In this poem Tintern Abbey Wordsworth gives a privatized history of the growth of the poets mind. Elaborate.

In William Wordsworths pantheism Nature is active being and constantly co-relating and correlating with the minds of man. Tintern Abbey gives a privatized history of the growth of the poets mind as Wordsworth is deeply preoccupied with the growth of mind in connection to the nature. In the poem, the poets view of Nature became mature when he revisited the Valley of Wye after five years. As he quoted, FIVE years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters! And again I hear These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs. The duration between his two visits to the Valley of Wye was five years. In his early visit to the Valley Nature had, only, affected his physical senses and he recalled those scenes during the hectic citys life as they provided him with sensations sweet. The physical senses of the poet through which he received the beauty of Nature gave him pleasure and relaxation. As he quoted, Feelings too Of unremembered pleasure The poet deeply felt the extensive pleasure he got from the corporeal aspect of Nature. Earlier on, his actions as that of a boy when in contact with Nature were controlled by his instincts. He derived pleasure from Nature with its perception by his physical sight. As he said, For nature then (The coarser pleasures of my boyish days, And their glad animal movements all gone by) To me was all in all. In his early childhood, for him Nature was end all and be all. His happiness, pleasures and enjoyments of Nature was just like animal movements deprived of the sense of reason or logic. The pleasures taken from Nature were the inclinations of his instincts and his intellect was not involved in those pleasures. His earlier rapport with Nature was so frenzied that he took the beauty of Nature as his appetite which could not be ever satisfied. As he quoted, Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite

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But later on, his reactions towards Nature was changed as he was a grown up man and used his faculty of reason and intellect to observe the charming scenes of Nature. The scenes of Nature had not changed but his response had been altered as he had grown mature. He said, Though changed, no doubt, from what I was then first I came among these hills; The poet had, himself, the realization that he was changed over time and he was no more the same person who had visited the Valley five years back. In his recent visit to the Valley, he perceived Nature as not just the provider of pleasure but also his mental faculties are involved. He looked on Nature with all his intellectual abilities activated and he could connect himself with humanity. As quoted, For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes The still, sad music of humanity, It shows that with the intimate connection with Nature, the poet was able to connect with human beings with his activated soul. The poets main concern is the mind of man that develops in contact with Nature. As Wordsworth said, The mind of man, my haunt and the main region of my song. The poet had lost his earlier gift of genuine spirits by which he perceived Nature in his early age. With the passage of time he was deprived of genuineness of his emotions and feelings as he quoted, If I were not thus taught, should I the more Suffer my genial spirits to decay: Here the poet mentioned the development of humans mind with the passage of time in the form of development of reasoning faculty and intellectual abilities. He was not unhappy with the loss of his true feelings and had hope for the future. As Albert S. Gerard commented, Wordsworth decides to seek the meaning which his experience, past and present, holds for future. The poet compared the happiness and pleasure taken from Nature at different ages, at an early age and the age when mind is grown enough to contemplate on Nature, and said, When these wild ecstasies shall be matured Into a sober pleasure;

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It denotes the shift in the approach of pleasure, derived from Natural scenes, from excessive joy to sober pleasures of a mature person. The sober pleasure of the poet uplifted him to a spiritual level. Thus Tintern Abbey is a detailed account of the growth of poets mind based on his personal experiences and intimate relation with Nature. The poet has compared his early experiences with his recent experience of visit to the Valley of Wye. As James Benziger quoted, How the two different aspects of his thought, the aspect seen by innocence and that seen by experience, were best expressed separately rather than simultaneously.

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