'Lines' opens with a celebration of natural life and its exuberance, 'the red breast sings from its tall larch'. Here the singing robin is represented through metonymy giving the feeling that it is something accessible and familiar to ordinary people. The singing "red breast" and the "tall larch" are double symbols of joy and renewal, linked by the idea that nature is a constant source of vitality. This idea is especially true when placed in the context of spring, "the first mild day of March", as it represents the beginning of the fertile year and symbolizes growth and rebirth. Birds had a metaphorical meaning for the Romantic poets ("the nightingale", the albatross in "Rime" and the linnet/wood thrush in "Tables Turned") as they symbolize freedom through their flight and offer perspectives that humans are unable to offer. Through the contemplation of natural forms, Wordsworth and Coleridge thought, it is possible to attune to an almost religious transcendental experience and achieve a sense of joyful contentment, which might be considered exuberant. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIn this way, nature releases a force within the human mind allowing us to achieve a state of euphoria and a greater awareness of the "life in things"'. Later in the poem Wordsworth states, "A moment now may give us more than fifty years of reason; our minds will drink from every pore the spirit of the season." The collective pronouns “we” and “our” suggest a unity between Wordsworth and the world. reader and invite a sense of agreement. Outwardly, Wordsworth seems to celebrate the exuberance offered by nature and this is intensified by the rhyme which synthesizes the ideas of "reason", nature and "season". The first two lines of the stanza are a reaction against conventional "reason" in the form of empirical, perhaps Newtonian science (as represented in "Anecdote for Fathers", "We are Seven", and "Expostulation and Reply"). In this way the quatrain becomes both a celebration of life, nature and exuberance but also a veiled attack on the rationality of science. Wordsworth believed that the idea of ​​"feeling", as opposed to thought, was fundamental in the absorption of this aforementioned "spirit". The conflict between reason and feeling is also clearly presented in the poem "We Are Seven" where the speaker and a young girl's views on life and death are juxtaposed. The little girl offers the speaker what she believes to be quantifiable evidence of her siblings' continued presence in her life, after death, "Their graves are green and can be seen...Twelve steps or more from my mother's door." . The modifier "green" is often associated with vitality and growth, therefore with life itself. Furthermore, the numbers of the steps are counted and emphasized by the internal rhyme as if to contest, in a scientific way, every aspect of man's reasoning. Wordsworth is perhaps trying to show the new perspective that children bring to life and how they are free from adults' rational view of mortality. In this process, the poem highlights the speaker's cynicism and exasperation: "But they're dead, those two are dead!" and his inability to impose his rational point of view on the child's natural innocence. Therefore, the child is presented as pure of thought, in a state of grace and optimism, similar to nature. This conflict comes to represent larger contrasts in the anthology such as innocence and experience (reminiscent of Blake), age and youth, science and imagination. What Wordsworthhe saw how the true understanding found in nature, is at the heart of "Tables". Turned' and also echoes some of the sentiments expressed in 'Lines'. Wordsworth argues that a joyful and sincere way of life must arise primarily from an appreciation of nature which is itself constantly alive and changing: 'Come and listen to the grove...There is more wisdom in it'. The simple rhyme scheme of the ballad reflects the joyful tone of the poem (a reaction against the complex Augustan use of form and structure?). life affirming the joys that can be found through nature. Later in the poem, he speaks of the 'merry... throstle' as a 'not mean preacher'. The modifiers 'bad' and 'merry' are juxtaposed showing the 'exuberance of natural life compared to the artificial and academic life of a preacher. This is perhaps also a reflection on the changing nature of religion which had been undermined by the science of the Enlightenment (the Age of Reason), with the Romantics now seeking to. rediscover a sense of religion, perhaps heretical, through nature (remembering Francis of Assisi). It is clear that Wordsworth believes that conventional religious ideas imposed on man are not conducive to a spiritual and spontaneous lifestyle. Similarly, in the poem "Lines", Wordsworth also encourages a disdain for the human calendar within "Lines" in favor of a "living" one, governed by the changes of nature rather than the fallacious idea of ​​man of time and seasons (perhaps anti-reductionist). This rejection of routine in favor of spontaneity, however limited, could be linked to the idea of ​​revolution. Wordsworth challenges social conventions in the hope that they will lead to a more fulfilling and exuberant lifestyle already implicit in natural forms. Wordsworth challenges conventional routine for the desensitizing effect it has on the mind, urging his sister Dorothy to break up her monotonous "morning task." ' in favor of spontaneity, suggesting instead: 'For this one day// We will give in to idleness'. Wordsworth presents spontaneity almost as the antidote to monotony, where the constraints of work are cheerfully cast aside in favor of more natural pursuits. It is interesting to note, however, that the determiner "one" (day) still limits Wordworth's proposed rebellion against that convention. This is in contrast to "Yew Tree" which is about a complete devotion to solipsistic idleness. “Lines Left upon a Seat in a Yew Tree” presents the limitations of an exuberant lifestyle. It is a noteworthy poem also because it is set in a barren and desolate natural context, "There are no glittering streams... these barren branches that the bee does not love." The description is largely negative. Furthermore, the awkward syntactic structure suggests dysfunction and is emphasized by the alliterative and plosive "b" sounds. Bees often carry with them the symbolic value of community and government that is absent for the solitary protagonist and allows him to engage in his almost solipsistic and unregulated behavior. Previously, nature and children (although largely ignored) were symbols of an exuberant sense of life. However, the symbolic importance of the yew tree is in complete antithesis to this. Its deadly connotations are largely due to the poison contained in its berries and leaves, often considered fatal for consumption. Furthermore, the historical tradition of turning yew wood into longbows is well known and therefore also has these deadly associations. Finally, yew trees were often found in cemeteries and linked to the underworld in Latin poetry and thus seen as inextricably linked to one's death.Instead of using nature to raise him towards a higher spiritual state, as in the previous poems, the protagonist abuses it, to self-indulgently "nurture" his vicarious "morbid pleasure" and "painful joy". The landscape seems to take shape from the protagonist's unhappy feelings, almost an extended pathetic mistake and the natural world in which he immerses himself is anything but exuberant and therefore the only monument of his disappearance is a 'lone' badger. Here Wordsworth inverts the vitality of nature even as, in doing so, he ironically still highlights nature's power precisely by its absence. In the poem "Goody Blake and Harry Gill" this absence of natural joy is presented in a context of social injustice. Wordsworth subverts the idea of ​​exuberance by forcing Goody Blake into a figure that one would usually consider an example of physical exuberance: "vigorous... stout of limb... her cheeks were red as ruddy clover... her voice was like the voice of three.' Harry Gill is the physical embodiment of youth and vitality (and a metaphor for the emerging middle classes?). cf. The Tramp, The Thorn, The Mad Mother - perhaps reflecting his troubled relationship with Annette Vallon). Blake is described as "old and poor... poorly fed... thinly dressed" and the descriptions are crude in the their unadorned simplicity. It becomes clear that her inability to lead a joyful lifestyle is limited by her old age, poverty and the harsh winter, compounded by Gill's selfish actions highlights his lack of altruism and is represented by the onomatopoeic refrain of his teeth chattering: 'evermore his teeth chatter,Chatter, chatter, chatter still' Wordsworth focuses on the physical implications for Gill's health and the repetition of 'chatter' it is almost a feverish manifestation of his lack of spiritual warmth. Interestingly, as in Tasso, this idea is represented through the natural environment - albeit here from a more seasonal perspective - with the poem moving away from the abundance of summer, where exuberance is implicit, towards cold austerity of winter. This seasonal metaphor ties all of the poem's thematic material together and is used as a transformative device that brings about a change within the poem and alters nature from a life-giving force to an obnoxiously destructive force. Although the treatment of exuberant nature in The Yew Tree and 'Harry Gill and Goody Blake' is unconventional, in 'The Dungeon' (a parallel to the Bastille?) nature is completely absent. This is clearly shown in the sentence: "Every pore and every natural outlet has withered." The word “pore” has a living quality, although this is completely diminished in the context of the dry and lifeless “withered.” The opening sentence: “And this place that our ancestors created for man?” he is almost entirely unpoetic in his incredulous response to the sight of the prison. This is an almost hellish vision in its total absence of anything natural or joyful. Coleridge's personal expression of indignation "God merciful" is quickly followed by images of all-encompassing spiritual and social degeneration. One negative image associated with the effects of imprisonment overlaps with another, and its cumulative impact is almost overwhelming. Critically, the prisoner "lies surrounded by evil": evil is not found in the prisoner for his crimes but in those who imprisoned and degraded him. The verse presents the prison as decidedly unnatural, culminating in the phrase: "his very soul distorts his essence, irremediably".'.