William Wordsworth and his not so Spontaneous Overflow of...

William Wordsworth and his not so Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Changes in â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud.† William Wordsworth wrote that â€Å"all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity† (Owen, 329). Wordsworth revised â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud† after a period of reflection and recollection on the scene of daffodils during a time that placed importance on nature, reflection and imagination. His revised version of â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud† should be considered the authoritative version as it is a better and more vivid description of the scene of daffodils and reflects the literary movement at the time, i.e. Romanticism. The changes are strongly†¦show more content†¦Mary E. Burton describes Wordsworth’s view of nature as â€Å"incomprehensibly ecstatic† and also says that he lived with a philosophy in nature in her essay titled â€Å"Wordsworth’s Nature Philosophy as Revealed by his Revision of the Prelude† (300). In the original ve rsion Wordsworth writes â€Å"A host, of dancing daffodils;† and in the revised version writes â€Å"A host, of golden daffodils;† (Sucksmith, 149). The changing of the word â€Å"dancing† to â€Å"golden† gives the daffodils an almost angelic quality. Wordsworth emphasises the beauty of this scene by making this change and therefore portrays the beauty of nature. In Edward F. Kravitt’s â€Å"Romanticism Today†, John Warrack mentions that Romantic poetry has â€Å"a new preoccupation with Nature . . . a turn towards the mystic and supernatural both religious [and merely spooky] . . . a fascination with the past . . . [with] legends of medi-eval chivalry . . . [and] new attention given to national . . . [and] individual identity† (94). These themes can be seen in â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud† ensuring us that it is a Romantic poem. The supernatural is a characteristic of Romanticism, as pointed out by Warrack, and is a the me in many Romantic poems. By changing the word â€Å"dancing† to â€Å"golden† Wordsworth gives the poem a peaceful, almost holy, angelic or supernatural image, in keeping with Warrack’s definition. Other definitions which are similar and which define this poem are also in Kravitt’sShow MoreRelatedEssay on Romantic Era: Time of a New Time1656 Words   |  7 PagesRomantic Era: Time of a New Time It was a time of no choice. A man was born into his class he did not have a choice of what he could do in this country. There was a class of nobility and then the class of poor. There was no sense of religious freedom you were either a follower of the church or you were a follower of the church. The church controlled the government made the laws and taught what was right and wrong and no one was allowed to question it. For the poorer class it was a time were lifeRead More Music and Poetry1695 Words   |  7 PagesMusic and Poetry The poetry of William Wordsworth initiated the Romantic Era by emphasizing emotion, intuition, and pleasure rather than form and affectation. His poems set the stage for John Keats, a central figure in early 19th century Romanticism. The fundamental themes in the works of both poets include: the beauty of nature; the consanguinity of dreams/visions and reality and yet the tendency of dreams to mask reality; the intense emotions brought about by beauty and/or suffering; andRead MoreTintern Abbey, Frost at Midnight and Ode to the West Wind Essay2056 Words   |  9 PagesEurope and gained height during the times of the Industrial Revolution. Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge and Blake were regarded as the ‘Big Six’ of Romanticism. In ‘Tintern Abbey’ by William Wordsworth, ‘Frost at Midnight’ by Samuel Coleridge and ‘ Ode to the West Wind’ by Percy Shelley, we see clearly that nature is the central trigger for the poetâ⠂¬â„¢s imagination to take wings and to help each poet to seriously explore his inner world in a meditative manner; the treatment and responses toRead MoreWilliam Wordsworth Essay1942 Words   |  8 PagesWilliam Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. He grew up surrounded by beautiful scenery. He was very close to his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth. (William Wordsworth Biography. NotableBiographies.com N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb 2012. http://www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Wordsworth-William.html.) His sister led the way for him to love nature by showing him its beauty. His mom died when he was eight years old and then his father died when he was thirteen years old