Wordsworth attitude towards nature as revealed in Tintern Abbey

           Introduction

 All the Romantics loved nature. There was an unfailing bond between nature and them. Among these Romantic poets, Wordsworth occupies a unique and supreme place. He is unquestionably the best among them. According to Stopberd, Wordsworth view of nature was entirely different. Wordsworth was the first to love nature with the true devotion of his heart. According to him nature is a living being and as such is capable of being loved as a man loves a friend. To the poet, the entire nature is pervaded by the divine spirit and it has the capacity to chasten all those who surrenders to her formative and educative influences. This point clarified in the light of the 'Tintern Abbey'. 

  A.  An autobiographical poem

"Tintern Abbey" is a good specimen of his poem based on nature. Actually this poem reflects his attitude towards nature with gradual development. The poem is a product of personal experience of the poet. As a young boy William Wordsworth paid a visit to Tintern Abbey, a hilly area of Monmouth Shire, England and was amused by the attractive splendid landscape of nature. Next time when he revisited the spot he discovered something more beyond the outward appearance of nature with a sense of wonder. While returning, he took his pen and composed "A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the river the Wye". 

The poem 'Tintern Abbey' is of great significance. It has an autobiographical charm. It presents the inner thoughts and feelings of the poet and throws a sufficient light on his attitude to nature. It suggests that nature isn't a lifeless entity but a living spirit and the embodiment of the divine spirit pervading the universe. The poem is remarkable for the two specific reasons. First, it reveals Wordsworth's life, experiences and secondly, it officers a clear picture of the three stages of the development of her attitude to nature. Nature has been depicted in the poem in three stages: 

1. First stage- attitude toward nature in the poet's boyhood. 

2. Second stage- attitude towards nature in his young age; and

3. Third stage- attitude towards nature in his matured life.

       The first stage

The first stage in the development of Wordsworth's attitude to - Nature was marked by a simple delight, in freedom and the open air. In the first stage nature was like a playground to the poet for his 'Animal movements' and 'coarser pleasures'. Wordsworth found pleasure in roaming about in the midst of nature. He wandered about wherever nature led him. He felt more like one who flees from something that he dreads than like one who seeks the thing he loves. His wanderings in the midst of nature are described by him as " glad animal movements' and the pleasure he enjoyed in the midst of nature is called the coarse pleasure. In other words in this stage, his love towards nature was like that of a boy who takes delight in 'open air joys'. Rightly speaking he had only animals love of nature. Like a deer, he leapled about over the mountains, by the side of the deep rivers and along the lonely streams. This animal love of the poet is admitted by him in the lines below-

   When like a row, 

    I bounded over the mountains, by

    the sides Of the deeprivers, and

    the lonely streams, 

    Wherever nature led'. 

    The second stage

At the secondnd stage, Wordsworth's love for nature was purely physical. Nature now appealed chiefly to his senses. He felt pleasure in seeing the colours of nature, in touching the objects of nature and in hearing the sweet sounds of nature. In second stage, the poet was affected to various colours, sounds and smells and natural objects. He was  often the natural beauty of different kinds of flowers, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, clouds and arbours. His heart lept at the the sight of a rainbow or daffodil. The Sound of a cataract captivated his senses and the tall rocks chanted him like a passion. Wordsworth has frankly admitted that in the second stage, he has sensous love for nature. To be true, his love of nature in this stage, was like a love of a lover who is charmed by the physical beauty of his beloved. In 'Tintern Abbey' he says-

  "The sounding cataract

   Haunted me like a passion: the tall

    rocky

    The mountain and the deep and  

    gloomy woods. 

    Their colors and their forms, were 

    then me, an appetite. "

  The third stage

During the third stage, Wordsworth's point of view was mystic, philosophic and spiritualistic. He began to feel the presence of same divine powers in nature. He noticed that the spirit of the world, the supreme spirit had an existence in nature and it imported life and animation to all the objects of nature. He could now be able to see  beyond the world of senses. He realised that-

   "A spirit that imparts, 

     All thinking things, all object of

     all thoughts. 

     And rolls through all things. "

Wordsworth now had the vision of the omnipotent spirit in nature a belief stated in Indian Vedas and Upanishads. He found that omnipotent spirit is shining in the entire nature and universe. It is present in the setting of the sun, in the twinkling of the stars and in the light of the day. He frankly admit that-

  "And bore felt, 

    A presence that disturbs me, 

    with the joy of elevated thoughts. "

  Wordsworth's Pantheism

The third stage brings the poet to the stage of pantheism. This belief in pantheism is noticeable. In almost all his poems the poet realises that the omnipotent spirit is true, eternal and giving light to all the things in the world. According to Wordsworth man, nature and God are basically one. Though outwordly, they appear different with different sizes and shapes, inwordly there is a same undercurrent of the omnipotent spirit. It is for this reason, the poet is never tired of praising nature. He glorifies nature expressing that -

   "One impulse from a vernal wood

      play reach you more of a man, 

     of mortal evil and of good, 

      Then all the sages can. "

       Conclusion

In a nutshell, Wordsworth is one of the greatest nature poet. He believes that nature is living and breathing spirit. Moreover, he is of the view that nature has plenty of mental, moral, spiritual and heavily food to offer. According to Wordsworth, we must mingle with nature and assimilate the omnipotent spirit of nature.