As I’ve studied literature in the past years in my life, I came to be enthralled with the beauty of romantic poetry. To view the natural world as it appears written from William Wordsworth’s or Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s perspective is to not only see, but take notice of the true beauty within the natural world. It’s quite hard to believe that Wordsworth and Coleridge were writing such striking and vivid poetry over two-hundred years ago. To this day, we continue to read and study romanticism. With over two centuries of criticism and research on the poets, we the readers are able to embark on a journey to the past. For the purpose of this report I have selected an article featuring both Wordsworth and Coleridge, and a chapter from a Wordsworth
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The first article that I selected is titled ‘The Paradoxes of Nature in Wordsworth and Coleridge,’ the title immediately struck me as I was conducting my research. I am by no means a Wordsworth or Coleridge scholar, but from my own readings and interpretations of these authors’ poems I had always believed that they had similar views of nature. At times, when I recall a poem by Wordsworth or Coleridge I found it hard to distinguish which poem was written by which author. To find an article which states otherwise had me re-think and re-evaluate my views on the poets. Too see Coleridge and Wordsworth having duplicate feelings on the natural world may have been true at times, but it wasn’t always according to John Beer. Beer states,“Wordsworth and Coleridge by means showed equal enthusiasm as each other for his thinking, nevertheless. Indeed, when one looks carefully into the documents, one sees that their whole relationship was more complex than might at first appear, and that Nature was as much a matter of debate as agreement” (5). In order to construct his argument, Beer begins by contrasting the two poets. Wordsworth is described as a poet and lover of nature, and …show more content…
The emphasis is now most often on Nature, rather than God”(7). Despite their religious differences, Beer has a nice sentiment that ties the section together. The author states, “What is common both to the Wordsworths and to Coleridge at this time, despite any different in the matter of religious beliefs, is a common fascination by the question of Life,” this common ground that the two authors share led them to their love of poetry and each other. If only the article could’ve ended with a happy ending, but life isn’t that simple. As Beer mentioned in the beginning of his argument, Coleridge and Wordsworth had a more complex relationship. In their years of maturity and adulthood each author began to struggle and their friendship no longer blossomed. The author fails to provide context for the poem which he mentions that describes Wordsworth move away from the naturalistic and youthful worldview. Without context or prior knowledge of the mentioned poem, we the readers are left with no information on Wordsworth’s views. To me, this deeply hurt the authors original intentions. If the author had provided his audience with context it would have only further his argument and proved his point. However, the author does give
The first article that I selected is titled ‘The Paradoxes of Nature in Wordsworth and Coleridge,’ the title immediately struck me as I was conducting my research. I am by no means a Wordsworth or Coleridge scholar, but from my own readings and interpretations of these authors’ poems I had always believed that they had similar views of nature. At times, when I recall a poem by Wordsworth or Coleridge I found it hard to distinguish which poem was written by which author. To find an article which states otherwise had me re-think and re-evaluate my views on the poets. Too see Coleridge and Wordsworth having duplicate feelings on the natural world may have been true at times, but it wasn’t always according to John Beer. Beer states,“Wordsworth and Coleridge by means showed equal enthusiasm as each other for his thinking, nevertheless. Indeed, when one looks carefully into the documents, one sees that their whole relationship was more complex than might at first appear, and that Nature was as much a matter of debate as agreement” (5). In order to construct his argument, Beer begins by contrasting the two poets. Wordsworth is described as a poet and lover of nature, and …show more content…
The emphasis is now most often on Nature, rather than God”(7). Despite their religious differences, Beer has a nice sentiment that ties the section together. The author states, “What is common both to the Wordsworths and to Coleridge at this time, despite any different in the matter of religious beliefs, is a common fascination by the question of Life,” this common ground that the two authors share led them to their love of poetry and each other. If only the article could’ve ended with a happy ending, but life isn’t that simple. As Beer mentioned in the beginning of his argument, Coleridge and Wordsworth had a more complex relationship. In their years of maturity and adulthood each author began to struggle and their friendship no longer blossomed. The author fails to provide context for the poem which he mentions that describes Wordsworth move away from the naturalistic and youthful worldview. Without context or prior knowledge of the mentioned poem, we the readers are left with no information on Wordsworth’s views. To me, this deeply hurt the authors original intentions. If the author had provided his audience with context it would have only further his argument and proved his point. However, the author does give