Like the Romantic Period, one of the reoccurring themes in Pope’s writing is nature. William Wordsworth a Romantic writer naturally writes about nature. Whereas Pope seeks to explain nature and man in his first epistle in his “Essay on Man”, Wordsworth seeks to glorify nature in his poem, “The Daffodils.”
In Pope’s first epistle he begins as if he were in a dialogue with St. John and tries to explain the nature of man in regards to his place in the universe. He uses rhyming verses because he thought that the reader would be more attracted to this kind of writing. Pope begins his essay with the imagery of man as nature. He says that we come to this world without any choice of our own; nor do we decide when we leave, everything about us is in God’s hands. Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
“Awake, My St. John leave all meaner things / To low ambition, and the pride of kings. / Let us (Expatiate free o’er all this scene of man; / since life can little more supply/ Than just to look about us and to die). / A mighty maze! But not without plan;/ A wild, where weeds and flow”rs promiscuous [sic] shoot.” Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot;
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Pope says that like nature man is helpless to control his life. As the essay continues Pope accuse man of being presumptuous distressing himself over things that are not revealed to him. Pope believes that man would be better off leaving the mysteries to God “Within the first few lines, we see Pope wondering about the fruitlessness of life. We have no choice: we come to it, look out and then die. What we see as we look out on ‘the scene of man’ is a ‘mighty maze!’" (Peter Landry , 2011). As pope continues his monologue to St. John he explains that one may look at man and see flaws but the creator should not be blamed; man is created to suit his status. That is if man were at a different place other than earth he would have less blemishes or more blemishes, characteristics would match where ever he is placed. “Then say not Man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault; / Say rather, Man's as perfect as he ought; / His knowledge measur'd to his state and place.”
Pope starts the third stanza arguing the fact that man does not need to know what is not revealed to him. If man chooses to live simple he would worry less and accept his environment without questing. He says that it is man’s intellectual status that drives him to seek explanation for the mysteries of nature. Pope says; “Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind/ Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; / His soul proud Science never taught to stray/ Far as the solar walk, or milky way;/ Yet simple Nature to his hope has giv'n, / Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heav'n.” Pope elaborated on humility throughout this stanza. He maintains that the Indian believes in reincarnation and he is happy in the fact that a better live awaits him beyond the grave. The Indian does not require any fanfare; “No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold!/ To Be, contents his natural desire,/ He asks no Angel's wing, no Seraph's fireTo Be, contents his natural desire.” As the stanza ends Pope illustrates the contentment of the Indian who only wishes a place in the sky with his dog.
The Romantic Period is one of the most important eras in Literature. The impact of the Romantic Period is still felt in this modern twenty-first century. Even though writers like Keats, in his odes, and Shelly with his “Prometheus Unbounded” wrote gloomy, sad poetry, it was an age of writing with vivid imagery, one writer, William Wordsworth, capture the period with his glowing imagery and themes of nature. In Wordsworth “Daffodils,” unlike Pope he does not compare nature with anything. However, like Pope he uses vivid imagery to honor God the creator.
William Wordsworth is a well-known romantic poet who believed in conveying simple and creative expressions through his poems. He had quoted, ‘Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” Thus, Daffodils is one of the most popular poems of the Romantic Age, unfolding the poet's excitement, love and praise for a field blossoming with daffodils (Vaishali Satwase 3011).
Although this poem only consists of four stanzas, it is one of Wordsworth’s most read poems. If a student only knew one poem from this era it would be “The Daffodils,” by William Wordsworth. The poem begins with a simile. “I wander lonely as a cloud.” One does not need to stretch his or her imagination to visualize what is being said. Wordsworth uses “cloud” not only to compare himself but he also personifies it. Host in the fourth line of the first stanza can be ambiguous; it could mean a large number of daffodils or Wordsworth could have personified the word to mean welcome. In Wordsworth “Daffodils,” unlike Pope he does not compare nature with anything. However, like Pope he uses vivid imagery to honor God the creator. The fact that Wordsworth uses daffodils in his writing expresses his emotions at the time the poem was written. Daffodils are bright yellow flowers that bloom in spring and Wordsworth also uses it to symbolize rebirth. Again Wordsworth uses personification to explain how he views the daffodils; they flutter and dance in the breeze. In the first line of the second stanza he compares them to the milky-way and the stars. In the last four lines he exercises a hyperbole to convey how much he appreciate the sight before him. In the third stanza, Wordsworth presents all kinds of imagery to convey his mood “waves,” “danced, “sparkling waves,” “glee,”:“gay,” “wealth” “and show” Wordsworth spends the last stanza expressing how much the daffodils mean to him, when he day-dreams he dreams of the daffodils and imagine himself part of their company.
“Alexander Pope Essay on man, written in the year 1734 is considered to be the masterpiece of his time for it discussed the psychology of humankind in detail (Diana Nunez n.d). Like Pope Wordsworth “The Daffodils” is the masterpiece of Wordsworth’s ’poetry.
Work Cited
Landry, Peter. (2011 ) “Essay on Man by Alexander Pope, web. 13 Feb, 2013
Nunez, Diana. (n.d.) “Essay on Man by Alexander Pope.” Web. 13Feb. 2013
Salwase, Vaihali. (2011) “Analysis of Daffodils by William Wordsworth.” Web 13 Feb 2013
