William Wordsworth's 'Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey'

The Romantic era of literature brought a reverent attitude towards nature, writes utilizing the external elements of their characters to ease emotional distraughtness and connect them with humanity. This interaction between people and their natural environments is attributed to ecological thinking, which is the recognizing of the natural world and its effects on the relationships and thoughts of humans. Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”, and Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, the characters’ internal struggles with reason are silenced by the sublimity of their ecological thinking, which also serves to connect
The poem follows the narrator’s internal monologue as he revisits a place of nostalgia that ignited his love of nature. His fears that the picturesque scene of his childhood has been idealized are quieted as he sees the place for the first time in five years, falling in love with the environment all over again. He even credits nature as “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,/The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/Of all my moral being” (Wordsworth LL. 109-111). His ecological thinking recharges his soul and makes him feel joyful about life once again. Nature also connects the narrator to his sister, who he sees himself in because of their love of the countryside. He acknowledges his sister the first time in the poem as his “dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch/The language of my former heart, and read/My former pleasures in the shooting lights/Of thy wild eyes” (Wordsworth LL.
In Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Wollstonecraft writes extensively on the environment around her, how it affects her mood and the societies who embrace nature. Wollstonecraft tethers her emotional state to nature, writing “now all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah! let me be happy whilst I can...I must flee from thought, and find refuge from sorrow in a strong imagination — the only solace for a feeling heart”. Nature enables her to forget reality and reason by immersing herself in the beauty of the natural world--similar to how Victor Frankenstein loses himself in the sublimity of ecological thinking in order to forget his own mentality. Mary Wollstonecraft also writes on her belief that ecological thinking and indulgence in nature furthers humanity. She compares Swedish, English and American country girls to “the country girls of Ireland and Wales [who] equally feel the first impulse of nature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy, proves that society is there in a more advanced state”. She attributes charms and manners to a warmer climate and societies who demonstrate the love of nature through ecological thinking. When one is more present in the natural world, their spirit is livened, which contributes to a more congenial way of acting and a warm towards others. Wollstonecraft acknowledges this when she sees the Swedish children