1. By: William Wordsworth
Tintern Abbey
By: William Wordsworth

2. Recap Analysis of the poem ‘Solitary Reaper’
Poet draws on rustic life and common girl
Theme of lasting effect of natural surrounding
Theme of loneliness and isolation from the world and its matters
Role of memory and power of recollection
Nature as source of peace and happiness
Simple language

3. About Tintern Abbey
No poem of mine was composed under circumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this. I began it upon leaving Tintern, after crossing the Wye, and concluded it just as I was entering Bristol in the evening, after a ramble of four or five days, with my Sister. Not a line of it was altered, and not any part of it written down till I reached Bristol. It was published almost immediately after in the little volume of which so much has been said in these Notes. (William Wordsworth, 1798)

4. About Tintern Abbey
The complete title that Wordsworth gave it was: Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.
It was published as the last poem of the Lyrical Ballads
At the age of 23, poet visited the abbey alone. In 1798, he revisited with his sister Dorothy, referred as ‘friend’ throughout.
Poem is a recollection of poet’s visit of 1793, which he visited alone.
the abbey is not described in the poem; river Wye is described passionately.

5. About Tintern Abbey
It is a complex poem addressing a lot of themes at the same time: memory, mortality, faith, nature, friendship and familial love.
Employs a more intellectual & philosophical relationship with nature.
Structure of the poem is complex: there’s no rhyme, no regular division of stanzas.
Written in blank verse or iambic pentameter
Poetic devices: repetitions of sounds and words

6. Analysis of the poem
FIVE years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters! and again I hear These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs with a sweet inland murmur. Repetition is used to emphasize his separation and sense of delight at being back. First natural object he describes is ‘water’ & its ‘sweet inland murmur’

7. Once again Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky. The next object of Nature are the cliffs. He describes the scene before him as ‘wild’ and ‘secluded’

8. The day is come when I again repose Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts, Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves 'Mid groves and copses
Poet describes the beauty of the River Wye area
‘Plots of cottage-ground’ are the small gardens
‘orchard tufts’ are groups of fruit tress
‘woods and copses’ are forests and thickets of small trees or shrubs

9. Once again I see These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms, Green to the very door;
The ‘hedge rows’ are guarding the sheep farms.

10. and wreaths of smoke Sent up, in silence, from among the trees
and wreaths of smoke Sent up, in silence, from among the trees! With some uncertain notice, as might seem Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods, Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire The Hermit sits alone. ‘smoke’ is the sign of human life; of some vagabonds or hermit. ‘hermit’ is someone who leaves the material world and dwells among nature

11. These beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me As is a landscape to a blind man's eye: (23-25)
The poet emphasizes his bond with nature that absence did not make him forget this beautiful scene.

12. But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind, With tranquil restoration: —
Nature blessed the poet with two gifts after his first visit:
First gift: recollection/memory of these beautiful scenes lead to ‘sensations sweet’(pleasurable feelings) and tranquility.

13. feelings too Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps, As have no slight or trivial influence On that best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered, acts Of kindness and of love. Poet shows more gratitude for this memory - the joy of which caused him to be a good person. Wordsworth gives his moral doctrine here: nature improves character

14. Nor less, I trust, To them I may have owed another gift, Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened: — Second gift : ‘blessed mood’ The world is ‘unintelligible’ for the poet (disappointment with French Revolution)

15. that serene and blessed mood, In which the affections gently lead us on, — Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul: Poet’s throws light on his deep spiritual relationship with nature. Corporeal frame or physical body becomes dead or irrelevant but the inner eye or soul awakens.

16. While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things. ‘eye made quite’ means that he is no longer aware of his surroundings poet becomes a mystic through power of meditation coupled with powers of ‘harmony’ with nature and ‘joy’ at this union with nature , he attains a spiritual status.

17. Yet oh, how oft, In darkness and amid the many shapes Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world, Have hung upon the beatings of my heart — ‘fretful stir’ is disturbing noises of the world ‘unprofitable’ as there are no gains ‘fever of the world’ are materialistic obsessions of this world

18. How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, How often has my spirit turned to thee!
‘sylvan wye’ – calls it a spirit,
He compares the ‘fever of the world’ with the tranquility of the river Wye.
Poet turned to Wye for inspiration and for meaning to life.

19. And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought, With many recognitions dim and faint, And somewhat of a sad perplexity, The picture of the mind revives again: Upon this second visit, Wordsworth says that his memories are revived again.

20. While here I stand, not only with the sense Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts That in this moment there is life and food For future years
Wordsworth’s belief that Nature is source of pleasure for all times to come.

21. And so I dare to hope, Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills; when like a roe I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, Wherever nature led:
Wordsworth gives us flashback again.
Like a ‘roe’ or deer, without thinking, he followed nature.

22. more like a man Flying from something that he dreads, than one Who sought the thing he loved. Nature sometimes filled him with fear.

23. For nature then (The coarser pleasures of my boyish days, And their glad animal movements all gone by) To me was all in all. — ‘all in all’- a passion and an appetite, filling up both his emotional and physical desires

24. I cannot paint What then I was
I cannot paint What then I was. The sounding cataract Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite;
In the past, natural beauty attracted him.

25. a feeling and a love, That had no need of a remoter charm, By thought supplied, nor any interest Unborrowed from the eye. — Poet then was only emotionally attached to Nature and had no relationship at deeper level of thought.

26. That time is past, And all its aching joys are now no more, And all its dizzy raptures. The past with old feelings is no more.

27. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur, other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense.
‘abundant recompense’- plenty of compensation
Poet doesn’t regret the loss of his old relationship with Nature.

28. For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity, Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue.
Wordsworth explains his new mature relationship with Nature: Nature connects him with fellow mankind
A philosophic statement.
‘grating’- irritating, ‘chasten & subdue’ – make humble & calm

29. And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man; Wordsworth’s Pantheism: a spiritual relationship with Nature Nature is a Spirit, a Deity, and is Omnipresent.

30. A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.
This spirit is everywhere, surrounding us , filling us, binding us, and the universe together.
It connects everything.

31. Therefore am I still A lover of the meadows and the woods, And mountains; and of all that we behold From this green earth; of all the mighty world of eye, and ear, — both what they half create, And what perceive; well pleased to recognise In nature and the language of the sense
Poet moves from sensual pleasures to thoughtful relationship with Nature.

32. The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul Of all my moral being. Wordsworth’s deepening relationship with Nature, His thoughtless relationship with Nature is now over and he is now consciously in love with Nature as he knows its powers.

33. Nor perchance, If I were not thus taught, should I the more Suffer my genial spirits to decay: Poet wonders what would have happened to him if he didn’t recognize nature’s blessings!

34. For thou art with me here upon the banks Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend, My dear, dear Friend Dorothy is introduced here, as a friend.

35. and in thy voice I catch The language of my former heart, and read my former pleasures in the shooting Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while May I behold in thee what I was once, My dear, dear Sister! In her youth, Wordsworth finds his former pleasures.

36. and this prayer I make, Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead From joy to joy:
Because Nature never betrays, it always gives joy.
Nature personified as guide.

37. for she can so inform The mind that is within us, so impress With quietness and beauty, and so feed With lofty thoughts,
Different roles of Nature: a teacher, a nurse and as an art.

38. that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life, Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold Is full of blessings.
Nature protects us from every mischief, and prevents our hearts from being polluted or corrupted.

39. Therefore let the moon Shine on thee in thy solitary walk; And let the misty mountain-winds be free To blow against thee:
Wordsworth’s love for his sister.
Tells her to seek Nature’s blessings, and experience Nature like his former days.

40. and, in after years, When these wild ecstasies shall be matured Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms, Thy memory be as a dwelling-place For all sweet sounds and harmonies; He believes that later she too will find mature pleasures. ‘mind a mansion for lovely forms’ – store house of beauteous forms Connects the mind and the memory

41. oh! then, If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts Of tender joy wilt thou remember me, And these my exhortations! These present joys will always give her strength

42. Nor, perchance — If I should be where I no more can hear Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams Of past existence — wilt thou then forget That on the banks of this delightful stream We stood together; Wordsworth asks her to remember him even when he is no more.

43. and that I, so long A worshipper of Nature, hither came Unwearied in that service: rather say With warmer love —oh! with far deeper zeal Of holier love.
Poet declares himself a ‘worshipper of Nature’
He came here in servitude and in knowledge of Nature’s immense blessings.

44. Nor wilt thou then forget, That after many wanderings, many years Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs, And this green pastoral landscape, were to me More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake! The scene was memorable for its own sake and herself. Previous memory was of the place alone, but now Dorothy has become part of it.

45. Themes
Poems explore the impact of passing time on his relationship with Nature.
Wordsworth’s intellectual and spiritual transformation
Wordsworth’s deepening relationship with nature- his pantheism

46. panthism Idea of divinity of Nature – Nature is divine
‘pan’= everything
‘theos’ = God
Irish writer, John Toland, first used the term in 1705
Strictly, pantheism is not theism, it does not believe in a transcendent or personal God who is the creator but in one universe
Pantheism: belief that we find truth, solace and spiritual fulfilment when we establish connection with ONE universe

47. Paulo Cohelo- modern writer uses the idea in his works
Root of the philosophy is the ‘All is one and Interconnected’
Harrison (1999): ‘In essence, pantheism holds that there is no divinity other than the universe.’
Different from Islamic view: the sufi or mystic sees only the presence of God in every particle of nature

48. Islamic pantheism
Associated with Ibn e Arabi born in the year 560 A.H. (1165 A.D.)