Introduction of the Poem:
Tintern Abbey was composed in the second week of July, 1789 during Wordsworth's second visit to the banks of river Wye. The very title of the poem, i.e., Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the Banks at the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,’ gives the exact date of the composition to be July 13.
Wye is a river flowing from Plinlimmon Mountain in Wales, and is famous for its beautiful valley. Wordsworth had visited the valley and hills of Wales including the valley of the Wye in the summer of 1793, about a year after his return from France. He was in a troubled state of mind because of the happenings in France, and was in need of tranquility which could be provided by Nature. In this mental state he accompanied William Calvert on a tour of the West of England. He paid his first visit to the Tintern Abbey, a ruin and to the valley of the Wye, a few miles above Tintern Abbey. He was thrilled by the beauty of the place, and felt a communion with Nature which soothed his sore heart.
Five years later, in July 1798, Wordsworth paid another visit to the Wye valley along with his sister, Dorothy. Wordsworth had been in Bristol for some time in connection with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads by Cottle. He took time off from that city to enjoy once again the beauty of Nature in the valley of the Wye. Dorothy and he went across the Seven Ferry and for some days walked up the valley and back.
The visit to this place now reminded Wordsworth of his visit five years ago and the feelings of joy experienced then.
Tintern Abbey was composed on July 13, 1798, about twenty lines on leaving Tintern and rest on the return from “Tintern to Bristol”. It can be called a spontaneous composition differing from most of Wordsworth's other poems which were composed after the recollection of the original emotions in tranquility.
Theme of the Poem:
Tintern Abbey can be called a condensed spiritful autobiography of the poet. Like the Immortality Ode and Prelude, it deals with the subjective experience of the poet, and traces the growth of his mind through different periods of his life. Nature and its influence on the poet's first visit, in 1793, to the valley of the Wye gave him an opportunity to feel the intense joy provided by natural surroundings of the place. The beauty of Nature continued to haunt his mind, and he wished to revisit the place. In 1798, he visited the banks of the Wye once again, this time in the company of his sister. He enjoyed the beauty of natural forms in a tranquil mood and was inspired to write a poem on that occasion. The physical sensation of delight in Nature was mixed with a sense of spiritual communion with her. Wordsworth remembers his former visit to the Wye, and recollects the emotions aroused in him by it. He expresses in the poem his feeling of the difference in his outlook on Nature during his first visit and that during the second. The gap of five years between his two visits has brought several changes, and the poet has hinted at these changes in his poem.
Thus the poet's vision has been humanized because of his having gained experience of human life and its sorrows during the intervening years. Tintern Abbey contains an expression of Wordsworth's feeling for Nature during various periods of his life. It tells us about his feeling of a presence in Nature that disturbs him “with the joy of elevated thoughts.” Wordsworth's pantheistic and mystical views are expressed in the poem. Wordsworth had visionary powers during his younger years; these powers enabled him to find Nature wrapped up in a heavenly beauty. But these powers have, in the grown up years, faded and been replaced by an integral vision which includes the sorrows of life and is based on an acceptance of life in all its aspects, and on a closer relationship between Nature and Man. The vision of former years, its loss in the adult years and compensation in the form of a mature outlook on Nature and Man, form an importance theme of Tintern Abbey.
Summary of the Poem:
The poet is standing on the banks of the Wye in July 1798. He is much thrilled with joy. He says that he visited those banks five years ago. Five summers and five dreary winters have passed since then. And now he stands on those banks of the Wye, again. After five years, he hears again the charming sound of the river - waves. Surging out of the mountainous caverns, those waves roll down into an inland place, with a sweet murmur. The poet praises the hilly, steep and high rock - faces at the edges of the river once again. In him, they give rise to thoughts of greater loneliness. They are so high that they seem to connect the landscape with the calm sky. At last that moment has come when the poet again takes rest there under the dark sycamore trees. Then he sees the plots attached to the cottages and clusters of fruit trees, laden with unripe fruits as if clothed in green clothes. They are mixed with the shrubs and small woods. They are quiet and calm. The poet, then, sees the hedge rows that hardly look like hedge rows. Hedge rows seem lines of little, sportive wood plants which are natural. These rural farms are green right upto the door. Wisps of smoke are rising silently from among the trees of the woods. The cause of the smoke is uncertain. Probably it seems to be rising from the fire of the gypsies staying in the houseless woods; or from some place in a Hermit's cave where he sits alone by his fire.
Standing on the upper banks of the Wye, the poet is thrilled with joy to see the beautiful forms of Nature, in and about the river. It is his second visit to the Wye banks. He also visited them five years ago, in 1793. The beauty of the river waves, the lofty cliffs standing on the banks, the plots of cottage ground, the orchards, the hedge rows, the woods. etc. - all charm him like anything. Although the poet has remained away from that place for a long period, the beautiful forms of Nature have not been as useless to his mind as a landscape to a blind man’s eyes. But often they have given him sweet sensation in hours of tedium, in lonely rooms of noisy towns and cities. He has felt those sweet sensations in his blood and they have thrilled his heart. The memory of those pretty objects has also restored peace to his mind, having already made it purer. It has excited in him such feelings of joy as he does not remember to have experienced before. They, have, perhaps, been the source of pleasant feelings that cast a great influence on a good man's best life on his little acts of kindness and love, which are nameless and not remembered. The poet has firm faith in sublime feelings blessed by Nature. They lead mind to that sublime state in which all complex secrets of the universe become clear for the inward truth in disclosed form that all is created by God. Now nothing seems too complex to understand. Gradually the mind becomes unconscious of the physical world. It is lost in deep contemplation so strongly that all physical activities of human body are suspended. Even the circulation of blood seems suspended and the soul becomes active. The inward eye shows the hidden reality of all things that apparent differences are deceptive. In fact there is a deep harmony in all things. When it is discovered, heart is filled with a great joy, and peace of mind is attained. The poet implies that the serene and blessed mood leads him on to the state of super consciousness, and in that state he holds communion with Nature - Soul.
The poet has re - affirmed his belief in the soothing and tranquilising effect of the scenes around the Wye. He says that quite often he has turned to the Wye for mental comfort and spiritual solace, his soul has sought solace in Nature amid all the unprofitable struggles and tensions of the physical world. The memory of the Wye seems to free him from the chains of the fretful stir of city life, and fill his heart with joy and hope of a peaceful life to be lived in natural surroundings. Now his mind remembers the past experiences though they are less clear and distinct. His recollections are vague and somewhat confused, and therefore sad. However, the earlier impressions which the landscape left on the poet's mind during his first visit are now revived. He feels that the scenes of nature are not the source of present pleasures only but they would give him pleasure in the future also. Speaking about his changed attitude towards Nature, the poet tells that when he was a boy his love of Nature was physical. He used to play like a deer on the hills and by the sides of deep rivers. He behaved like a man who was afraid of Nature rather than one who loved it. For Nature then to him was entirely a source of sensuous joys. He cannot describe what he was then. (But the capacity of sensuous pleasures of his boyhood days and the thrilling animal movements they required are all gone by).
While depicting his animal passion for Nature in the first stage of his love for nature, the poet tells us that when he first came to nature, he moved about among the hills, over mountains and on the banks of the river and the streams like a deer. Then he went to any place where nature led him. To him, nature was then all in all. It was his animal love for nature which cannot be painted in words. In fact, he is unable to express the nature of his mind at that time. The objects of Nature gave him sensuous pleasure. The tall rock, the mountain and the deep and gloomy woods with their different colours and shapes were all liked by him most intensely. Then, as food attracts a hungry man, his love for Nature was hunger for sensuous beauty of Nature objects. It did not require any colouring of his imagination. Nor did he find in Nature any charm which was not visible to his eyes. That period is gone. All the excessive joys and intoxicating sensuous pleasures are no more now. But the poet does not feel dejected for the loss of it. Nor does he feel sorrow over, or complain of the fact that is gone. For he has got other gifts from Nature, he would like to believe that those new gifts are ample compensation for such loss. For, he has come to look on Nature, with a serious mind, not as he did in his thoughtless youth. But now he often hears in Nature, the silent but grave music of humanity. It is neither harsh nor vexing. Though silent, yet it is of great power to purify his soul and correct it, and he has felt in Nature the presence of some unseen power that fills him with joy of sublime thoughts. This power pervades everything—the light of setting sun, the ocean, the air, the sky and the mind of man. This power is an indwelling divine principle that animates every object and rolls through all things.
Though the poet's animal passion for Nature has gone, yet he remains a lover of Nature. He loves grasslands, woodlands, mountains and all that he sees with his eyes and hears with his ears because Nature is his guardian, nurse, guide and teacher. He has learnt from Nature the language of sense and the most sublime thoughts. Nature has influenced not only his mind but also his heart, soul and moral existence. Addressing his sister Dorothy, he says that even if, by chance, he were not thus inspired by Nature, he would not be less cheerful on the banks of the Wye. For, she is with him there upon the banks of that beautiful river. She is his dearest friend. Her exclamations in praise of Nature resemble the exclamations of his heart made by him in his boyhood days. The brightness of her excited eyes reminds him of the pleasant sensations he felt in his early youth. Then, (thrilled at the memories of his boyhood days) and addressing his sister as his dear sister, he tells her that he makes a prayer and the prayer is that he may see, yet a little while the glimpses of his boyhood love of Nature, in her person . He wishes so knowing that Nature never betrays her lover. It is her peculiar quality to lead man from joy to joy throughout the period of his life. For she can so instruct our mind, so influence us with peace, beauty and noble thoughts that neither evil reports about us nor false accusation, sneers of selfish men, insincere greetings, or dull business of daily life , can make us unhappy. Nor can they shake our happy belief that all perceptible Nature is full of blessings for us. In other words, such worldly attitudes as welcome without sincere feelings and idle gossips and dull routine of daily life can disturb our joyful faith that all that we see is full of blessings.
Considering blessings of love for Nature, the poet advises his sister Dorothy to enjoy herself in beautiful objects. He is sure she will never feel lonely even at night for the moon will shine on her. In other words she should therefore submit herself to the influence of Nature freely and continue walking alone under the shining moon and against the morning breezes blowing from the misty mountains. The blessings of Nature - influences shall be felt by her in later years, when her wild joys shall be matured into sober pleasures and her mind shall become a great store house of the memories of lovely Nature - forms, sweet sounds, and melodious notes. Yes, then, if she suffers the misery of loneliness, fear, pain, or grief, she shall get tender, joyous, healing thoughts from the memories of Nature. She will also remember him and the present pieces of his sincere advice, then. If, by chance, he were, then, so far away from her as not to be able to hear her voice or see her excited eyes, which reminded him of the Nature - love of his boyhood days, she would remember his company on the bank of the river Wye. She would remember that he, a long worshipper of Nature, came there (revisited) enthusiastically to worship her, full of warmer love and full of the deepest zeal of holier love. She would also not forget that after many wanderings and many years of absence, these woods, cliffs, and pastoral landscapes were dear to the poet both for themselves and for their own sake.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem entitled Tintern Abbey was first published in Lyrical Ballads, in September 1798. It was the last poem in the poetic volume, and it bore the long title: 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 great example of Romantic poetry. It established Wordsworth, even in 1798, as a great pioneer of the Romantic Revival. The poem refers to the stages of the development of his love of Nature. It has also a historical development of his love of Nature. It has also historical significance. It contains a clear evidence of a great change in English poetry.
Thought Content:
The poem presents no story as such, but it is the direct expression of the poet's innermost thoughts and feelings. It throws light on what Wordsworth thought of Nature, Man and also of himself in relation to Nature. The poem combines noble poetry with lofty thoughts that were the gift of Wordsworth's mature years. In the poem, he takes us to the source of this element in his own poetry.
There was a time when the poet loved Nature for her own sake. Then the lovely forms of Nature haunted him like a passion, but as he matured in age he developed a new insight into Nature and saw the presence of a divine spirit in her. She offered him a blessed mood and he felt transported into the world of joy, where he felt very light. He also heard the still, sea music of humanity in Nature and came to love man victimised by human society. Even during his absence from the banks of the Wye, he recalled the lovely landscape of the Wye and got the same pleasure from it. In this way, Nature educated him in such a way that neither evil tongues nor rash judgements, nor unkind greetings would prevail against him and her sister.
The poem throws light on Wordsworth's affection to his sister Dorothy. She is with him during his second visit to the river Wye. She reminds him of his first visit. He sees in her eyes the image of his past. He advises her to submit herself to the influence of Nature. Her faith in Nature will make her life full of blessings.
Style of the Poem:
The poem is marked by a dignified and elevated style that suits the loftiest of its theme. It is often called “Miltonic Style of Wordsworth”. Wordsworth shows his unmistakable genius of using such highly expressive phrases as “Fretful stir unprofitable”, “The still sad music of humanity”, “the sounding cataract haunted me like a passion”, “aching joys and dizzy raptures” etc. Wordsworth also uses the double exposure style. He juxtaposes two different periods of time - the past and the present to enable us to trace the development of his passion for Nature. Besides, the poem has also some “dark passages” as John Keats pointed out later. On the whole the style of the poem is romantic.
Form and Structure:
This long poem contains one hundred and sixty two lines. The verse is blank verse. The metre, in the longest lines, is iambic pentameter. And the shortest line is a verse of one iambic feet. Although the metre of the poem is iambus, yet the verses are of unequal lengths. The verses are highly rhythmic. The flow of rhythm is spontaneous, yet measured by the principles of music. The poem is divided into stanzas of uneven length.
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