Sonnet I

In Charlotte Smith’s Sonnet I, the main conflicts are between her and herself as well as between her and society. Throughout the beginning of the sonnet, there is a connection between beauty and inspiration within nature as seen in lines 4 and 5. However, Smith then comes to state that

“But far, far happier is the lot of those
Who never learn’d her dear delusive art,
Which, while it decks the head with many a rose.
Reserves the thorn- to fester in the heart.”

Here she is connecting suffering even when happy. Even though there are crowns of flowers, which show happiness, there are also thorns involved that is causing all the pain she is enduring. The main conflicts are between her and herself and between her and society.

ROMANTICISM: 1 often capitalized (1) : a literary, artistic, and philosophical movement originating in the 18th century, characterized chiefly by a reaction against neoclassicism and an emphasis on the imagination and emotions, and marked especially in English literature by sensibility and the use of autobiographical material, an exaltation of the primitive and the common man, an appreciation of external nature, an interest in the remote, a predilection for melancholy, and the use in poetry of older verse forms

This sonnet helps demonstrate Romanticism in that her emotion is expressed in many forms throughout the sonnet with use of vivid imagery that seems to capture the heart and lead to suffering. Suffering is needed in life to appreciate who we are as individuals.

In Sonnet on seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress, by William Wordsworth, the vivid imagery of the heart and its functions are send oxygen throughout the body. The oxygenated blood travels through the body allowing for proper function.

When Wordsworth says, “Life’s purple tide began to flow,” it seems like there is a new beginning. When created, we each develop our own perceptions on life around us, which cause us to have a reaction. This is like what the function of blood does in the body. It is supplying us with just enough; it is up to us to keep it going. In life, we encounter many obstacles and at times, we stop to think and reflect on how our choices will affect us. Miss Helen is at a point in her life where she is full of uncertainty and heartache. She experiences pleasure in the orgasms yet is still weeping. Yet a heart symbolizes love and happiness? Wordsworth is creating metaphorical imagery based on what one believes to be true in regards to symbolism. He twists the meanings to show that as humans we also hurt yet we keep going.

This imagery can also be compared to religious aspects when Jesus was on the cross. He was suffering from the pain and “Life’s purple tide began to flow.” Jesus did not want to see others suffering. He showed others that even in pain, what he wanted others to see was the love he wanted to share. Miss Helen is showing times of desolation in her life due to what she has been experiencing. Yet I think what Wordsworth is really trying to convey is the heart has many faces, with many emotions, which in turn have us react by our stance on a given situation. The aspect of being able to feel is what allows us to see that the heart is a stimulus and is there to react and allow us to act upon it. Love is acted upon and with Wordsworth; the pain Helen is encountering is rather a gratifying enactment of life.

A Free Mind

The poem Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey is written in blank verse, which makes it different from many of the other poems. Here, the authors main focus is to capture the imagery. The environment is most important as a child; this is how one develops the knowledge of an unknown world. Each of us is brought into the unknown, a place each of us can take in and make something of it. Children are able to react in their own way at first sight. At this point, the concept of memory is still not attained, however when a similar instance occurs as an adult, one can go back to what was first seen and is now able to draw upon the logic and direct meaning.
In the beginning of the poem, Wordsworth expresses an important characteristic that belongs to children.
"Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Oh five long winters!"
He is able to use the number five in a metaphorical sense, which means freely and without a cause. The number also correlates with the way Wordsworth is speaking of the scenery. It is uplifting and free flowing. The following excerpt describes what Wordsworth is capturing as well as how it ties into being free.
“I cannot paint
What then I was.. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms,... For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.”
He is now able to react in a more knowledgeable way as to why the scenery is the way it is as well as the way it makes him feel. Wordsworth repeats the vivid imagery of nature. He is emphasizing the impact on development within oneself as well as their surroundings.
Throughout the poem Abbey is perceived to be a spirit living in nature. Abbey can be seen as that spiritual guidance that stays with him in order to sustain that relationship that was once built with nature, rather now he is able to mature and grow. With these new recollections of the past and present, we are able to build more relationships with nature and understand its identity as what is and not what was. Being able to create your own thoughts is what makes us want more out of life and be happy.