AN ANALYSIS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH'S AFFECTION ONNATURE IN HIS SELECTED POEMS

A THESIS

BY SEPTALIA M. N REG.NO. 110705068

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2017

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UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I, SEPTALIA NAINGGOLAN DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR OR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.

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Date : August 18th ,2017

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NAME : SEPTALIA NAINGGOLAN

TITLE OF THESIS : AN ANALYSIS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH’S AFFECTION ON NATURE IN HIS SELECTED POEMS

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I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER THE LAW OF THE REPLUBIC OF INDONESIA.

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Date : August 18th ,2017

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to thank and praise God, Jesus Christ who always bless, keep and give me strength, so I am able to finish my study in Department of English and in completing this thesis.

My sincere thanks are expressed to my supervisor Drs. Parlindungan Purba, M.Hum, and my Co- Supervisor, Drs. Siamir Marulafau, M.Hum who have spent their time to provide me with guidance, corrections, and suggestions during the process of writing this thesis.

I also thank the Dean of Faculty of Letters, Dr. Budi Agustono, M.S, the Head of English Department, Dra. Deliana, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Department, Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, M.A, Ph.D. And thank to all of my lecturers in English Department for their valuable knowledge, guidance, and advices during the years of my study.

My great gratitude for my parents, J. Nainggolan and R. Batubara for their love, care, prayers, provides, and endless supports, everything. I could not only express it in words, this is not enough. Thank you to Kak Lena who was willing to give her time to accompany me in the hectic deadline time. And to my late puppy, Roxy who gave me happiness and accompanied me in my late night thesis times. Also, thank you to all of my family, each of you, for all your love, moral supports, and prayers.

Special thanks to the people who accept me as their close friend in uni, Hanna-hantutelmi, Dj-dotin ke tembok, and Irna-tari.....an, thank you very much for all the memories during our uni years. I always hope that the friendship continues, not just gonna end as we in separate ways like now. Please remember me. Hope you all are good. Much love.

I also want to thank to the people who I’ve even never meet before but already make a big impact for my life, Bangtan and Twitter stans who always have it rough. Thank you for all your positivity, and entertainments, though sometimes yall giving me headache with the ignorance. I even find my passion as I stanning and

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA scrolling. I learn a lot from you all about society, issues, life, and being a better person. And I always find something amusing whenever I sign in, though it is not always good thing. Keep being lit yall.

Finally, I hope that this thesis will give a positive contribution to the educational development or those who want to carry out further research.

Medan, August 18th ,2017

Septalia M. N Reg. No: 110705068

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRAK

Skripsi ini berjudul An Analysis of William Wordsworth Affection on Nature through his selected poems. Pembahasan masalah dalam skripsi ini memuat ide penyair tentang kecintaannya kepada alam sebagai simbol kehidupan yang bebas dari segala bentuk tekanan dan pelarian dari segala kekhawatiran hidup termasuk juga rasa takut dalam bentuk kebimbangan moral sebagai fenomena pengalaman hidup manusia. Fenomena ini tergambar dalam bentuk ungkapan puisi yang dirangkai melalui kata- kata literal yang kompleks dan perwujudan imajinasi untuk menemukan realitas hidup baru dengan memainkan fantasi untuk menemukan jati diri. Teori yang digunakan dalam mendeskripsikan makna puisi William Wordsworth adalah teori fenomenologi yang diusung oleh Edmund Husserl. Untuk mempertegas analisis yang dilakukan adalah kualitatif deskriptif. Dari hasil analisis ditemukan bahwa puisi romantis adalah bentuk ungkapan yang mengedepankan perasaan, fantasi, imajinasi untuk memperoleh dunia yang lebih damai sebagai mana yang ditemukan di alam.

Kata Kunci: puisi, fenomenologi, romantic, alam, fantasi

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRACT

This thesis entitled Analysis of William Wordsworth Affection on Nature through his selected poems. The problem of this thesis is focused on William Wordsworth’s ideas as a romantic writer who loves nature as symbol of life freedom from trouble of life and a live model of escape from worrying mattes including gothic illusion that leads fear as a moral ambiguity. All these ideas are wrapped well in the form of phenomenology that suggests everything exists as phenomena that needs explaining. Theory applied in this thesis is better known as phenomenology pioneered by Edmund Husserl. The analysis is centered on descriptive qualitative method. The finding of the analysis shows that romantic poem is a form of expression by advancing feelings, fantasy, imaginations to find out a new world of reality through poems.

Keywords: poems, phenomenology, romantic, nature, fantasy

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S DECLARATION...... v

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION...... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... vii

ABSTRAK...... ix

ABSTRACT...... x

TABLE OF CONTENTS...... xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION...... 1

1.1 Background of The Study...... 1 1.2 Problem of the Study...... 3 1.3 Objective of the Study...... 3 1.4 Scope of the Study...... 4 1.5 Significance of the Study...... 4

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE...... 5

2.1 A Quick View of Romantic Movement...... 5 2.2 Types of Romanticism...... 8 2.2.1. Gothic...... 8 2.2.2. Escapism...... 9 2.2.3. Back To Nature...... 10 2.3 Phenomenology...... 12 2.4 The Defenition of Poetry...... 14 2.4.1. Types of Poems...... 16 2.4.2. Kinds of Poems...... 17

CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH...... 19

3.1 Research Design...... 19 3.2 Data Collecting...... 21 3.3 Data Analysis...... 22

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND FINDING...... 23

4.1 Analysis...... 23 4.1.1. An Escape From The Boredom of Life...... 23 4.1.2. Nature As a Symbol of Life Freedom...... 28 4.1.3. The Realm of Gothic...... 33

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 4.2 Finding...... 37

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION...... 40

5.1 Conclusion...... 40

5.2 Suggestion...... 41

REFERENCES...... 42

APPENDICES: i. Biography of William Wordsworth

ii. The Selected Poems

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of The Study

The word of literature is originated from Latin word littera which means letter or acquaintance with letters. Literature used to refer to all written notes but contemporary its term extends to include texts that are spoken or sung. Literature represents culture and tradition. In Theory of Literature (Wellek and Warren, 1967: 212), it is said, "literature must always be interesting; it must always have a structure and an aesthetic purpose, a total coherence and effect". Literature reflects human life that portrays the human thought, imagination, perception, and feeling such as happiness, sadness, love, worry, and etc. That is why literary works from different writer are interesting.

Literature can be divided into three major forms, they are prose, drama, and poetry. Prose derives from the Latin word 'prosa', which is literally translated to 'straightforward'. Prose is the ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence. Prose includes novels, short stories, romance, essays, and so on. Drama derives from the Greek word 'dran' which means 'to do' or 'to act'. Drama is performed on a stage. Poetry derives etymologically from the Greek word 'poiesis' which means 'a making, forming, creating (in words), or the art of poetry, or a poem'.

William Wordsworth's phrase as cited by Donald Hall (1928: vii) in To Read Poetry defined poetry as "thespontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" and said that "it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." This definition comes from an idea of the poet's creative process. The creative process begins directly from a personal experience of the poet. When someone has a memorable experience, he sometimes express it by writing and it is composed with meaningful and beautiful words. It can be possibly said that poetry is a string of words that appears in its natural manner and at the same time delivers certain experience that resembles what poetry stands for. The performance of words in the poem may largely suggest other meaning or intention than the literal meaning that readers could catch.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA In this thesis, the focus of analysis is directed on the subject matter or meaning of the poems through the point of phenomena. Phenomena itself is analogous to image on thing which has happened first in order to explain after. What has happened is starting through the phenomena before it develops in other form of scientific inquiry. In other word, individual is a social being and social being includes an individual is a sort of phenomena sociologically. Related to romantic poems, nature is supposed to be a real phenomenon that reflects peace ever after. The trees grow freely, the water of the river runs deep to the sea without any disturbance and the songs of birds make real happiness. Nature provides a place that promises tranquility in the realm of fantasy.

In one of his poem, “I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud,” William Wordsworth finds out that trees can be dancing because of the wind. This phenomenon brings an image that dancing portrays a feeling of joy. Such a portrait shows how nature brings a day deam of joy by placing imagination o arriving a new place of reality in nature. The expression of such a y can be traced in Wordsworth’s last two lyrics that go :

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze

For a reader seeking the meaning of a poem, the best source of information would seem to be the poet himself. What did the poet intend? Logically, the answer to this question should solve all problems. In fact, however, when we speak of a poet’s intention, we can never mean more than the evidence of his complete poem. What thought were in the poet’s mind before he began to write, we can never know, not even if the poet should himself tell us, for no an is fully aware of his own impulses, motivations, and the multiple associations, conscious and subconscious, of whatever passes through his mind. Even when the poet has started with a very clear idea of what he wishes to create, the final product usually will bear but slight relation to this original goal, for in the act of creation the artist works out the implications of his own ideas, explores the potentialities of form, and continually, reshapes the lan with which he started.

Furthermore, the poet may create far more than he himself knows. For these reasons the poet’s avowed aims and his estimate of his own achievement should never control the reader’s reactions to the work. On the other hand, a knowledge of

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA the poet’s intention can have value for the reader. In those rare instances where the poet has given us external evidence of his initial plan – as in Wordsworth’s Preface to the second edition of LyricalBallads, for example – the information may be an important tool for measuring his achievement. Yet even Wordsworth’s poetry is not entirely what he declared it to be in his own Preface. It is better, then, to consider a poet’s intention not it terms of explicit statements of purpose but in terms of the finished product is a sonnet, we may frame the poet’s intention in terms of the tradition of sonnet writing. In highly didactic poem – a satire by Pope, for example – we can estimate the poet’s intention in terms of the content of the work, the specific targets the poems is designed to attack, and the specific points it is designed to illustrate or expound. Beyond these limits it is dangerous to go, to quote Ribner (1962:5).

William Wordsworth has written 447 poems along his life. He is the second of five brothers that was born on 7 April 1770 in Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, Cumberland part of the scenic region in Northwest England, the Lake District. His father is John Wordsworth and his mother is Ann Cookson. He died by aggravating case of pleurisy on 23 April 1850, and was buried at St. Oswald church in Grasmere. Wordsworth is especially regarded as a poet of nature. He believes that nature is not only something which is full of the beauty but also a guardian and a guide for human's inner feelings or as a morality source. He dwells with great satisfaction, on the prospects of spending his time in groves and valleys and on the banks of streams that will lull him to rest with their soft murmur.

1. 2 Problem of the Study 1. How does Wordsworth as a romantic poet place nature as an escape from the boredom of life through his poems? 2. How does Wordsworth as a romantic poet reflect nature as symbol of life freedom through his poems? 3. How does Wordsworth as a romantic poet portrait gothic realm to make man free from fear through his poems?

1.3 Objective of the Study By doing this thesis, the writer wants to achieve some objective that stated as follows:

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA a. To describe nature as an escape from the boredom of life through his poems b. To find out the nature as symbol of life freedom through his poems. c. To portrait gothic realm to make man free from fear through his poems

1.4 Scope of the Study The scope of the study will focus on phenomena that appear in William Wordsworth selected poems. The scope of study covers phenomena of nature as a symbol life freedom and the willingness to escape from the world of reality into the new imaginative world of reality and gothic elements that offers fear as imaginative respond on man’s moral ambiguity. The limitation also goes to the choice of 5 poems of William Wordsworth that are related to nature, they are: I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, The Tables Turned, Lines Written in Early Spring, It Is A Beauteous Evening, and The World Is Too Much With Us.

1.5 Significance of the Study Theoretically, the significance of study is to explore the rich vocabulary of poetry that can be understood scientifically that can be understood systematically. The complexity of word choice can be studied through the understanding of subject matter of the meaning of the poems. Thus, this study is meant to enrich literary study in form of poetry which is different from novel or prose.

Practically, the significance of study increase interest of literature student to focus more on poetry in doing research or scientific inquiry. It is happened so because poetry is large with insight and understanding of man including life experience and man’s matter. In other words, poetry may teach something to be known dealing with man beside it gives pleasure in enjoying life itself.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1. A Quick View of Romantic Movement The history has proved that changes made by man are a mark of his intellectual faculty. The motto ‘no time without change’ has been regarded as natural system in this modern era. The dissatisfaction experienced by man is one of the causes ever at hand. Man never feels satisfied to what he owns and gains; what he thinks good today will be regarded stale then. This may happen is nothing more because of the development of human thoughts upon science, technology, philosophy, and religion. “Therefore, it seems real that the change will always exist behind the side of human life. As Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, in Robert (1960:2) ever stated that:

“One can not step twice into the same river. The water of the river has changed, everything is in flux with each new reading of a poem life has flowed past us, the landscape around us is different, and we are never twice exactly the same mood”

First and foremost,Romanticism was a literary movement that swept through virtually every country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America that lasted from about 1750 to 1870. However, the Romantic Movement did not reach France until the1820's. Romanticism's essential spirit was one of revolt against an established order of things-against precise rules, laws, dogmas, and formulas that characterized Classicism in general and late18th-century Neoclassicism in particular. It praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science- making way for a vast body of literature of great sensibility and passion. In their choice of heroes, also, the romantic writers replaced the static universal types of classical 18th-century literature with more complex, idiosyncratic characters. They became preoccupied with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles and there was an emphasis on the examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities. The word romantic (ism) has a complex and interesting history. In the Middle Ages 'romance' denoted the new vernacular languages derived from Latin - in contradistinction to Latin itself, which was the language of learning. Enromancier, romancar, romanz meant to compose or translate books in the vernacular.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The work produced was then called romanz, roman, romanzo and romance. A roman or romant came to be known as an imaginative work and a 'courtly romance'. The terms also signified a 'popular book'. There are early suggestions that it was something new, different, divergent. By the 17th c. in Britain and France, 'romance' has acquired the derogatory connotations of fanciful, bizarre, exaggerated, chimerical. In France a distinction was made between romanesque (also derogatory) and romantique (which meant 'tender', 'gentle', 'sentimental' and 'sad'). It was used in the English form in these latter senses in the 18th c. In Germany the word romantisch was used in the 17th c. in the French sense of romanesque, and then, increasingly from the middle of the 18th c., in the English sense of 'gentle', 'melancholy'. “Melancholy” was quite the buzzword for the Romantic poets, and altered states of consciousness were often sought after in order to enhance one’s creative potential. There was a coincident downgrading of the importance and power of reason, clearly a reaction against the Enlightenment mode of thinking. Nevertheless, writers became gradually more invested in social causes as the period moved forward. Thanks largely to the Industrial Revolution, English society was undergoing the most severe paradigm shifts it had seen in living memory. The response of many early Romantics was to yearn for an idealized, simpler past. In particular, English Romantic poets had a strong connection with medievalism and mythology. The tales of King Arthur were especially resonant to their imaginations. On top of this, there was a clearly mystical quality to Romantic writing that sets it apart from other literary periods. Of course, not every Romantic poet or novelist displayed all, or even most of these traits all the time. Romanticism in English literature began in the 1790s with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth’s “Preface” to the second edition (1800) of Lyrical Ballads, in which he described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” became the manifesto of the English Romantic movement in poetry. William Blake was the third principal poet of the movement’s early phase in England. The first phase of the Romantic movement in Germany was marked by innovations in both content and literary style and by a preoccupation with the mystical, the subconscious, and the supernatural.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA On the formal level, Romanticism witnessed a steady loosening of the rules of artistic expression that were pervasive during earlier times. The Neoclassical Period of the eighteenth century included very strict expectations regarding the structure and content of poetry. By the dawn of the nineteenth century, experimentation with new styles and subjects became much more acceptable. The high-flown language of the previous generation’s poets was replaced with more natural cadences and verbiage. In terms of poetic form, rhymed stanzas were slowly giving way to blank verse, an unrhymed but still rhythmic style of poetry. The purpose of blank verse was to heighten conversational speech to the level of austere beauty. Some criticized the new style as mundane, yet the innovation soon became the preferred style. One of the most popular themes of Romantic poetry was country life, otherwise known as pastoral poetry. Mythological and fantastic settings were also employed to great effect by many of the Romantic poets. Though struggling and unknown for the bulk of his life, poet and artist William Blake was certainly one of the most creative minds of his generation. He was well ahead of his time, predating the high point of English Romanticism by several decades. His greatest work was composed during the 1790s, in the shadow of the French Revolution, and that confrontation informed much of his creative process. Throughout his artistic career, Blake gradually built up a sort of personal mythology of creation and imagination. Some considered him mad. In addition to writing poetry of the first order, Blake was also a master engraver. His greatest contributions to Romantic literature were his self-published, quasi- mythological illustrated poetry collections. Gloriously colored and painstaking in their design, few of these were produced and fewer still survive to the present day. A movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the Neoclassicism of the previous centuries, The German poet Friedrich Schlegel, who is given credit for first using the term romantic to describe literature, defined it as "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form." (Morner, 1997:154) This is as accurate a general definition as can be accomplished, although Victor Hugo's phrase "liberalism in literature" is also apt. Imagination, emotion, and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. Any list of particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism includes subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; spontaneity; freedom from rules; solitary life rather than life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA reason and devotion to beauty; love of and worship of nature; and fascination with the past, especially the myths and mysticism of the middle ages. English poets: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats American poets: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Walt Whitmanbelong to this first phase. In Revolutionary France, the vicomte de Chateaubriand and Mme de Staël were the chief initiators of Romanticism, by virtue of their influential historical and theoretical writings. In the United State, Romanticism found its voice in the poets and novelists of the American Renaissance (retrivied: online-literature.com) . The beginnings of American Romanticism went back to the New England Transcendental Movement. The concentration on the individual mind gradually shifted from an optimistic brand of spiritualism into a more modern, cynical study of the underside of humanity. The political unrest in mid-nineteenth century America undoubtedly played a role in the development of a darker aesthetic. At the same time, strongly individualist religious traditions played a large part in the development of artistic creations. The Protestant work ethic, along with the popularity and fervor of American religious leaders, fed a literary output that was undergird with fire and brimstone. The middle of the nineteenth century has only in retrospect earned the label of the American Renaissance in literature. No one alive in the 1850s quite realized the flowering of creativity that was underway. In fact, the novelists who today are regarded as classic were virtually unknown during their lifetimes. The novelists working during this period, particularly Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, were crafting densely symbolic and original pieces of literature that nonetheless relied heavily upon the example of English Romanticism. However, there work was in other respects a clean break with any permutation of Romanticism that had come before. There was a darkness to American Romanticism that was clearly distinct from the English examples of earlier in the century.

2.2. Types of Romanticism

2.2.1. Gothic Gothicism thrived in the 19th century. It’s categorized by an emphasis on the macabre and the mysterious. Concepts such as magic, hidden passages, bloody

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA hands, screams, ghosts, and other supernatural entities and activities were all mainstays in the Gothic literary movement. The movement saw a revival in the 1740s when Horace Walpole purchased a grand estate and remodeled it in the “Gothic” style. He added towers, arched windows, and turrets, turning the building into quite a frightening place. Many houses in the surrounding areas followed suit, creating a sort of movement. Gothic literature, a movement that focused on ruin, decay, death, terror, and chaos, and privileged irrationality and passion over rationality and reason, grew in response to the historical, sociological, psychological, and political contexts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Although Horace Walpole is credited with producing the first Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto, in 1764, which truly got the Gothic movement moving. his work was built on a foundation of several elements First, Walpole tapped a growing fascination with all things medieval; and medieval romance provided a generic framework for his novel. In addition, Edmund Burke’s 1757 treatise, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful, offered a philosophical foundation. Finally, the Graveyard School of poetry, so called because of the attention poets gave to ruins, graveyards, death, and human mortality, flourished in the mid-eighteenth century and provided a thematic and literary context for the Gothic. In its attention to the dark side of human nature and the chaos of irrationality, the Gothic provides for contemporary readers some insight into the social and intellectual climate of the time in which the literature was produced. A time of revolution and reason, madness and sanity, the 1750s through the 1850s provided the stuff that both dreams and nightmares were made of.

2.2.2. Escapism Escapism can be defined as "the tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy or entertainment. It is an inclination or habit of retreating from unpleasant reality, as through diversion or fantasy" (Oxford Dictionary). Escapism can be called as a movement in itself. All romantic writing, we can see ,is more or less Escapist in nature. Escapism can be said as one of the main feature of all romantic writing. Also Nostalgic dimension in Romantic poetry invites the element of Escapism. The nostalgic thoughts and feelings of romantic poets makes them long for the days gone, the pleasure they no longer enjoy as can be

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA seen in Wordsworth poems like Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, From The Prelude etc., which in turn takes them to the world of imagination where they find that pleasure and joy. Wordsworth escape to nature can be said to be spiritual in Nature as he believes that Nature makes the mankind understand and see the hidden truth, makes him enjoy and understand the power of solitude. Thus Wordsworth believes that Nature is the real teacher which would lead to the discovery of truth. These Romantics longed for freedom, liberty, peace and pleasure. Although we find a strong presence of Escapism in the writings of almost all English Romantics of nineteenth century, the spirit of this tendency of escapism differed amongst romantic poets. The same element of Escapism is dealt in a different prospective by different romantic poets. Still the basis for Escapism remains same for all romantics and Escapism do dominate the works of major English Romantic poets.

2.2.3. Back to Nature Romanticism was an intellectual and artistic movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century. It was a reactionary response against the scientific rationalisation of nature during the Enlightenment, commonly expressed in literature But it was not simply a response to the rationalism of the Enlightenment but also a reaction against the material changes in society, which accompanied the emerging and expanding industrial capitalism in the late eighteenth century. In this transition production became centralized in the city. The factory system of mass production was centered on processes that used and controlled natural forces such as water and wind, but also increased power by increasingly using fossil fuels. These processes, combined with the profit motive, “degraded and despoiled”, as some romantics saw it, the environment (although they would not have used the term). Cities expanded to unprecedented sizes, and grew into centers of pollution, poverty and deprivation. They began to symbolize the failure of laissez faire liberalism’s philosophy that permitting people to follow their self-interest would lead to a perfect society. Population movement from the land, and rational search for economically efficient production methods (involving division of labor, timekeeping and mechanization) led, according to the Romantic Movement, to spiritual alienation of the masses from the land and nature.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Romanticism and nature are almost synonymous. The quintessential Romantic lyric suggests a mystical relationship with nature; the poet has the ability through his imagination and his experience in a natural setting to transcend his everyday life and troubles and to connect with a spiritual essence or something divine that then allows him to re-conceive of his life, enabling him to overcome the deadening of life he has confronted. While that summary suggests many of the key ideas and relationships involved in British Romanticism’s engagement with nature, this unit, and this subunit in particular, demonstrates some of the nuances and complexities of the role nature plays in different Romantic authors’ art.

This was regarded as undesirable and leading to the degradation of the humans. According to the romantics, the solution was “back to nature” because nature was seen as pure and a spiritual source of renewal. It was also a way out of the fumes of the growing industrial centers, for the new industrial rich. Inspired by the works of romantic authors and poets such as Wordsworth, Keats and Shelly, they hopped on the newly developed railways and travelled to the Lake District. This led in the end to an appreciation of the landscape, described in terms as the “Sublime” and also “Delight” (in the landscape). Spoliation of a pure natural landscape was regarded as undesirable and destructive. These ideas are still with us and led the way for modern day conservation and environmentalism as well as outdoor recreation and appreciation for natural and historical heritage.

Wordsworth based his poetry on the idea that it should be written in a natural language that speaks to and reflects common human emotions. Those emotions are most readily called forth by our experiences in nature. The speaker encounters or remembers a setting in nature – in this case, Wordsworth reflects on seeing the decayed abbey in its natural setting after an absence of five years – and then exploring his reactions to the setting, he meditates on the relationship between himself and nature in general Wordsworth recalls how his memories of this setting have renewed his life when he has lived in the city, but he also begins to realize that it is his more adult relationship to nature – rather than his youthful one when he unconsciously felt at one with it – that is more significant, for it provides him with a moral connection to humanity and to some spiritual essence greater than humanity.As important, he stresses that it is not simply nature’s influence on him,

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA but equally his perception of nature – the role his consciousness and his imagination play in producing this experience For the Romantics, nature does not act on a passive human mind. Instead, the human mind is at least as active in creating the sublime experience of nature as the material reality of nature itself.

2.3. Phenomenology Phenomenology was derived from Greek word phenomena, ‘thing appearing’ withknowledge or logos. A method of philosophical inquiry which lays stress on the perceiver’s vital and central role in determining meaning. To quote Cuddon (1998:663) phenomenology derives from he thinking of Edmund Husserl (1859- 1938), the German philosopher. In his view he proper object of philosophical inquiry is not the objects in the world that are perceivable through the senses but, rather, the a prior contents of our consciousness. Thus, the method demands a close inception of mental and intellectual states and processes. By using this method, he believed, it is possible to reveal the underlying nature of consciousness and phenomena, and to do so in an a temporal and a historical way – the point being to establish a trans subjective theory of understanding.

The implication is that an individual human mind is the centre and origin of meaning. As far as literature and literary theory are concerned, the phenomenologist’s critical approach involves an entry to an investigation of the underlying nature and essence of a work of literature under scrutiny and thus a kind of access to the author’s consciousness. A different – and perhaps more ‘vulgar’ – version of he phenomenological approach is the exploration of the unique personality behind a work of literature. In order to do this the phenomenological critic needs to empty his or her mind o f all preconceptions and presuppositions about the author and the text he or she is to study. Having done this, the critic is or ought to be in a highly receptive and sensitive state, a state which may enable him or her to share the mode of consciousness of the author. This state of mind has been described as ‘consciousness of the consciousness of another’. It is probably doubtful if any critic could actually bring about such a state of mind. With the best will and intentions in the world the consciousness of the critic would, sooner or later, intervene.

According to Seldon (1991:117) has explained that a literary work such as poem does not exist to the world with a finished complete meaning. The meaning

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA must be searched and found out by the interpreter to look at the content of the literary work itself. It means phenomenology is accepted as phenomena that stressed the role of meaning to be understood properly. The understanding of phenomena is based on the explanation and the meaning of the phenomena itself. It is true literary works may offer varied phenomena.

Faruk (1994:117) viewed literary phenomenology from to different point of view firstly, the individual word constitute social meaning that has already existed before and it happens because the existing social interaction in which an individual is also social beings. Secondly, individual can not live alone in this world that makes the social world comes in to being. Not so far different with this opinion. Eagleton (2002:57) also mentioned that phenomenology is a science of human consciousness. Consciousness suggests that being and meaning are always bound of with one other.

From quotation above, it can be simply taken an analogy about the property of phenomena. When the sky is dark and cloudy this phenomenon shows that rain will be coming. When somebody gets cough and cold, it means he has been attacked by flu disease. In the work of literature this phenomenon must be traced in the text of the work itself. The text can be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or even a clause and finally a text as a whole. Thus, the role of diction created by the literary writer is essentially considered and understood fully. To say simply, the phenomenon must be giving a certain picture what the literary work is about. It not the meaning of the word will be vague.

It has been accepted universally that literary work has offered multiple meaning which can be interpreted differently. The concept of phenomena is analogous to paradigm or artifact as starting step to look at something. Paradigm emphasizes the sense of window to look the world around us that needs the path way that records experience of life of human being. That is why Eagleton (2002:59) has added the text itself is reduced to pure embodiment of the author’s conscious; all of it is stylistic and semantic aspects are grasped as organic parts of a complex totality. This quotation implies literary work is an invention of creative imagination. It is not ready made product that put forward a subjectivity of the world. The literary work itself has been made trough the literary writers consciousness in the new form of world reality.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Husserlian phenomenology stands in opposition of naturalism, for which material nature is simply a given and conscious life itself is part of nature, to be approached with natural-scientific methods oriented toward empirical facts and casual explanations. In contrast, phenomenology turns directly to the evidence of lived experience – of first-person subjective life – in order to provide descriptions of experiencing and of objects as experienced, rather than causal explanations. For Husserl, these descriptions are to be eidetic (or “essential”) in so far as what is being describe is not a specific set of empirical facts considered for their own sake, but invariants governing a certain range of facts – for instance, structural patterns that must be obtain for something to be an object of a certain type at all, or eidetically necessary laws such as “any conceivable color has some extension. “Husserl’s investigations of essential structures of conscious life and experience further focus on consciousness as transcendental rather than mundane, which means that consciousness is taken not as a part of the world, but as the constitutive presupposition for experiencing any world whatsoever.

2.4 The Definition of Poetry No general definition of poetry can be fully satisfying, for poetry has meant different things in different periods of civilization and even in a single period it has offered diverse values to different individuals. We can say, however, that poetry has been an essential and valued aspect of every civilization the world has known. It is older than prose, providing some of our earliest regards of human activity, its place in religious chant and ritual relates it to the fundamental spiritual aspirations of mankind. In short, creating poetry and responding to it with pleasure and excitement are characteristic of human spirit.

Response to some form of verbal music is common to all peoples, including the most primitive. With increased sophistication comes a demand for more sophisticated poetic expression. The pleasure of the highest kind of poetry is that to which men of the most highly developed minds and sensibilities are able to respond. To read poetry well is to be receptive to the most intricate nuances of rhythm and sound, to explore the infinite potentialities of language, and since language is a vehicle for thought, total response to poetry engages the intellect fully as much as the senses.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Poetry ay not include rhyme or meter. Although historically, it has included both, neither is essential. What is essential is rhythm, for the appeal of poetry to the senses is one element which differentiates poetry from prose. Rhythm may be important in prose also, but there it is always subservient so clear and rational statement, primary end of prose. The prose writer’s principal address is to reason and accordingly he relies upon logic and fact. The poet aims at al total response which is at least as much emotional as rational, and for this reason he uses language which as much emotional as rational, and for this reason he uses language which is more dense and ambiguous than can ordinarily be used in prose. The poet uses words of multiple meanings, often with deliberately contradictory connotations, for he is frequently concerned with the exploration of paradox, the reconciliation of extremes and opposites. In general, the poet relies upon the suggestive and connotative aspects of language, while the prose writer is concerned with its power to name, to specify to denote.

Poetry is one of the oldest forms of literature. Poetry derives etymologically from the Greek word 'poiesis' which means 'a making, forming, creating (in words), or the art of poetry, or a poem. In Latin, the words poet or poem is taken from word “poeta” which means to construct, to cause, to raise. In another words those words become a literary work which is constructed by words combined with rhyme and rhytym and sometimes adding some figurative words.

As a deep feeling which is full of power and based on emotion that the writer has experienced. Yet, the power embedded inside the poem is not easily being understood by

 William Wordsworth in Understanding Poetry (2013: 5) states that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.  Volpe in Siswantoro (2002: 3) states that poetry is perhaps the most difficult kind of language.  S.T.Coleridge in Understanding Poetry (2013: 4) states that poetry is the product of the poet's imagination and the best words in the best order.  Percy Bysshe Shelley in Understanding Poetry (2013: 6) states that poetry is the record of the best and happiest moment of the happiest and the best mind.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Based on the definitions above can be concluded that poetry could consist of what really happened to the writer and it could be also the writer's imaginations. Poetry could consist of unusual words that can make it interesting and even hard to understand because people have different expectations and thoughts on it. Poetry is not only an order of beautiful words but also has feelings in it.

As a kind of literary work, poetries are constructed by some words to some lines that called with stanza. In every word which fills every stanza has a deep meaning to be mentioned. Johnson in Tarigan (1984:5) describes that “the poetry as spontaneous expression of feelings, which full of power and based on emotion get together in peace”. It means that a poem is an expressing deep feeling which is full of power and based on emotion that the writer has experienced. Yet, the power embedded inside the poem is not easily being understood by reading it at once.

Poetry is an expression of the inner experience (poet) of the poet about the life of man, nature and god through the media of aesthetic language that is fully integrated and solidified. It forms an idea with the arrangement, affirmation and description of all matter and parts that became its component and is a beautiful unity. Generally, Poetry is a thought that is composed with words that are solid and compacted. So it can be concluded that poetry is an idea that is formed with the arrangement, affirmation and description of all the material and parts that become components with the solid languageand unified as a unity of experimentation of thought based upon imaginative and concrete experience

2.4.1. Types of Poems There are five types of poems in particular. They are descriptive, reflective, narrative, lyric, and sonnet.

a) Descriptive

Descriptive poem is a poem which describes people or experience, scenes or objects.

b) Reflective

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Reflective poem is a thoughtful poem often containing a great deal of description which the poet comments on as form, upon which he draws a conclusion.

c) Narrative

Narrative poem is a poem which tells a story. It tends to be longer than other types of poetry but it is comparatively easy to recognize the poet’s intention.

d) Lyrics

Lyrics is the simplest form of poetry like a song which is usually the expression of mood or feeling.

e) Sonnet

Sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines which follows every strict rhyme patterns.

2.4.2 Kinds of Poems There are some kinds of poems, they are: ode, epic, elegy, pastoral, satire, and epigram.

a) Ode Ode is a lyric adopted from the Greek but altered greatly in form by various English poets. It tends to be rather formal and elevated and is often to a prominent person. Often in varied or irregular meter, and usually between fifty and two hundred lines long.

b) Epic Epic is the most ambitious kind of poetry deals with great heroes whose action determined the fate of their nation or of mankind.

c) Elegy Elegy is written to express of feeling of sorrow or loss, often to commemorate someone's death.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA d) Pastoral Pastoral uses the fiction that all the character concerned shepherds and shepherdess. e) Satire Satire is a form of redicule and criticism, and it can be directed against many different object universal human vices of follies, social evils or political shortcoming. f) Epigram Epigram is the brief form of all poems. It is may be a short as two lines, indeed the shorter the more effective.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER THREE METHOD OF RESEARCH

3.1 Research Design The method of the study in this paper is descriptive qualitative

approach. A qualitative approach is defined as a description of observations

which is not ordinary expressed in quality terms. Nazir (1998:64) says that

descriptive method is a method of research that makes description of the

situation of event or occurrence. Thus, research is required to look for the

answer relate with problem which want to be solved. In research, the researcher

must have design to make easy in analyzing the data. A research design is a plan

or strategy for conducting the research. It is required to get dependable and useful

information. To know what design which should be taken by the researcher, the

first the researcher has to look at the problem of research. As stated in problems

of the research, this research is conducted to describe vocabulary learning

strategies that are used by students. Thus, in this study, the researcher uses

descriptive research.

Ary et.al (1985: 322) explained “Descriptive research method is used to

obtain information about existing conditions and have been widely used in

educational research. The aim of descriptive research is to describe “what exist”

with respect to variables or conditions in a situation”. Descriptive-qualitative

method is a method to reveal the facts, circumstances, phenomena, variables and

circumstances that occurred while running the research and presenting what it is.

Interpret qualitative descriptive study and said that the data is concerned with the

current situation, attitudes, and opinions that occur in society, the relationship

between the variables, the difference between fact, the effect of the condition,

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA and others. In qualitative research "problem" and "title" brought by researchers still tentative and holistic, so that qualitative researchers would not specify the problem was simply based on study variables, but the overall social situation under study that includes place, actors, activity that interact in synergy.

Neuman (1997:331) classified six characteristics of a qualitative research: a. The importance of context.

Qualitative researchers emphasize the importance of social context for understanding the social world. They hold that the meaning of a social action or statement depends, in an important way, on the context in which it appears. When a researcher removes an event, social action, answer to a question, or conversation from the social context in which it appears, or ignore the context, social meaning and significance are disorted. b. The case study method.

The researchers might gather a large amount of information on one or a few cases, go into greater depth, and get more details on the cases being examined. c. The researcher’s integrity.

The researchers ensure that their research accurately reflects the evidence and have checks on their evidence. d. Grounded theory.

A qualitative researcher begins with a research question and little else. Theory develops during the data collection process. This more inductive method means that the theory is built from data or grounded in the data e. Process.

Qualitative researchers look at the sequence of events and pay attention to what happens first, second, and so on. Because qualitative researchers examine the same case over time, they can see an issue involve, a conflict

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA emerge, or a social relationship develop. The researcher can detect process and casual relations. f. Interpretations.

The data are in the form of word, including quotes or descriptions of particular events. The researcher interprets data by giving them meaning, translating them, or making them understandable.

3.2 Data Collecting

The data that are taken in this study are from several sources, and some steps which are made in analyzing the problems of the research. To determine the affection of nature through figurative speech in William Wordsworth’s poems, first step; read the selected poems of William Wordsworth to get comprehension deeper. The data which is the problems are chosen and found from the poems and to be discussed in the finding and analysis in this paper. Some information about nature are found and connected to the context of nature affection. The last is to do interpretation based on the selected poem that already read before. In collecting the data, the technique used is by gathering all the data from the library and from the internet and other supporting material that are relevant to the topic of the thesis as many as possible. The first source is the texts of selected poems by William Wordsworth: I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, The Tables Turned,

Lines Written in Early Spring, It Is A Beauteous Evening, and The World Is Too

Much With Us. The second source is from some related critical books, thesis, and some information from the internet sites which have close relation to the topic of this thesis. In collecting the required data, there are several steps that should be done:

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA • Collecting all relevant information from the library and internet resources. • Reading all the collected sources carefully. • Taking notes of the important points from the collections, rereading them and trying to understand. • Selecting the important points which are more related to the the study.

3.3 Data Analysis In analyzing the data, the writer applied the descriptive qualitative method. This procedure is the process of describing the collected data and analysing them. There are several steps that should be done:

RESEARCHER SELECTED POEMS

Analyzing and vv Concluding Data Collecting (words in Poems in every The Research stanza)

Aspects of Nature in Interpretation Romanticisim

Of Nature

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND FINDING

4.1. ANALYSIS

4.1.1. AN ESCAPE FROM THE BOREDOM OF LIFE As what has been explained in the history of Romanticism which is also known as the romantic era or romantic period, romanticism is an intellectual movement that originated Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the pas and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, (1) the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature, (2) it was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, (3) education, (4) and the natural sciences, (5) it had a significant and complex effect on politics and while for much of the Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, its long-terms effect on the growth of nationalism was perhaps more significant, to quote Furst (1979:23).

William Wordsworth’s escape to nature has been influenced by the selfishness of man which has been dominated by the power of political will that victimize the weak. The cut of trees for the use of industry has made the forest bare and empty. The effect of wrong political will makes man suffered and flood happens because there is no tree to block the coming of water anymore. This phenomenon results some kinds of trouble that leads to destruction. The only way to escape from such trouble is to have fantasy by running away to the nature.

Another term for the word ‘escape’ is similar to exoticism. As an aspect of romanticism is it responses to the longing people for distant pass. So they provided images of distant places. Wordsworth finds its place in the author space of the sky in terms of cloud. In his “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, implies a metaphorical concept that cloud can move from a place to another place that is why the “I” pronounce speaker in poem may wonder even though he feels lonely in cloud.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The characteristic of nature that gives freedom for an escapee like Wordsworth can be traced in the form of “cloud”, “vales”, “hills”, and “daffodils”, “lakes”, and “trees”. All this nature features or materials make Wordsworth play high to faraway world in his imagination. His fantasy goes to find the joy of nature through a dancing activity. This dancing activity implies the joy that brings an escape from the boredom of life. Such an expression is written down in first stanza of the poem. It goes:

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, first stanza)

The uniqueness of the expression to escape from the world of reality to the world of fantasy is so individualistic. It is personal not communal because escapism is closely connected to personal. The conditional of being solitude are alone brings complete happiness to enjoy the world. The beauty of nature that is represented in the beauty of daffodils can not at least cure the emotional pain of the boredom of line. Loneliness or being alone has been accepted as a form of escape to enter the world of joy. The expression can be found out in the last three lines of the last stanza that goes:

Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. (“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, fourth stanza) The daydream of an escape can also be discovered in religious pain through the existence of God. The existence of God has been explicitly embedded in God’s glorification because nature gives perfect harmony of life matters. Nature is supposed to be a source of peaceful life which equal to garden of heaven. That is

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA why religious pain may free someone from being tortured from the boredom of life.

Such an expression can be traced in the fifth line that goes:

The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea; (“It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”,fifth line)

It can not be denied to flee to God’s Kingdom may result complete quietness in the soul of man who believes in God. The Holy Place to worship such as temple, mosque, and church can lead people to find out a place of quietness. It is true this place is faraway dream land but the satisfaction can be reached because fantasy of this dream may come true though it is the new pattern of imaginative words. Yet, this imaginative world can be brought back into the world of reality through an act of escape. The expression that shows this can be discovered in the last two lines at the poem that goes:

And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not. (“It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”)

Man has limited power to run over the problems of life. The key point of world matter has basically been centered on man himself. Man’s greediness for power has colored the world in the form of war. Man’s ignorance to the green environment by cutting trees for the reason of industry has created disaster everywhere in the form of dryness and flood. Mans centered intellectuality has destroyed the presents of God who dreams the world is full with peaceful life and togetherness of total freedom among people. The picture of heaven is one representation of peaceful place to reach. With one definite reason religious faith guarantees heaven is an eternal place after life. Thus, the form of escape maybe embodied in a kind of belief that heaven and nature free people from the pain of life such an expression can be traced in the last stanza that goes:

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature’s holy plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man? (“Lines Written in Early Spring”, last stanza)

Another reason to escape for the boredom of life to nature is brought to the image of the wealth of nature. Nature gives wealth in the picture of the feminime creature of the third personal pronoun ‘She’. Wordsworth places his imagination of female personality that represents beauty in woman. The beauty of woman can result wisdom and cheerfulness. Wisdom and cheerfulness represents truth of life. The act of flee or escape for the truth of life is an ideally concept of life modal. Such an expression can be traced in the poem that goes:

She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless— Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness. (“The Tables Turned”, fifth stanza)

The presence of nature maybe accepted as an available teacher that teaches man to look what is good and bad morally. It may so happen because nature never teaches something bad to man in general. The escape to nature is meant to mirror man’s selfishness that tends to be destructed. That is why man must be good for himself and also for other as what nature gives. This kind of urge must be represented with the true impulse of man’s good willingness. Such an expression can be traced in the poem that goes:

One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. (“The Tables Turned”, sixth stanza)

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The saying the world is too small may be perceived in the form of conflict because the world is crowded with many kinds of differences and willingness. Man in general has been trapped in the wrong pattern of cultural mind that differences are supposed to be hateful. Equality is so far to reach because man has tried to be more powerful than others. That is why conflict happens anyway because of different skin, different languages, different culture, or even different gods. The anxiety of the world has colored too much in the waste of power that makes man blind to see the truth. The expression the world is too much with us implies great complexity of man’s that promotes power more important than others. An escape from such a world to nature with great eyes will open the opportunity to gain happiness. The expression of this can be traced in the poem that goes:

The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! (“The World is Too Much with Us, the first 4 lines)

The true escape that William Wordsworth’s ideas from the Boredom of life to nature a fundamentally implemented in the God’s guidance. God must be carved well in the soul of every man. The heart of nature that promises peace and no hatred ever available are the reflection of God. So, the voice of nature must be heard and practiced in life for the truth of life values. Let men see the flowers that offer beauty and quiet sleep that symbolically means peace. Escape for sleep like what man does is a kind of rest from the tiredness of life. Sleeping may be a kind of escape from trouble or boredom of life. So, nature represents God in order to gain the perfect harmony of ultimate life destiny. God is the only one who creates man to live in peace and love for all. The expression can be traced as follows:

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be (“The world is Too Much with Us, lines 6-9)

4.1.2. NATURE AS A SYMBOL OF LIFE FREEDOM Wordsworth ideas are in early nineteenth century has often been described as a ‘return to nature’. For Wordsworth and his contemporaries, Nature did not only mean the sights and sounds of God – made nature, the vast world of trees, flowers, stars, woods, mountains, dales, moon, etc, but also meant the elemental simplifies of life. The romantic poetry returned, for its material, to the beauties of external nature and to the simple life of the peasants, hill- dwellers and cottagers who lived far away from the artificial civilization, and close association with nature.

Principally, to discuss Wordsworth’s ideas on nature is not easy at all. Firstly, understanding the reason why does he return to nature and what is actually in nature. It seems the questions bring us too move behind to the period of eighteenth century in which the development of mind upon science had colored man activity in a large sense. It was indeed an age that rejected fancy and desired to be guided by reason or the presence of ratio. It wished to understand not to imagine. Man, in this period, had a belief that all things were knowable and what is more knowable by meaning of rational understanding. In short, man, with his intellect, was the king of universe in unlimited sense and it was Descartes’ idea that ration was main

It has been a natural symptom that in every cases of life there is pro and contra especially towards principles of life. It may take place because man never feels satisfied definite. Among any Descartes’ followers there is Rousseu who opposes the presence of ratio or science has put man to be isolated on his existence. The improvement of science and culture has guided man to loose his simple existence such as feelings, intuition, and individual sense in a large term. For this he suggested that man should return to nature where man might regain his identity in the presence of nature. In other word, nature is good to man. In nature where laws are of no existence, is there an autonomous and happy being.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The presence of ratio makes man forget his position as a simple being. Man is not pure anymore because of thoughts. Science or ratio has separated man from simplicity into luxury in the sense of worldliness. So, to free man from isolation, man has to return to where man is naturally from. Only in a primitive state, man may escape from restrictions of laws, institution, instances in which man basically rejects the. In this case the simplicity of life that is existed in nature; at country side far from artificial civilizations.

To Wordsworth nature is like an open book for him. Nature and his soul are one. He even tries to give all of his dreams on the presence of nature. His life and his soul are the manifestation of nature in sense of honoring it deeper and deeper in order to get the sense of life, to quote his poems:

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze (“I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud”, first stanza) Wordsworth standpoint in nature is special. What special is the strong admiration in his poem. For him, nature is something can be tolerated. It can deliver him a calm situation in which may bring his imagination on the beauty of it and the invaluable treasure hidden on it. He believes that nature is the beginning and the last of his life in broadest term.

Basically, the presence of nature is not strange anymore in Wordsworth Eye. When he was still a boy, the beauty of Lake District and the river were all places where he played made him to be amazed. Through them, he could learn his simple appreciation on them. But, anyhow, his feelings on the presence of nature could not be denied at all. He may find the mystery given by it in his own vision and in his own truth. The affection of nature as portrait in William Wordsworth’s poems is basically the picture of nature as symbol of freedom, and nature has been placed as an escape from boredom of life, including to free man from fear of life through gothic experiences that makes man’s morality balance to see the truth. These

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA phenomena are the characteristic of the romantic poet ever available. Quoting his poem:

The birds around me hopped and played, Their thoughts I cannot measure:— But the least motion which they made It seemed a thrill of pleasure. (“Lines Written in Early Spring”, third stanza)

This is not mysticism but a state of aesthetic contemplation. All contemplations of objet except the essentially practical, and so directed toward personal ends. The poet’s genius frees contemplation from the drive of the will, and consequently the poet is able to see with a quiet eye. To see into the life of things is to see things for themselves and not their potential use. The poet attains to this state through memories of nature’s presence, which give a quietness that is a blessed mood, one in which the object world become near and familiar, and ceases to be a burden. Having made this declaration, Wordsworth gives his first intimation of doubt as to the efficacy of Nature’s presence. In his poem The Tables Turned

She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless— Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness. (Fifth stanza) The time when his perception of natural object came brought an immediate joy. So that, he speaks the simultaneity of vision and emotion as

How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it. (Third stanza, third to fourth lines) The presence of nature is special to Wordsworth. What the meaning of special here is his way to believe as a guidance of life. Nature is a place where he may find peace in a large sense. In short, he believes it even though it is impossible; he believes because it is impossible. In his poem:

For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be (“The World Is Too Much With Us”, eight to ninth lines)

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA and it is reaffirmed by the lines:

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; And ’tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes.

(“Lines Written in Early Spring”, third stanza)

If go back to the first question in early paragraph they are answered indirectly.

Wordsworth responses on nature basically are a voice of his heart towards the reality.

He looks on man as an object who has lost his appreciation at the simplicity given by nature. Man has really thought something rood based on his faculty of mind instead of feeling. To Wordsworth’s feeling is an important organ to view the nature as a source of his poems and a light of his life. Nature becomes so familiar with him in the sense that there is a process of giving and receiving between man and nature.

Wordsworth has broken the world his vision on nature. As a poet with title a prophet of nature; priest of nature, has given to him for his dedication on it. So far, the critics had a strong consideration why Wordsworth gave that title, as we may see these lines

If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature’s holy plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?

(“Lines Written in Early Spring”, sixth stanza)

In this line, Wordsworth tries to voice his sad feeling why man rejects the presence of nature. He could hear the still, sad music of humanity during his time t learn nature. Through this conception we may get that Wordsworth places nature as his teacher in the sense of his sacrifice on nature as his teacher in the sense of his sacrifice on nature that is able to give him a sense of satisfaction on his heart. So far,

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA the opinion of Wordsworth opinion about nature has been clearly known. The simplicity of nature has led Wordsworth to be simple too on his existence. It could be seen when he was involved on the French Revolution in which had innovated man’s activity from ties to be free and also from ties and oppression.

The ideals of French revolution that is: fraternity, legality, and liberty have been support to Wordsworth to pin down his ideas in the form of poetry. For Wordsworth, the bitterness of the state, regulations, or instances have made natural man worse in unlimited sense. Therefore, man should be free and given a chance to build his new world according to man’s basically attitude that is basically good. Man becomes so small for the presence of the laws. Basically, in his heart he rejects them. What is the essential thing is to put man in free condition and free existence in large sense

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

(The World Is Too Much With Us”, the last four lines)

Wordsworth belongs to self-worshippers especially upon the presence of. And

Wordsworth respects the nature for the nature the sake of his love on something available. Trying escape from the world of facts to a world of ideal where beauty and happiness are conjured up by his divine imagination, Wordsworth presents nature as a source of peace. The realization that happiness in this world is but an occasional episode in the general drama of pain is too much for them to bear. To forget the painful experiences of his life he escapes to nature and to the society of cottagers, mountains and dales’. The purity of whose soul and the elemental simplicity of whose life is not contaminated by the man-made artificial civilization. The mark

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA where Wordsworth feels the same with gothic, is his respond on nature as a reciprocal dealing between man and nature. He tries to express from very deep of his heart nature never betray man to give simplicity and peace in unlimited sense.

4.1.3. THE REALM OF GOTHIC Wordsworth may be considered Gothic in the same vein as the other Dark Romantic writers. Seen in this light, the more affirmative parts of Wordsworth’s poetry and philosophy do not necessarily function as such when considered alongside the more pessimistic and disharmonious parts that disrupt this sense of affirmation. Moreover, his poetry as such betrays a more disturbed mindset, one whose apparent declarations of optimism and spiritual superiority are transformed into a defensive pathology.

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity;

(“It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”, first four lines)

This poem is one of the most personal and intimate in all of Wordsworth’s writing, and its aura of heartfelt serenity is as genuine as anything in the Wordsworth canon. Shortly before he married Mary Hutchinson, Wordsworth returned to France to see his former mistress Annette Vallon, whom he would likely have married ten years earlier had the war between France and England not separated them. He returned to visit Annette to make arrangements for her and for their child, Caroline, who was now a ten-year-old girl. This poem is thought to have originated from a real moment in Wordsworth’s life, when he walked on the beach with the daughter he had not known for a decade.

Although it is described as a ‘beauteous evening, clam and free’, the use of his adjectives denotes a certain tension in the word. For example, the idea of being ‘breathless’ with anticipation helps to loan the poem the idea that something is about to happen. Brooks writes, ‘the adjective ‘breathless’ suggests tremendous excitement; and yet the evening is not only quiet, but calm’. This apparent verbal tension is the cornerstone of the majority of the sonnet. Note the typical sonnet form;

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Wordsworth, however, as a pastoral poet who was largely concerned with the beauty of nature, subverts it by using it to denote the ultimate beauty of the world: the evening at Calais with his young daughter. The reverence evident in the earlier stanza of the poem shows, without a doubt, that Wordsworth is enamored with the view and with the idea of nature as he views it.

The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea: Listen! the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder–everlastingly. Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom all the year; And worship’st at the Temple’s inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not

(“It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”,fifth to fourteenth lines)

The use of divine language to denote nature is repeated again in the second half of the sonnet. Note the reference to the ‘gentleness of heaven broods o’ver the Sea’, perhaps hinting that the Creation myth of the Bible; the use of the word ‘broods’ is also used in intimations, perhaps alluding that it is far more likely to the creation myth. The reference to the ‘eternal motion’ shows immortality; nature will survive where man does not. Although filled with the worship of nature, cannot be as close to nature as the child is. It is the child, therefore, that is the closest to nature, and not the adult poet. He is consumed with nature regardless of whether or not she finds herself in its depths, a parallel opposite to the poem, for whom the majesty of nature seems to exist only when he himself is deep within it. Wordsworth himself says as much –

‘thou liest in Abraham’s bosom all the year’, thus showing the constant connection between children and the natural world, between children and the divine, that

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Wordsworth believed we lost as we grew older.The octave of the sonnet makes the first metaphorical comparisons, stating that the evening is a “holy time,” and “quiet as a nun / Breathless with adoration.” As the sun sets, “the mighty Being” moves over the waters, making a thunderous sound “everlastingly.” In the sestet, the speaker turns to the young girl walking with him, and observes that unlike him, she is not touched by “solemn thought” but he declares that this fact does not make her “less divine”—childhood is inherently at one with nature, worshipping in the unconscious, inner temple of pure unity with the present moment and surroundings. In his poem,

The World Is Too Much With Us:

The world is too much with us: late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers

Wordsworth begins the poem with the term “the world” and the reader quickly begins to understand what that term means in this context. He is talking about the worldly cares and concerns such as money, possessions, and power. And he concludes that it is “too much with us” meaning that we care far too much about these worldly things. He gives more depth of thought to this idea when he suggests that by using our time, minds, and energy in “getting and spending” that we “lay waste our powers”. In other words, people have powers beyond that which they have tapped into, because they are so busy getting and spending. They are tied up in their greed for more money and their time is accounted for by their actions of getting money, spending money, and caring for their possessions. He believes that money and worldly possessions are far more important to people than they should be. He continues,

Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

In these lines, Wordsworth contrasts Nature with “The World”. He reveals that while people spend their time in acquiring worldly possessions, the true beauty of the earth cannot be owned. He reveals that very few things that people see in Nature actually belong to them. He then laments, “We have given our hearts away”. He

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA believes that where we should enjoy nature, though it is not ours to own, instead we are filled with greed and we acquire wealth and worldly possessions rather than enjoying nature. The speaker then continues by describing the beauties of nature that people are missing out on by being so caught up in the want for money and possessions.

For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. — Great God!I’d rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

These lines are Wordsworth final exclamation that “we are out of tune” with nature because we are so caught up in worldly wealth. Here, he swears an oath that he would rather be a poor pagan than be so distracted by worldly wealth so as to render himself unable to enjoy the true beauties of life. He appeals to God, and even exclaims that he would rather be a pagan than to be out of touch with nature.

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn In these final lines, Wordsworth reveals that if he were a poor pagan, he would have “glimpses” of nature that would give him joy and hope, or at least make him feel “less forlorn”. He would rather be poor and helpless and connected with nature than rich and powerful and alienated from it.

In the final two lines, he refers to two pagan gods. Proteus was thought to be able to tell the future, though he avoided doing so if he could. The speaker implies that had he been a pagan, perhaps he could imagine being in touch with Proteus, or at least catching a glimpse of him as he stares out across the sea. Triton was the pagan god that was said to be able to calm the waves of the sea. This implies that the speaker looks out at the sea, enjoying nature, long enough to see Triton and Proteus. The speaker refers to these two pagan gods after he first appeals to God and swears that he would rather be a pagan than alienated from nature

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 4.2. FINDING Poetry, like prose, is a form of discourse whose instrument is language. Its function, like that of prose, is to communicate, and it must never allow its emotional content t obliterate its message. The poet is a thinker and although not all great thinks are great poets, few great poets are shoddy thinkers. Poetry communicates with economy and precision, but its precision differs from that of expository prose. Poetry is frequently concerned with the very feelings, reactions, and attitudes which the prose writer avoids because they interfere with the directness and clarity of his statement. With metaphor and symbol the poet expresses concepts that are so far- ranging and complex that they could be encompassed in factual prose only with the greatest difficulty. The poet does not need to communicate, fact, advice, or instruction though some poems do all these things. The truth of poetry is the truth of an experience which the reader is made to know in its totality, emotionally and rationally, with a large number of its implications simultaneously explored. The truth of a poem does not need external verification. It is implicit in the poem itself, and for this reason a poem can never be really paraphrased.

William Wordsworth is one of the romantic poets. The romantic movement which had its beginnings probably in the second half of the eighteenth century. As philosophy of life, romanticism represents culmination of the belief in human perfectibility. Romanticism is faith in the potentialities of mankind, which runs counter to the sense of human sins, guilt, and insignificance that is characteristic of so much earlier literature. The Romantic faith expresses itself in a near-deification of the individual and a total believe in nature as manifestation of God and His wisdom. In nature, romantic finds a universal goodness and direct emanations from the present of God.

Nature offers a wonderful phenomenon that the trees never feel jealous towards the other trees. They grow freely without any hatred or envy towards one another. Not only trees that give quietness to the man who wants to find out fresh mind from the difficulty of life matters, but also the beauty of nature gives pleasure for man to find their own self identity. The singing of the birds has resulted the beautiful sound that entertain man’s ears to enjoy the world or even the stream of river water that runs deep to the sea denoting how peace the nature is. This nature phenomena brings

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Wordsworth to echo the tranquility of nature in his faraway dream. Wordsworth places his imagination and fantasy to find a new world in the nature which is so far different from the real world of man on earth.

Wordsworth’s discovery on quite life in nature is closely related to his idea that nature offers liberty, equality, and kindness. It is wrapped well in the motto return to the nature as symbol of life freedom which is dominantly expressed in his poems. In other words, nature has been treated as a source of imagination to enter a new world of happiness that frees man from any anxiety of life.

Besides nature as symbol of life freedom, man is supposed to be power centered or egoist. Greediness has become the characteristic of man in general, let alone the power syndrome that the rich always victimize the poor, the strong treat badly the weak. There is no save have anymore for man to stay. Man has already had a machine heart that there is no the sense of humanity anymore. Man has been full with hypocrisy that true can be made wrong and something wrong can be made true. This phenomenon of man’s behaviors makes Wordsworth play his imagination to escape to nature for getting the grace of God in terms of eternal quietness.

Escape phenomenon to nature is basically a kind of response on the disappointment towards man’s infidelity on the humanity itself. The willingness to destroy humanity through war, the replacement of machine to substitute man’s heart and the cruelty of power has colored the complexity of life matters. This phenomenon has brought Wordsworth to find out his way to nature in the form of escapism.

Gothic element is an expression of fear and anxiety at man’s place in the world. In the realm of poetry, the phenomenon of dark place tends to be understood as the devil place and the light has the power to shelter good man from the dark. Gothic that offers dark place in terms of fear is directed to moral ambiguity of man that tends to do something wrong rather something good. It means that Gothic element in Wordsworth’s poems imply how man must choose which one is to follow. In other word, man must come into the world of darkness in order to understand the darkness itself. By knowing the darkness, there must be an instrument of lighting to walk through. This gothic expression simplifies the willingness of man of the world of

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA darkness has more dominant than kindness. So, gothic phenomenon is meant to create awareness how hurtful immorality is. By so doing, gothic phenomenon advances perfection of man’s behavior in the world of imagination.

Above all, Nature for William Wordsworth means different thing to different poets. The glorification of tress, hills, rocks, and streams may have sprung in part from the revulsion aroused in Romantic poet by the sordid, misery-ridden cities of his time. Nature poetry is one reaction against the new factory system and the growth of urban slums. Nature represents the continuity way of life and the joys of nature come to be associated nostalgically with the joys with childhood, freedom, vitality, and the rapture of enthrallment by simple things.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1. CONCLUSIONS Poetry is a form of expression that has its own characteristics such as stanza that contains lyrics. The ultimate goal of poetic expression is its subject matter or word the poem talks about. As romantic poet, William Wordsworth has falling in love with the beauty of nature as symbol of life freedom. Nature keeps the peace and eternal love that man has ever dreamt full. Nature reflects the truth in which there is no hatred, jealousy, violence, to say some. In short, the expression of nature is the key point of romantic poets including William Wordsworth.

Nature portrait it supposes to be a faraway dream land where imagination is brought to find out happiness. The creation of the world fantasy has been made as reason to run away from the boredom of daily life matters. In this case, the creation of new world through fantasy has become phenomenon of romantic element. It is no doubt fantasy is a kind of medicine to free man from being sick in the real world of hypocrisy. Nature never tells lies and grows freely as the way it likes. The voice of nature is liberty for all.

The concept of escape in the romantic element has been inherently bound with the feeling of being free from tiredness of life. The walking machine that represents man’s power has created man as robot that has no heart of humanity anymore. That condition makes the romantic poet such as Wordsworth runs away from the real world and come into the new world of fantasy that is nature itself. Escape has been supposed to be the only solution forgetting through pleasure that is in world of nature.

Intensely, poverty, injustice, and starving are supposed to be enemy of man related today, gothic experience that leads man to be a custom facing the fear implies the way out of running through this fear. Gothic experience as another phenomenon of romantic element shows moral ambiguity that result contradictory of complex reality. Therefore, Gothic element directs attraction that nature offers complete satisfaction of man’s life.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 5.2. SUGGESTIONS

Romantic movements have colored the history of literature which is different from classic movement, Victorian movement, realistic movement, to say some examples. The color of romanticism has been richly provided through poems. Thus, the study of romanticism can enrich insight and understanding of word vocabulary in terms of understanding man and his life.

This thesis has focused on William Wordsworth as romantic writer which is not only he who has been known worldly. There are many romantic poets that need studying for their insights and understandings about man and life. This thesis offers a bit that can be traced more widely than this. Whatever the reason is, language is the instrument used by man to understand the world where they live. The language of the romantic poet contains rich vocabulary that need for study especially for student of literature. It is hope this thesis can be starting spirit to do more in advanced better than this.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA REFERENCES

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Apprilliawati, Ita. 2010. Refflection of Wordsworth’s Loving Devotion To The Nature In Lines Written In Early Spring By William Wordswoth. Semarang: Fakultas Sastra Universitas Diponegoro.

Cuddon, J.A.1998. Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory. London: Penguin Books

Eagleton, Terry.1988. “Capitalism, Modernism,andPost-Modernism” in David Lodge Modern Criticism and Theory. New York: Longman.

Faruk. 1986. “Metode Grounded dalam Penelitian Sastra” sebuah pembuka diskusi”. Yogyakarta: Makalah PIPSI VIII, 13-14 Oktober.

Furst, Lilian. R.1979.Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hadi, Sutrisno. 2004. Methodology Research. Yogyakarta: penerbit Andi Yogya.

Hanafi, Ahmad. 2011. The Analysis Of William Wordsworth’s Two Lucy Poems. Medan: Fakultas Sastra USU.

Kennedy, X.J. 1991. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Fifth Edition. New York: Harper Collins Publisher.

Ningrum, Suriati. 2010. William Blake's Treatment of Nature in His Selected Poems. Medan: Fakultas Sastra USU.

Nawawi, H. 1993. Metode Penelitian Bidang Sosial. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press.

Nazir, Mohammad. 1986. Metode Penelitian. Jakarta: Ghalia Indonesia.

Pardede, Martha. 2009. Understanding Poetry. Medan.

Perrine, Laurence. 1974. Literature: Structure Sound and Sense. (Second Edition). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Schleiermacher, F.D.E. 1768- 1834. Hermeneutics and Criticism and Other Writings. Halle University

Seldon, Raman.1991. Panduan Pembaca Teori Sastra masa kini. trans. by Rahmat Joko Pradopo. Yogyakarta: Gadja Mada University Press.

Siswantoro. 2002. Apresiasi Puisi-puisi Sastra Inggris. Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press.

Ratna, Nyoman Kutha. 2004. Teori, Metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Ribner, Irving.1962. Poetry: A Critical and Historical Introduction. Chicago: Scott. Foresman & Company.

Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. 1967. Theory of Literature. New York: Harvest Harcourt Jovanovich.

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APPENDICES

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA i. Biography of William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a famous English poet who played a central role in the English Romantic Movement. He is the best known for ushering in the Romantic Age in English Literature with the joint publication of ‘Lyrical Ballads’ with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798. He was born on April 7, 1770, in Cookermouth, Cumberland, England. is father, John Wordsworth, introduced the young William to the great poetry of Milton and Shakespeare, but he was frequently absent during William’s childhood. Instead, Wordsworth was brought up by his mother’s parents in Penrith, but this was not a happy period. He felt frequently in conflict with his relations and at times contemplated ending his life. However, as a child, he developed a great love of nature, spending many hours walking in the fells of the Lake District. Wordsworth’s mother died when he was 7, and he was an orphan at 13. He also became very close to his sister, Dorothy, who would later become a poet in her own right. In 1778, William was sent to Hawkshead Grammar School in Lancashire; this separated him from his beloved sister for nearly nine years. In 1787, he entered St. John’s College, Cambridge. It was in this year that he had his first published work, a sonnet in the European Magazine. While still a student at Cambridge, in 1790, he travelled to revolutionary France. He was deeply impressed by the revolutionary spirit and the principles of liberty and egalite. On a return trip to France the next year, he fell in love with Annette Vallon, who gave birth to their daughter in December 1792. However, Wordsworth had spent his limited funds and was forced to return home. The separation left him with a sense of guilt that deepened his poetic inspiration and resulted in an important theme in

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA his work of abandoned women. On 4 October, following his visit with Dorothy to France arranging matters with Annette, Wordsworth married his childhood friend Mary Hutchinson. Dorothy continued to live with the couple and grew close to Mary. The following year Mary gave birth to the first of five children, three of whom predeceased her and William: Dora Wordsworth, Thomas Wordsworth, Catherine Wordsworth, John Wordsworth, William “Willy” Wordsworth.

In 1795, Wordsworth received an inheritance that allowed him to live with his younger sister, Dorothy. That same year, Wordsworth met Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The two became friends, and together worked on Lyrical Ballads (1798). The volume contained poems such as Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” and helped Romanticism take hold in English poetry. The same year that Lyrical Ballads was published, Wordsworth began writing The Prelude, an epic autobiographical poem that he would revise throughout his life (it was published posthumously in 1850). While working on The Prelude, Wordsworth produced other poetry, such as “Lucy.” He also wrote a preface for the second edition of Lyrical Ballads; it described his poetry as being inspired by powerful emotions and would come to be seen as a declaration of Romantic principles. Wordsworth’s first poems, Descriptive Sketches and An Evening Walk, were printed in 1793. He wrote several pieces over the next several years. Most of his poems in this collection centered on the simple yet deeply human feelings of ordinary people, phrased in their own language. His views on this new kind of poetry were more fully described in the important “Preface” that he wrote for the second edition (1800). Wordsworth’s most memorable contribution to this volume was “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” which he wrote just in time to include it. This poem is the first major piece to illustrate his original talent at its best. It skillfully combines matter-of-factness in natural description with a

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA genuinely mystical (magical) sense of infinity, joining self-exploration to philosophical speculation (questioning). The poem closes on a subdued but confident reassertion of nature’s healing power, even though mystical insight may be obtained from the poet. In its successful blending of inner and outer experience, of sense perception, feeling, and thought, “Tintern Abbey” is a poem in which the writer becomes a symbol of mankind. The poem leads to imaginative thoughts about man and the universe. This cosmic outlook rooted in the self is a central feature of romanticism. Wordsworth’s poetry is undoubtedly the most impressive example of this view in English literature. Wordsworth, even while writing his contributions to the Lyrical Ballads, had been feeling his way toward more ambitious schemes. He had embarked on a long poem in unrhymed verse, “The Ruined Cottage,” later referred to as “The Peddlar.” It was intended to form part of a vast philosophical poem with the title “The Recluse, or Views of Man, Nature and Society.” This grand project never materialized as originally planned. However, such a large achievement was still beyond Wordsworth’s scope (area of capabilities) at this time. It was back to the shorter poetic forms that he turned during the most productive season of his long literary life, the spring of 1802. The output of these fertile (creative) months mostly came from his earlier inspirations: nature and the common people. During this time he wrote “To a Butterfly,” “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” “To the Cuckoo,” “The Rainbow,” and other poems. Poems about England and Scotland began pouring forth from Wordsworth’s pen, while France and Napoleon (1769–1821) soon became Wordsworth’s favorite symbols of cruelty and oppression. His nationalistic (intense pride in one’s own country) inspiration led him to produce the two “Memorials of a Tour in Scotland” (1803, 1814) and the group entitled “Poems Dedicated to National Independence and Liberty.” The best poems of 1802, however, deal with a deeper level of inner change. In Wordsworth’s poem “Intimations of Immortality” (March–April), he plainly recognized that “The things which I have seen I now can see no more”; yet he emphasized that although the “visionary gleam” had fled, the memory remained, and although the “celestial light” had vanished, the “common sight” of “meadow, grove and stream” was still a potent (strong) source of delight and solace (comfort).

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Thus Wordsworth shed his earlier tendency to idealize nature and turned to a more sedate (calm) doctrine (set of beliefs) of orthodox Christianity. Younger poets and critics soon blamed him for this “recantation” (renouncing), which they equated with his change of mind about the French Revolution. His Ecclesiastical Sonnets (1822) are clear evidence of the way in which love of freedom, nature, and the Church came to coincide (come together at the same time) in his mind. As he grew older, Wordsworth began to reject radicalism. In 1813, he was named as a distributor of stamps and moved his family to a new home in the Lake District. By 1818, Wordsworth was an ardent supporter of the conservative Tories. Though Wordsworth continued to produce poetry—including moving work that mourned the deaths of two of his children in 1812—he had reached a zenith of creativity between 1798 and 1808. It was this early work that cemented his reputation as an acclaimed literary figure. Wordsworth died of pleurisy on 23 April 1850. He was buried in St Oswald’s church Grasmere. After his death, his widow Mary, published his autobiographical ‘Poem to Coleridge’ under the title “The Prelude”.

The Honors and Achievements By the 1820s, the critical acclaim for Wordsworth was growing, though ironically critics note that, from this period, his poetry began losing some of its vigor and emotional intensity. His poetry was perhaps a reflection of his own ideas. The 1790s had been a period of emotional turmoil and faith in the revolutionary ideal. Towards the end of his life, his disillusionment with the French revolution had made him more conservative in outlook. In 1838, Wordsworth received an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Durham. In 1839 he received an honorary degree from Oxford University and received a civil pension of £300 a year from the government. In 1843, he was persuaded to become the nation’s poet laureate, despite saying he wouldn’t write any poetry as Poet Laureate. Wordsworth is the only Poet Laureate who never wrote poetry during his time as Poet Laureate

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ii. The Selected Poems

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,

The holy time is quiet as a Nun

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun

Is sinking down in its tranquility;

The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea;

Listen! the mighty Being is awake,

And doth with his eternal motion make

A sound like thunder—everlastingly.

Dear child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,

If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,

Thy nature is not therefore less divine:

Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;

And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,

God being with thee when we know it not.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Lines Written in Early Spring

I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; And ’tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played, Their thoughts I cannot measure:— But the least motion which they made It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can, That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature’s holy plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The Tables Turned

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you'll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless— Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:— We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The World Is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA