Department of English

College of Arts and Social Sciences

Sultan Qaboos University

Nature in Wordsworth and Shelley’s Peotry

Name: Juhaina Al-Shabibi

ID #: 103044

Course: British Survey III

Section: 10

Tutor: Dr. Mounir Ben Zid

Semester/year: Spring 2016

Introduction
Romanticism as a literary movement has appeared to oppose and stand against urbanization
and industrial revolution. These events in the history of England had caused in the
abandoning of the countryside and trafficking in the city. Besides, it made poor
people poorer and forced children into labor. For romantic poets, all these issues were
driven by people themselves because they left ‘nature’. Nature to romantic poets is the
force that is able to heal, teach and inspire. Romantic poets’ nature is the main theme
of their poetry through which they express their admiration and appreciation for
natural phenomena. They fascinate the set and rise of the sun, the beauty of greenery
landscape in rural places, hills, meadows, rivers and mountains. To them, nature has
the answers and solutions for all human questions and struggles (Sofi, 2013). To
elaborate, Keats in “Ode to a Nightingale” investigates how nature can overcome
humans’ despair and how it enables him to escape reality (SaylorFoundation, n. d.).
They also find the way to God and divine power through nature using the concept of
Pantheism (Brighton, n. d.). Two of the well-known romantic poets who depict nature
as mentioned previously are William Wordsworth who belongs to the firs generation
of Romanticism and Percy Shelley who belongs to the second generation of the
literary movement. First, Wordsworth is best known as the ‘Priest of Nature’ who
worships nature. He believes that unhealthy civilization and modern lifestyle of
English people is the reason behind the unappreciated natural beauty of the rural side
and thus causing unhappiness among humans (Sofi, 2013). In “Tintern Abby” for
instance, he stresses out the separation of modernity from nature:

“Through a long absence, have not been to me

As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,” (lines 22-27)

He also believes that nature is his teacher of wisdom and the one that consoles his
sorrow:

“the anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,

The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.” (lines 109-112).
Secondly, Shelley is known to be a lover of nature. He too finds that nature has a force that
heals and provokes in him contentment and comfort. Shelley admires the dynamic and
active moods of nature. In “Ode to the West Wind” he asks the wind that he
personifies to bring happiness to the world of human as it does with the natural world
when it awakens the ocean and moves the dead leaves:

“Drive my dead thoughts over the universe, 

Like wither'd leaves, to quicken a new birth!.” (Lines 63-64)

Despite the similarities that exist in the two poets’ attitudes towards nature, they do differ in
some aspects of their depiction of nature. Wordsworth and Shelley share the same
admiration for nature, they both believe that nature has a healing and inspiration force
and they both write their poems about nature based on their own experience and
interaction with it. However, Wordsworth sees only the bright side of nature while
Shelley is aware of its both sides. They also differ in their opinions about the way
humans should interact with nature. And finally, they have different pantheistic views
about nature, which this paper will be discussing.

Similarities:
Nature occupies almost all Wordsworth poetry. It is the main theme of his poems that project
his obsession with nature and natural elements both as sights and inspirational and
sensual stirring objects. He is believed to be a worshipper and a priest of nature that
inspires him in his poetry. His relationship with nature, which is apparent in his
poetry, is drawn into lyric with the help of his sister Dorothy. She opened the door for
him to view nature in the way he depicts it in his lines; by doing so she maintained
and saved the poet inside of him (Parmanjinal, n. d.). As mentioned previously, the
majority of Wordsworth poetry is written to praise and appreciate nature, which is the
main similarity between Shelly and Wordsworth poetry. They both show admiration
and obsession with nature. For Wordsworth, nature is the main and only topic and
theme discussed in his poetry. Some of these poems are “I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud”, “My Heart Leaps up When I Behold” and “Composition upon Westminster
Bridge”. They are all manifestation of Wordsworth’s love and admiration for nature.
 The poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, is one of the most familiar, known and
easy to comprehend poems of Wordsworth that show his appreciation for nature.
Nature in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, provides the poet with consolation and
sense of hope; he demonstrates that the sight of the daffodils heals him from sadness
once he remembers and recalls that sight in his memory (gradesaver, n. d.). In
“Composition upon Westminster Bridge” he involves the reader and invites him to
live the scenery of an early morning in London where everything is still quiet and
calm. The lexicon he uses, when recollecting his visit to Westminster Bridge, almost
indulge the reader to sense and smell the air of that morning. He admires the feeling
the scenery of the landscape stir in him when says, “Ne’er saw I, never felt, calm so
deep!” (Parmanjinal, n. d.). The lines-example provided by the two poems of “I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “Composition upon Westminster Bridge” manifest
the way Wordsworth conceive nature as a source of happiness. His words and
expressions in his poetry emphasize the feelings of joy, peace and ecstasy that are
caused and stirred in the poet by the natural sights he mediates and recollects
(NoeEnglish, n. d.).

Second similarity, Wordsworth and Shelly both capture nature in their poetry as a power of
healing and source of inspiration (Parmanjinal, n. d.). This is viewed in Wordswoth’s
"Lucy Poems" where he compares the young dead girl to natural elements to show
that her beauty, innocence and power are kept and immortalized. He describes her as:

“A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.”

This healing touch of nature is found in rare cases and occurrences; only when it is
looked for (GradeSaver, n. d.). One other meaning that Wordsworth expresses to
show the value of nature is its superiority over towns as Ezoulé suggest. Most of the
scenes Wordsworth portrays in his poems are of countryside and rural places where
he feels solitary (NoeEnglish, n. d.). By representing the rural side of the country, he
disregards towns and cities where chaos does not allow him to meditate and
 appreciate nature as he recommends. Although he fascinates the intense feelings of
beauty and peace aroused in him by nature, Wordsworth often feels sorry and regret
for the rest of humanity who can not live the same moments as his because they are
constantly occupied with modernization and urbanization in the cities and can not left
up their spirits. But he eventually retreats from this thought and decides it is not
appropriate to feel regret for any reason when he is within nature:

“A poet could not but be gay,

In such jocund company."

In addition, Wordsworth’s passion towards nature makes him believe that nature not only has
a touch of healing but also has a moral influence (NoeEnglish, n. d.). He considers
nature to be more valuable than any educator and cannot be compared to philosophers
and philosophies because nature has the sufficient and efficient ability to teach
humans morality. To him, a man raised among nature is flawless and complete in
every sense. Similarly, nature provokes in Shelley the love for natural scenery. Like
Wordsworth, who wrote “Tintern Abby” and “Westminister Bridge” according to his
own experience when visiting these places, Shelley too was amazed by the scene of
Lake Geneva where the mountains surrounded the lake and this sight inspired Shelley
to speak out his admiration for nature in several poems such as “Hymn to Intellectual
Beauty” and “Mont Blanc”(poetryFoundation, n. d.). Shelly’s “Hymn to Intellectual
Beauty” speaks to Wordsworth “Tintern” and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”; they
all manifest the power of physical sight of nature to form and build imagination in the
poets’ minds which are then turned to ‘intellectual beauty’ in verse.

Both poets believe that their relationship with nature was stronger when they were children.
Shelley regrets and laments the shortage of this strength in his relation as Wordsworth
does in his ode “Intimations” ”(poetryFoundation, n. d.). Shelley admires and
appreciates nature in “Mont Blanc”. He minimizes the capability of the human mind
to comprehend the majestic power of the mountain (GradeSaver, n. d.). However, he
then questions the value of the mountain if humans weren’t there to perceive it and
appreciate it in awe. However, he constantly confronts the problem of the inability of
human mind to absorb the huge amount of beauty and the power of nature that is lead
by unknown presence (GradeSaver, n. d.). In his “On Love”, Shelley’s glorification
 for nature comes clear. He mirrors some colourful images in nature. He often
fascinates the different moods of nature and its changing phenomena when describing
the lightening, the wind and the clouds (Parmanjinal, n. d.). He symbolizes this active
power of nature in “Ode to the West wind”. According to Shelley, this wind is very
dynamic and destructive. However, it brings life and prosperity in the natural world
and the world of humans. Besides, it stirs imagination and inspiration in him
(Parmanjinal, n. d.). In his poems, such as “Ode to the West wind”, he personifies
and characterizes it with the ability to move, feel and think as any living being. He
depicts this Wind moving the decayed leaves of fall, enabling the plants in the sea to
estimate its presence and power, distributing seeds and wakening the sea of the
Mediterranean (Parmanjinal, n. d.). In the same poem he individualizes all natural
elements and treats them as autonomous entities and personalities. He presents the
stars, the rainbow, the moon, the wind and the ocean as independent entities. He
draws an image of the wind awakening the sleeping ocean. Then all these autonomous
entities are unified together to form the power of nature that Shelly admires and
appreciates in his poem and calls it “the spirit of beauty” in his “Hymn to Intellectual
Beauty”. To him, this power is the reason behind human’s happiness, joy and belief
and most importantly the source of inspiration that enables him to interpret the beauty
and power of nature in verse (Parmanjinal, n. d.).

All in all, Shelley and Wordsworth are both romantic poets whose poetry is manifestation of
their admiration, appreciation and fascination for nature. However, their depiction of
this love in verse is different as will be elaborated in the coming paragraphs.

Differences:

1) Attitudes towards Nature

Although Wordsworth and Shelley both express their admiration and appreciation for nature
as any romantic poets, they differ in some other aspects of their depiction of nature.
These differences will be discussed in terms of the poets’ attitudes towards nature, the
man-nature relationship and the aspect of religion in their poetry or Pantheism. First
of all, the concept of the sublime is apparent in Shelley’s poetry but not in
Wordsworth. To elaborate, Wordsworth manifests the concept of the beautiful in all
 his poetry about nature. As to say, Shelley conceives the side of nature that is wild,
savage and overwhelming. These natural phenomena that are associated with the
sublime are gigantic natural elements such as the lightening, storms and mountains.
They provoke in the reader, as the poet draws or describes them, a sense of the human
insignificance and feeling of terror caused by the massive entity of nature they
encounter (Wordpress, n. d.). However, Shelley does not ignore the positivity of
nature, he sees it both inspiring and terrifying. He praises its majestic beauty but at the
same time he believes it has a dynamic force that stirs fear and threatens the viewer.
For this reason, Shelley does not enjoy complete delight when observing nature
because he is conscious of its other negative side (VictorianWeb, n. d.). He is aware
of nature’s ability to destruct and ruin as in the following lines:

But a flood of ruin

Is there, that from the boundaries of the sky
Rolls its perpetual stream; vast pines are strewing 
Its destined path, or in the mangled soil
Branchless and shattered stand: the rocks, drawn down
From yon remotest waste, have overthrown
The limits of the dead and living world,
Never to be reclaimed. (Norton 2, p. 688)

In his “Mont Blanc” he acknowledges the mountain’s ability to inspire his imagination, on
the other hand, the mountain’s huge indifferent entity threatens and terrifies him.
Similarly in his “the West Wind”, he believes that this force brings change and
progress to both natural and human worlds. But at the same time he admits its force of
destruction (LetterPile, n. d.). In comparison to Shelley’s sublime nature, Wordsworth
believes that nature plays a different role. Nature to Wordsworth is comforting,
innocent, pure and gentle. Unlike Shelly’s indifferent nature, Wordsworth views
nature as nurturing and caring force to human being. To him, "Nature never did betray
the heart that loved her." (Lines122-123); it teaches human morality and opens their
eyes to beauty when he says, "see into the life of things." He invites the reader to
meditate nature and involve it in their lives because Wordsworth, as a child,
remembers that whenever he felt sorrow or pain it was nature that comforted him and
wiped away his tears (VictorianWeb, n. d.). This different attitude towards nature can
 be attributed to the place each poet composed his poem. Wordsworth is delighted with
nature in “Tintern Abbey” where he sat at the countryside; saw greenery landscape
with soothing atmosphere. Shelley, on the other hand, was encountered by the Alps
Mountain which is of the highest tops in the world, thus he feels threatened by the icy
immobile mountain whose power is not easy to absorb by human.

2) Men-Nature Relationship
The second difference in the attitudes of nature in the two poets’ verses is the man-
nature relationship and how man must treat nature according to the two poets’
opinions. It is noticeable in Wordsworth poetry that he involves himself and the
reader into nature in his lines because he believes it is a good friend, teacher and
healer to human. However, Shelley views nature as an independent force that is
detached from humans’ world since it is merciless and indifferent to men; this is
shown in the lines "The race of man, flies far in dread; his work and dwelling vanish,
like smoke before the tempest's stream." (Lines, 117-119). He recognizes both its
grandeur and beauty and suggests that man should fear these phenomena but also
admire it. For him, it is not totally soothing and comforting force as Wordsworth
depicts it. Wordsworth does not conceive nature as an alien entity from which he
should be against, in the contrary; he believes that man and nature are complementary
to each other, they are parts of whole and not in opposition stand. The style of writing
and the emphasis of each poet also demonstrate their notion of man-nature
relationship. Wordsworth, for instance, rarely describes the landscape without
involving himself. He often speaks to his sister Dorothy in “Tintern Abbey” instead of
focusing merely on the scenery. Unlike Shelley’s attempt to portray the insignificance
of human being in the face of nature and the independency of nature from the human
world. In “Mont Blanc”, his only focus is the mountain itself which he directs his
passage to without mentioning any human interference. In fact, Shelley suggests that
men should be aware and warned not to trust nature (VictorianWeb, n. d.).

3) Pantheism
The third different view of nature by Wordsworth and Shelley is the influence of religion or
Pantheism. It is the belief that God is nature and nature is God in an interchangeable
 relation (gotquestions.org, n. d.). Romantic poets admire nature because it is a
symbolic of the creator of this beauty and thus they constantly view pantheism in their
poetry. Where Wordsworth acknowledges the presence of god in nature as a
conservative, Shelley believes it is a divine power that is mysterious and thus he does
not relate it to God and never mentions him as the creator and keeper of nature’s
power. The pantheistic views of Wordsworth are obvious in “Tintern Abbey”. He
refers to God whenever he mentions any natural element in “the living air”, “setting
sun” and “the blue sky”. He feels the presence of God in all these natural elements,
which invites the reader to look for God in the beauty of nature. According to
Wordsworth, man can find God in nature through the third stage of man-nature
relationship when man reacts to nature and then see God everywhere within it
(Hoque, 2014). Unlike Wordsworth, who associates spirituality of nature with God,
Shelley links this spirituality with love in “wields the world with never wearied love”
(CssForum, n. d.). This view of Shelley is due to his atheism which contributed to his
perception of nature as chaos and destructive since he is sceptical about the force
behind it. On the other hand, Wordsworth was a conservative and a member in the
Church of England, which enables him to trust the will of God when pain and sorrow
occur and back his faith through nature (VictorianWeb, n. d.). This can be compared
to Shelley’s suggestion in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” that people are forced into
religion using fear and myths: “poisonous names with which our youth is fed”
(Shelley 767). His atheism makes him doubtful about life after death in: “Depart not-
lest the grave should be, like life and fear, a dark reality” (Shelley, 767) and concludes
that these confusing thoughts can only be challenged by poetry which he asserts that it
is his duty and the call of his life (letterPile, n. d.).

Conclusion:
In conclusion, despite the fact that all romantic poets share and agree on several main aspects
in their poetry, there are some differences which witness the development of the
 literary movement. Shelley has introduced some of these differences when compared
to the typical views of nature as demonstrated in Wordsworth poetry. Although they
both admire nature and perceive it as a source of inspiration and comfort, they differ
in parts of their attitudes towards nature, man-nature relationship and their pantheistic
views.

References:

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