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

March 3 Concerning Wordsworth's "Lines written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey"

Wordsworth further explores his inner psychological workings while “In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind”(Lyrical Ballads 72, L: 3-4). What stood out to me the most was the author’s deep self-reflection between lines 59 and 112 in Tintern Abbey. Five years have passed since Wordsworth was in this location, and a lot has happened in his life since then. In 1793, he was only twenty-three years old, and now he is twenty eight. While thinking up this ballad he realizes, “His life had since taken a considerable turn: he had split with his French lover and their illegitimate daughter, while on a broader note Anglo-French tensions had escalated to such an extent that Britain would declare war later that year”(Wikipedia)¹. After so much turmoil, the unchanged Natural beauty of the abbey must have been more than enough to inspire the concoction of a ballad. During his younger years, he sought the boundlessness of Nature with passion, appetite and rapture.

            After life experiences weighed on Wordsworth, he realized that he had lost something in exchange for something else. He had lost his blank slate, and his overwhelming joy. Now he sits contemplatively and is able to take in the experience of Nature on a psychological level as opposed to a purely instinctual one. I believe he begins to realize the sublimity of the Natural existence of man. Instead of being driven in the picturesque sense to explore the landscape, the author stands in awe of the Natural patterns of night and day, and the interconnectedness of the Natural world. The most psychological part about this section of text rears itself starting on line 107, “Of eye and ear, both what they half create, And what perceive; well pleased to recognize In nature and the language of the sense, The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, the guide…and soul Of all my moral being”(Lyrical Ballads 113, L:107-112). This passage reveals Wordsworth’s ideas on the intimate connection between perception and thought. Humans sense the Natural world around them, and in conjunction with perception we integrate thought and sense in the mind to create our own moral character. These ideas may seem commonplace now that modern psychology is taught at the university level, but Wordsworth was a true pioneer of psychology during the late 1700s. 


1) 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintern_Abbey_(poem)#cite_note-2