World Poetry Month: Day Eighteen
Today’s poetry is ‘‘Travelling’ a poem by William Wordsworth.
The Romantic movement cannot be discussed without mentioning William Wordsworth, arguably the most influential Romantic poet of all time.
Throughout his poetry, he expresses reverence for nature, because he believes that love of nature leads to love of humanity.
In his friendship with Samuel T. Coleridge, both men believed that nature should serve as a metaphor for unifying pantheism, which brings people together for a common good, and that compassion for all living things could result from imaginative engagement with the natural world.
The hippies of the 1960s and ‘70s were a little late in the game on this idea. In contrast to the formal, stylized language used by poets before him, he used the vocabulary of ordinary people.
The purpose was to convey feelings honestly without embellishment, and it was a better way to write about nature.
It is a good example of his poetic style that his poems have a certain elegance in their simplicity.
‘Travelling’ by William Wordsworth ▶️
This is the spot:—how mildly does the sun
Shine in between the fading leaves! the air
In the habitual silence of this wood
Is more than silent: and this bed of heath,
Where shall we find so sweet a resting-place?
Come!—let me see thee sink into a dream
Of quiet thoughts,—protracted till thine eye
Be calm as water when the winds are gone
And no one can tell whither.—my sweet friend!
We two have had such happy hours together
That my heart melts in me to think of it.
