lines written in early spring Wordsworth

form

6 stanzas of quatrains- so ballad stanzas. simple ABAB rhyme scheme- like nature.

Is a lyrical ballad meaning form meant to reflect speaker’s emotions (from Lyrical ballads where he and Samual Taylor Coleridge resurrected old poetic trads like folk ballad).

not consistent in following ballad form reflecting how nature lacks consinctey:

• most stanzas has 3 lines of iambic tetrameter building up to iambic trimeter. simplicity reminiscent of nature and regularity of the constant iregualting reflects seasons/ pastoral poem.

• 4th/5th stanzas just describe beauty and delight of natural world and use traditional ballad meter of alternating lines of tetrameter/trimeter so balance reflects harmony described.

rhyme scheme

ABAB rhyme scheme- simple and calls back to trad songs/ballads.

Plainss in language and easy pattern reflects poems philosophy of natural harmony.

rhyme scheme’s lack of uniformity called slant rhyme (“notes” and “thoughts” almost rhyme but don’t). choice to do this echoes poem’s theme of how humanity has fallen out of natural rhythem of nature.

setting

setting’s springness reflects quiet hope that humanity will go though dark patch of not commenting with nature and start doing it again.

also works on a human scale as the speaker needs normal and easily accessible nature to feel deep connection with it.

historical context

Wordsworth oversaw change in European society having travelled to France mid-revoultian inspiring him before becoming disillusioned as reign of terror started.

England had crisis of leadership as George III’s ill health meant George IV prince regent- and was lazy and self indulgent annoying struggling population esp rural folk who encounted famine in early 19th century.

first hand experience of revolution’s dangers meant relieved when Victoria stabilises English monachry, opposing anti-monarchist values.

literary context

Wordsworth 1770-1850 great thinker and poet of the romantic era.

poem from Lyrical ballads- written in collaboration with Samual Taylor Coleridge; the focus on the simple joys in nature innovative stylisiticly standing out compared to other poets at time (Alexander pope) so lyrical ballads resurrected plain language and steady rhythms of English ballad tradition.

lyrical ballads often credited as official start of English romanticism- emotion over reason and awe for natural world responce to industrial revolution. lines written in early spring reflects these romantic ideas.

Wordsworth very influential on later poets- tho keats/byron amongst others disliked how his converstmaisn increased with age.

Queen Victoria made him poet laureate in 1843, despite how best work behind him.

meter

• “I heard a thousand blended notes/ While in a grove I sate reclined, /in that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts/ Bring sad thoughts to mind.” most stanzas use three lines of iambic tetrameter then a single line of iambic trimeter. 1st stanza proof of that. the imperfect meter reflects nature as spondee (2 stressed beats) in “sweet mood” and trochee (stressed than unstressed beat) in “thoughts to” . small variations mirror nature as nothing is too controlled or stilted.

• “The budding twigs spread out their fan, to catch the breezy air.” evidence of ballad meter (alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter)- in 4th/5th stanzas as the more evenly balanced ballad stanzas describe only joys of nature. rhythms reflect mind movements.

• “What man has made of man” punchy as line only 3 beats long and comes to surprise halt to show how industrilasion disrupts the natural order of things.

summary of poem

reflecting on nature and the effects of the industrial revoultion.

theme of humanity vs nature

nature presented as a unifying entity that creates a shared sense of joy, but in the speakers case also grief as humans destroy the natural environments meaning that they’re deliberately separating themselves from the natural world/ joy. nature shows how nature is blueprint for living in harmony.

• “And ‘tis my faith that every flower/ Enjoys the air that it breathes” Lexical field of fragility showing how vulnerable nature is to erradiation highlighting amorality of nature destroyers. “every” reinforces how normal it is to enjoy nature.

• “thousand blended notes” has images of interweaving suggesting potency of nature’s connection as sharing in pleasure.

• “did Nature link” humanity betrayed link to nature not emulating interconnectivity model.

• “what man has made of man” repeated twice showing the consistency in humans abusing and neglecting unity with nature and “Nature’s holy plan,”

enjambment device

• “when pleasant thoughts/ Bring sad thoughts to mind.” is a simple way of describing big feeling and bittersweet tone present in how seamslley “pleasant thoughts” can be “sad thoughts”. sentence flow copies the fluidity.

• “To her fair works did Nature link/ the human soul that through me ran” reflects speaker’s philosophy of universal interconnection and suggests that nature glue for everything+ as soul something that runs its like a stream.

• "to think / What man has made of man." enjambment forces reader into line where empathic sounds (diacope in “man” and strong alliterations with /m/ stops after 3 beats. unnaturalness of industrilain.

device of personification

• “nature” personified as having a “holy plan” suggesting immensley powerful and ability to make things active e.g. “the periwinkle trailed its wreath” is active.

personifisvysion suggests nature and humanity deeply interconnected and that nature has human like consucouness.

device of rhetorical question

speaker builds poem around one.

• “Have I not reason to lament/ what has man made of man?” “Lament” unanswerable question contributing to tone of appalled belief generally present in poem.

device of repition

repetition both creates and destroys rich natural joy (similar to what nature does).

• “what man had made of man” repeated at both beginning and end and repetive themselves as diacope of “man” and strong alliteration on /m/. hopes to make reader think that problem so vast that a generalisable statement only way to deal with it. forceful repition clashes with joyful atmopshere of poem.

• “pleasant thoughts/ bring sad thoughts” example of anthesis and suggest burden of being human is immense in world that doesn’t protect nature.

device of alleviation

• “What man has made of man” emphases how /m/ sound relied on with it and “man? drawing attention to how speaker thinks humanity’s problems are the consequence of seprating ourself from nature.

• “Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,/ The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;/ And ‘tis my faith that every flower/ Enjoys the air that it breathes.” creates musicality and meaning for gentler bits. sounds of /p/ and /t/ intertwine matching the plants. “faith” and “flower” sounds like the air the plants enjoy. so alleviation evokes harmony of nature and humanity’s failure to live up to it.