to connect those feelings with the objects around him to remind him of how he felt and the obstacles he had throughout his life. Wordsworth elaborates that there is times in our lives that have virtue, even bad memories. Our moods change by our good and bad experiences, but the imagination lightens the bad experiences. He begins to talk about how, "The mind of a man is fashioned and built up even as a strain of music", signifying that he believed that the mind is made up with parts and experiences like music, meaning that there is a rhythm to the way that people think. He also mentions again how Nature is what makes our mind at peace and harmony.

Preface

I can't decide if Wordsworth's explanations of his poems in the preface are good or not. On one hand, I can see why an author would WANT to explain himself. I think every English lit major can relate to the experience of pulling "symbolism" and meaning out of texts without any evidence whatsoever that the author actually intended any of what we find in literary texts to be there in the first place. Although, if every author explained his or her work, then there probably would be no such thing as a lit major! I think it's more interesting to read a text and create meaning and find symbolism on your own, but if I was an author it would probably drive me crazy when people just came up with wacky theories about what I really meant in my writing. On the other hand, that could be very entertaining.... I just don't know! 

Keats and the phenomenon of feelings

John Keats, much like Wordsworth and other Romantic writers, is masterful in describing the suddenness of epiphanies. It's hard to explain true emotions in their most purest form, yet somehow Keats is able to effectively show how great art can move an individual, whether that be positive or negative. It's also revealing how so much can pass through one's mind and emotions in a matter of seconds. How writers like Keats are able to capture this moment in such an eloquent matter is beyond my comprehension. Mortality is a hard realization for any person to truly accept, and it's almost heartbreaking to see Keats reaction. Yet how ironic is it to read Keats' work today, with it still being relevant and revered, and see ideas, like fears of being forgotten, become conquered.

Clarity in Smith

When reading "To the fire-fly of Jamaica" I found myself wondering what was going on. The clarity in that poem is tremendously different form the clarity in "Beachy Head". In "Beachy head" I found it to be very descriptive of the nature and the surroundings of the beach. I could see how she used personification to explain a lot of movements within nature and scenes that were taken place among the beach. She talks about wanting her mind to return to a state of peace. She describes nature so precisely that I can almost picture myself right there watching everything happen by seeing what she sees through her writing.

Poetry as escape

I genuinely enjoyed reading Smith's poems. Her poems are packed with interesting facts and at the same time she is able to describe nature in a sensible manner. It seems as though she used poetry as an escape from surpressed feelings of sadness. In Sonnet XLIV she states, "While I am doom'd--by life's long storm opprest, To gaze with envy on their gloomy rest." it indicates to me that she envied the dead because they were freed of the saddness that haunts her. Despite her deppressed tone this might very well be the reason why her work evokes emotion so preceisly and makes her work all the more interesting to read.

The Beauty of Nostalgia

I think that the most resounding element of this poem is the reality of nostalgia. Personally, I feel as if every time I look back at something through the filter of time, even if it was bad, I can see it with a somewhat positive mindset. In "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey" we are reminded of the beauty of the romantic period through the reminiscence of Wordsworth. The imagery in this poem paints a picture that completely immerses the reader into the setting of the poem, and just like someone looking back on a memory, I felt as if I was looking through a filter at Tintern Abbey, and it was beautiful. Everything because more clear when you are able to visualize it from the distance. 

Bittersweet Memory

The theme of nature as beneficial influence seems to be very present in Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey". It seems as if Wordsworth uses nature in his poems to evoke emotions, desires, memories, etc. from human kind. This being said, the speaker in "Tintern Abbey" alleviates his pain and loneliness through his memories of nature. Wordsworth writes:
   "Thy memory be as a dwelling place
    For all sweet sounds and harmonies."

The speaker is first in agreement with nature and its purity as a child. Adulthood brings forth a different kind of communion, however. Nature is looked upon in relation to mankind and human life-its almost bittersweet. Nature and the memory of nature throughout the speaker's childhood is still dear to the him because it holds his purest thoughts and the basis of his morality. 

Finding Peace and Beauty Within Nature

Wordsworth describes finding peace and quiet while observing nature. He mentions running away from the chaos that he witnesses outside of nature. Wordsworth elaborates tremendously about feelings of restoration, guidance, and the sadness that he inhabits from observing human life versus the nature that he observes and loves. He describes himself worshiping and finding a friend that never betrays him within nature. He also describes remembering the nature scene for a place to find peace and heal. Wordsworth definitely painted a picture in my head and gives me the impression that nature is his "happy place."