Tintern abbey

The complete title of this poem is “lines composed a few miles above Tintern abbey on revisiting the banks of the wye”. It was written on july 13th, 1798. It open with the speaker’s declaration that five years had passed since he had last visited this location, encountered its tranquil and rustic scenery, and heard the murmuring waters of the river. He recites the objects he sees again and the effect upon him; “the steep and lofty cliffs” impress upon him “thoughts of more deep seclusion.” He leans against the dark sycamore tree and looks at the cottage grounds and the orchard trees, whose fruit is still unripe. He sees the “wreath of smoke” rising up from cottage chimneys from between the trees and imagines their source as from “vagrant dwellers” in the houseless woods or from the caves of hermit in the deep forests. The speaker describes how his memories of these “beauteous forms” have worked upon him in his absence from them. When he was alone or in crowded towns or cities, they provided him with “sensations sweet.” The memory of the words and cottages offered “tranquil restoration” to his mind and even affected him when he was not aware of the memory influencing his deeds of kindness and love. He further credits the memory of the scene with offering him the access to the mental and spiritual state in which the burdens of the world are lightened. He becomes a “living soul” with a view into the life of things. His belief that they memory of the woods has affected him so strongly may be “vain” but he has still turned to the memory in times of “fretful stir.” Even in the present moment, the memory of his experience in these surroundings floats over his present view of them and he feels bittersweet joy in reviving them. He thinks happily too that his present experience will provide many happy memories for the future years. The speaker acknowledges that he is different now from what he was in those long ago times when as a boy, he “bounded o’er the mountains and through the streams.” Nature made up his whole world. Waterfalls, mountains and woods gave shape to his passions. Though he cannot resume his old relationship with nature, he has been amply compensated by a new set of more mature gifts. He can now “look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth but hearing often times the still, sad music of humanity.” He can now sense the presence of something far more subtle, powerful and fundamental in the light of the setting sun, the ocean, the air itself and even in the mind of man. The energy seems to him “a motion and a spirit that impels.” For that reason, he says that he still loves nature, mountains and pastures and woods, for they anchor his purest thoughts and guard the heart and soul of his “moral being.” The speaker says that even if he did not feel this way or understand these things, he would still be in good spirits on this day, for he was in the company of his “dear dear sister” who is also his “dear dear friend” and in whose voice and manner he observes his former self and beholds “what I once was.” He offers a prayer to nature that he might continue to do so for some more time because he knows that “nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” Nature’s power over the min that seeks her out is such that it renders that mind impervious to “evil tongues”, “rash judgements” and the “sneers of selfish men”, instilling instead “a cheerful faith” that the world is full of blessings.” He encourages the moon to shine upon his sister and the wind to blow against her and he says to her in later years, when she is sad or fearful, the memory of this experience will help to heal her. If he himself is dead, she can remember the love with which he worshipped nature. Wordsworth comprehends that because of their recollection of their communion in the outdoors, he and his sister will be tied together even after his death. The theme is memory, specifically childhood memories of communion with natural beauty. In his youth, the poet says that he was thoughtless in his unity with the woods and the river. Now, five years since his last viewing of the scene, he is no longer thoughtless but acutely aware of everything the scene has to offer him. “Tintern Abbey” is a monologue, imaginatively spoken by a single speaker to himself. The poem also has a subtle strain of religious sentiments, though the actual form of the abbey does not appear in the poem. The idea of the abbey, a place erected to the spirit, suffuses the scene as though the forest and the fields were themselves the speaker’s abbey. This idea is reinforced by the speaker’s description of the power he feels in the setting sun and in the mind on man, which consciously links the ideas of God, nature and the human miner’s abbey. This idea is reinforced by the speaker’s description of the power he feels in the setting sun and in the mind on man, which consciously links the ideas of God, nature and the human mind.