The Sublimity In William Wordsworth’s Nature Poems

The tradition of nature writing has a very long history in English literature. Nature is especially favored by English Romantic poets, who wrote poems to describe nature’s beauty and gain wisdom from nature. Thereby, they criticized social evils and inequality. Under the influence of French Revolution, the Lake Poets, as the representatives of English Romantic Movement, initiated a revolution in poetry writing, which was later regarded as the "poetic revolution". Essentially it was a rebellion against the neoclassical literature. In this sense, they explored new theories and invented new techniques for poetic creation. William Wordsworth, as the spokesman of "Lake Poets", praised highly of nature. He found lasting wisdom and spiritual sustenance in nature, and spent almost his lifetime seeking spiritual refuge and redemption from nature.However, what forced Wordsworth to turn to nature for strength, inspiration, refuge, and redemption? All these should be ascribed to his view of divine nature, love and passion for nature, which stems from the western cultural traditions, particularly from the natural religion (including pantheism) and Kant’s aesthetic thought of sublimity.The author of this thesis holds the view that Wordsworth’s writings reflect the literary and aesthetic changes in the19th century. Through his life Wordsworth had been unceasingly pursuing the sublime, and he took the sublimity in divine nature as the aesthetic source of his poetry. Therefore, he advocated the "return to nature" by emphasizing Nature’s significance in guiding individuals to seek truth, kindness and beauty. Wordsworth regarded Nature as the mentor of human spirit and soul, as he believed that Nature was the explicit embodiment of the divinity.The theme of sublimity and his tactics for achieving it in Wordsworth’s nature poems interest the author of this thesis. Hence, based on the Kantian sublime theory and Wordsworth’s theory of poetry, this thesis will make an exploration into Wordsworth’s idea of "sublime nature". Four major and basic tactics are to be discussed in this thesis. They are natural language (language from nature and nature’s "language"), lowly rustic people, the poet’s imagination, and childhood. As for the valuable roles the sublime nature plays for humanity, four roles will be covered. Further efforts will be taken to explore the reasons for Wordsworth’s return to nature and the sources of his "sublimity" in nature poems. Meanwhile, some representative poems will be analyzed to elucidate how nature’s sublimity is presented. The final purpose of this thesis emphasizes the realistic significance of Wordsworth’s sublime nature for awakening modern people’s sense of respect and love for nature, and calls for people to return to nature.This thesis consists of five parts. Chapter One is an introduction to this thesis. First of all, it makes a general survey of Wordsworth’s major life experiences that are closely related with his poetic creation. Then, a comprehensive comparison is made between the Romantic poetry and the neoclassic poetry. In addition, it offers a brief literature review of Wordsworth study home and abroad.Chapter Two makes the basic theoretical framework of this thesis. It traces the development of the sublime theory and lays emphasis on the influence of Kant’s sublime over the Romantic period. At the same time, Wordsworth’s poetic theories and his view on nature are discussed.Chapter Three explores the main reasons for Wordsworth’s inclination to divine nature, including social, political reasons, and his early orphanage and religious faith.Chapter Four forms the core of this thesis. Under this chapter are three subchapters that mainly deal with the idea of sublimity in Wordsworth’s nature poems. Based on the research in the previous chapters, firstly, the author explores the main tactics Wordsworth employs to present the sublime nature. Secondly, this chapter comes to the specific presentation of sublimity in Wordsworth’s nature poems, taking "Daffodils","Tintern Abbey" and "My Heart Leaps Up" for typical examples. The analysis shows the sublime is human’s mental telepathy to external forces in nature, and as an aesthetic category it plays an important role in poetry sublimation. Finally, the author chooses some typical poems to show the values of sublime Nature for mankind:Nature as a healer, Nature as a refuge, Nature as the redeemer.Chapter Five sums up the whole thesis and reveals the theoretical and practical significance of this research. First of all, the author reinforces the research topic, highlighting Wordsworth’s sublimity in nature as aesthetic and philosophical background will further deepen the understanding of Wordsworth’s poetics and add to possible angles for interpretation. Secondly, through reviewing the main ideas discussed in the previous four chapters, the author draws this justifiable conclusion: Wordsworth well integrates his pantheistic belief and the "sublime" aesthetic idea into Nature that is an eternal and often mentioned but renovated theme, which well reflects his superb poetic accomplishments. The idea of "sublime"is very popular in Romantic literature. Finally, the author reemphasizes Wordsworth’s unique contribution to Romantic poetics and his irreplaceable position in the history of Romantic poetry, and affirms the great value of his poetic heritage for the current society.