Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey: William Wordsworth

Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey: William Wordsworth

Composition:

The poem Tintern Abbey was composed in July 1798 . The poem was first published in the Lyrical Ballads.

The setting: The Tintern Abbey is situated on the bank of the river Wye. The Wye is a mountain river and it flows through England. Tintern Abbey is a famous ecclesiastical ruin.

Substance: The calm and quiet beauty of the sight of Tinturn Abbey has been described in the poem. Tintern Abbey is situated on the bank of the river Wye. It is famous ecclesiastical ruin of England. The ruins of old building with an abbey is found here. Wordsworth visited the bank of Wye two times in a gap of five years. Five years elapsed again he hears the murmur of the Wye and watch the steep and lofty cliffs meeting the blue sky. He feels lonely in the sight. He is resting under a big fig tree and watching the cottage with green garden and orchard tufts with green unripe fruits. Again he looks the hedge rows run wild and the pastoral farms all dropped in green. He again observes the curls of smoke rising from among the trees. It may be coming from the tent of gipsy or from the cave of a hermit.

Though he is visiting Tintern Abbey after a gap of five years, but the beautiful scene of the place is not a blank to him. The pleasant landscape and the beauty of the river always present in his mind as to a blind man’s eye. Whenever the poet is in lonely rooms, and in the din of towns and cities, he remembers the lovely scene of the Tintern Abbey. The recollection of scene in the memory thrilled him very much and his heart is filled with joy and sweet sensations. It touches his inner soul and brings calm and happiness. The scenes brings for him the spiritual ecastasy in which he found himself free from mental agony and produce a trans-like state. In this state his breathing is suspended and his blood circulation is also ceased.

Standing on the bank of the river, Wye he feast his eyes on the beauties of Nature and he will carry with him the impressions which will delight him through out his life. His mental state is now totally different since he paid his last visit five years ago. At his first visit to Tintern Abbey, external beauties influenced him with the sights and sounds of the nature. But now the sensuous pleasure is gone. But he does not complaint for this. At this stage he is feeling with his inner soul which is disciplined by sorrow and sufferings.

Wordsworth says that even if he had not learnt to look upon nature as his friend, philosopher and guide, he would still be happy for he is accompanied by his sister in whose lustrous eyes he catches glimpses of that sensuous delight in nature which he himself had once felt. He tells his sister that nature never betray a lover of nature. Let his sister enjoy the beauty of nature with sensuous pleasure. If she feels lonely, or pain without him she will feel coffort by remembering that once she and her brother, the lover of nature stood on the bank of the beautiful river Wye enjoying the lovely scenes and the scene was so pleasant because of her presence.