Different Nature in the Eyes of Wordsworth and Keats——Through Comparing Composed upon Westminster Bridge and To Autumn

◆芦 毅

(北京师范大学外国语言文学学院)

Different Nature in the Eyes of Wordsworth and Keats
——Through Comparing Composed upon Westminster Bridge and To Autumn

◆芦 毅

(北京师范大学外国语言文学学院)

Abstract:British literature has long enjoyed a high reputation,especially in the 19thcentury.Besides realistic novels,romantic poetry is another bright star.Interestingly,all the important romantic poets share a common theme——nature.Thus,this paper will compare Words worth’s and Keats’different views on nature by analyzing their respective representative poems:Composed upon Westminster Bridge and To Autumn.

Key words:Nature Wordsworth Keats

The first quarter of the nineteenth century saw a flourishing development of romantic poetry on British soil.The romantic poets employ a variety of themes,among which it is nature that all of them have a deep fascination for.However,different romantic poets give nature different treatment.That is to say,in different poets’eyes,nature represents different things and acts as vehicles to express different emotions and opinions.Among all the romantic poets are two giants of poetry,William Wordsworth,the founding father of romanticism,and John Keats,the most attractive romantic figure.

Spending most of his life in the picturesque Lake District,William Wordsworth was nourished by the extraordinary natural beauty and became a piousworshipper of nature.Therefore,he devotes his best poems to the admiration of it.In Preface to Lyrical Ballads,he shows his view towards nature by writing"the passions of man are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature."

However,his concern for nature is not only with the enjoyable natural scenes,but also with the great sensations and the profound thoughts that nature has aroused in his keen mind.Greatly influenced by Rousseau’s"Let us return to nature"(Schaeffer 154),Words worth recognizes man as a part of nature.For him,only in nature can the spirit of mankind be found meaningful. In this sense,Wordsworth’s view towards nature mainly lies in the relationship between human and nature.Moreover,he takes nature as a vehicle to show his deep thoughts about human life and society.

As a poet,Wordsworth expressed his view to nature through his poems,among which Composed upon Westminster Bridge is a good example.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge is a Petrarchan sonnet describing the panorama of London in the early morning,viewed from the Westminster Bridge over the Thames River.The sonnet begins powerfully with"Earth has not anything to show more fair"which clearly shows the poet’s admiration and directly gets the readers’emotion involved.The following two lines support the first line by saying that anyone who could catch a sight of its beauty would be so touched that he would be dull.Then,the poet point out that it’s the early morning and everything’s beautiful and peaceful in a pool of silence."Ships,towers,domes,theatres,and temples lie open unto the fields,and to the sky."In the"smokeless air"they are hugging the morning and nature itself.At this particular moment,London,wearing the garment of pure air,is not a filthy industrial city that clashes with nature but becomes part of the great nature.As time goes by,the sun’s gradually rising and steeping in its amazing splendor.It illuminates the valleys,rocks and hills.Together they for m an aesthetic picture of nature.The Thames River,under nature’smagic power,glides freely at his own will.Lastly,the city itself is personified with the line"and all that mighty heart is lying still".Here,Wordsworth considers London as a sleeping city and a natural beauty.

The dominating theme of this poem is nature,despite the fact that London,the subject of the poem,is a modern industrialized city.Here,London is not described in a negative sense:the polluted air,the noise of factories or the ugly black chimneys but it is inserted in the natural scenery.It is steeped in nature:the clean air,the tranquil atmosphere,the flowing river and the mounting sun...All these belong to nature,including the city London which is a creation of human and where human beings are all sound asleep.In this way,Wordsworth expresses his view that human together with everything he has belongs to nature.And by singing the beauty of nature,he implies that human should be in harmony with nature.Only in nature can we human beings find beauty,happiness and a true life.

John Keats,the"Bright Star"of English romanticism,was always full of admiration for Words worth’s talent.He once praised him by saying:"Wordsworth thinks into the human heart."Despite this,his view towards nature is quite different from Wordsworth’s.

Keats has long been regarded as a poet of aestheticism.This is because he has a passionate love for nature.His poetry is always marked with by sensuousness,colorfulness and diverse images which reflect his keen observation into nature.Under his pen,nature is not only a static picture,but more like a vivid video fused with visual beauty,sensuous beauty and melodious beauty.However,Keats tends to look backward and it seems he’s always melancholy.He may depict a joyous scene in his poetry,but we can still feel a touch of sadness in this joy.His devotion to nature in his poetry is actually a vehicle to express his grief and his longing for beauty.

To Autumn is Keats’last and most triumphant one of all the poems he composed.It is a paean to autumn,celebrating its richness and fruitfulness.The poem has three stanzas,each of which consists of eleven lines.In the first stanza,the poet shows us the natural processes of autumn:the ripe fruit,the s welled gourd,the plumped hazel,the sweet flowers in full bosom,the droning and dancing bees and the enjoyable warm days The second stanza describes the process of harvesting.Here,the poet draws us a lifelike picture,where people are busy harvesting in the fields.The achievement of autumn is satisfactory:the granary is full-loaded and the field is harvested.And the half-reaped furrow,the swath,the twined flower and the clear brook are all steeping in the fume of poppies and under the gentle touching of the winnowing wind.The last stanza is a wonderful chorus of autumn.Under Keats’pen,not only autumn has its song,but it also has the richest and most splendid songs:the mourning of s mall gnats,the murmuring of the river,the whispering of the wind,the bleating of the full grown lambs together with the singing of the hedge-crickets,the whistling of red-breast and the twittering of swallows The abundance of autumnal songs enriches its beauty of maturation.In this poem,Keats’love for nature reaches its full expression.He is capable of making deep observation into the beauty of autumn and representing it in his lines.He describes us a paradise while focusing on physical autumnal images.He makes us smell,taste,feel and hear autumn.Within the poem,autumn represents beauty,growth,maturation,and finally an approaching to death.Autumn,however beautiful,rich and full of life,is the foreboder of winter,of ending and of death.Therefore,when appreciating the natural beauty of autumn in this poem,we,as readers,can still feel Keats’sorrow.His delightful portrait of autumn actually deepens the grief.

In summary,nature is the shared love of Wordsworth and Keats.Nevertheless,though the analysis of the two poems:Composed upon Westminster Bridge and To Autumn,we can see that they intend to express different opinions.In the Composed upon Westminster Bridge,Wordsworth implies the relationship between human and nature by placing London,an industrial city under the almighty nature.Actually he is probing into how human can coexist with nature harmoniously under the invasion of modern industrialization.However,in To Autumn,Keats expresses his deep love for nature,though his description of the autumnal tastes,sights,colors,sounds,and many other sensual images.His perception of nature is more comprehensive.Keats,though nature,is expressing his melancholy and his yearning towards true beauty.

[1]吴伟仁.History and Anthology of English Literature[M].北京 :外语教学与研究出版社,2005.

[2]鲁春芳.神圣自然:英国浪漫主义诗歌的生态伦理思想[M].杭州:浙江大学出版社,2009.

[3]温沁.“回归自然”和浪漫主义——从卢梭到华兹华斯 [J].重庆科技学院学报(社会科学版),2002,(2).

[4]李曼丽,李梅松.英国浪漫主义诗歌中的自然取向——《夜莺颂》与《水仙》比较赏析》[J].哈尔滨工业大学学报 (社会科学版),2003,(3).