Humanism In Wordsworth's Poetry

William Wordsworth (April 7^th, 1770—April 23^rd, 1850) has beenundoubtedly honored as the primary founder of English romantic poetry. Matthew Arnold once pointed out that Wordsworth's supreme greatness was second to Shakespeare and Milton in English literature. Being the issues of critics, his poems and poetical theories have aroused various concerns and studies at home and abroad.Under the influence of bourgeois democratic ideas of liberty, equality and universal brotherhood, he created lots of poems on the themes of nature and common people. On the basis of the analyses of the poetical texts, the author investigates humanism in Wordsworth's poetry. It is composed of five chapters. In Chapter 1, the author surveys literature reviews, proposes assumptions, systematizes methodologies and affords contribution of this paper. In Chapter 2, the author analyzes Wordsworth's biographical studies on his humanism. In Chapter 3 and 4, the author retraces the mind growth of Wordsworth traveling beyond his love of nature towards that of man. On the theme of nature endowed with a strong color of humanism in Chapter 3, the poet depicts nature's beauty / elegance and sublimity. Reflecting the nature where human beings peacefully dwell, he probes the communication and interrelationships between the nature and humankind. By introducing Lacanian psychological approaches into analyses, Wordsworth recovers loss subjectivity through the mirror of nature. Humankind and nature are in essence in unity. Naturally, men's thoughts become a mirror, reflecting the nicest and most interesting qualities of nature. Meanwhile, the poet lets the readers understand that mankind should keep a wise passiveness, summoning the full participation of their innermost feelings to echo with the feeding power of nature, to enjoy and learn from the natural world. To the poet, nature is the hometown of body and soul, which is a kind of further humanistic concerns. Nature and humankind, two main themes in Wordsworth's poetry, are interrelated. The poet observes the true meanings of lives, through his love for the nature to his love for the homeland, and towards his deep concerns for the welfare of human beings. His passionate love for nature is actually his profound love for humankind. In Chapter 4, the author analyzes how Wordsworth focuses on man, especially the low and rustic in his poetry. The author examines Tintern Abbey to investigate Wordsworth's humanistic concerns for the living state of humankind, which marks the poet's recovery from the split self to the true self through the mirror of nature. "All my moral being" (Abrams, 1968:155) is the poet's perfect spiritual heights. As Wordsworth verifies his assertions, he is concerned with those most subtle and spiritual features in the natural phenomena and melts them down in his mind. What a person gives to others is virtually his abundant recompense (Ibid.) from nature (Kroeber, 1991:233). In the last chapter, the author summarizes the major viewpoints presented above and proposes the limitations and questions to be further researched.Through the analyses of Wordsworth's poetical texts, the author sincerely hopes the readers can feel that the poet's love for the beautiful and permanent nature is often perfectly incorporated with his praise for the "low and rustic" (Abrams, 1968:148). Wordsworth's lyrics on naturalness and simplicity of the humble and rural life show us an elegant and pure green picture of the harmonious coexistence of nature and humanity.