Concerning "The Idiot Boy" By William Wordsworth

I thoroughly enjoyed Wordsworth's poem, The Idiot Boy. The moon's light in relation to Johnny’s story was particularly interesting to me. In the beginning of the poem, the scene is described as "The moon is up, the sky is blue..."(Lyrical Ballads pg. 88, ll. 2). I believe this sets up an interesting twilight landscape. According to the OED, this stage of the day “…prevails between daylight and darkness”(OED online). The fact that this is a transitional period had me waiting for the ‘dark’ event or situation of the poem to present itself as I read.  

The moon reflects the sun’s light, and is a symbol of what is known, bright, and good in opposition to the unknown darkness of night. Shining in the moonlit night is our hero, Johnny, in lines fifty-nine through sixty-one. His charge is to go to town and retrieve the doctor for his neighbor Susan. Wordsworth does a fantastic job of mocking the critics of his time who thought that his poem contained, “disgusting images of ordinary morbid idiocy”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 88). Johnny is the main character of the poem; he is our hero strategically placed so that we might consider the way we view people who have mental disabilities. We must face the fact that our champion rides a pony instead of a steed, carries a stick in his hand instead of a sword, and babbles instead of delivering epic soliloquies.  

The expected dark situation of the poem is when Johnny ends up lost in the woods. Betty, his mother, gets very worried and eventually searches the forest looking for him. Johnny is finally found next to a waterfall where he “burrs and laughs aloud…”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 99 ll. 387). Wordsworth mocks the customary hero’s journey wherein the champion is in danger and slays the literal or metaphorical dragon. Instead, Johnny has something different to offer to the story and reader. A very important line of the poem reads, “Of moon or stars he takes no heed; Of such we in romances read…”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 99 ll. 364-365). Johnny enjoys and converses with Nature in a simple and innocent way. His pleasure is uncorrupted and he is able to freely follow the fluxes and refluxes of his mind when agitated by his Nature, just as Wordsworth explains is part of humanity in his Preface (Lyrical Ballads pg. 394). Johnny is a true romantic, and through his story the reader gains an understanding that we can learn a lot from those who have mental disabilities, because they exemplify that “men who do not wear fine clothes can feel deeply”( http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/christopher-wordsworth/memoirs-of-william-wordsworth-volume-1-2dr/page-12-memoirs-of-william-wordsworth-volume-1-2dr.shtml).

April 21, 2011 Concerning “Kubla Khan” By Samuel Coleridge

Kubla Khan was “Composed one night after [Coleridge] experienced an opium influenced dream after reading a work describing the Tartar king Kublai Khan”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubla_Khan).  By getting high and attempting to connect ancient Asian history with a sort of imaginative Eastern mysticism, Coleridge brings his wildest drug induced fantasies to paper. What Kubla Khan immediately reminded me of was The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere. In Khan, when the author speaks of winding rivers, incense bearing trees, and enchanted chasms, it reminded me of the sailor in The Rime who looks over the side of the boat. When out at sea, the sailor “watch’d the water snakes…their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black…and every track was a flash of golden fire”(Lyrical Ballads pg 31, ll. 265-274).

It was difficult to understand the purpose of Coleridge’s fantastic descriptions the first time I read The Rime, but I came to appreciate the author’s ideas concerning the power of imagination. Coleridge utilizes this grand imagery to demonstrate that the purpose of his poetry is to, “follow the fluxes and refluxes of the mind when agitated by the great and simple affections of our nature”(Lyrical Ballads pg 394). Affection is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “The action or result of affecting the mind in some way; a mental state brought about by any influence; an emotion, feeling”(OED online). The sailor in The Rime had to be distraught, and isolated far out at sea in order to access the part of his mind that could see the slimy things of the ocean. I believe that the author wanted to induce a similar psychological state in himself, and turned to drugs as a means of this endeavor. Kubla Khan is not just a work of fantasy for pleasure’s sake, but it is a dive into the deep end of human psychological analysis. Coleridge allows the reader a glimpse of what happens when one gains access to the unbarred imagination of the human psyche. 

Wed. April 13, Concerning “Frost at Midnight" By Coleridge

As I delved into Coleridge’s Frost at Midnight, I kept catching myself searching for what he meant by the frost performing its secret ministry (Lyrical Ballads pg. 233 ll. 1). The author starts the poem by informing the reader that he is in “Solitude, which suits Abstruser musings…”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 233 ll. 5). Abstruse, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, means “Remote from apprehension or conception; difficult, recondite”(OED online). The Naturalist poet first places himself in a physical place and psychological state to most effectively converse with Nature and ponder the ambiguities of humanity.

In order to understand the meaning of Nature’s ministry, we should start by examining Coleridge’s references to ministers. There are two different teachers or ministers the author refers to in this poem. The first is the preceptor in line forty-two. This teacher merely forced Coleridge to pretend that he was studying during class in grammar school. The preceptor serves to awaken the poet from his youthful dreams and pleasures referred to in lines thirty-three through thirty-nine. This teacher reminds me of a catholic school nun that is mentioned in the song “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. The lyrics read, “…I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black, I held my tongue as she told me son, ‘fear is the heart of love’, so I never went back”(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbqtuFemMOE). In these works, the human teachers serve to push their own beliefs upon those they teach instead of letting Nature and experience speak for itself.

After writing of his past, the author declares that it will be different for his infant. Instead of being enclosed in the city to see only the sky and stars, the child will wonder among the lakes, beaches, and mountains. In these more remote places, his progeny will be able to converse with Nature more effectively and hear “that eternal language, which thy God utters”(Lyrical Ballads 235 ll. 65-66). God, according to Coleridge, is the perfect minister who puts himself in all things and all things in himself (Lyrical Ballads pg 235 ll. 67-68). I thought this idea was very interesting, and in some ways very controversial for the author’s time. By equating God to Nature, Nature is also necessarily God. The secret ministry of Nature is its constant passive conversation with man. This portion of the poem reminded me of a bible verse found in the book of Psalms, which reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth…”( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19&version=NIV). It as if the all of Nature is participating in furthering the teleological argument.

The last part I would like to discuss in this poem is line eighty-one, which contains a double meaning regarding Nature’s argument. Icicles, “Have capp’d their sharp keen points with pendulous drops”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 235 ll. 81). One could read this line as the beautiful rhythmic drips of water falling off an icicle, or the precision with which Nature seals its constant argument for its own perfection. 

Thursday, April 7: Concerning “Lines written upon a seat…” by William Wordsworth

          Upon the opening of this poem, I noticed that Wordsworth uses his language to take the reader on a journey of inward reflection. What hinted this idea to me were the opening lines which read, “-Nay traveler! Rest. This lonely yew tree stands Far from all human dwelling”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 45 ll. 1-2). It as if Wordsworth is flagging us down on the road while we are travelling to another destination, or thinking about something completely different. The author is asking us to stop and initiate a change in perspective. The modifier for the yew tree is ‘lonely’. I thought it was an interesting choice, and I noticed that this modifier eventually comes to reflect what the prideful poet feels in lines twelve through twenty. 

            After the poet character sets out with a pure heart, he handles everything that tries to taint him in the world except neglect. He then focuses on Nature, attempting to see his own morbidity and emptiness in the barren rocks. It mentions that “His only visitants a straggling sheep”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 46 ll. 23). This hearkens back to the loneliness theme that Wordsworth opens the poem with. The ultimate change in perspective, and the most important part in the poem, is in line 30 which reads, “And lifting up his head, he then would gaze On the more distant scene…”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 45 ll. 30). Once this happens, the poet character is overwhelmed by Natures beauty, and realizes how lost he was before. This epiphany is what he wants to share with the Reader to the end that we would take the time to experience Natures awesome conversation. 

            The poem reminded me of Expostulation and reply when mentioning that a wise man, after experiencing nature, might scorn which wisdom holds (Lyrical Ballads pg. 47 ll. 54). It is very similar to the message that Wordsworth presents that Man can “Feed this mind of ours, in a wise passiveness”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 104 ll. 23-24).  One must only spend time to converse with Nature to experience a change in perspective that can truly affect not just human feelings, but also moral character.

March 31st, Concerning “The Haunted Beach” By Mary Robinson

The Haunted Beach, by Mary Robinson lives up to its ghostly name. The second stanza stood out to me in that it utilizes a lot of interesting language to paint a sublime picture of the beach. The author writes, “Above, a jutting cliff was seen Where birds hover’d, craving; And all around, the craggs were bound…And here and there, a cavern wide Its shad’wy jaws display’d…”(Lyrical Ballafds 376, ll 10-15). I thought the word ‘craggs’ was an interesting choice. The definition is, “A steep or precipitous rugged rock”(OED online). This whole stanza gives us an image of a dangerous, high and rugged cliff that truly dwarfs the reader before Nature. The word ‘jaws’ even reminds us of a daunting animal that may lash out at us at any moment. We are astonished at the awesome images invoked by Robinson’s language.

After the initial shock the author delivers, the poem takes a turn for the dark and eerie. I would have to agree with William Wordsworth in his preface when he notes, “The human mind is capable of being excited without the application of gross and violent stumulants…”(Lyrical Ballads 395). I believe Robinson violates this rule when writing about howling phantoms, deep bleeding lacerations, and murder. The gothic style employed by Robinson throughout the rest of the poem truly moves the reader to fear and awe, and paints a violent scary picture of nature in opposition to happy nightingales or beautiful landscapes. 

3/24/2011 Concerning Charlotte Smith’s Sonnet “To The Moon”

           Smith’s fourth sonnet, To The Moon, utilizes Greek mythology and imagery to mesmerize the reader into seeing Nature as a place where “the wretched may have rest”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 145 l. 8).  The first line where Smith refers to a queen of the silver bow reminded me instantly of the Greek Goddess Artemis, who is associated with the moon. In art and literature, “she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows”( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis#cite_note-Hammond-3/). By characterizing the moon in this way, the author allows the reader to view Nature not just as our idle surroundings, but as an active role player in our fate.

When the words placid, mild, and benignant are used in lines five through ten, she is attributing human characteristics to the moon. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word benignant means, “Cherishing or exhibiting kindly feeling towards inferiors or dependants; gracious, benevolent (with some suggestion of condescension or patronage)”(OED online). The moon, and Nature by extension acts upon us dynamically, and isn’t something that just sits in the sky to be admired. Nature is constantly in conversation with humanity, and we can relieve ourselves of our troubles by participating in the conversation. 

March 16, 2011. Concerning "Sonnet on seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress"

Wordsworth reveals biases toward sensibility and mimics Helen William’s vascular rhetoric in his Sonnet. Williams, in the first quatrain of To Sensibility, already utilizes vascular rhetoric. In lines three and four she alludes to making a shrine, “On which [her] heart must bleed!”(Lyrical Ballads pg. 149, ll 3-4). In lines 14, 23, 35, and 81 she uses the word ‘heart’, and makes many more references to bleeding and wounds throughout the poem. In Wordsworth’s Sonnet, the author uses similar rhetoric in mirror-like fashion to describe Williams’ experience. The first five lines of Wordsworth’s Sonnet are filled with references to flowing blood, thrilling veins, and the heart (Lyrical Ballads pg. 152, ll 1-5). This imagery used by both authors puts the reader in position to feel an emotional response to their writings. There is a fascinating loop that is created in this sonnet. Wordsworth praises Williams for virtues she radiates, provides a means for his readers to exude the same virtues, and necessarily praises his own work through imitation of Williams’ style. 

         The other topic I would like to address regarding Wordsworth’s Sonnet relates to lines nine through fourteen. These lines read:

That tear proclaims-in thee each virtue dwells,

And bright will shine in misery’s midnight hour;

As the soft star of dewy evening tells

That only wait the darkness of the night

To chear the wand’ring wretch with hospitable light.

This selection from the sonnet calls to mind the image of the twilight star. During the day, the bright stars are hidden from us. During twilight we can see only one star which reminds us there others out there that will emanate light to guide us through the night. In a similar way, the virtue of sensibility reminds us in times of trouble that there is good out there to guide us even if we cannot clearly see every aspect of a situation. This simile reminded me of the lyrics from the song Fight Test by The Flaming Lips which read, “I don't know where the sunbeams end and the starlight begins it's all a mystery. And I don't know how a man decides what right for his own life - it's all a mystery”(http://www.uulyrics.com/music/flaming-lips/song-fight-test/). These lyrics also describe a twilight period. Humans decide their moral character during the period when their way through life isn’t lit by the stars. As a person, one must decide what their moral twilight star is, and follow it when ethical boundaries are blurred. 

This is a link to the music video for that song which includes great shots of the aforementioned twilight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EbrMAZbFpo