Western Literature Intimations Ode

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Western Literature Intimations Ode

            The intimations ode is divided into three major parts. In the first part, which is comprised of the first four stanzas, the speaker begins with a description of the landscape. He describes the way in which a distinct aspect or the change on it in the described landscape can evoke various integral processes that involve thinking, anticipating, remembering and feeling. All these effects remain relative to the outer scene. The second part is the next four stanzas and here he analyses the significance of the first part with regard to the problems that he faces. Here he gets an insight, faces a tragic loss and resolves a problem that was disturbing him emotionally while making a moral decision. The third part is composed of the last three stanzas where the author resolves the problem affectively. This occurs when the poem goes round back to where it began with the outer scene being highlighted. However, here the mood is a bit altered and the understanding is deepened. This results to the meditation. The dividing of the poem into these three major parts creates a better understanding for the reader (Greenblatt & Abrams 206).

The first four stanzas are characterized by the loss in vision. Vision and sight in the poem are very important and Wordsworth grieves for this loss in his old age. He remembers as he moved through the world seeing great visions and great natural beauties. He also remembers how he captured them in his memories for recollection in moments of darkness such as which he was experiencing. The poet grieves his loss since he loses this power of sight that he holds so dear. He is also very sad of his loss since he describes the power of sight such as which is captured by the mind’s eye able to comfort a person, specifically himself, even in their loneliest and darkest times.

The fifth to the ninth stanza talk of how the age of a person can cause him to lose sight of the important features of divinity. He proposes to himself to make a resolution not to be troubled by the life in which he lives now and concentrate on his memories of when he was a young boy. These memories, he says, shall always give him a kind of joy at the thought of them. The memories shall always keep him close to a part of his life that he holds dear and grant him access to the lost world of boyhood where he had instinct; he was explorative and quite innocent.

In stanzas ten through to eleven, Wordsworth receives consolation from the joy he acquires from his memories of his childhood and through this joy, we see him speaking to the birds telling them to sing, and telling all the creatures to participate. He affirms himself that he shall take solace in the sympathy offered by his memories, though he has lost part of the glory which nature had given him and that of the experiences he had. In the eleventh and the final stanza the poet says that his mind is aware of the feeling of mortality while the child does not and it is from this difference that he is able to love natural beauty and nature more and more. He adds to say that nature and its objects and marvels take him into trances of deep thought giving an example with a flower. He says that even a simple flower blowing in the wind can raise his very deep thoughts (Abrams 123).

Nature in Wordsworth’s poem plays a role of providing a good influence in the human mind. All the thoughts and manifestations the speaker has about nature bring about clear good thoughts and passionate emotions. He emphasizes about the importance of nature repeatedly in the poem and shows that it is important to the spiritual and intellectual development of an individual. He also shows how the maintenance of a good relationship with nature can help an individual develop good spiritual and social connections with the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Greenblatt, Stephen, and Meyer Howard Abrams. The Norton anthology of English literature: The major authors. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.

Abrams, M. H. Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 1997. Print.