LINES WRITTEN IN EARLY SPRING BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

 

                      LINES WRITTEN IN EARLY SPRING

                            BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

            The English romantic poet William Wordsworth was born on 7th April 1770 and died 0n 2 April 1850.

           

            His love for nature was boundless. He believed that nature is an educator. It builds human character. It has massive healing power for the ethically and aesthetically sick. There lies in its various forms a unique divine spirit.

            Excessive pursuit of materialism and progressive decline of interest in natural beauty has robbed man of his veritable  health and happiness. He is now a spoiled man.

 

            Look at Wordsworth’s  poem Lines Written In Early Spring. It shows the difference between the impact on man  of harmony and joy by nature and the decline of these qualities in him  due to the rising indifference towards nature.   

 

Here is the full text of the poem:

 

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                                      *********

27 May 2025