Wordsworth
life
recollection in tranqulity
importance of the senses
relationship with nature
sister Dorothy
1795
French Revolution
born in 1770
1799
filled him with enthusiasm
democratic ideas
moved to Somerset to be near Coleridge
Lyrical Ballads
william and the sister moved in lake district
complex interecations between man and nature, of the influences, insights, emotions and sensations
relationship between the natural world and human consciousness
which arise from this contact
man and nature are inseparable
nature = both inanimate and human nature
nature conforts man in sorrow, source of pleasure and joy
it teaches man to love and to act in a moral way, seat of the spirit of the universe
sensations lead to simple thoughts, which later combine into complex and organised ideas
through recreative power of memory an emotion is reproduced and purified in poetic form so that a second emootion is generated
origins from "emotion recollected in tranqulity"
result= active vital relationship between prsent and past experiences
object > poet > sensory experience > emotion > memory = recolection in tranquility > kindred emotion >poem > reader > emotion
poet's task
the power of immagination enables him to communicate his knowledge
drawing attention to the ordinary things of life
have the ability to penetrate the heart of things