Paper No 103 Literature of the Romantics

Paper 103: Literature of the Romantics

Personal Information:

Name: Manasi Joshi 

Batch: M.A Sem(1)

Email Id: mansijoshi202@gmail.com

Assignment Topic:

                          Critics on William Wordsworth (Two Roads to Wordsworth)

Sequence:

Wordsworth own first critic

Wordsworth own second critic

The Simple Wordsworth

The Problematic Wordsworth 

1) Wordsworth own first critic:

William Wordsworth was his own first critic, and his views on poetry are expressed in two distinct ways. One of these is found in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, where Wordsworth applies the ideas of the European Enlightenment to his poetry. He emphasizes values such as simplicity, universality, and permanence.

Wordsworth believed that the best subjects for poetry are the deep and essential emotions of the human heart, simple and universal feelings, and characters that reflect these qualities—unchanging and timeless. He also saw a strong connection between human emotions and the beauty of nature. His goal was to write poetry in a straightforward and natural style that would continue to appeal to people across time.

For Wordsworth, the poet is someone who speaks directly to others, celebrating the joy and dignity of life. He believed that life is driven by a natural love for pleasure and a deep connection to others. The poet, in his view, is someone who feels the vitality of life more strongly than others and spreads this sense of love and connection wherever he goes.

2) Wordsworth own second critic:

Wordsworth’s second critical voice is often overlooked by readers, but it is clearly expressed in his "Essay, Supplementary to the Preface" (1815). In this essay, he expands on ideas he had introduced earlier in works like the "Prospectus" to The Recluse, The Excursion, and The Prelude. These works reflect his belief that his role as a poet is to confront and find meaning in human suffering. Whether addressing the lonely struggles of rural life or the intense sorrow of urban existence, Wordsworth sees himself as a poet chosen for a special, almost sacred mission to offer hope and redemption in a secular world.

In the essay, Wordsworth responds to critics who had dismissed his poetry as strange or difficult. He defends his originality, arguing that every truly original poet has unique qualities that set them apart. Instead of relying on the ideas of 18th-century humanism, he draws inspiration from theology. He compares the novelty of his poetry to the paradoxes of Christian mysteries, which often challenge logical thinking. Wordsworth suggests that poetry and religion share a deep connection, as both can transcend reason and reveal profound truths. Poetry, like Christianity, can confound expectations and evoke wonder by defying ordinary logic.

In his "Essay" of 1815, Wordsworth describes poetry as something deeply complex and full of contradictions rather than being purely simple or straightforward. He emphasizes that poetry brings together opposites, like the physical and spiritual, the ordinary and extraordinary, and the low and high in status. For example, he compares poetry to the mystery of the Incarnation, which is both divine and human at the same time. True poetry, according to Wordsworth, combines deep emotional wisdom ("the wisdom of the heart") with the power of imagination to create something both simple and magnificent. His own poetry is emotional and groundbreaking, showing feelings that are not just touching but revolutionary. Additionally, Wordsworth views himself as a poet with a mission to expand the idea of the sublime—an experience of greatness or awe—and to make it more accessible and enjoyable for others. He blends the passionate spirit of ancient times with the moral wisdom of Christianity to achieve this goal.

3) The simple Wordsworth:

In Helen Darbishire's book The Poet Wordsworth (1950), she presents Wordsworth as a poet deeply driven by his strong emotions for humanity. She sees him as a poet who values sense and experience as the true basis of knowledge and focuses on portraying simple, everyday people who feel deep emotions. A decade later, John F. Danby wrote The Simple Wordsworth, where he shares a similar view but adds a new perspective: he sees Wordsworth as a skillful artist who deliberately uses simplicity. According to Danby, Wordsworth carefully controls how readers respond by using different narrative voices, tones, and “masks” or personas. Danby also highlights Wordsworth's ability as a comic poet, particularly in The Idiot Boy, by pointing out how Wordsworth blends humor with warmth, creating a balanced story through the interplay of the poet's own voice, the narrator’s voice, and the voices of the characters.

different approaches to interpreting poetry, particularly the work of the poet Wordsworth. One approach, called "New Criticism," treats a poem as a self-contained structure, meaning it should be analyzed without considering the poet's intentions or personal background. Cleanth Brooks, a prominent New Critic, demonstrated this approach by closely analyzing Wordsworth’s "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" for its irony and use of imagery, focusing strictly on the text itself rather than on Wordsworth as an individual. However, in recent years, some critics, including Danby, have argued for a more personal approach that considers the poet as a person expressing thoughts and feelings to others. This newer approach, inspired by Wordsworth’s view of poetry as a form of communication between people, uses concepts like “voice,” “tone,” and “point of view” to highlight the poet’s role and the relationship with the reader. Essentially, while New Criticism focuses solely on the poem, these critics believe it's also valuable to consider the poet’s human element and how the poem connects with its audience.

4) The Problematic Wordsworth

In the 1960s, a new style of literary criticism emerged in America, especially popular with younger critics, and it has since become important in studying Romantic literature. This criticism focuses on the ideas of "consciousness" (or "self-consciousness") and how the mind interacts with things outside itself. Critics following this approach look at specific passages in poems, finding places where the text seems to suggest something complicated or unresolved. They see these moments as hints toward a deeper meaning that reveals a hidden concern of the poet. This method is influenced by European philosophies, including phenomenology, existentialism, and structuralism. However, the main inspiration comes from the philosopher Hegel, who explored the complex relationship between human consciousness and what he saw as its "alienated other"—anything outside the self. When applied to Romantic poets like Wordsworth, this criticism resembles the older Hegelian analysis by philosopher F.H. Bradley, but it’s more focused and uses fewer concepts. Like Hegel, these critics interpret the many details of Romantic poems as part of a larger, underlying struggle. This struggle is seen as the poet’s ongoing effort, using imagination, to reach "autonomy" or a sense of complete independence from the natural world around them.

Geoffrey Hartman argues that Wordsworth’s approach to nature in The Prelude is complicated. While Wordsworth often appears to celebrate nature, some passages reveal a different theme, one that actually conflicts with his outward admiration of nature. Hartman compares Wordsworth to Blake, who is fully committed to a visionary and imaginative view that goes against nature. Hartman even suggests that Blake might say Wordsworth shares his view without realizing it. However, unlike Blake, Wordsworth hesitates when confronted with his own powerful imagination—he fears it, avoids it, or disguises it. As a result, Hartman believes Wordsworth’s poetry often sidesteps direct recognition of this imagination, avoiding what Hartman calls "apocalypse." For Hartman, "apocalypse" means a heightened awareness of self and a desire to go beyond nature, seeking a pure connection with the core of existence, which involves "a death of nature." This unresolved tension between Imagination and Nature, fueled by Wordsworth’s fear of losing nature, is what stops him from becoming a fully visionary poet.

Conclusion 

Wordsworth's work as a poet remains highly relevant and influential even today. Critics continue to debate his ideas, showing how his poetry still sparks interest and discussion. His greatness lies in how he changed the traditional language of poetry, making it capable of expressing fresh perspectives on the world, new experiences, and deeper connections between the self, its past, and others. Wordsworth's impact goes beyond poetry, shaping how we feel, think, and understand culture.

Reference:

Bloom, Harold, editor. Bloom's Modern Critical Views: William Wordsworth. Updated ed., Chelsea House, 2009.