William Wordsworth ''Poet of Nature''

Ecocriticism appeared during the 1990's when critics started to observe works of art from a different
point of view, casting the light upon on the relationship between man and Nature. William
Wordsworth as one of the major English Romantic poets, is considered as a key icon of ecocritical
studies, because of his observation points and belief towards the meaningful relationship between
Nature and human's treatment of Natural world. In Green Writing, McKusick (2010, p. 36) claims
that English Romantics were the first full-fledged ecocritical writers in the Western literary
tradition and how actually all of them shared the same holistic view of Nature, and called upon a
harmonious relationship between human beings and Nature. Ecocritics examins human observation
of wilderness and natural world and its changing course throughout the history. It is a well-known,
William Wordsworth saw Nature as superior to human race, and his aspiration to connect the long
lost kinship and unity between humans and Nature. As one of the ''first ecologiest'' Wordsworth's
works of literature stress human's dependance of Nature, nature as source of knowledge, life
teacher, more important than acedamic attempts to understand the world we're living in.

McKusick (2010, p. 21) states that Wordsworth was not only one of the founders of English
Romanticism, but had a vital influence which was openly acknowledged by many American writers
such as Emerson, Henry David Throreu and many others, but also made a huge contribution to main
ideas and values upon enviromental issues emerged during the modern period.

Known as a trueworshipper of Nature (Wordsworth, 2006, p. 1339, line 152) Wordsworth also
empasized the importance of imagination, because according to Wordsworth's artistic imagination
plays an important role in understanding and connecting with Nature. Industrial revolution had a
great impact upon Wordsworth's opinion, like many other changes which occurred in Britain, and
world in general about modern times and technologies, which he potrayed in one of his poems: ''The
World is Too Much With Us''

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

Industrial and many other revolutions which took place at the time, not only in England but also
across the entire world, greatly affected Wordsworth's opinion about modern times and new
technologies. Wind of change surely inspired Wordsworth to write many great works of poetry, in
which main focus was upon Nature and its broken connection with men. In this particular poem,
Wordsworth refers to his own age as the wrong period to be born in, stating how he rather be a
''pagan'' of the past, than being someone who is consumed with modern world, completly out of
touch with valuable nature.

The poet states that humans lost their initial bond with Nature, because of the constant rush after
money, burdened with consumerism. Wordsworth refferes to us, humans, as sold souls. People
became as a part of another world, an emotionless one, where nothing except material belongings
matters. The poet stresses out how people misinterpreted Nature and its powerful energy, putting
alienation in focus, elaborating how humanity is no more prone to the influence of it. Above
everything else, Wordsworth is against the classical view of nature, meaning that according to him
there is no mans superiority over nature and humanity will never be able to overmaster nature.
The World is Too Much with Us is an exploration of the poet's dissatisfaction of the modern men
over their indifference to and indiscriminate destruction of Nature.

Early Spring is an obvious example of Wordsworths preoccupation with nature and what
happened to it. The poem starts with lines describing the persona in a relaxed condition, in a calm
natural landscape. He is enjoying the tranquility and peace he finds in the harmony of all elements of
nature, where thousand notes are blended to make a harmonious one and interestingly this
sound runs through the persona and fills him with joy and exuberance, I heard a thousand blended
notes,/ While in a grove I sate reclined, (Early Spring, lines 1-2). This poem and Tintern Abbey are
from Lyrical Ballads, collaboration between Wordsworth and Coleridge. In this collection, according
to Aidan Day: Coleridge, as well as Wordsworth, shows a romantic antipathy toward society, and
celebrates in contrast, the uncorrupted nature of nature (41). Early Spring celebrates the
harmonious symphony of nature while all of a sudden sad moments from the very first lines disturb
the joy. While persona is enjoying the dynamic nature, a bunch of sad thoughts attack him and fill
him within sorrow, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts/ Bring sad thoughts to the mind
(Early Spring, lines 3-4). What disturbs the sweet moments of affinity with nature is the thought of
the modernization and the way human has been corrupted by it; therefore, nature and its monolithic
structure can restore this affinity: To her fair works did nature link The human soul that through me
ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man? (Early Spring, lines 4-8) The
poet continues his description of the spring air breathed by the beautiful roses and the happy fly of
the birds in the spring sky: And tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes [] But the
least motion which they made, It seemed a thrill of pleasure. (Early Spring, lines 11-16) All over the
nature, the poet finds the dynamic nature controlled by a sublime soul spreading through all its
members, And I must think, do all I can, /That there was pleasure there (Early Spring, lines 19-20).
Although intoxicated by the dominant joy of this natural scene, once more the poet remembers the
distance man has with nature due to the technological lifestyle and the consequential indifference
man has got from mechanical lifestyle toward nature: If I these thoughts may not prevent, If such be
of my creed the plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man? (Early Spring, lines
21-24) The poet thinks while through nature such joy is prevalent, it is quite reasonable for his
lamenting on mans immersing in machinery life and his hostility and negligence toward nature.

Man can take distance from the commotion of the industrial society and retreat to the peace and
safety of nature based on the theme of return to nature, because nature has always been a safe
haven for man.

After the widespread concern for technological outburst and its impact on environment and the
official founding of ecocriticism, this interdisciplinary approach of literature-science has found its way
in literary genres of different countries and different literary cultures. Ecocriticism devoted its field of
activity to appreciating the works of Romantic writers whose works have abounded with excellent
examples of praising nature. In their notion Romanticism has been a literary era when the sanctity
and value of nature per se have been emphasized. The ecocritics used Romantic works in order to
make the people aware of the intrinsic value of nature. Concurrent with this appraisal ecocriticism
broadened its gamut into far more extended fields of study. Yet talking about ecocriticism in English
language reminds the nineteenth and twentieth century in English and American literature when the
Romantic poets and writers wrote their works plethora with natural subjects. In the nineteenth
century, Wordsworth is considered as a significant poet whose speculation about the sanctity of
nature and its vulnerability in front of manmade structures has made him prominent in nature
writing style and later on ecocriticism. What creates the affinity between ecocritics taste and that of
Romantics is their shared concern over the ways nature is both treated and represented by others
and to others, especially in the literary works. As most ecocritics believe, not only the way humans
heedless behavior is decimating nature, but also the alternative thoughts and influential ways to
preserve it all could be facilely communicated by literature.

http://www.inflibnet.ac.in/ojs/index.php/JLCMS/article/view/1654/1460

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ells/article/viewFile/34478/19671

http://jnasci.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/JNASCI-2015-202-210.pdf
''Humanity only survives in nature''1

The very term of ''Ecocriticism'' was first coined by William Rueckert, in 1978, denoting the
particular aspect of ecological awareness, and the issues caused by human influence
throughout the ages. Namely, even before Rueckert's essay ''Literature and Ecology'', some
Romantic poets had been embedding the features of the ecological awareness into their works,
as well as the threatening repercussions that the industrial development might have on nature
and the animal world, and the vivid contrast and connection between those two sides.
Through the works of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake we will try to show the nature of
man's relationship with nature, the cause of such a relationship and hint towards solutions to
the negative sides of the relationship. English Romantics were the first full-fledged eco critical
writers in the Western literary tradition2 they all shared the same holistic view of Nature, and called
upon a harmonious relationship between human beings and Nature. Eco critics examine human
observation of wilderness and natural world and its changing course throughout the history.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, and William Wordsworth present the
serious issues of the environmental crisis, as depicted in their works. The
authors present us with an ecological critique of the dire consequences that
human influence has on nature. Coleridge combines the animal world with that
of human beings, and shows how one directly affects the other and how, in the
end, the destruction of one leads to the destruction of the other. Thus, decpited
within The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which will be analysed. In his poem
''London'', Blake depicts the oppression of nature and man. An apocalyptic
image of the world as a result of man;s abuse of nature is provided in
''Jerusalem''. He also points to ways of salvagingnature and man in his works
''Jerusalem'' and '''Milton, where he shows that the key is not inescaping urban
life and industrial advancement, but rather transforming London into a utopian
city where man and nature co-exist harmoniously.We will be analysing parts
from these works. Wordsworth tries to awaken our spirits, and make us realize
the importance of our great bond with Nature, and how humans always need to
vivify their sense in order not to get lost in this contamined and feculent world. .
In poems ''Lines Written in Early Spring'' and ''The World is too Much with Us''
the poet expresses his dissatisfaction over modern times and what it had done to
natural men and their soul, and how Nature isgood and devoted to human being,
and humans are the one who should take the fault for the crumbled bond with
Nature. All this can be altered and bettered by man's conscious effort and use of
spirit and imagination, not technology,which is fundamentally the purpose of
1
Bate, J. (1991). Romantic ecology: Wordsworth and the environmental tradition. London:
Routledge.
2
Green Writing, McKusick (2010, p. 36)
ecocriticism to realize the true cause of the erroneous conduct towards
nature(the system and our wrong perception) and that the true solution lies
within our imagination as people, unlike machines, dare to dream.Therefore,
these poems play a very important role in ecocriticism and nature preservation.

Result

Blake depicts ecological disasters, even imaginary ones, to show the consequences of mans
ill treatment of nature. He presents oppressive pictures of London in the poem entitled the
same. He doesnt necessarily have to depict a concrete eco disaster, but refers to the streets of
London as chartered. The reader can then see the oppressiveness London had on its
inhabitants and environment, and this oppressiveness was a result of a mechanical
understanding of man and nature, on whose foundations lie the Industrial Revolution. The
system of the ind rev led to destruction of nature and man. It caused pollution of nature due to
new technology such as mills which infected the air, rivers were filled with waste from
factories and it hurt man who became de-humanized. In his prophetic works, such as
Jerusalem and Milton, he describes the apocalypse of the world, the end of nature as we know
it due to mans abuse of nature. He gives us the real picture, but he also offers a solution.
Break free from the mind forged manacles, the confinements of the industrial system, and
your own mental confinements, and start to endeavor to change your treatment of nature, by
using the power of the human mind, spirit and imagination so that we can co-exist
harmoniously with our surroundings.

Coleridges message is similar. He, like Blake, tries to remove the veil covering our erroneous
perception of nature. He conjoins man and beast within the rime of the ancient mariner. The
mariner-rep of humanity, and the albatross rep of the animal world and nature in general
help each other within the poem. This is how the rel between man and nature should function.
w/o any real reason, the mariner shoots the bird. Due to this he is punished severely- had to
witness the death of all those around him and of nature. he has to face the repercussions of
disrupting the natural world. He kills the bird with a weapon of human construction. This is
an indication that man destroys nature by his civilization. (just as the mills polluted the air).
The situation changes when he sees water snakes which represent the beauty of nature. he is
exhilarated to see them and blesses them. now, he sees natures worth and feels compassion,
and oneness with nature. The wall between man and nature is deconstructed. Both works
point us towards trying to understand the importance of preserving nature as man is one with
it and the destruction of it means the destruction of man also.

Poets like Blake, Coleridge and Wordsworth devoted a good part of their lives in order to
discover and ponder into Nature and its divine powers, trying to transmit their findings and
importance in their literary works, with an ambition to make a contribution to future
generations. Wordsworths poems are filled with images of nature, respect towards the Over-
soul of Nature and he constantly tries to protect it against technological disasters and its affect
over humans and our souls. Wordsworth defined himself as a true worshipper of Nature
and described humans as sold souls. The poet states that humans lost their initial bond with
Nature, because of the constant rush after money, burdened with consumerism. According to
Wordsworth, humans are sold souls. People became as a part of another emotionless world,
where nothing except material belongings matters. The poet stresses out how people
misinterpreted Nature and its powerful energy, putting alienation in focus, elaborating how
humanity is no more prone to the influence of it. Above everything else, Wordsworth is
against the classical view of nature, meaning that according to him there is no mans
superiority over nature and humanity will never be able to overmaster nature.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, all in all, respresented a tale of how to preceive, as well as how to
respect, the unbreakable bound between the links of nature. Moreover, the didactical features
of how this story should be passed down from one generation to generation, as a warning, not
to contribute to the abhorrent chaos that might transpire with this globe, if nature, as its
integral part, is endangered; therefore, preserving the safety of animals, their beauty and
importance is vital in the ecological criticism, whereby the message of these Romantic poets
is presented even nowadays, and will presumably remain for a long time in future.

Blake encourages man to discover the tale that the mariner has told. To realize the gravity of
the eco predicament he is in and and the true cause of it and finally, to break free, by using his
imagination. Many can contemplate the solutions to such eco problems, but the true solution
might only lie in the mind of a poet, perhaps a Romantic poet Romantcisim promotes new
ways of looking at the ecological issues and inspires looking for new solutions.

William Wordsworth's way of potraying his great dissapointment with the Industrial Era and
its effects on humanity surely did the general conscioussness when it comes to ecocriticism.
Wordsworth as a 18th century advocate for the preservation of Nature surely made a great
contribution to the wakening and revival of the modern society towards protection and
preservation of the threatened world's beauty. Along with divinizing the importance of
Nature, the poet also considered Nature as an elixir and an instrument to poise human mind to
a more advanced level of perception and sense of everything in Nature. In times like this, man
can take a break from the bustle of modern industrial society in order to withdraw into unity
and safety with Nature, because Nature will always be a intact sanctuary for man.