A Study Of Wordsworth's Religious Thoughts In The Prelude

This thesis aims to establish a three dimensional frame of Wordsworth's religious thoughts as reflected in The Prelude. The methodology adopted in the process of establishing such a frame is Structuralism. The thesis takes Wordsworth's religious thoughts as an organic entity and decomposes it according to three pairs of relations, the relationship between God and Nature, the relationship between God and man, and the relationship between God and human society.Wordsworth's view on the relationship between God and nature concerns three aspects, the first being God as a non-anthropomorphized supreme spirit from which the world generates, the second being a hierarchy cosmic structure, and the third being nature as medium between God and man, protector and healer both.The second dimension of this frame deals with the poet's thinking of the relationship between God and man. The first and foremost view Wordsworth holds is the belief that man was born good with nobility and divinity. The poet then takes a personal approach to interpret the relationship between God and himself in claiming that he is the chosen son destined to create poetry worthy of nature's power. The way to perform such mission is by solitude and meditation.The relationship between God and human society constitutes the third dimension of Wordsworth's religious thoughts. For Wordsworth, human society is governed by a universal law which is the shared reason bestowed by God. The ideal state of society will be achieved with philosopher-kings in a Platonic sense and poets as guides.The three pairs of relations in this cone frame of Wordsworth's religious thoughts are interwoven into each other, unified by the Wordswrothian theme as man in nature's presence.