A Study Of Country And City Writing In "Michael"

Wordsworth was the most influential poet in the 19 th century Britain. Together with Coleridge, he published Lyrical Ballads, which marked the beginning of the English Romanticism. "Michael", the last poem in its second edition, told a story about a shepherd named Michael who lost both his land and only son, unfolding the real country and city in Britain during that transitional time. More importantly, it reveals Wordsworth‘s concern about the ordinary people‘s real existence and his deep rumination on the relations of human, nature and society. However, scholars mainly focus on the poet‘s attitudes toward nature, Christian allusions, historical background and ecological thoughts. Few research papers study the causes of the changing relations between man and nature in the country and city world reflected in "Michael", not to mention the poet‘s concerns for social problems in his time.Murray Bookchin‘s theory of social ecology holds the view that almost all the ecological problems arise from deep-seated social problems, providing us with a new perspective in thinking about the relationship between human beings and nature. This thesis tries to apply this theory to analyze the country and city writing in the poem. Specifically, the thesis firstly gives an analysis of the country where man lives harmoniously with nature. Then, it studies the embodied declination of the country behind Michael‘s sacrifice of his son for land, followed with a deep exploration on the economical reasons. Secondly, it discusses why Luke, an innocent young lad from the countryside, degenerates in the city, leading to the exploration of the social problems such as separation of man from nature, the alienation of man in the cities. All of these unfold the transition of people‘s ways of living with the rapid development of the first Industrial Revolution, revealing Wordsworth‘s critical attitudes toward industrialization in his time.In conclusion, through interpreting the ordinary people‘s two kinds of living situations in the country and the city in "Michael", this thesis reveals Wordsworth‘s social ecological thoughts. It expands the application of social ecology in literature criticism at the same time. It may offer some useful insights for contemporary China‘s economic development and social harmony.