Wordsworth and Coleridge:
Stylistic Distinctions with Spiritual Resemblance
In Lyrical Ballads 1798, it is easy to distinguish the poems composed by William Wordsworth from the ones composed by Samuel Coleridge. This is not out of their divergent views, but rather, a result of their characteristic poetic styles and distinctive writing subjects. Coleridge himself gives an account of this:
These are the poetry of nature… composed of two sorts… It was agreed that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic… Mr. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was to propose to himself, as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day. (Coleridge 174)
Their division of labor, thus, expands the …show more content…
Parrish also notices that “the difference between the partners” is only confined to the field of “skill and perception,” but however different are their stylistic approaches, Wordsworth and Coleridge enjoy together a spiritual level of discourse (Parrish 367). In specific, while Romanticism is concerned with a general return to nature, these two Romanticists point out in particular that human interference, especially the interference of adults, is the cause of troubles, and nature is the solution to these problems. In the case of We Are Seven, Wordsworth directly asks, “A simple child… What should it know of death?” Subsequently, the little Maid in this poem cheerfully insists that “we are seven” even though her two siblings “are dead” (Wordsworth, 48, 50). While the reality is cruel, Wordsworth shows that children, bred by nature, understand the correct way to face deaths better than adults. In Old Man Travelling, Wordsworth explicitly says that the old man “is by nature led to peace so perfect, that the young behold with envy what the old man hardly feels.” If children are subject to changes, this aged man will hardly change his tranquility, despite the fact that he is going to “take a last leave of” his son (Wordsworth 84). It is …show more content…
Without the plain depictions of pastoral lives by Wordsworth, the book would lack authenticity to touch our hearts; and without the wondrous and refreshing stories by Coleridge, the book would sound much duller to trigger any interest. Nonetheless, they do resemble in their spiritual belief that nature should be the cure of sufferings and the source of delights. Wordsworth himself recalls in the
Stylistic Distinctions with Spiritual Resemblance
In Lyrical Ballads 1798, it is easy to distinguish the poems composed by William Wordsworth from the ones composed by Samuel Coleridge. This is not out of their divergent views, but rather, a result of their characteristic poetic styles and distinctive writing subjects. Coleridge himself gives an account of this:
These are the poetry of nature… composed of two sorts… It was agreed that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic… Mr. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was to propose to himself, as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day. (Coleridge 174)
Their division of labor, thus, expands the …show more content…
Parrish also notices that “the difference between the partners” is only confined to the field of “skill and perception,” but however different are their stylistic approaches, Wordsworth and Coleridge enjoy together a spiritual level of discourse (Parrish 367). In specific, while Romanticism is concerned with a general return to nature, these two Romanticists point out in particular that human interference, especially the interference of adults, is the cause of troubles, and nature is the solution to these problems. In the case of We Are Seven, Wordsworth directly asks, “A simple child… What should it know of death?” Subsequently, the little Maid in this poem cheerfully insists that “we are seven” even though her two siblings “are dead” (Wordsworth, 48, 50). While the reality is cruel, Wordsworth shows that children, bred by nature, understand the correct way to face deaths better than adults. In Old Man Travelling, Wordsworth explicitly says that the old man “is by nature led to peace so perfect, that the young behold with envy what the old man hardly feels.” If children are subject to changes, this aged man will hardly change his tranquility, despite the fact that he is going to “take a last leave of” his son (Wordsworth 84). It is …show more content…
Without the plain depictions of pastoral lives by Wordsworth, the book would lack authenticity to touch our hearts; and without the wondrous and refreshing stories by Coleridge, the book would sound much duller to trigger any interest. Nonetheless, they do resemble in their spiritual belief that nature should be the cure of sufferings and the source of delights. Wordsworth himself recalls in the