BAQ105_English Literature-I

46 English Literature - I human being’s spiritual core. He was concerned about the way in which social institutions, such as the school system and parental authority, crushed the capacity for imaginative vision. The child’s capacity for happiness and play are expressions of this imagination. Parental Care and Authority In Blake’s work, parents are often perceived as inhibiting and repressing their children. Their own fears and shame are communicated to the next generation through the parental desire to ‘protect’ children from their desires. According to Blake, parents misuse ‘care’ to repress children, rather than setting the children free by rejoicing in, and safeguarding their capacity for play and imagination. Here, parents are seen as colluding with a repressive system; it is as though they are entrapped by a way of seeing the world and transmit that entrapment to their offspring by perpetuating the system. 2.7 Summary “The School Boy” by William Blake is told from the perspective of a young boy who is espousing the cause of many children, that school is negatively impacting him. The poem begins with the young narrator speaking on his ideal morning. He wakes and hears the birds and the “distant huntsman” blowing his “horn.” The second stanza jumps to the mornings he despairs of, in which he is forced to leave his peaceful sanctuary and go to school. The next two stanzas are infused with melodrama and are meant to elicit sympathy with the reader. The boy describes his miserable days at school and how, like a trapped bird that cannot sing, he should not be required to learn in restraints. The speaker turns to plead with his parents. He tells them that if this continues, his “buds” are going to be “nipped,” his joy ripped from him, and the loss of his childhood will result in an unpreparedness for life. He will not be able to last through the real trials of life, or winters as he describes them. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The School Boy 47 2.8 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) A. Short Answer Questions 1. Who do you think is the speaker in the poem? 2. What does he love to do in the morning? 3. What drives away all his joy? 4. Why does he not take pleasure in his books? 5. Why is the school compared to a cage? B. Long Answer Questions 1. What is the theme of the Poem ‘The School Boy’? 2. Give the analysis of the poem? 3. How do you think are the children repressed by their parents? 4. Describe the revolutionary attitude of Blake as revealed in the poem? 5. How does the child try to convince his parents? 6. Why will the child not be able to stand the blasts of winter? C. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Who is the ‘I’ in the poem? (a) An old man (b) A school teacher (c) A passerby (d) A school boy 2. He is unwilling to go to the school because __________. (a) He will miss the joys of the summer mornings (b) He will miss the delicious dishes prepared by his mother (c) His classmates will tease him (d) His teacher will beat him CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

48 English Literature - I 3. What is his impression about the teacher? (a) He calls his teacher ill-mannered (b) He thinks his teacher is not highly qualified (c) He calls his teacher a cruel, weary old person (d) He thinks his teacher is just like his mother 4. Which word in the stanza means ‘disappointment’? (a) Drive (b) Outworn (c) Sighing (d) Dismay Answers 1. (d), 2. (a), 3. (c), 4. (d) 2.9 References 1. https://www.biography.com/writer/william-blake 2. https://poemanalysis.com/the-schoolboy-by-william-blake-poem-analysis/ 3. https://beamingnotes.com/2013/06/24/the-school-boy-analysis-by-william-blake/ 4. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/William_Blake 5. https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/blake/schoolboy.html 6. https://englishsummary.com/lesson/schoolboy-poem-summary/ 7. Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi (eds.), “Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Object 20 (Bentley 53, Erdman 53, Keynes 53) ‘The School Boy’”, William Blake Archive, Retrieved April 28, 2015. 8. Eaves, Morris; Essick, Robert N. and Viscomi, Joseph, “Songs of Innocence”, The William Blake Archive, Retrieved 9 April 2015. 9. Blake, William (1908), The Poetical Works of William Blake, ed. by John Sampson, London: Oxford University Press, Retrieved 31 March 2015. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The School Boy 49 10. Paul R.; Dobkin, David S. and Wheye, Darryl, “Bird Biology and the Arts”, Stanford University, Retrieved 9 April 2015. 11. Latham, Don (2008), “Empowering Adolescent Readers: Intertextuality in Three Novels by David Almond” (PDF), Children’s Literature in Education, 39: 213-226, doi: 10.1007/s10583-007-9052-6, Retrieved 7 April 2015. 12. Sahm, Danielle (2010), “Contrary to Expectations: Exploring Blake’s Contraries in David Almond’s Skellig”, Children’s Literature, 38: 116.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT 3 THE EDUCATION OF NATURE – WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Structure: 3.0 Learning Objectives 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Main Ideas 3.3 Themes 3.4 Analysis 3.5 Poem Analysis 3.6 Summary 3.7 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) 3.8 References 3.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will understand the significance of William Wordsworth. Wordsworth’s monumental poetic legacy rests on a large number of important poems, varying in length and weight from the short, simple lyrics of the 1790s to the vast expanses of The Prelude, thirteen books long in its 1808 edition. But the themes that run through Wordsworth’s poetry, and the language and imagery he uses to embody those themes, remain remarkably consistent throughout the Wordsworth canon, adhering largely to the tenets Wordsworth set out for himself in the 1802 preface to Lyrical Ballads. Here, Wordsworth argues that poetry should be CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 51 written in the natural language of common speech, rather than in the lofty and elaborate dictions that were then considered “poetic.” He argues that poetry should offer access to the emotions contained in memory. And he argues that the first principle of poetry should be pleasure, that the chief duty of poetry is to provide pleasure through a rhythmic and beautiful expression of feeling — for all human sympathy, he claims, is based on a subtle pleasure principle that is “the naked and native dignity of man.” Recovering “the naked and native dignity of man” makes up a significant part of Wordsworth’s poetic project, and he follows his own advice from the 1802 preface. Wordsworth’s style remains plain-spoken and easy-to-understand even today, though the rhythms and idioms of common English have changed from those of the early 19th century. Many of Wordsworth’s poems (including masterpieces such as “Tintern Abbey” and the “Intimations of Immortality” ode) deal with the subjects of childhood and the memory of childhood in the mind of the adult in particular, childhood’s lost connection with nature, which can be preserved only in memory. Wordsworth’s images and metaphors mix natural scenery, religious symbolism (as in the sonnet, “It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,” in which the evening is described as being “quiet as a nun”), and the relics of the poet’s rustic childhood — cottages, hedgerows, orchards, and other places where humanity intersects gently and easily with nature. Wordsworth’s poems initiated the Romantic era by emphasizing feeling, instinct, and pleasure above formality and mannerism. More than any poet before him, Wordsworth gave expression to inchoate human emotion; his lyric “Strange fits of passion have I known,” in which the speaker describes an inexplicable fantasy he once had that his lover was dead, could not have been written by any previous poet. Curiously, for a poet whose work points so directly toward the future, many of Wordsworth’s important works are preoccupied with the lost glory of the past — not only of the lost dreams of childhood, but also of the historical past, as in the powerful sonnet “London, 1802,” in which the speaker exhorts the spirit of the centuries-dead poet John Milton to teach the modern world a better way to live. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

52 English Literature - I 3.1 Introduction William Wordsworth was an early leader of romanticism (a literary movement that celebrated nature and concentrated on human emotions) in English poetry, and ranks as one of the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature. His Early Years William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England, the second child of an attorney. Unlike the other major English romantic poets, he enjoyed a happy childhood under the loving care of his mother and was very close to his sister Dorothy. As a child he wandered happily through the lovely natural scenery of Cumberland. In grammar school, Wordsworth showed a keen interest in poetry. He was fascinated by the epic poet John Milton (1608-1674). From 1787 to 1790, Wordsworth attended St. John’s College at Cambridge University. He always returned to his home and to nature during his summer vacations. Before graduating from Cambridge, he took a walking tour through France, Switzerland, and Italy in 1790. The Alps made an impression on him that he did not recognize until fourteen years later. Stay in France Revolutionary passion in France made a powerful impact on Wordsworth, who returned there in November 1791. He wanted to improve his knowledge of the French language. His experience in France just after the French Revolution (1789; the French overthrew the ruling monarchy) reinforced his sympathy for common people and his belief in political freedom. Wordsworth fell passionately in love with a French girl, Annette Vallon. She gave birth to their daughter in December 1792. However, Wordsworth had spent his limited funds and was forced to return home. The separation left him with a sense of guilt that deepened his poetic inspiration and resulted in an important theme in his work of abandoned women. Publication of First Poems Wordsworth’s first poems, “Descriptive Sketches” and “An Evening Walk,” were printed in 1793. He wrote several pieces over the next several years. The year 1797 marked the beginning of CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 53 Wordsworth’s long friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Together they published “Lyrical Ballads” in 1798. Wordsworth wanted to challenge “the gaudiness [unnecessarily flashy] and inane [foolish] phraseology [wording] of many modern writers.” Most of his poems in this collection centered on the simple yet deeply human feelings of ordinary people, phrased in their own language. His views on this new kind of poetry were more fully described in the important “Preface” that he wrote for the second edition (1800). “Tintern Abbey” Wordsworth’s most memorable contribution to this volume was “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” which he wrote just in time to include it. This poem is the first major piece to illustrate his original talent at its best. It skillfully combines matter-of-factness in natural description with a genuinely mystical (magical) sense of infinity, joining self-exploration to philosophical speculation (questioning). The poem closes on a subdued but confident reassertion of nature’s healing power, even though mystical insight may be obtained from the poet. In its successful blending of inner and outer experience, of sense perception, feeling, and thought, “Tintern Abbey” is a poem in which the writer becomes a symbol of mankind. The poem leads to imaginative thoughts about man and the universe. This cosmic outlook rooted in the self is a central feature of romanticism. Wordsworth's poetry is undoubtedly the most impressive example of this view in English literature. Poems of the Middle Period Wordsworth, even while writing his contributions to the “Lyrical Ballads,” had been feeling his way toward more ambitious schemes. He had embarked on a long poem in unrhymed verse, “The Ruined Cottage,” later referred to as “The Peddlar.” It was intended to form part of a vast philosophical poem with the title, “The Recluse, or Views of Man, Nature and Society.” This grand project never materialized as originally planned. Abstract, impersonal speculation was not comfortable for Wordsworth. He could handle experiences in the philosophical-lyrical manner only if they were closely related to himself and could arouse his creative feelings and imagination. During the winter months he spent in CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

54 English Literature - I Germany, he started work on his magnum opus (greatest work), “The Prelude,” or “Growth of a Poet's Mind.” It was published after his death. However, such a large achievement was still beyond Wordsworth's scope (area of capabilities) at this time. It was back to the shorter poetic forms that he turned during the most productive season of his long literary life, the spring of 1802. The output of these fertile (creative) months mostly came from his earlier inspirations: nature and the common people. During this time he wrote “To a Butterfly,” “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” “To the Cuckoo,” “The Rainbow,” and other poems. Changes in Philosophy The crucial event of this period was Wordsworth's loss of the sense of mystical oneness, which had sustained (lasted throughout) his highest imaginative flights. Indeed, a mood of despondency (depression) descended over Wordsworth, who was then thirty-two years old. In the summer of 1802, Wordsworth spent a few weeks in Calais, France, with his sister Dorothy. Wordsworth’s renewed contact with France only confirmed his disillusionment (disappointment) with the French Revolution and its aftermath. During this period Wordsworth had become increasingly concerned with Coleridge, who by now was almost totally dependent upon opium (a highly addictive drug) for relief from his physical sufferings. Both friends came to believe that the realities of life were in stark contradiction (disagreement) to the visionary expectations of their youth. Wordsworth characteristically sought to redefine his own identity in ways that would allow him a measure of meaning. The new turn his life took in 1802 resulted in an inner change that set the new course his poetry followed from then on. Poems about England and Scotland began pouring forth from Wordsworth's pen, while France and Napoleon (1769-1821) soon became Wordsworth's favorite symbols of cruelty and oppression. His nationalistic (intense pride in one’s own country) inspiration led him to produce the two “Memorials of a Tour in Scotland” (1803, 1814) and the group entitled “Poems Dedicated to National Independence and Liberty.” CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 55 Poems of 1802 The best poems of 1802, however, deal with a deeper level of inner change. In Wordsworth's poem “Intimations of Immortality” (March-April), he plainly recognized that “The things which I have seen I now can see no more”; yet he emphasized that although the “visionary gleam” had fled, the memory remained, and although the “celestial light” had vanished, the “common sight” of “meadow, grove and stream” was still a potent (strong) source of delight and solace (comfort). Thus Wordsworth shed his earlier tendency to idealize nature and turned to a more sedate (calm) doctrine (set of beliefs) of orthodox Christianity. Younger poets and critics soon blamed him for this “recantation” (renouncing), which they equated with his change of mind about the French Revolution. His “Ecclesiastical Sonnets” (1822) are clear evidence of the way in which love of freedom, nature, and the Church came to coincide (come together at the same time) in his mind. The Prelude Nevertheless, it was the direction suggested in “Intimations of Immortality” that, in the view of later criticism, enabled Wordsworth to produce perhaps the most outstanding achievement of English romanticism: “The Prelude.” He worked on it, on and off, for several years and completed the first version in May 1805. “The Prelude” can claim to be the only true romantic epic (long, often heroic work) because it deals in narrative terms with the spiritual growth of the only true romantic hero, the poet. The inward odyssey (journey) of the poet was described, not for its own sake but as a sample and as an adequate image of man at his most sensitive. Wordsworth shared the general romantic notion that personal experience is the only way to gain living knowledge. The purpose of “The Prelude” was to recapture and interpret, with detailed thoroughness, the whole range of experiences that had contributed to the shaping of his own mind. Wordsworth refrained from publishing the poem in his lifetime, revising it continuously. Most important and, perhaps, most to be regretted, the poet also tried to give a more orthodox tinge to his early mystical faith in nature. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

56 English Literature - I Later Years Wordsworth’s estrangement (growing apart) from Coleridge in 1810 deprived him of a powerful incentive to imaginative and intellectual alertness. Wordsworth's appointment to a government position in 1813 relieved him of financial care. Wordsworth's undiminished love for nature made him view the emergent (just appearing) industrial society with undisguised reserve. He opposed the Reform Bill of 1832, which, in his view, merely transferred political power from the land owners to the manufacturing class, but he never stopped pleading in favor of the victims of the factory system. In 1843 Wordsworth was appointed poet laureate (official poet of a country). He died on April 23, 1850. Wordsworth’s Poetical Works William Wordsworth, along with Robert Southey and Samuel Coleridge, is one of the “Lakeland Poets,” a group that is widely credited with beginning the English Romantic Movement. The movement was characterized by a rejection of the Enlightenment, which focused on reason, logic, and structure. Romanticism, on the other hand, focuses on emotion and imagination. Often the poets are called “nature poets” because of their emphasis on man’s connection to nature. Wordsworth addressed this connection in poems such as “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey,” “Ode; Intimations of Immortality,” and “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” The stress placed on the importance of imagination and the sublime in the English Romantic Movement, subsequently inspired the American Romantic Movement, which was headed by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and followed up by Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, among others. The most famous poets of the English Romantic Movement are William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. Wordsworth’s poetry is distinguished by his straightforward use of language and meter and his natural and often colloquial themes and imagery. This is not to say, however, that Wordsworth’s ideas are simple. He weaves several ideas throughout his poetic works, including CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 57 the importance of the natural world, transcendentalism and interconnectedness, religion, morality, mortality, memory and the power of the human mind. Wordsworth began publishing in 1793, at the age of 23, with a collection of poetry about a tour he took in the Swiss Alps – “Descriptive Sketches.” In 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge published “Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems” anonymously. In 1800, the two published another edition of “Lyrical Ballads” that included Wordsworth's famous preface highlighting several of the key ideas of the Romantic Movement. Wordsworth published “Elegiac Stanzas and Poems in two volumes” in 1803 and 1805 respectively, followed by “The Excursion” in 1812, “Collected Poems” in 1815, and “Peter Bell” and “The Waggoner” in 1819. Wordsworth published “Ecclesiastical Sketches” in 1822. After Wordsworth’s death, his wife published “Preface,” which was previously known only as “Poem for Coleridge.” At the time of his death, Wordsworth was known in England as the best poet in the world. 3.2 Main Ideas Wandering and Wanderers The speakers of Wordsworth’s poems are inveterate wanderers; they roam solitarily, they travel over the moors, they take private walks through the highlands of Scotland. Active wandering allows the characters to experience and participate in the vastness and beauty of the natural world. Moving from place to place also allows the wanderer to make discoveries about himself. In “I travelled among unknown men” (1807), the speaker discovers his patriotism only after he has traveled far from England. While wandering, speakers uncover the visionary powers of the mind and understand the influence of nature, as in “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (1807). The speaker of this poem takes comfort in a walk he once took after he had returned to the grit and desolation of city life. Recollecting his wanderings allows him to transcend his present circumstances. Wordsworth’s poetry itself often wanders, roaming from one subject or experience to another, as in “The Prelude.” In this long poem, the speaker moves from idea to idea through digressions and distractions that mimic the natural progression of thought within the mind. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

58 English Literature - I Memory Memory allows Wordsworth’s speakers to overcome the harshness of the contemporary world. Recollecting their childhood gives adults a chance to reconnect with the visionary power and intense relationship they had with nature as children. In turn, these memories encourage adults to re-cultivate, as close a relationship with nature as possible as an antidote to sadness, loneliness, and despair. The act of remembering also allows the poet to write; Wordsworth argued in the 1802 preface to “Lyrical Ballads” that poetry sprang from the calm remembrance of passionate emotional experiences. Poems cannot be composed at the moment when emotion is first experienced. Instead, the initial emotion must be combined with other thoughts and feelings from the poet’s past experiences using memory and imagination. The poem produced by this time-consuming process will allow the poet to convey the essence of his emotional memory to his readers and will permit the readers to remember similar emotional experiences of their own. Vision and Sight Throughout his poems, Wordsworth fixates on vision and sight as the vehicles through which individuals are transformed. As speakers move through the world, they see visions of great natural loveliness, which they capture in their memories. Later, in moments of darkness, the speakers recollect these visions, as in “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” Here, the speaker daydreams of former jaunts through nature, which “flash upon that inward eye/which is the bliss of solitude.” The power of sight captured by our mind’s eye enables us to find comfort even in our darkest, loneliest moments. Elsewhere, Wordsworth describes the connection between seeing and experiencing emotion, as in “My heart leaps up” (1807), in which the speaker feels joy as a result of spying a rainbow across the sky. Detailed images of natural beauty abound in Wordsworth’s poems, including descriptions of daffodils and clouds, which focus on what can be seen, rather than touched, heard, or felt. In Book Fourteenth of “The Prelude”, climbing to the top of a mountain in Wales, allows the speaker to have a prophetic vision of the workings of the mind as it thinks, reasons, and feels. Light Light often symbolizes truth and knowledge. In “The Tables Turned” (1798), Wordsworth contrasts the barren light of reason available in books with the “sweet” and “freshening” light of CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 59 the knowledge nature brings. Sunlight literally helps people see, and sunlight also helps speakers, and characters begin to glimpse the wonders of the world. In “Expostulation and Reply” (1798), the presence of light, or knowledge, within an individual prevents dullness and helps the individual to see, or experience. Generally, the light in Wordsworth’s poems represents immortal truths that can’t be entirely grasped by human reason. In “Ode: Imitations of Immortality,” the speaker remembers looking at a meadow as a child and imagining it gleaming in “celestial light”. As the speaker grows and matures, the light of his youth fades into the “light of common day” of adulthood. But the speaker also imagines his remembrances of the past as a kind of light, which illuminate his soul and give him the strength to live. The Leech Gatherer In “Resolution and Independence,” the ancient leech gatherer who spends his days wandering the moors looking for leeches, represents the strong-minded poet who perseveres in the face of poverty, obscurity, and solitude. As the poem begins, a wanderer travels along a moor, feeling elated and taking great pleasure in the sights of nature around him but also remembering that despair is the twin of happiness. Eventually he comes upon an old man looking for leeches, even though the work is dangerous and the leeches have become increasingly hard to find. As the speaker chats with the old man, he realizes the similarities between leech gathering and writing poetry. Like a leech gather, a poet continues to search his or her mind and the landscape of the natural world for poems, even though such intense emotions can damage one’s psyche, the work pays poorly and poverty is dangerous to one’s health, and inspiration sometimes seems increasingly hard to find. The speaker resolves to think of the leech gatherer whenever his enthusiasm for poetry or belief in himself begins to wane. 3.3 Themes The Beneficial Influence of Nature Throughout Wordsworth’s work, nature provides the ultimate good influence on the human mind. All manifestations of the natural world — from the highest mountain to the simplest flower — elicit noble, elevated thoughts and passionate emotions in the people who observe these manifestations. Wordsworth repeatedly emphasizes the importance of nature to an individual’s CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

60 English Literature - I intellectual and spiritual development. A good relationship with nature helps individuals connect to both the spiritual and the social worlds. As Wordsworth explains in “The Prelude,” a love of nature can lead to a love of humankind. In such poems as “The World Is Too Much with Us” (1807) and “London, 1802” (1807), people become selfish and immoral when they distance themselves from nature by living in cities. Humanity’s innate empathy and nobility of spirit becomes corrupted by artificial social conventions as well as by the squalor of city life. In contrast, people who spend a lot of time in nature, such as laborers and farmers, retain the purity and nobility of their souls. Nature “Come forth into the light of things/Let Nature be your Teacher.” No discussion on Wordsworth would be complete without mention of nature. Nature and its connection to humanity makes an appearance in the vast majority of Wordsworth's poetry, often holding a poem’s focus, and has become the cornerstone of the Romantic Movement primarily because of him. For Wordsworth, nature is a kind of religion in which he has the utmost faith. Nature fills two major roles in Wordsworth’s poetry: 1. Even though it is intensely beautiful and peaceful, nature often causes Wordsworth to feel melancholy or sad. This is usually because, even as he relishes in his connection with nature, he worries about the rest of humanity, most of who live in cites completely apart from nature. Wordsworth wonders how they could possibly revive their spirits. In the end, however, he often decides that it is wrong to be sad while in nature: “A poet could not but be gay/In such jocund company.” 2. Nature also gives Wordsworth hope for the future. From past experience Wordsworth knows that spending time in nature is a gift to his future self, because later, when he is alone, tired and frustrated in the busy, dirty city, he will be able to look back on a field of daffodils he once spent time in and be happy again. The Power of the Human Mind Wordsworth praised the power of the human mind. Using memory and imagination, individuals could overcome difficulty and pain. For instance, the Speaker in “Lines Composed a CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 61 Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” (1798) relieves his loneliness with memories of nature, while the leech gatherer in “Resolution and Independence” (1807) perseveres cheerfully in the face of poverty by the exertion of his own will. The transformative powers of the mind are available to all, regardless of an individual’s class or background. This democratic view emphasizes individuality and uniqueness. Throughout his work, Wordsworth showed strong support for the political, religious, and artistic rights of the individual, including the power of his or her mind. In the 1802 preface to “Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth explained the relationship between the mind and poetry. Poetry is “emotion recollected in tranquility” — that is, the mind transforms the raw emotion of experience into poetry capable of giving pleasure. Later poems, such as “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (1807), imagine nature as the source of the inspiring material that nourishes the active, creative mind. The Splendor of Childhood In Wordsworth’s poetry, childhood is a magical, magnificent time of innocence. Children form an intense bond with nature, so much so that they appear to be a part of the natural world, rather than a part of the human, social world. Their relationship to nature is passionate and extreme; children feel joy at seeing a rainbow but great terror at seeing desolation or decay. In 1799, Wordsworth wrote several poems about a girl named Lucy who died at a young age. These poems, including “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” (1800) and “Strange fits of passion have I known” (1800), praise her beauty and lament her untimely death. In death, Lucy retains the innocence and splendor of childhood, unlike the children who grow up, lose their connection to nature, and lead unfulfilling lives. The speaker in “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” believes that children delight in nature because they have access to a divine, immortal world. As children age and reach maturity, they lose this connection but gain an ability to feel emotions, both good and bad. Through the power of the human mind, particularly memory, adults can recollect the devoted connection to nature of their youth. Memory For Wordsworth, the power of the human mind is extremely important. In several of his poems he begins in a negative or depressed mood, and then slowly becomes more positive. The most important use of memory, however, is to maintain connections. For instance, in poems like CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

62 English Literature - I “Line Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” and “I wandered lonely as a cloud” Wordsworth is in nature (his favorite place to be) and he is happy, but he becomes even happier when he realizes that he never actually has to leave his memories behind. Once he has returned to the daily gloom of the city, he will be able to remember the time he spent among nature and make himself happy again: “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” As Wordsworth begins to consider his own mortality, memory is again a huge comfort, because he realizes that even after he has died he will be able to live on in the memory of his family and friends, just as those who have passed on before him are in his memory. Wordsworth is especially heartened to know that his sister Dorothy, with whom he spent countless hours, will remember him fondly, carrying him with her wherever she goes. Mortality Wordsworth’s fascination with death frequently shows up in his poetry. The Lucy Poems, for instance, are a series of poems about a young girl who may or may not have been a figment of Wordsworth’s imagination, and who ultimately dies. Wordsworth looks at the event from several angles. In “She dwelt among the untrodden ways,” he focuses on the unexpectedness of her death, and the unpredictability of life and death in general. In “Three years she grew,” Wordsworth creates a fanciful rationale for her death: Nature became entranced by her and promised to give her an incredible life, but once all of her promises were fulfilled, Lucy had to die. In “We are Seven,” Wordsworth looks at a young girl who had six siblings but now lives at home with only her mother, because two of her siblings have died and the others have moved away. The little girl seems not to understand death throughout the poem, but in the end the reader learns that she may have a clearer understanding than the speaker. In “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth is comforted by the thought that he will live on after his death, because his sister Dorothy will remember him lovingly. Humanity One of Wordsworth’s greatest worries is the descent of humanity. As man moves further and further away from humanity he seems to be losing more and more of his soul. Often when Wordsworth is in nature, he is saddened because he is forced to think about the people trapped in CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 63 cities, unable or unwilling to commune with nature. In “London, 1802,” for instance, Wordsworth makes a plea to the poet John Milton to return and teach humanity how to regain the morality and virtue it once had. Similarly, in “The world is too much with us,” Wordsworth worries that the world is too full of people who have lost their connection to divinity, and more importantly, to nature: “Getting and spending we lay waste our powers/Little we see in Nature that is ours.” Transcendence and Connectivity The idea of transcendence did not gain full speed until the Romantic Movement moved to America, but Wordsworth was certainly a fan of the idea long before then. “Transcendence” simply means “being without boundaries.” For Wordsworth, this means being able to connect with people and things outside of oneself, especially in terms of nature. It was Wordsworth's supreme aspiration to metaphorically transcend the limitations of his body and connect completely with nature. Mankind’s difficulty accepting the beauty that nature has to offer saddened Wordsworth; he found the loss of such a gift difficult to accept. Morality In Wordsworth’s poems, morality doesn’t necessarily stem directly from religion, but rather from doing what is right by oneself, by humanity, and by nature. In “London, 1802”, Wordsworth complains that man’s morals are in a state of constant decline, but the morals he is talking about have more to do with following the natural process of life – being free and powerful, not tied down by city living or common thoughts. The most important lesson a person can learn, according to Wordsworth, is to be true to his own impulses and desires, but not greedy. A person should be available to help his fellow man, but should not be consumed by other peoples’ needs. He should be in communion with nature, with humanity, and with himself. Religion Religion, while not as prevalent as in the poetry of the Enlightenment, does have a place in much of Wordsworth’s poetry. Often religion is included simply to help Wordsworth’s more pious readers understand the level of his commitment to and faith in nature. Wordsworth uses CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

64 English Literature - I religious imagery and language in his poems in order to convey his ideas about the power of nature, the human mind, and global interconnectivity. CLXXIX. The Education of Nature W. Wordsworth THREE years she grew in sun and shower; Then Nature said, “A lovelier flower On earth was never sown: This Child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make A Lady of my own. “Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse; and with me The Girl, in rock and plain, In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, Shall feel an overseeing power To kindle or restrain. “She shall be sportive as the fawn That wild with glee across the lawn Or up the mountain springs; And hers shall be the breathing balm, And hers the silence and the calm Of mute insensate things. “The floating clouds their state shall lend To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see Ev’n in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden’s form By silent sympathy. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 65 “The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place, Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face. “And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give, While she and I together live Here in this happy dell.” Thus Nature spake—the work was done— How soon my Lucy’s race was run! She died, and left to me This heath, this calm and quiet scene; The memory of what has been, And never more will be. 3.4 Analysis William Wordsworth’s Poems have long comforted the sorrowful soul. His tone is not that of the typical tortured soul poet, yet he was not without immense suffering. His ability to infuse comfort into his pain through his poetry has offered peace and understanding to people for generations. Wordsworth experienced some of the deepest pain any human being has ever known – the loss of a child. In this poem, ‘The Education of Nature’, he writes about Lucy, the character who represents his daughter, Catherine. She died at the age of three in the year of 1812. She was a child that was known for making those around her laugh. And as her condition was referred to as “convulsions,” it is assumed that she suffered and died from Polio (Thron). Wordsworth grieves, but not beyond hope. He writes this poem about Lucy. Perhaps it was too CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

66 English Literature - I painful to use Catherine’s name. But ‘The Education of Nature’ quickly reveals that it is Catherine whom Wordsworth thinks about while writing this piece. 3.5 Poem Analysis Stanza 1 Three years she grew in sun and shower, Then nature said, “a lovelier flower On earth was never sown; This Child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make A Lady of my own. In the first stanza, the speaker let’s the reader identify with Lucy. It is not hard to imagine a lively young three year old, playing in the sun or in the rain. But she was too lovely for earth, or so Nature decided. The speaker suggests that Nature has taken the child for herself because she was too beautiful for the earth. Stanza 2 Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse: and with me The girl, in rock and plain, In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, Shall feel an overseeing power To kindle or restrain. The speaker shifts to thoughts of himself. He can easily see how Nature wanted this little girl for herself, lovely as she was, but he himself would need to respond to this loss. When he says that he will be “both law and impulse,” he implies that he will react in the way he is expected to react, and do the things he is expected to do, but he would not react without impulse. He would give way to his feelings and allow grief to have its way in his heart. He implies that as he walks the earth, and as he looks into the heavens, he will feel her presence as “an overseeing power” and CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 67 he reveals that he will either kindle that feeling or restrain it, probably depending upon the time and circumstances in which this feeling arises. Stanza 3 She shall be sportive as the fawn That wild with glee across the lawn Or up the mountain springs; And hers shall be the breathing balm, And hers the silence and the calm Of mute insensate things. The speaker shifts tones once again in order to focus on her – Lucy. He has explained what this loss means to Nature, and to himself, but what does it mean for Lucy? He finds his comfort in this. Lucy is symbolic of Wordsworth’s daughter, Catherine, who died of Polio. The speaker believes that Lucy will be “sportive as the fawn” and able to run “across the lawn” as she was “wild with glee.” He believes that contrary to her limited physical ability on earth, in her new place, she would be able to enjoy running wild as a fawn. She would also enjoy “the silence and the calm.” The speaker finds comfort in this idea. Stanza 4 The floating clouds their state shall lend To her for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see Even in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden’s form By silent sympathy. In this stanza of ‘The Education of Nature,’ the speaker continues to imagine what Lucy is now doing. He imagines her floating on clouds, and watching those on earth. He imagines that she should never “fail to see” the “silent sympathy” he feels for her. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

68 English Literature - I Stanza 5 To stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place, Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound shall pass into her face, The speaker imagines that Lucy “shall be dear” even “to stars”. He imagines that she is enjoying her existence as she moves about in the night, being loved by the stars and all the heavenly beings. Stanza 6 And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give, While she and I together live Here in this happy dell. In this stanza, the speaker reveals his belief that although Lucy is no longer alive in earthly terms, she will still experience “vital feelings of delight” as she grows up into her “stately height” and into maturity. The imagery of her rearing her form “to stately height,” and of “her virgin bosom swell[ing]” reveal his belief that wherever she is, wherever Nature has taken her, she will continue to grow up there, with all feelings of life and vitality. He vows to give these thoughts to Lucy daily, so that even though she exists in a different realm than he, they would still “together live here in this happy dell”. Stanza 7 Thus Nature spake – the work was done – How soon my Lucy’s race was run! She died, and left to me This heath, this calm, and quiet scene; CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 69 The memory of what has been, And never more will be. In this final stanza of ‘The Education of Nature,’ the speaker refers back to Nature. Nature is the authority in this situation, and she has said that “the work was done” and Lucy was no longer needed on earth. The speaker mourns over this, but he doesn’t resent it. He exclaims, “How soon my Lucy’s race was run!” and he is clearly grieving when he said, “she died and left to me this heath, this calm, and quiet scene”. This reveals that Lucy’s absence in his life is felt deeply. The absence of her laugh is painfully noticeable, and he is left only with memories of the past. Although the stanzas leading up to this final one speak of Lucy living a vital and fulfilling eternity, the speaker chooses to end ‘The Education of Nature’ with the grief that he feels in knowing that “what has been…never more will be”. To end this poem in grief, even though all comforting words were spoken and acknowledged, is to be real and tangible to readers. Anyone who has experienced loss knows that all hope of an afterlife, and all words of comfort, cannot change the empty feeling and knowledge that what once was, is now changed forever. 3.6 Summary William Wordsworth’s poem Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower, is a lyrical elegy on the untimely demise of Lucy. This poem is also known as ‘The Education of Nature’, and is considered one of the Lucy poems. Lucy poems are written about an ideal female who is sometimes symbolized as nature, for whom the speaker feels great affection. It was written in the year of 1798 in collaboration with S.T. Coleridge and was published in 1800 in the Lyrical Ballads anthology. In this poem Wordsworth personified Nature. He points out the education of nature, and the great influence nature can exercise on human life. Nature has the power to impart education better than all the sages can. The experiment of nature's education has to be tried on Lucy by Nature itself. Nature thinks that she is the most beautiful thing on earth. Nature takes her to make her ‘a lady of her own’. So, Lucy lived in close communion with the objects of nature, the rocks, the CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

70 English Literature - I earth, the glades, the heaven, the mountains, the clouds, the trees and the storms. But, before she could be a perfect woman, she was snatched away by the cruel hands of death. The personified nature speaks of Lucy in the first stanza. Nature says, ‘A lovelier flower on earth was never sown’ than Lucy, and decides to take the child and make her ‘A Lady of my own’. In the second stanza this idea is elaborated. Nature will be with the child both ‘law and impulse’ and have the power to ‘kindle or restrain’. The use of words like ‘rock’, ‘plain’, ‘earth’, ‘glade’, ‘bower’ all serve to emphasize Lucy’s closeness to nature. The third stanza emphasizes her vital, spontaneous energy and also her equally spontaneous calm and peace. She will have closeness to all nature, ‘The floating clouds their state shall lend To her, and will respond to all the natural beauty around her, as stanza five makes clear: 'The stars of midnight shall be dear/To her.’ She will be filled by ‘vital’ feelings as she grows. The final stanza is a contrast and shows, poignantly, the feelings of the lover on Lucy’s death — or total merging with nature. But the lover accepts the cyclical pattern of things; he is left with ‘This heath, this calm and quiet scene’ and the memory of Lucy. The short poem profoundly teaches us the universal truth of the nature of the life, that is, we are from nature, we sustain by the nature, we have to return to nature and there is no loss of human life after death. It is a loss only to the living. This big but bitter truth must be accepted. Nature is personified in this poem. Lucy is not only a particular person, but also the representative of all organic living beings. Lucy was to be educated by nature as nature dreamt of making her the perfect lady. The poet believes that if a child is given freedom to play in the lap of nature, he or she will be a better person in life. ‘The Education of Nature’ is about the poet’s love to a pure young girl and the loss of the beloved one, as his beloved (Lucy) belongs to nature, her return to nature is her death. The separation made by death, though painful to the living one, it is rewarding to the dead one as he or she returns to where he/she really belongs. The poem is narrated by nature herself and compares Lucy to a beautiful flower. She claims the flower and wants to make her mature lady of nature upon whom she showers her greatest benefits of grace and beauty. Nature reveals the method of the process of the complex unity of living being while making her almost perfect lady. In the CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 71 poem the process is one of opposing polarities, of a dialectic from which the living complexity arises. The whole passage shows a pattern of antitheses, between ‘law and impulse’, ‘rock and plain’, ‘earth and heaven’, ‘glade and bower’ and ‘kindle’ and ‘restrain’. These opposing principles are the base of our life. Wordsworth articulates his sense of curiosity at the complex inter–relationships between the permanent and fluctuating laws of nature, and the magical intricacies which they produce, that not only the dancing rivulets, but also such phenomena as beautiful young women. Lucy is not passively molded by nature, but she is given all the necessary thoughts of growth. The reversal of expectations of the nature and the sudden death of Lucy gives a heartbreaking ending to the poem. The beautiful and exciting life has its predictable result: the death. This is not only a lament over the death of Lucy but a truth of the condition of all human life. Though all the powers of nature combine in complex ways to create a human being, finally it is doomed by nature’s law to death. The last line is silent, which brings a rare clarity of perception where the lover without making any complaint states that there is nothing more than a memory. This poem easily delivers a universal truth about human life, a very common truth of death that we live with since our birth but yet we fail to recognize. This poem can be interpreted as the celebration as the marriage of nature and Lucy at the end. When the physical body of Lucy died, she merges with nature. Her worldly lover, the poet or the speaker, laments for the death and mourns knowing that she will never be back. She will be with nature forever and ever. So, in this sense, this poem is an elegiac for the human lover and epithalamic (a song sung in marriage) for the nature as she is united with Lucy for the lifelong. Nature is given an interesting role here. At first she seems beautiful and giving but, after a while she dictates the human conditions and takes back Lucy. This poem has seven stanzas, each containing six lines having an AABCCB rhyme scheme. In these short poems, the language is simple, yet intense and moving. The most striking fact is that the speaker in the poem does not speak until the final stanza. Only at the end of the poetry, the speaker lets us know why he is writing the poem and what happened to Lucy. Most of the CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

72 English Literature - I lines are difficult to interpret and language is ambiguous. In some line the diction is simple, but the ideas are difficult to cater. To a modern audience, this poem can seem a little strange or even sick; it seems to accept and celebrate the death of a three-year-old girl. Therefore, it is important to understand that poems about dead children (which were to grow greatly in popularity during the Victorian period) were — in an era before psychological counseling and in which infant mortality rates were high — a comforting way to memorialize the departed and deal with grief. Another way to analyze this poem is to evaluate Wordsworth in relation to his poetic project. He was badly disillusioned by the way the French Revolution turned into a bloodbath. He saw this firsthand, as he happened to be in France at the time. He had believed in the ideals of liberty and the brotherhood of men that were associated with the revolution and came back to England shattered; he describes his reaction to the event in his long autobiographical poem “The Prelude.” In this poem, he explains how and why he became a poet. As he coped with disillusionment, he recognized that his role was to record the lives of the simple, forgotten people, the people he had hoped the French Revolutions would set free, in ways that exalted or romanticized their lives. He does this with Lucy, who becomes the beautiful child of nature and not simply a poor cottager's child who dies too soon. 3.7 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) A. Short Answer Questions 1. According to Wordsworth, where is Lucy after her death? 2. How will Lucy experience the vital feelings of delight? 3. How has Wordsworth expressed his grief in the last stanza? 4. What are the speaker’s thoughts for Lucy? 5. Why does Nature say that the work was done? CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 73 B. Long Answer Questions 1. Critically analyse the poem ‘The Education of Nature’ by William Wordsworth 2. Discuss William Wordsworth as a Nature Poet? 3. Explain the rhyme scheme and poetic devices used in the poem ‘The Education of Nature’ 4. How has Wordworth explained what this loss means to Nature, and to himself, but what does it mean for Lucy? 5. Give the significance of the title. ‘The Education of Nature’. 6. How is Nature personified in this poem? 7. How can this poem can be interpreted as the marriage of nature and Lucy? 8. What according to Wordsworth is the universal truth of the nature of the life? C. Multiple Choice Questions 1. ‘A lovelier flower’ means (a) Nature (b) Rose (c) Lucy (d) Mother 2. ‘Myself will….be both law and impulse’ means (a) react forcefully (b) law and order (c) react meekly (d) take revenge 3. What must Lucy be doing amidst nature in heaven? (a) Missing the speaker (b) Feeling very deserted and lonely (c) Running across happily across the lawn (d) Preparing to return to earth CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

74 English Literature - I 4. What does Nature teach us? (a) Never brood over the loss (b) Nature is more powerful than human beings (c) Nature teaches everyone a lesson (d) We are from nature, we sustain by the nature, we have to return to nature 5. What is the grief of the poet? (a) Any words of comfort cannot change the situation or repair the loss (b) Lucy was not his daughter (c) Lucy was with him only for three years (d) Nature always takes away the best Answers 1. (c), 2. (a), 3. (c), 4. (d), 5. (a) 3.8 References 1. https://www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Wordsworth-William.html 2. https://www.poems4free.com/THEEDUCATIONOFNATURE.,html 3. https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-summary-william-wordsworths-poem- education-317787 4. Sharma, K.N. “Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower by William Wordsworth: Summary and Analysis. “BachelorandMaster, 25 July 2017. 5. bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/three-years-she-grew-in-sun-and- shower.html 6. https://www.bartleby.com/106/179.html 7. https://poemanalysis.com/three-years-she-grew-in-sun-and-shower-william-wordsworth- analysis/ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The Education of Nature 75 8. Historic England. “Wordsworth House (1327088)”. National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 December 2009. 9. Appendix A (Past Governors) of Allport, D. H., & N. J. Friskney, A Short History of Wilson’s School, Wilso’s School Charitable Trust, 1986. 10. Wordsworth, William (WRDT787W)”. A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. 11. Andrew Bennett (12 February 2015). William Wordsworth in Context. Cambridge University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-107-02841-8. 12. Everett, Glenn, “William Wordsworth: Biography” at The Victorian Web, accessed 7 January 2007. 13. Gill (1989) pp. 208, 299 14. “Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1245 to Present”. MeasuringWorth.com. Retrieved 28 May 2012. 15. “The Cornell Wordsworth Collection”. Cornell University. Retrieved 13 February 2009. 16. Lyricall Ballads: With a Few Other Poems (1 ed.). London: J. & A. Arch. 1798. Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org 17. Wordsworth, William (1800). Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems. I (2 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 13 November 2014.; Wordsworth, William (1800). Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems. II (2 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org 18. Wordsworth, William (1802). Lyrical Ballads with Pastoral and other Poems. I (3 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org. 19. Wordsworth, William (1805). Lyrical Ballads with Pastoral and other Poems. I (4 ed.). London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, by R. Taylor. Retrieved 13 November2014. via archive.org. 20. Stephen Gill, William Wordsworth: A Life, Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 132–133. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

76 English Literature - I 21. Recollections of the Lake Poets. 22. Kelly Grovier, “Dream Walker: A Wordsworth Mystery Solved”, Times Literary Supplement, 16 February 2007 23. Poetical Works. Oxford Standard Authors. London: Oxford U.P. 1936. p. 590. 24. Hartman, Geoffrey (1987). Wordsworth’s Poetry, 1787–1814. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 329–331. ISBN 9780674958210. 25. Already in 1891 James Kenneth Stephen wrote satirically of Wordsworth having “two voices”: one is “of the deep”, the other “of an old half-witted sheep/Which bleats articulate monotony”.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT 4 ALL THINGS WILL DIE – ALFRED LORD TENNYSON Structure: 4.0 Learning Objectives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Themes 4.3 Main Ideas 4.4 Setting of “All Things Will Die” 4.5 Analysis 4.6 Summary 4.7 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) 4.8 References 4.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to understand the significance of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Alfred, Lord Tennyson was the leading poet of the Victorian Age in England and by the mid- 19th century had come to occupy a position similar to that of Alexander Pope in the 18th. Tennyson was a consummate poetic artist, consolidating and refining the traditions bequeathed to him by his predecessors in the Romantic movement — especially Wordsworth, Byron, and Keats. His poetry is remarkable for its metrical variety, rich descriptive imagery, and exquisite verbal CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

78 English Literature - I melodies. But Tennyson was also regarded as the pre-eminent spokesman for the educated middle-class Englishman, in moral and religious outlook and in political and social consciousness no less than in matters of taste and sentiment. His poetry dealt often with the doubts and difficulties of an age in which established Christian faith and traditional assumptions about man’s nature and destiny were increasingly called into question by science and modern progress. His poetry dealt with these misgivings, moreover, as the intimate personal problems of a sensitive and troubled individual inclined to melancholy. Yet through his poetic mastery — the spaciousness and nobility of his best verse, its classical aptness of phrase, its distinctive harmony — he conveyed to sympathetic readers a feeling of implicit reassurance, even serenity. Tennyson may be seen as the first great English poet to be fully aware of the new picture of man’s place in the universe revealed by modern science. While the contemplation of this unprecedented human situation sometimes evoked his fears and forebodings, it also gave him a larger imaginative range than most of the poets of his time and added a greater depth and resonance to his art. Tennyson’s ascendancy among Victorian poets began to be questioned even during his lifetime, however, when Robert Browning and Algernon Charles Swinburne were serious rivals. And 20th-century criticism, influenced by the rise of a new school of poetry headed by T.S. Eliot (though Eliot himself was an admirer of Tennyson), proposed some drastic devaluations of his work. Undoubtedly, much in Tennyson that appealed to his contemporaries, has ceased to appeal to many readers today. He can be mawkish and banal, pompous and orotund, offering little more than the mellifluous versifying of shallow or confused thoughts. The rediscovery of such earlier poets as John Donne or Gerard Manley Hopkins (a poet of Tennyson’s own time who was then unknown to the public), together with the widespread acceptance of Eliot and W.B. Yeats as the leading modern poets, opened the ears of readers to a very different, and perhaps more varied, poetic music. A more balanced estimate of Tennyson has begun to prevail, however, with the recognition of the enduring greatness of “Ulysses,” the unique poignancy of Tennyson’s best lyric poems, and, above all, the stature of In Memoriam as the great representative poem of the Victorian Age. It is now also recognized that the realistic and comic aspects of Tennyson’s work are more important than they were thought to be during the period of the reaction against him. Finally, the perception of the poet’s awed sense of the mystery of life, which lies at the heart of CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 79 his greatness, as in “Crossing the Bar” or “Flower in the Crannied Wall,” unites his admirers in this century with those in the last. Though less of Tennyson’s work may survive than appeared likely during his Victorian heyday, what does remain — and it is by no means small in quantity — seems likely to be imperishable. 4.1 Introduction About the Poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred, Lord Tennyson was the most renowned poet of the Victorian era. His work includes ‘In Memoriam,’ ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Idylls of the King.’ Who was Alfred Tennyson? Born in England in 1809, Alfred, Lord Tennyson began writing poetry as a boy. He was first published in 1827, but it was not until the 1840s that his work received regular public acclaim. His “In Memoriam” (1850), which contains the line “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” cemented his reputation. Tennyson was Queen Victoria’s poet laureate from 1850 until his death in 1892. Early Years and Family Alfred Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England on August 6, 1809. He would be one of his family’s 11 surviving children (his parents’ firstborn died in infancy). Tennyson grew up with two older brothers, four younger brothers and four younger sisters. Tennyson’s father was a church rector who earned a decent income, but the size of the family meant expenses had to be closely watched. Therefore, Tennyson only attended Louth Grammar School (where he was bullied) for a few years. The rest of his pre-university education was overseen by his well-read father. Tennyson and his siblings were raised with a love of books and writing; by the age of 8, Tennyson was penning his first poems. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

80 English Literature - I However, Tennyson’s home wasn’t a happy one. His father was an elder son who had been disinherited in favor of a younger brother, which engendered resentment. Even worse, his father was an alcoholic and drug user who at times physically threatened members of the family. In 1827, Tennyson had his first poetry published in Poems by Two Brothers (though actually three Tennyson brothers contributed to the volume). That same year, Tennyson began to study at Trinity College at Cambridge, where his two older brothers were also students. It was at university that Tennyson met Arthur Hallam, who became a close friend, and joined a group of students who called themselves The Apostles. Tennyson also continued to write poetry, and in 1829, he won the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for the poem “Timbuctoo.” In 1830, Tennyson published his first solo collection: “Poems, Chiefly Lyrical.” Tennyson’s father died in 1831. His death meant straitened circumstances for the family, and Tennyson did not complete his degree. As a younger son, Tennyson was encouraged to find a profession, such as entering the church like his father. However, the young man was determined to focus on poetry. Struggles of a Poet At the end of 1832 (though it was dated 1833), he published another volume of poetry: “Poems by Alfred Tennyson.” It contained work that would become well known, such as “The Lady of Shalott,” but received unfavorable reviews. These greatly affected Tennyson, and he subsequently shied away from publication for a decade, though he continued to write during that time. After leaving Cambridge, Tennyson had remained close to Arthur Hallam, who had fallen in love with Tennyson’s sister Emily. When Hallam died suddenly in 1833, likely from a stroke, it was a devastating loss for the poet and his family. Tennyson developed feelings for Rosa Baring in the 1830s, but her wealth put her out of his league (the poem “Locksley Hall” shared his take on the situation: “Every door is barr’d with gold, and opens but to golden keys”). In 1836, Tennyson fell in love with Emily Sellwood, sister to his brother Charles’s wife; the two were soon engaged. However, due in part to concerns about CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 81 his finances and his health — there was a history of epilepsy in the Tennyson family, and the poet worried he had the disease — Tennyson ended the engagement in 1840. Tennyson finally published more poetry in the two-volume Poems (1842). Highlights included a revised “The Lady of Shalott,” and also “Locksley Hall,” “Morte d’Arthur” and “Ulysses” (which ends with the well-known line, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”). This work was positively reviewed. Unfortunately, in 1842, Tennyson lost most of his money after investing in an unsuccessful wood-carving venture. (Tennyson would recover some of the funds in 1845, thanks to an insurance policy a friend had taken out for him.) Poetic Success “The Princess” (1847), a long narrative poem, was Tennyson’s next notable work. But he hit a career high note with “In Memoriam” (1850). The elegiac creation, which contains the famous lines, “Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all,” incorporated Tennyson’s sorrow about his friend Arthur Hallam’s death. It greatly impressed readers and won Tennyson many admirers. In addition to addressing his feelings about losing Hallam, “In Memoriam” also speaks to the uncertainty that many of Tennyson’s contemporaries were grappling with at the time. Geologists had shown that the planet was much older than stated in the Bible; the existence of fossils also contradicted the story of creation. Having read books such as Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology (1830-33), Tennyson was well aware of these developments. Tennyson, who had learned that he did not have epilepsy and was feeling more financially secure, had reconnected with Emily Sellwood (it was she who suggested the title “In Memoriam”). The two were married in June 1850. Later that year, Queen Victoria selected Tennyson to succeed William Wordsworth as England’s new poet laureate. Fame and Fortune Tennyson’s poetry became more and more widely read, which gave him both an impressive income and an ever-increasing level of fame. The poet sported a long beard and often dressed in a cloak and broad-brimmed hat, which made it easy for fans to spot him. A move to the Isle of Wight in 1853 offered Tennyson an escape from his growing crowds of admirers, but Tennyson CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

82 English Literature - I wasn’t cut off from society there — he would welcome visitors such as Prince Albert, fellow poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Hawaii’s Queen Emma. An episode in the Crimean War led to Tennyson penning “The Charge of the Light Brigade” in 1854; the work was also included in “Maud, and Other Poems” (1855). The first four books of Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King,” an epic take on the Arthurian legend, appeared in 1859. In 1864, “Enoch Arden and Other Poems” sold 17,000 copies on its first day of publication. Tennyson became friendly with Queen Victoria, who found comfort in reading “In Memoriam” following the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861. He also continued to experience the downside of fame. As the Isle of Wight became a more popular destination, people would sometimes peer through the windows of his home. In 1867, he bought land in Surrey, where he would build another home, Aldworth, that offered more privacy. Later Years In 1874, Tennyson branched out to poetic dramas, starting with “Queen Mary” (1875). Some of his dramas would be successfully performed, but they never matched the impact of his poems. Though he had turned down earlier offers of a baronetcy, in 1883 Tennyson accepted the offer of a peerage (a higher rank than baronet). He thus became Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, better known as Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Tennyson and his wife had two sons, Hallam (b. 1852) and Lionel (b. 1854). Lionel predeceased his parents; he became ill on a visit to India, and died in 1886 onboard a ship heading back to England. Tennyson’s “Demeter and Other Poems” (1889) contained work that addressed this devastating loss. Death and Legacy The poet suffered from gout, and experienced a recurrence that grew worse in the late summer of 1892. Later that year, on October 6, at the age of 83, Tennyson passed away at his Aldworth home in Surrey. He was buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner. Tennyson was the leading poet of the Victorian age; as that era ended, his reputation began to fade. Though he will likely never again be as acclaimed as he was during his lifetime, today CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 83 Tennyson is once more recognized as a gifted poet who delved into eternal human questions, and who offered both solace and inspiration to his audience. Symbols King Arthur and Camelot To Tennyson, King Arthur symbolizes the ideal man, and Arthurian England was England in its best and purest form. Some of Tennyson’s earliest poems, such as “The Lady of Shalott,” were set in King Arthur’s time. Indeed, Tennyson rhymes Camelot, the name of King Arthur’s estate, with “Shalott” in eighteen of the poem’s twenty stanzas, thereby emphasizing the importance of the mythical place. Furthermore, our contemporary conception of Camelot as harmonious and magnificent, comes from Tennyson’s poem. “Idylls of the King,” about King Arthur’s rise and fall, was one of the major projects of Tennyson’s late career. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert envisioned themselves as latter-day descendents of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their praise helped popularize the long poem. But King Arthur also had a more personal representation to Tennyson: the mythic king represents a version of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, whose death at twenty-two profoundly affected Tennyson. Hallam’s death destroyed his potential and promise, which allowed Tennyson to idealize Hallam. This idealization allows Tennyson to imagine what might have been in the best possible light, much as he does when describing King Arthur and his court. The Imprisoned Woman The imprisoned woman appears throughout Tennyson’s work. In “Mariana,” a woman abandoned by her lover, lives alone in her house in the middle of desolate country; her isolation imprisons her, as does the way she waits for her lover to return. Her waiting limits her ability and desire to do anything else. “The Lady of Shalott” is likewise about a woman imprisoned, this time in a tower. Should she leave her prison, a curse would fall upon her. Tennyson, like many other Victorian poets, used female characters to symbolize the artistic and sensitive aspects of the human condition. Imprisoned women, such as these Tennyson characters, act as Symbols for the isolation experienced by the artist and other sensitive, deep-feeling people. Although society might force creative, sensitive types to become outcasts, in Tennyson’s poems, the women CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

84 English Literature - I themselves create their own isolation and imprisonment. These women seem unable or unwilling to deal with the outside world. 4.2 Themes The Reconciliation of Religion and Science Tennyson lived during a period of great scientific advancement, and he used his poetry to work out the conflict between religious faith and scientific discoveries. Notable scientific findings and theories of the Victorian period include stratigraphy, the geological study of rock layers used to date the earth, in 1811; the first sighting of an asteroid in 1801 and galaxies in the 1840s; and Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection in 1859. In the second half of the century, scientists, such as Fülöp Semmelweis, Joseph Lister, and Louis Pasteur, began the experiments and work that would eventually lead to germ theory and our modern understanding of microorganisms and diseases. These discoveries challenged traditional religious understandings of nature and natural history. For most of his career, Tennyson was deeply interested in and troubled by these discoveries. His poem “Locksley Hall” (1842), expresses his ambivalence about technology and scientific progress. There the Speaker feels tempted to abandon modern civilization and return to a savage life in the jungle. In the end, he chooses to live a civilized, modern life and enthusiastically endorses technology. “In Memoriam” connects the despair Tennyson felt over the loss of his friend Arthur Hallam and the despair he felt when contemplating a godless world. In the end, the poem affirms both religious faith and faith in human progress. Nevertheless, Tennyson continued to struggle with the reconciliation of science and religion, as illustrated by some of his later work. For example, “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After” (1886), takes as its protagonist the speaker from the original “Locksley Hall,” but now he is an old man, who looks back on his youthful optimism and faith in progress with scorn and skepticism. The Virtues of Perseverance and Optimism After the death of his friend Arthur Hallam, Tennyson struggled through a period of deep despair, which he eventually overcame to begin writing again. During his time of mourning, Tennyson rarely wrote and, for many years, battled alcoholism. Many of his poems are about the CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 85 temptation to give up and fall prey to pessimism, but they also extol the virtues of optimism and discuss the importance of struggling on with life. The need to persevere and continue is the central theme of “In Memoriam” and “Ulysses” (1833), both written after Hallam’s death. Perhaps because of Tennyson’s gloomy and tragic childhood, perseverance and optimism also appear in poetry written before Hallam’s death, such as “The Lotos-Eaters” (1832, 1842). Poems such as “The Lady of Shalott” (1832, 1842) and “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854) also vary this theme: both poems glorify characters who embrace their destinies in life, even though those destinies end in tragic death. “The Lady of Shalott” leaves her seclusion to meet the outer world, determined to seek the love that is missing in her life. The cavalrymen in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” keep charging through the valley toward the Russian cannons; they persevere even as they realize that they will likely die. The Glory of England Tennyson used his poetry to express his love for England. Although he expressed worry and concern about the corruption that so dominated the 19th century, he also wrote many poems that glorify 19th century England. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” praises the fortitude and courage of English soldiers during a battle of the Crimean War, in which roughly 200 men were killed. As poet laureate, Tennyson was required to write poems for specific state occasions and to dedicate verse to Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. Nevertheless, Tennyson praised England even when not specifically required to do so. In the “Idylls of the King,” Tennyson glorified England by encouraging a collective English cultural identity: all of England could take pride in Camelot, particularly the chivalrous and capable knights who lived there. Indeed, the modern conception of Camelot as the source of loyalty, chivalry, and romance comes, in part, from Tennyson’s descriptions of it in the “Idylls of the King,” and “The Lady of Shalott.” 4.3 Main Ideas Tragic Death Early, tragic death and suicide appear throughout Tennyson’s poetry. Perhaps the most significant event of his life was the untimely death of his best friend Arthur Hallam at age twenty- two, which prompted Tennyson to write his greatest literary work, In Memoriam. This long poem CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

86 English Literature - I uses the so-called “In Memoriam” stanza, or a Quatrain that uses Iambic Tetrameter and has an ABBA rhyme scheme. The formal consistency expresses Tennyson’s grief and links the disparate stanzas together into an elegiac whole. The speaker of “Break, Break, Break” (1834) sees death even in sunsets, while the early “Mariana” (1830) features a woman who longs for death after her lover abandons her. Each of that poem’s seven stanzas ends with the line “I would that I were dead.” The lady in “The Lady of Shalott” brings about her own death by going out into an autumn storm dressed only in a thin white dress. Similarly, the cavalrymen in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” ride to their deaths by charging headlong into the Russian cannons. These poems lyrically mourn those who died tragically, often finding nobility in their characters or their deaths. Scientific Language Tennyson took a great interest in the scientific discoveries of the 19th century, and his poetry manifests this interest in its reliance on scientific language. “The Kraken” (1830), which describes an ancient, slumbering sea beast, mentions a “cell” and “polypi”. Section 21 of “In Memoriam” alludes to the 1846 discovery of Neptune. There, a traveler tells the speaker not to grieve for his friend. Rather than grieve, the traveler says, the speaker should rejoice in the marvelous possibilities of science. Section 120, in contrast, features the speaker wondering what good science might do in a world full of religious doubt and despair. Other poems praise technological discoveries and inventions, including the steamships and railways discussed in “Locksley Hall,” or mention specific plants and flowers, as does “The Lotos-Eaters” (1832, 1842). Taking Metaphors and Poetic Diction from science, allowed Tennyson to connect to his age and to modernize his sometimes antiquarian language and archaic verse forms. The Ancient World Like the romantic poets who preceded him, Tennyson found much inspiration in the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome. In poems such as “The Lotos-Eaters” and “Ulysses,” Tennyson retells the stories of Dante and Homer, which described the characters of Ulysses, Telemachus, and Penelope and their adventures in the ancient world. However, Tennyson slightly alters these mythic stories, shifting the time frame of some of the action and often adding more descriptive imagery to the plot. For instance, “Ulysses,” a dramatic monologue spoken by Homer’s hero, CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 87 urges readers to carry on and persevere rather than to give up and retire. Elsewhere, Tennyson channels the voice of Tithonus, a legendary prince from Troy, in the eponymous poem “Tithonus” (1833, 1859). He praises the ancient poet Virgil in his Ode “To Virgil” (1882), commenting on Virgil’s choice of subject matter and lauding his ability to chronicle human history in meter. Tennyson mined the ancient world to find stories that would simultaneously enthrall and inspire his readers. All Things will Die Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing Under my eye; Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing Over the sky. One after another the white clouds are fleeting; Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating Full merrily; Yet all things must die. The stream will cease to flow; The wind will cease to blow; The clouds will cease to fleet; The heart will cease to beat; For all things must die. All things must die. Spring will come never more. O, vanity! Death waits at the door. See! our friends are all forsaking The wine and the merrymaking. We are call’d–we must go. Laid low, very low, In the dark we must lie. The merry glees are still; The voice of the bird CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

88 English Literature - I Shall no more be heard, Nor the wind on the hill. O, misery! Hark! death is calling While I speak to ye, The jaw is falling, The red cheek paling, The strong limbs failing; Ice with the warm blood mixing; The eyeballs fixing. Nine times goes the passing bell: Ye merry souls, farewell. The old earth Had a birth, As all men know, Long ago. And the old earth must die. So let the warm winds range, And the blue wave beat the shore; For even and morn Ye will never see Thro’ eternity. All things were born. Ye will come never more, For all things must die. 4.4 Setting of “All Things Will Die” The poem is set amidst the morning of the month of May when the wind is blowing, the clouds are moving and the poet is happily enjoying all the positivity in nature. But as we move on, the poet brings forward many contrasting instances from positivity to negativity and how everything on this earth will surely come to an end. He perfectly describes how we would turn out CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 89 to be old fellows which is mentioned in expressions like ‘The jaw is falling’, ‘The red cheek paling’, ‘The strong limbs falling’ and would then bid farewell to this world. Just like us, all other things in the nature would also come to an end like ‘The voice of the bird Shall no more be heard, Nor the wind on the hill.’ The condition would bring only misery to lives of all. The poem is set to contrast the fact of immortality. Poetic Devices in “All Things Will Die” Poetic Devices are essential components to any poetry as they help in a better understanding of the text. A list of poetic devices used in the poem are: Imagery, Consonant Rhymes and Assonance The first seven lines of the poem create an image of life ‘Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing Under my eye; Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing Over the sky. One after another the white clouds are fleeting; Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating Full merrily;’ Repetition It is used to make the theme clearer. ‘all things must die’ Simile Use of expressions “as” or “like” ‘As all men know’ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

90 English Literature - I Rhyming (couplet) of “All Things Will Die”: Corresponding lines with the same rhyme scheme. Some of the examples are: ‘One after another the white clouds are fleeting; Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating’ ‘The stream will cease to flow; The wind will cease to blow;’ ‘The clouds will cease to fleet; The heart will cease to beat;’ This poetic device has been used many times by the poet in almost every other line. Style of “All Things Will Die” Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing (A) Under my eye; (B) Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing (A) Over the sky. (B) One after another the white clouds are fleeting; (C) Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating (C) The poem has alternates between ABAB and rhymed couplets to emphasise certain words and thematic points in the poem. The poet has selected this type of rhyme scheme because his primary consideration was more often rhythm and language than deviating meaning. 4.5 Analysis This poem of Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a perfect contrast to the poem “Nothing Will Die”. All the expressions are exact opposite to what has been said in the other poem. ‘All Things Will Die’ clearly states the fact that all the things, no matter how much we adore them will have to die CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 91 or come to an end. The poet believes that nothing is immortal. The poet has cleverly used expressions of serenity like ‘Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing’, ‘Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing’ and ‘One after another the white clouds are fleeting’ right in the beginning and then contrasting expressions like ‘The stream will cease to flow’, ‘The wind will cease to blow’, along with a few others to make the reader understand everything right in the flow. In the view of the poem, nature is considered to be an ending cycle which is moving towards its end, which is clear from ‘Spring will come never more.’ The truth of death with reference to nature has been perfectly blended. Here the earth that is created is to die for sure, it is not eternal. This whole world is full of misery, sadness and suffering, but there is happiness, passion and peace too as ‘Ye merry souls, farewell’. Words and phrases like ‘O, misery!’, ‘In the dark we must lie’ have been used to show that the life has to come to an end at some point of time. Lastly, the poet only wishes to convey that one must live life to the fullest. We must enjoy each and every moment of life for we never know which might turn out to be the last one. If we will live our lives cheerfully, only then we would be able to depart happily from this world. The poem talks about the fact that everything, even the most beautiful and natural things, the river, the stream and the winds (to name a few), will die. There are some words that have a connotation, which makes us understand the meaning of the poem. The word “Cease” implies a slow process, so the poem is not about the sudden death of everything, it describes it as a process that we are going to live, like everything else is. When it says, “The heart will cease to beat”, it refers to growing old, because the heart will be stopping to beat from the youth to the moment we die. Another word that has a connotation in this poem is “Must”, which implies an obligation, making an emphasis in the fact that we will die anyway. The words ending in ‘ING’ are used to make clear that every day, something or someone is dying because their “process” is over, referring to the cycle of life. The speaker’s attitude changes through the poem. Although it is just one stanza, in the first seven lines the tone of the poem is hopeful, mentioning natural things, like the blue river, flowing normally and beautifully. But in the 8th verse, (“yet all things must die”), it changes to a more pessimist tone. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

92 English Literature - I The shifts in this poem are determined by the change of tone. In the first shift (from the beginning until the seventh verse), there is a hopeful environment, because the speaker describes some of nature’s elements, making it sound beautiful and calming. But in the second shift, the tone changes and the speaker starts talking about death, and how everything we know and love will die. The title “All Things Must Die” is enough to make us realize that the dominant tone of the poem will not be hopeful. It does not try to hide something from us, it is very clear, and so is the entire poem. The main theme of the poem is the cycle of life. When it talks about death, the speaker does not refer to it as a sudden event, It makes it look as a process, a slow process. That is the reason why it says that things will “cease” to live. That word means it will be something slow, so we can infer that the poem is not about war, where people die, it is about the normal development of the cycle. A smaller theme is about the rejection of vanity in our lives. This is implied in a “don’t worry about the future, just live” kind of way. Central Idea of “All Things Will Die” The central idea of the poem is that of accepting the fact of mortality. The poet clearly expresses the fact that everything that exists in this world is temporarily available and that nothing remains forever or is permanent. So it is our responsibility to accept this bitter truth along with cherishing every single second of our life. Once we learn to accept things as they are, this world would definitely become a place free from any despair, unhappiness or sadness. It’s our duty to nourish the earth. Nature is bountiful. Every single thing in the nature is beautiful. All that we need is a pure heart to feel it. If we fail in doing so, all things tend to wither away and die even before they actually should. So live your life to the fullest. Tone of “All Things Will Die” The tone of the complete poem is a gradual shift from optimism to pessimism. And this pessimism can be felt from the title of the poem itself. Use of the title as an expression through the entire poem makes it even more sad but he finds it important to make the reader understand the fact in a better manner. He feels that it is more important to face things rather than running CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 93 away from them. The tone at the very beginning of the poem seems to please the reader which is followed by the bitter reality of life. The gradual shift of the tone makes the reader gloomy. The reader starts getting attacked by a number of questions. Conclusion All his life, Tennyson used writing as a way of taking his mind from his troubles. Tennyson was considered a people’s poet too. So with this poem, he tries to makes an attempt to make people feel the pleasure of nature without ignoring the fact that the things one enjoys are mortal. He perfectly quoted that ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ This highlights the fact that we must not be afraid of the fact that things are going to end, they surely will. But it is more important to live in the present and appreciate what we have right now instead of complaining every time. Understanding this is important. 4.6 Summary Summary of “All Things Will Die” On looking at the title itself, a sense of negativity flows in. The poem starts with a serene view of a river flowing through the mountains and the poet is equally enjoying watching it. The warm winds are blowing and the poet is lost admiring the beauty of nature. The white clouds are moving and the poet finds this entire view to be serene. He feels that every heart might be enjoying this view and that no heart would be lost in pain. Everyone would be busy in merrymaking only. But then, there is a sudden shift from joyfulness to sorrow, carefree to seriousness and cheerfulness to sadness. The poet starts feeling depressed because he knows that all this joy will come to an end sooner or later. He feels that the flowing of rivers will stop. The winds will not blow anymore. The movement of white clouds will not be seen. And then, his heart would feel an immense pain so much so that it will stop beating. That would be the time when spring of one’s own life would never return. Death would be standing with open arms right at the door. Friends, he says, are only for the sake of being. The moments we spend and the memories we share will stay but since it is the call for us, we must leave now. Lying on the greenery will no longer be as peaceful as it used to be because, now the chirping of birds is missing, the fragrance of nature is CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

94 English Literature - I lost, the slow breeze on the mountains cannot be felt and all good things are slowing coming to an end. This surely is a pitiful condition for each one of us. And while we are discussing all of it, the death waiting at the door is coming nearer. Its presence is becoming stronger. It is coming to eat up all of us! And as it meets us, the body starts to become pale. The jaw is falling now. The strong limbs can no longer be felt. There is complete weakness in the body. The cheeks have started losing its color. The warm human blood is now becoming cooler and the eyes lack any movement now. The bell rings for complete nine times which shows there are just few minutes to go. And finally the soul says goodbye to every beautiful thing. The only best thing is the fact that the soul is still happy. Earth was born just like every other being on this earth and since there is an end to the latter ones, the former one will also come to an end. He strongly believes that all these things should come to an end. So we must let these winds blow, let the waves come to the shore for we might not be able to have a look at them ever again. And that, we must admire the beauty of nature in the best possible way, for we never know when would we get the next chance to do so. The poet has made every possible effort to make the reader understand the truth of life and that nothing is immortal in this world. All the things in this world surely have to cease, maybe today or tomorrow. 4.7 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) A. Short Answer Questions 1. Is there a gradual shift from optimism to pessimism in the poem? Explain. 2. What does the poem say about the rejection of vanity in our lives? 3. What can you say about the cycle of nature? 4. Give the central idea of the poem ‘All thing will die’. 5. How can we overcome despair? B. Long Answer Questions 1. Tennyson was considered a people’s poet. Explain. 2. Explain the poetic devices in the poem ‘All thing will die’ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

All Things will Die 95 3. How does Tennyson emphasize on mortality of life through the poem ‘All things will die’? 4. Write the summary of the poem ‘All things will die’? 5. Explain the imagery in the poem. C. Multiple Choice Questions 1. The central idea of the poem is (a) Do not cry over the things which are short-lived (b) Everything keeps coming again and again (c) Everything is short-lived and is going to come to an end (d) Nothing dies. Everything is immortal 2. How can we overcome despair? (a) By praying to God (b) By renouncing the world (c) By accepting the fact of mortality and living in the present (d) By being busy in our duties 3. Earth was born so __________. (a) it will flourish (b) there will be living things on it (c) it will die (d) was nature 4. What does the word ‘cease’ imply? (a) It implies a process towards death (b) It implies a sudden death (c) It implies to stop in between (d) It implies old age 5. ‘Ice with the warm blood mixing’ means (a) it indicates disease in blood (b) death is approaching (c) someone has put ice in the blood (d) coming of relations Answers 1. (c), 2. (c), 3. (c), 4. (a), 5. (b) CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)