Friday, 14 March 2025

LEARNING FROM WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

 

LEARNING FROM WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

                        Hats off to those poets who make their readers love one another, believe in the oneness of God, promote peace and harmony, create a respectful attitude towards nature, show indifference towards too much involvement in materialism, plead for moral values and belief in spiritualism.

                        In the eyes of such people, the world is a sacred place demanding unity in diversity and peaceful co-existence. They believe in tolerance, togetherness and harmony. Their motto is let us live like friends, not opponents and hostile rivals.

                        The English poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is known as a poet of nature.

                        He found in nature a great source of an individual’s intellectual and spiritual development. According to him: “A good relationship with nature helps individuals connect to both the spiritual and the social worlds.”  The creatures of nature, he believes, share human feelings, but, in contrast to man, they experience only harmony and joy.

                        Literary critics find that for Wordsworth nature is a great moral teacher who tells us more of truth than the books of the ages.

                        Given below is one of his most famous poems which lays emphasis on mutual love and harmony.

Lines Written in Early Spring

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

 

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

 

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

 

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:—

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

 

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

 

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

 

                                                            **********

G.R.Kanwal

14th March 2025

 

No comments:

Post a Comment