Ode – Basics Behind Poetry, Book Review Example

William Wordsworth was one of the major English Romantic poets and one of the key figures who stood at the origins of a so called Romantic Age in the English literature. The poet has written numerous ballads and poems that have been mostly a reflection of his own life on paper. Wordsworth is a greatest poet of the ages who outshined in splendid descriptions of the nature and joy that comes from its beauties. The poet has established his reputation based on great lyricism with his Poems in Two Volumes that was published in 1807. Wordsworth was a key figure in the Romantic Movement and his early poems helped define the movement of Romanticism. He brought individualistic approach to his works and his poetry. “A profoundly earnest and sincere thinker, he displayed a high seriousness… tempered with tenderness and a love of simplicity”. (The Columbia Encyclopedia)

“Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood” is one of the long odes written by Wordsworth and is divided into eleven sections. This particular work of the poet is a highly philosophical piece and was initially published in Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807. Being written in eleven stanzas that vary from eight to forty lines, the ode is composed in anisometric verse which means that it does not have any consequent poetic meter.  The piece also contains lines of different iambic stresses, namely short syllable followed by a long syllable in the ode.

The word choice that the poet uses in “Intimations of Immortality” is essential to reflect all the aspects the writer brings to his audience. Wordsworth is putting on paper his personal memories starting from his early childhood and going deep into the philosophy of an adult person he was. The prose introduction shows that the poet has been inspired by the philosophy of Plato as some stage of his life. His influence is seen in the thoughts of pre-existence which mean that our soul is being in some alternative state before occupying our body and it leaves to the same place after the human death. Wordsworth is using this theme in the title of his poem where he refers to the soul immortality.

Word choice is essential in the poem because it allows us to better understand the influences, backgrounds and thoughts of the poet when analyzing it. “Intimations of Immortality” starts with the person remembering how “every common sight” of the nature is beautiful and heavenly. In first stanzas the speaker is recalling how rainbows are “fair” but still feels that there has passed “away a glory from the earth”.  In stanza three the person understands that no personal grief will limit or diminish the nature itself. The writer is feeling the nature around him and it amazes him deeply.

Coming to stanza five the speaker starts analyzing our life and philosophizing. He implies that “our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting” which means that our soul is a much purer item that is literally like a heaven.  The speaker leads into thinking that children tend to remember the paradise and all its wonders; however, as we grow older and older, we become preoccupied with earthly things that result into forgetting our glorious previous experiences.

Next in ““Intimations of Immortality”” the speaker is telling about a small boy who is copying the behavior of adults and he questions him about why the “mighty prophet” is mimicking such behavior as if he wants to make haste of “the inevitable yoke” of our cares and values. In stanza nine the poet takes us into his childhood memories and dreams that have been inspiring him for a long time.  Instead of having sorrows about the loss of the innocence of a child, the writer promises to obtain a “philosophical mind”. He is calling the lambs to bound and birds to keep singing their lovely songs.

Written with complex linguistic approach “Intimations of Immortality” is one of Wordsworth’s most mature pieces that reflect his belief in the life as “a dim of shadow of an earlier, purer existence”. In the last stanza the poet is summing up his philosophy of life. He is pointing out that his mind is enabling him to love nature and all the beauty it has to offer.

There is always a small part of us that gets lost when we grow up of our personal innate innocence. With the time as we become older, we start understating that we have lost something along the way and amazing part is that sometimes we do not even realize it. ““Intimations of Immortality”” by Wordsworth shows his disapproval of a lost childhood as well as the acceptance of the fate. The poet uses two major components in his work that are memories and the imagination. Wordsworth is trying to blend the memory with the imagination by using the techniques such as imagery and picturing. There is a true uniqueness in the way the poem is written, in its language. The poet sets our minds wondering with the descriptions of nature.

Through his poem Wordsworth is telling us how humans change over the course of time. He shows us how when we are kids, we are more connected to nature. The poet also makes us understand that as we become adults, we become more interested in adulthood responsibilities, leaving nature only as a part of our memories. The title of the poem is brilliant because as the reader deepens into this masterpiece, he or she can clearly see what is going to be told in the next stanza. The author takes us in the journey from ideal, perfect childhood to the imperfect world. Wordsworth points out that our childhood memories are vital because they can offer an important comfort.

Having read the poem, it is clear what a strong influence and connection Wordsworth had with the nature. Nature in all its forms was essential for him. Through his poetry he draws a correlation between the human life and nature. He explores the idea that nature has a strong emotional and spiritual impact on people. “He tells unwelcome truths as well as providing consolation.” (Guardian)

“When we are children, we enjoy this world and its wonders; we smile, rejoice and have no problems”. (Romantic Textualities p. 45) However, with the time we, the adults, are facing the realities of adulthood and it leads us to giving up the innocence of our past. “Intimations of Immortality” is a beautiful example of our inner selves because it lays on paper the exact truth of every human being.

References

Drabble, M (2010, January 26). An introduction to the poetry of William Wordsworth. The Guardian.

Mandal, A (winter 2005) Romantic Textualities. Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840 Issue 15 Cardiff University: Centre for Editorial and Intertextual Research.

“William Wordsworth.” (2008) The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-WordswthW.html

Wordsworth, W (1895). Intimations of Immortality: From Recollections of Early Childhood and other poems. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 56