Tintern Abbey And Frost At Midnight Analysis

To writers of the romantic period the definition of nature wasn’t clear-cut and simple. To most nature was something we as industry-bred humans must learn to appreciate and be awed by. Authors such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, viewed nature as a contrasting subject to industry and as a great teacher to those willing to venture out into it to learn. Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight share not only an appreciation of nature but also a similar form and idea about nature’s role in humanity as well. One may notice upon reading either of these poems that they can be broken into stages or sections. In both “Tintern Abbey” and “Frost at Midnight” the first stage is a description of the surrounding nature the author will later reflect on. In “Tintern Abbey” Wordsworth describes his surroundings as “…waters rolling from their mountain-springs/”, “…steep and lofty cliffs/”, “…little lines/ Of sportive wood run[ing] wild…”(925). Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight” describes his surroundings with phrases such as “owlet’s cry”, “…the thin blue …show more content…
Coleridge refers to his schoolhouse education in the city as “mock study” and expresses utmost joy that his child will not share in that experience. To Coleridge his child’s education will be far greater for he shall learn the “eternal language” spoken by God through his creations in nature (956-7). Though Coleridge seems to meditate more on the future while Wordsworth’s thoughts carry him more to the past and substance of his soul both agree that nature is a teacher far greater than any other they have encountered. It is also worth noting that when speaking of humanity in an urban and industrial sense both authors use negative adjectives such as “sad”, “mourn”, and “mock” while nature is referred to as “calm”, “charm[ing]”, and a bringer of