The Rational Poet: An Oxymoron?
(Note: I wrote this one for my Romantic Age class in March 2010, junior year at Stonehill. The class and Professor Matthew Borushko were great! On Twitter, I said that long before the Thor: Ragnarök meme, I basically came up with theses by tilting my head and saying, “Eh, IS he though?”)
In his introduction to the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth describes the process of artistic creation in ways that seemingly contradict one another. Near the beginning of the introduction, Wordsworth defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth and Coleridge 291). This description suggests that poetry results through emotions and sensations rather than conscious effort. However, he later offers another definition of poetry which emphasizes the importance of conscious reflection, writing that poetry is “emotion recollected in tranquility” (307). In contrast to his first definition, which says that art is created spontaneously, this definition of poetry implies that artists must enter a calm and rational state of mind in order to compose. The ambiguous use of language in Wordsworth’s poems, particularly in “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” and “Lines Written in Early Spring,” illustrate the tension between rationality and imagination. Stylistically, the usage of blank verse makes the poems more similar to prose than other poetic forms. The apparent contradictions between rational and irrational thought in Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads demonstrate that people must reconcile these two ways of thinking in order to produce art.
William Wordsworth’s preface to the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads presents two conflicting definitions of poetry. Early in the introduction, he writes that poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 291). The use of the word “spontaneous” suggests that poetry results from sudden inspiration rather than the poet’s conscious intellectual effort. In addition, poetry seems dominated by unbridled emotions. However, later in the introduction, Wordsworth offers a second definition of poetry which seems to contradict the first: “emotion recollected in tranquility” (307). Rather than being an outpouring of emotions, poetry results from emotions that are recollected in “tranquility,” a calm mental state. This definition suggests that poets must reach this mental state of tranquility in order to compose. The tension between these two definitions informs the imagery in Wordsworth’s poetry.
Wordsworth’s poems often depict thoughts as involuntary and produced by external circumstances. In “Lines Written in Early Spring,” the setting of a peaceful grove causes the narrator to enter a calm and contemplative state and feel united with nature. He writes, “To her fair works did nature link/The human soul that through me ran” (Wordsworth 113). In these lines, the narrator is a conduit for thoughts that seem involuntary. Grammatically, because nature is the subject of the sentence, nature acts on the narrator, who passively receives thoughts. It is unclear how the narrator’s soul becomes linked with nature, or whether he is aware of this connection. Through ambiguous language, Wordsworth shows that the speaker does not fully understand his own mental state, suggesting that inspiration comes from sources outside himself.
While “Lines Written in Early Spring” depicts the poets as a passive instrument who receives inspiration from an external source, “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” presents the interplay of conscious and unconscious thoughts in a much more complex and ambiguous way. In the first stanza, the speaker observes “these steep and lofty cliffs,/Which on a wild scene impress/Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect/The landscape with the quiet of the sky” (Wordsworth 156). In this passage, the fact that thoughts “impress” themselves on the speaker indicates that the thoughts are involuntary and that the speaker passively receives them from an external source. Like in “Lines Written in Early Spring,” the natural landscape apparently produces thoughts in the speaker. However, the use of enjambment in the last two lines makes the subject ambiguous. It is unclear whether the narrator actively connects “the landscape with the quiet of the sky,” or whether the cliffs somehow create this association for him. At this point in the poem, it is not clear whether poets must consciously try to create associations between sensations and memories, or whether this is a spontaneous, unconscious process. Wordsworth’s first definition favors feelings over contemplation, but the second says that emotions must be recollected in a calm state. This ambiguity shows the tension between conscious thought and irrational sensations, which act on the speaker from the external world.
The imagery in “Tintern Abbey” privileges emotions and unconscious thoughts over conscious, rational thoughts. When he returns to the area near Tintern Abbey, the speaker writes that his memories of the surrounding landscape have given him “In hours of weariness, sensations sweet/Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart/Passing even into my purer mind” (Wordsworth 157). The repetition of the word “felt” indicates that these memories are primarily emotional and irrational rather than intellectual. The emphasis on emotions in the passage supports Wordworth’s first definition of poetry as primarily caused by an outpouring of strong feelings. However, the line “passing even into my purer mind” suggests that while memories are primarily experienced as sensations and emotions, they secondarily affect the intellect. While “Tintern Abbey” emphasizes the importance of the poet’s emotions, the poem also explains the importance of unconscious thoughts. Later in the same stanza, Wordsworth describes these sensations as “unremembered pleasure” (157). Although it may seem puzzling that Wordsworth cannot seem to remember these sensations, they may be “unremembered” because they are only remembered unconsciously. This would make Wordsworth’s unconscious mind “purer” than his rational, conscious mind, because it retains memories that the conscious mind cannot. Thus, the stanza depicts unconscious, irrational thoughts as superior to conscious thoughts.
Stylistically, the use of language in “Tintern Abbey” underscores the tension between rationality and creativity. In his introduction, Wordsworth writes that the best poetry is often similar to prose: “the language of a large portion of all good poems, even of the most elevated character, must necessarily, except with reference to metre, in no respect differ from that of good prose” (Wordsworth 297). He also criticizes the poet Thomas Gray because he finds Gray’s style “curiously elaborate” (207). This illustrates Wordsworth’s idea that good poetry should not try to distinguish itself from prose. Throughout the preface, Wordsworth praises poetry that uses simple language and everyday subjects. “Tintern Abbey” is written in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, a form designed to approximate everyday speech. Its long verse-paragraphs also are more similar to prose than most stanzas. In terms of style and meter, “Tintern Abbey” conforms to the aesthetics Wordsworth describes in his preface. However, Wordsworth frequently uses inverted word order and complex sentence structures in “Tintern Abbey,” although he criticizes Gray for using similar techniques. The style of “Tintern Abbey” shows the tension between rational, prose-like language and more abstract imagery.
While the beginning of “Tintern Abbey” shows an apparent contradiction between rational thought and irrational sensations, the end of the poem shows that these two forms of thought can be combined in order to create poetry. In the fourth stanza, the speaker says that “now, with gleams of half-extinguish’d thought [. . .] the picture of the mind revives again” (158). Returning to a familiar location and re-experiencing remembered sensations causes the speaker’s memories to “revive.” This suggests the memory is unconscious and involuntary. However, by the end of the poem, the speaker combines his memories with his current perceptions in order to consciously create new thoughts. Near the end of the poem, the speaker praises the perceptions “Of Eye and Ear, both what they half-create/And what perceive” (159). This line resolves the tension between sensations and conscious thoughts in the previous stanzas. The speaker “half-creates” sensations through the act of perceiving them. This line illustrates that sensations and perceptions must be filtered through conscious thoughts in order to create poetry. The poem depicts artistic creation as a process that combines rational thought with involuntary sensations.
The speaker’s synthesis of memory and creativity near the end of “Tintern Abbey” reflects both of Wordsworth’s main definitions of poetry. Near the end of his preface, Wordsworth combines his two seemingly disparate definitions of poetry: “I have said that Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” (Wordsworth 307). By juxtaposing these two definitions, Wordsworth shows how they can work together. By saying that poetry the first definition “takes its origin” from the second, he implies that a state of tranquility is necessary in order to turn powerful feelings into poetry. Rather than opposing one another, these two definitions must be used together to produce art. Wordsworth reconciles his two definitions of poetry and explains why they both are necessary to create poetry. Similarly, the speaker in “Tintern Abbey” uses both his involuntary perceptions and conscious reflections to formulate new ideas.
Although the speaker’s sensory perceptions dominate his thoughts at the beginning of the poem, near the middle of “Tintern Abbey,” he intentionally harnesses his thoughts in order to create particular ideas and images. By the end of the poem, his thoughts are under his conscious control, instead of being dictated by his external surroundings. In the third stanza-paragraph, the speaker’s perception of time shifts from a fleeting moment to a more contemplative state. The speaker expresses the shift in his concept of time through the lines: “While here I stand, not only with the sense/Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts/That in this moment there is life and food/For future years” (Wordsworth 158). In these lines, the speaker enjoys his experience on two different levels: as a temporary experience, and as a future memory that he can revisit. He consciously recognizes that his memory can provide him with peace “in future years,” showing that memories are not merely involuntary sensations but can be recalled at will.
Wordsworth’s preface also explains the importance of using the conscious intellect to draw upon and transform emotions. After he defines poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquility,” Wordsworth expounds on this definition: “by a species of reaction the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, similar to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind” (307). Wordsworth argues that emotions can be recreated through conscious effort. He reconciles his two definitions of poetry by showing that strong emotions can be consciously recreated and used to create poetry.
In his 1800 preface to Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth offers two seemingly contradictory definitions of poetry: “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and “emotion recollected in tranquility” (Wordsworth 307). The first definition favors emotions over the intellect and views poetry as resulting from spontaneous inspiration rather than the poet’s conscious effort and reflection. In contrast, the second definition suggests that poets can only create when they enter a tranquil mental state. Wordsworth’s poem “Lines Written in Early Spring” supports his first definition because the speaker does not seem to have control over his thoughts or feelings. Instead, his emotions result from his external surroundings. However, the imagery in “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” explores the tension between irrational, involuntary sensations and conscious reflection in a much more complex way. Near the beginning of the poem, when the speaker revisits a site that was significant to him in the past, the landscape causes the speaker to re-experience his memories. These sensations are powerful and seem involuntary, supporting the idea that poetry results from an outpouring of emotion. However, by the end of the poem, the speaker has learned to consciously control his thoughts. He enjoys fleeting sensations in the present, but simultaneously views them as potential memories which can provide future reflection. The speaker of “Tintern Abbey” is initially overwhelmed by irrational and involuntary emotions, but gradually learns to harness these emotions in order to create new ideas. The ambiguous language in “Tintern Abbey” depicts memory as a mysterious and partly unconscious phenomenon which helps to create art. The change in the speaker’s mental state from passive, unconscious sensation to conscious contemplation reflects Wordsworth’s claim that poets can willfully recreate memories and emotions in order to create poetry.
Works cited
Wordsworth, William, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lyrical Ballads. London: Routledge Classics, 2005.
