Strange Fits of Passion
Lauren Brackett ENL3 Ryan Wander 29 October 2014
Essay # 1: “Strange fits of passion have I known” Nature, a theme considered unique to the Romantic Movement, was employed by William Wordsworth in his poem “Strange fits of passion have I known” to paint the journey of a love struck adventurer. “Nature” propels the expedition for love onward, yet also reveals the subject of the poem’s beauty in a gentle way. The natural landscape acts as both a leader, guiding the speaker along his late night travels, and a resource, providing an outlet for his expression of love for Lucy. The use of natural imagery suggests that the journey to Lucy’s house was no easy expedition. The ride begins “beneath an evening moon,” (Wordsworth 8) and continues into the night where other various landscapes are met along his scenic route. The moon illuminates the “wide lea” (Wordsworth 10) in front of him as he proceeds on horseback, which he must cross to continue on. The image of the large meadow covering the road ahead is overwhelming due to the vast amount of land it covers. Because it is such an overpowering image, it suggests that this adventure was lengthy and probably time-consuming. Continuing on his way, the speaker now approaches the “orchard-plot” (Wordsworth 13) provoking an image of perfect rows of fruit trees that conceal the land he plans to ride upon. This second image of the tree groves is intimidating. Rows of crops cover acres of land and grow for miles, implying that the adventurer still has a great amount of riding ahead of him. Both of these images of natural scenes work to portray just how extensive the journey to reach Lucy’s house would be. By generating images with strong sensory details, the length of the speaker’s journey and the vastness of world that encompasses him become apparent. The speaker is not the object moving in this poem; the parts of nature that accompany him on his journey are the active objects that seem
Essay # 1: “Strange fits of passion have I known” Nature, a theme considered unique to the Romantic Movement, was employed by William Wordsworth in his poem “Strange fits of passion have I known” to paint the journey of a love struck adventurer. “Nature” propels the expedition for love onward, yet also reveals the subject of the poem’s beauty in a gentle way. The natural landscape acts as both a leader, guiding the speaker along his late night travels, and a resource, providing an outlet for his expression of love for Lucy. The use of natural imagery suggests that the journey to Lucy’s house was no easy expedition. The ride begins “beneath an evening moon,” (Wordsworth 8) and continues into the night where other various landscapes are met along his scenic route. The moon illuminates the “wide lea” (Wordsworth 10) in front of him as he proceeds on horseback, which he must cross to continue on. The image of the large meadow covering the road ahead is overwhelming due to the vast amount of land it covers. Because it is such an overpowering image, it suggests that this adventure was lengthy and probably time-consuming. Continuing on his way, the speaker now approaches the “orchard-plot” (Wordsworth 13) provoking an image of perfect rows of fruit trees that conceal the land he plans to ride upon. This second image of the tree groves is intimidating. Rows of crops cover acres of land and grow for miles, implying that the adventurer still has a great amount of riding ahead of him. Both of these images of natural scenes work to portray just how extensive the journey to reach Lucy’s house would be. By generating images with strong sensory details, the length of the speaker’s journey and the vastness of world that encompasses him become apparent. The speaker is not the object moving in this poem; the parts of nature that accompany him on his journey are the active objects that seem