Who let this kid run around naked in the forest?

I liked that Wordsworth started off "The Prelude" with himself as a little boy trekking through the woods and bathing naked in the stream.  It gives a child like wonder to the wilderness he is talking about in the first stanza.  He calls himself a "savage" which I thought was an interesting choice of word.  I don't think he meant it in a negative way.  I see it as more of a destructive child, like the child in Charlotte Smith's glow worm poem.  However, he was just trampling through the woods on his own without anyone else around.  This makes it seem like as a young boy he was running around taking what he felt like from nature without appreciating nature itself.

Connections to Nature

Wordsworth has a very dramatic way of describing his walks through the woods. I agree with Desdemona that this poem has a lot to do with how much a person can be connected to nature through memories. I think Wordsworth appreciated nature and felt like he was strongly connected to the land, a thought that is similar to the way most native Americans felt. This is the idea I get from reading the poem. On the other side, there seems to be the idea of a disconnect between nature and certain (presumably most) men. Nature and the natural elements that are mentioned in the Prelude, take on  their own personality. Like many of the romantic poets, Wordsworth uses this poem as a reflection on solitude. There is also a mystical, mysterious element to this poem, especially on page 4. The poem was interesting, but there was a lot I didn't understand, particularly at the very end of part 2. Wordsworth in Family Guy

A Little Bit Gothic

I read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" when I was a senior in high school. I loved it then and I still love it now. Although it is very long and some of the vocabulary is difficult, the overall tale is intriguing and fun. I love the element of horror involving the dead crew, a cursed sea, a female spirit and mythical creatures. I also think Coleridge made the tale more interesting by splitting it into the present of the mariner relating his story, and the actual event. I have never tried to analyze the poem for political, religious, or cultural undertones mainly because unless I am writing a paper on my subject, I prefer to simply enjoy it. Therefore I really do not see any political statement throughout the poem and I am interested in Dr. Porter's statement from Tuesdays class.

Wordsworth's poetry was enjoyable, especially "The Thorn". Once the mound of grassy moss was compared to the size of a baby's grave I knew that the poem would have some type of supernatural element. Sure enough a woman is described as having lost her baby and most people believe it to be buried under the mound. I felt sorry for the woman but I did not know if I should considering she may have killed her own child. Nature played a large part in the poem with the many descriptions of the thorn, the mound, and the lake. Each element of nature tied back into the possible death of the baby and the misery of the woman. I thought the connection between nature and the personal was well done by Wordsworth.

The Spirits in the Last Minstrel

First of I very much enjoy this type of poetry! I am able to follow along with the story and understand what is happening because some real actions are actually happening as opposed to all of the super in-depth, let's-bury-the-reader-in-a-thousand-meanings-of-one-line-and-let-them-figure-it-out kind of thing (I'm sure it was much less hard in the actual time because people then knew what was happening because it was happening then). In this I can actually see the laying down of the setting and the characters and the build up of what is happening and what will happen; it's nice to understand! :)

On another note, I really like the inclusion of the dialogue between the river spirit and the mountain spirit. Maybe it's because it gives a bit of magical, fairy tale-like quality to it as I was already getting into that mood (maybe with just the way it was written about the subject matter portrayed), or just because I really enjoy when the natural world comes out and has something to say about the way humans are doing things (like Ferngully! :D). I also think they were used well because they kind of summed up the beginning and gave it more of a context to the reader.

Nature in Keats

I enjoyed the Keats sonnets and the ode, particularly the way that he still worked in nature even though it wasn't the main focus.  Mentioning the Heliconian springs, the forest branches, trodden weed, and the image of the eagle was just fantastic.  I think the imagery that these sights of nature provide are beneficial to the spiritual and philisophical themes of the poems. 

Gender significance in Clare

I think someone else mentioned some confusion as to the gender of the nightingale but for me, it seemed to extend beyond that one poem.  Several of the birds appeared to be portrayed as feminine and their eggs were specifically mentioned but other animals, such as the badger, were masculine.  I may be reading too much into it, but the badger was linked to a much more violent existence than the other animals described and their almost...relaxing poems.   Reading through, I wondered if Clare had a reason for doing this beyond the simple mother aspect of the birds or coincidence of factual representation.

The Sublime affect of Nature

I have always had a soft spot for Wordsworth and Tintern Abbey. They way he personifies nature and creates not only a picturesque but a sublime image of the abbey in my mind. However, I was very interested in Bowels Sonnet's which served as inspiration for Wordsworth and Coleridge. Bowels style of sonnet was revolutionary at the time because it broke away from the 18th century principles. His sonnets use nature as a way for him to cope with his own emotions and life (he was grieving over the death of a loved one). These sonnets are a method of catharsis of, which he attempts to find peace and solitude from the sublime of nature. His sonnets both personify nature and use nature as a meditative force. Wordsworth, similarly writes of Tintern Abbey as a place of absolute serenity. He too, personifies that spot on the hill. He speaks to it as if it is his friend or deity. His poem I feel, moves away from the picturesque and towards the sublime of nature. The natural world seems to bring him peace and solitude. A peace that writes of keeping, or attempting to keep, in the city. In class we were asked to think about what happens when you write picturesque poetry and it seems that for Wordsworth and Bowels this form of writing creates a sort of utopia. The find serenity within nature and peace. This may perhaps have to do with class consciousness and the middle classes attempt to identify themselves within the social context of Great Britain. This form of poetry thus, creates an ideal solitude where one can cope and subsequently appreciate life for all its imperfections.

Wordsworth's emphasis on the individual experience

Wordsworth "On the Naming of Places" reads as an extension of turning these places from nature to painting to poetry with an added emphasis on the individual and their attachment to these spots. It's no longer an act of viewing nature and taking a physical representation with you to add to your collection or reading a collection of a traveler's analysis but instead attaching yourself or someone else to that spot. I enjoyed reading this collection of poems compared to Tuesdays readings because the tone was not melancholy and Wordsworth is collectively constructing these spots in nature through his poem but maintaining the importance of the personal experience compared to the methodical analysis of looking for the picturesque or sublime.

What's going on Wordsworth?

It’s extremely hard to extract a sense of continuity in Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey. After the first stanza, or maybe it’s a paragraph--see, I just don’t know about this poetry stuff, regardless, after the opening, all hell breaks out, and I have no idea what is going on. There is not continuity, at least the kind I am familiar with. I do come away from the poem with a general impression that Wordsworth is promoting a kind of environmentalism, and that his grounds for this is a personal relationship one can have with the environment. After saying that, it sounds a lot like the Protestant emphasis on a personal relationship with Christ. Who knows, though.  

Differences in Beauty and Picturesque

Reading through Wordsworth's poems emphasizes the differences between what can be considered beauty and picturesque.  While the tourists are looking for an unmarked (or minimally marked) landscape, they are still interested in viewing it and the political/ social implications of what they see.  However, in "Poems on the Naming of Places", Wordsworth discusses a place of beauty, "The spot was made by Nature for herself: The travellers know it not, and 'twill remain Unknown to them; but it is beautiful".  While this could possibly also qualify as picturesque, it does not seem related to the equipment and rules of the picturesque observer.