Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’ often abbreviated as Tintern Abbey is a long blank verse poem by William Wordsworth that was written in 1798 and was published in the poetic collection Lyrical Ballads during the same year. Lyrical Ballads was a joint project of William Wordsworth and his friend and colleague Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem consists of 162 lines and it is set on the banks of the Wye River which William Wordsworth revisited on July 13, 1798. He had visited the Wye Valley earlier some five years ago and at that time he was alone, and a troubled person. In 1798, he was much more mature and was working with Coleridge for the publication of Lyrical Ballads. He revisited the site with his sister Dorothy Williams whom he addresses in the poem as ‘friend.’ “Tintern Abbey” was included as the final poem in Lyrical Ballads, first edition in 1798. While the poem is popular by the title ‘Tintern Abbey’, that building is not mentioned anywhere in the poem (except for the title).
Structure of Tintern Abbey:
The poem consists of 162 lines set in five stanzas. The first stanza is 22 lines long. The second stanza comprises lines 23-50 (28 lines). The third stanza is from lines 50-59 (9 lines). The fourth stanza has 54 lines (60-113). The last stanza has 49 lines (114-162). These lines are written in Blank verse, in unrhymed iambic pentameter. There are five sets of beats per line. The first beat is unstressed, followed by one stressed. Though there is no rhyming scheme to the poem, the poet used slant rhymes and the regular use of assonance and consonance also offers the poem a lyrical quality.
The poet also used symbolism, imagery, alliteration, analogy, personification, allusion, apostrophe, simile, litote, and juxtaposition in the poem.
The blank verse for the poem allowed the speaker to offer it as a conversational poem as he addresses his ‘friend’ (sister) in the final stanza. However, in the previous stanza, the speaker uses the blank verse to offer the poem as a dramatic monologue. In addition, the speaker begins the poem with elements of an ode. Thus, the blank verse allows the poet to present this poem as an ode, a dramatic monologue, and a conversational poem. While the speaker of the poem remains unnamed, it is safe to assume that the speaker is Wordsworth himself, and he addresses his sister Dorothy in the final stanza who visited the Wye River valley with Wordsworth. The speaker tells of the power of nature to guide one’s life and morality.
There are some variations of meter in the poem. Stanzas 1, 2, and 4 all end with a line that is metrically incomplete in its pentameter; the pentameter is then "completed" in the following line and the following stanza.
Summary of Tintern Abbey
Stanza 1 Lines 1-8
“Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.”
The full title of the poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,” which establishes that the poem is set on a specific landscape, a few miles away from the building Tintern Abbey. The title also establishes that the speaker or the poet is revisiting the site after some time. The title also establishes the date of writing of the poem as July 13, 1798.
In the first line, the speaker specifies that he is revisiting the site after five years. After long five years, he cherishes the beautiful landscape in the valley of River Wye again. The poet used Anaphora and repetition of ‘Five’ to stress that he visited the site before and deeply missed it. Enjambment has been used in line 4, ( -- Once again), to stress that he is revisiting the site.
The poet uses Imagery and romanticizes the sound of flowing water as if it is coming from somewhere farther, away and appears as a “soft inland murmur.” The peaceful environment and the natural ‘soft inland murmurs’ appear perfect for the speaker to cherish the ‘deep seclusion’ as if to meditate and become a part of nature itself. The speaker creates an auditory image of the River Wye as a quiet, constant accompaniment to the visually stimulating scenery around him. The alliteration of the “s” sound (“steep,” “secluded scene,” “seclusion,” and “sky”) is used to evoke a sense of whispering and murmuring.
Lines 9-18
“The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves'
Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!”
In these lines, the poet further describes the scenic beauty of the place that he is cherishing after five years. He says that while he was away, he waited to revisit here and finally, the day has come when he is again witnessing the green, peaceful, scene of the landscape. He mentions the dark sycamore, a huge Eurasian maple tree under which he used to rest in the past. He is again there, observing the large plots of land around it. There are cottages and orchards. It is a period when the fruits in the orchard are unripe and green. Everything appears green though some clouds of smoke appear coming out from deep in the forest trees.
Lines 19-22
“With some uncertain notice, as might seem
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.”
The speaker wonders who is burning the fire in the wood, from where the smoke is coming. He imagines, through two metaphors, that the smoke rises from the fire of “vagrant dwellers” and the fire of a “hermit’s cave.”
Now when he visited the place again after five years, there are some factors he is not sure about. Some things have changed. He further guesses that it might be some Hermit’s cave from where the smoke is coming out. The homeless vagrant or the hermit is sitting alone in seclusion and the speaker envies him for his pleasure. By imagining the hermit’s cave, the speaker suggests that even the smoke rises from a sacred, natural source. The first stanza ends with an aberration as Line 22 is metrically incomplete. The poet completes the iambic pentameter in the first line of the second stanza.
Stanza 2
Lines 23-31
“These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:—feelings too”
The speaker mentions that though he has not been here in the valley of Wye River, he actually never forgot the tranquility and refreshing effect of nature of the landscape. He spent these five years away from the valley in various towns and bigger cities where whenever he was alone, tired, and perplexed in his room, he remembered the sweet memories of this place and it offered him a ‘sweet sensation.’ Here Wordsworth mentions the same theme he explained in another poem ‘Daffodils’ and says that even when he was away, he realized the importance and worth of the memories of the refreshing scenic nature of the landscape and it helped him in his sad and lonely moments.
He uses a Simile to say that his ‘long absence’ from the valley have not been to him “As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye.” The speaker has not completely forgotten it or been blinded to it.
Lines 32-50
“Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,
To them I may have owed another gift,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,—
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.”
Here the poet uses Litote, an understatement of the affirmative which uses the negative of the contrary. The speaker says, “no trivial influence,” which means that, to the contrary, nature had a significant influence during his time in the city. The speaker also says that his the best parts of his life were not moments of great heroism, but they were the small, seemingly insignificant actions barely remembered, characterized by “kindness and of love.” He says that these memories helped him in becoming a good man. These memories inspired him to be kind, helpful, and gentle. These memories improve him as a good human. The speaker addresses nature and says that the ‘beauteous nature’ offered him a greater gift of ‘blessed mood’ that not only unburdens his troubled mind during his tough periods in the city, but also helps to alleviate the weight of the world. Juxtaposition has been used to suggest that a ‘blessed mood’ can achieve calmness and alleviate “burthen,” “heavy and weary weight,” and “unintelligible,” situations.
Stanza 3 Lines 51-59
“If this
Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft—
In darkness and amid the many shapes
Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart—
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,
O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods,
How often has my spirit turned to thee!”
In the third stanza, the speaker mentions that all his belief in the beauty and strength of nature of the Wye River valley could be a false idea, “but a vain belief.” However, he offers the counterpoint that if it had been the case, if his belief is wrong, then why in his toughest times, when in “darkness” and surrounded by “joyless daylight,” or days that bring the speaker no joy even though they should, he has “turned to thee / O sylvan Wye!” ‘Sylvan’ means wooded. The speaker personifies the river as a “wanderer” of the woods and thanks it for all the times the thought of it has provided a sort of refuge for the speaker. The repetition of ‘how oft’ and its variant ‘how often’ emphasizes how frequently the speaker has turned to nature for refreshment and consolation to revitalize himself and face the burdens of city life.
Stanza 4 Lines 60-68
“And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,
With many recognitions dim and faint,
And somewhat of a sad perplexity,
The picture of the mind revives again:
While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years. And so I dare to hope,”
The speaker begins the fourth stanza reminiscing about the past when he was in Wye River Valley five years ago. He mentions his past was perplexed, sad, and vigorless but now he is mature, better, improved, and pleased. He also says that now when he is here again, he envisions and hopes that the future will also be pleasant. He says that this visit will again provide him with sweet invigorating memories that will help him face the tough dull moments of loneliness and frustration. He says that by visiting the landscape, his mind is reviving again.
Lines 69-78
“Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
I came among these hills; when like a roe
I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
Wherever nature led: more like a man
Flying from something that he dreads, than one
Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then
(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days
And their glad animal movements all gone by)
To me was all in all.—I cannot paint”
In these lines, the speaker romanticizes his childhood memories and suggests how he felt when he was here during his childhood in the landscape. He uses Simile to suggest he was like a ‘roe’ a small deer, “bounded” through the mountains and rivers with relentless, youthful energy. He says that the decisions he took five years ago were not like those of a free spirit deeply in love with nature. But he rather felt more like a man escaping from something “he dreads.” His priorities were different and he was seeking to solve his troubles. He says that he cannot exactly describe how he was back then.
Lines 79-88
“What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, nor any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.—That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this”
The speaker continues to explain how he felt five years ago when he was a troubled youth daring to face the challenges of life. He uses metaphors and romanticized language to express the anguish he felt at that time. As a child, nature was awe-inspiring for the speaker—the cataract, the mountains, and the woods “haunted [him] like a passion.” Cataract means a large, strong waterfall.
The overwhelming colors and shapes were like “a feeling and a love,” suggesting that he and nature were connected on an instinctive level. He exactly knew the source of the cataract, the colors and forms of the mountain, and ‘the deep and gloomy wood,’ and he didn’t add any myth or fairytale to it. He was wholly in love with nature. He remembers the joys, and how it created in him a “dizzy rapture.” That time is sadly, “past.” The speaker can look back on his passionate, emotional connection with nature and how sad he was when he had to leave the landscape. However, he does not yearn to return to that stage in his life. His previous relationship with nature was chaotic and passionate but it is more mature now.
Lines 89-98
“Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime”
The speaker remembers how he felt as a child when he witnessed the grandeur of nature. He enjoyed those days but he doesn’t wish to return to the same phase or ‘mourn’ and complaint about the passing of that phase.
He is in the same landscape now and though he doesn’t feel the same of nature as he did in his ‘thoughtless youth,’ but now he can understand the deeper meaning of the greater gifts of nature that he discerns now when he is wiser, and mature. Unlike in the past, his relationship with nature is no more chaotic and passionate, rather it appears more sensible, sublime, and intricate. He now has ‘ample power’ to ‘chasten’ and ‘subdue’ his passion for nature.
He feels the divinity of Nature in the world that surrounds him. The narrator can take the memory of this “presence” and carry it within him.
Lines 99-108
“Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world”
In these lines, the speaker further elaborates on the divinity of nature that he feels in the valley of River Wye. He says that this new feeling about nature is far more powerful and superior to what he had during his passionate childhood. He is mature now. The divine “presence” that he feels is like “the light of setting suns” and as powerful as “the round ocean,” air, and sky to the “mind of a man.” It is beyond comprehension and therefore, unfading and undeterred by modernity. The speaker says that though his feelings and understanding of the mountains, meadows, and woods have changed now, he still is a lover of nature. His tone is now reverential towards nature as if nature is God. The speaker mentions that now when he is mature enough, he can feel and understand something he failed to recognize in his youth: a presence that pervades all of nature. With this more philosophical understanding of nature, the speaker imagines that this seemingly divine force inhabits and passes through the ocean, the air, the sky, and “the mind of man.”
Lines 109-114
“Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.”
In these lines, the speaker uses Metaphors to liken nature to an ‘anchor,’ ‘nurse,’ ‘guide,’ and ‘guardian’ of his heart, soul, and moral being. The nature serves the purpose of helping the speaker understand the difference between right and wrong. The speaker is thrilled to feel that now when he is mature, he can recognize how nature guides him toward the betterment of his conscious. In all the above four stanzas, the speaker continued his speech, presenting the poem as a dramatic monologue.
Stanza 5 Lines 115-124
“Nor perchance,
If I were not thus taught, should I the more
Suffer my genial spirits to decay:
For thou art with me here upon the banks
Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,
My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch
The language of my former heart, and read
My former pleasures in the shooting lights
Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while
May I behold in thee what I was once,”
In the fifth stanza, it becomes clear that the speaker is not alone. Nor is the poem his monologue, rather he is in conversation with someone whom he addresses as ‘My dear friend.’ It also becomes clear that the speaker is Wordsworth himself and he is in conversation with his sister. She is to him as close as another person can be and he felt the need to explain to her how he has come to be the way that he is. As she speaks to him, he says that in her voice, he sees how he used to be and remembers his “former pleasures” as he looks into her “wild eyes.” He feels as if his sister is feeling the same grandeur of nature that he used to feel when he was younger. Now he is mature.
Lines 125-138
“My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,
Knowing that Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon”
In these lines, the speaker addresses his companion as ‘dear Sister,’ making it clear she is Dorothy Wordsworth. He observes the same passionate love for nature in her eyes and he cherishes it nostalgically, as he remembers how he felt five years ago. However, he wishes to offer the same mature insight to his sister too, and thus utters a prayer hoping she may also find the same sense of tranquility, divinity, and serenity in nature as he does. He denounces the modern, urban culture that gives rise to selfish, skeptical men. He claims that nature will “prevail” against the “dreary intercourse of daily life.” He hopes that nature will guide her too to understand the good and bad. The poet used alliteration of hissing ‘s’ sound ‘Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,’ to denounce the modern selfish men. He further encourages his sister to let her heart and soul be guarded by nature as it is without risk. It cannot break her heart or shatter her faith. Nature will, through the years of one's life, lead a devotee from “joy to joy” and “impress” upon one “quietness and beauty.” Her life, he states, will be full of “lofty thoughts” that carry one above the “sneers” of the modern world.
Lines 39-150
“Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
To blow against thee: and, in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! Then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance—“
In these lines, the speaker addresses his sister and suggests that if she wishes to experience the same divine connection with nature that he feels, she should not resist the charm of nature. He encourages her to enjoy the moonshine and let the mountain wind enthrall her. He says that though she is experiencing similar ‘wild ecstasies’ he used to feel as a child, these will change into ‘sober pleasure,’ when she is mature enough. He asks her to capture the memories of this ‘sober pleasure’ of being this close to nature in her mind. This will help her handle the solitude, fear, pain, or grief if she faces such things in the future. These memories and his exhortation, his appeal to cherish nature keep the memories safe will help her future struggles.
Lines 151-158
“If I should be where I no more can hear
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
Of past existence—wilt thou then forget
That on the banks of this delightful stream
We stood together; and that I, so long
A worshipper of Nature, hither came
Unwearied in that service: rather say
With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal”
In these lines, the speaker considers a time in the future when he will be no longer close to his sister. He says that in the future if he dies or moves somewhere where “I no more can hear / Thy voice,” then also she will remember that she once stood on the banks of Wye River with her brother. He says that this place and these memories are important because he came here as an ardent worshiper of nature. In the future, if her sister ever needs guidance, refreshment, protection, against the dreary daily life, this place will embrace her with ‘warmer love’ and guide her with ‘deeper zeal’ towards the goodness of life and nature.
Lines 159-164
“Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!”
The speaker ends the poem as he contemplates his experience on the River Wye with his sister. He understands that with time, she will mature and her youthful passions will diminish. Nevertheless, he prays that she may fondly recall this moment together and draw inspiration from nature’s capacity to physically, emotionally, and mentally enliven and uplift her.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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