

Nowadays, however, it is easy to underestimate the originality and confidence of a writer who came to consciousness in the far from child-centred eighteenth century and then managed to force a way through its literary conventions and its established modes of understanding: by intuition and introspection he recognized that such moments were not only the foundation of his sensibility, but the clue to his fulfilled identity.īy his late twenties, Wordsworth knew this one big truth, and during the next ten years he kept developing its implications with intense excitement, industry and purpose. ( The author is an independent literary critic and the article is from his complete personal views.As a child, William Wordsworth imagined he heard the moorlands breathing down his neck he rowed in panic when he thought a cliff was pursuing him across moonlit water and once, when he found himself on the hills east of Penrith Beacon, beside a gibbet where a murderer had been executed, the place and its associations were enough to send him fleeing in terror to the beacon summit.Įvery childhood has its share of such uncanny moments. Rhythmically written, artistically developed and emotion incorporated, Elegiac Stanzas controls Wordswothian philosophy and makes way for a romantic number. Along with the description of Nature, the paintings of Beaumont and the death of John Wordsworth serve rich contents of romanticism to the poem. More than becoming a good elegy, Elegiac Stanzas marks one of Wordsworth’s best compositions. The poet’s dream shatters and takes resort to the Castle’s realization of the truth. Against the restless sea, dismal shore and rueful sky, the lone castle diffuses bravery. The castle is the representative of Beaumont reality that fights the obstacles all around. The castle stands for one that can deny the violence of the sea.

The expressions like ‘deadly swell’, ‘rueful sky’ and ‘dismal shore’ not only bring the uniqueness of the picture, but also mirror the consequence of brother John. The poet realizes that the artist’s brain works more on truth than on sheer ‘consecration’. The acceptance of a recognized violent beauty lies in front of him-one which is painted by Beaumont. But the violent beauty of the sea takes away his brother’s life. It’s a fantastic set-up for the poet to phrase ‘t is no more’. The depth of the loss should be brought into focus. With the lovely description of the Peele Castle visited earlier, the poet contrasts a death with life. It’s very symbolic and at the same time very artistic to meditate on the picture and tell a story. That beauty of the ocean opens the story of Elegiac Stanzas and that beauty ironically sets the tone of the loss incorporated throughout the poem. They never found fault with his desire of voyaging to the beautiful seas. The adventures of John were very loving to Wordsworth and Dorothy. The mourning starts at the very start of the poem. It’s not right to find any thematic similarity between the two in that sense. But as a nature poem, the start of Tintern Abbey is absolutely beautiful. In Tintern Abbey the poet moves into a deeper thought step by step. The poet mourns the death of his brother and we cannot chew on it as the secondary theme of the poem. He is happy in understanding the sufferings of human beings. The stability of the castle makes him stable against the demise of his brother. But the figure of the castle is given a separate image. He can calculate the true image of a natural phenomenon, calculate the reality of life. The unhappiness of the poet finds out the proper reason. The subject matter deviates a little bit towards the end. The castle stands erect fighting the adverse circumstances around it. The artist painted it with his vision, an art had required. His primary thought on the picture must be an example of immaturity. The poet comes to himself and realizes the meaning of the painting. He can see a smiling sea “on tranquil land, beneath a sky of bliss”.Īdventurous John, brother of William Wordsworth dies in the sea. The memory of Peele Castle flashes on the poet’s eye and he only imagines a calm and quiet environment around the old castle. George Beaumont’s picture on Peele Castle reflects the restlessness of the sea and the poet gets surprised to see such a painting. With structural similarity with Tintern Abbeyand thematic approximation to his numerous numbers like Ode on Intimation of Immortality and Resolution and Independence, it differs in fashion and style. While mourning the demise of his brother John, the image of Peele Castle intervenes the development with poetic artistry. (Info4now)– In Elegiac Stanzas William Wordsworth works on his theme in style.
