Emily Neeleman

September 22, 2013

 Blog #6

William Woodsworth and Samuel Coleridge examine nature as it affects man in both their esteemed poems, “Lines, Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” and “This Line-tree Bower my Prison.” The two poets’ speakers have a similar view on nature, but express their views in different fashions. While “Tintern Abbey” and “Lime-tree Bower” both share a deep appreciation and reverence for nature, “Tintern Abbey” focuses more on the abstract concept of nature as a whole, while “Lime-tree Bower” is more concerned with the aesthetic side of nature.

            The speakers in both “Tintern Abbey” and “Lime-tree Bower” are deeply moved by nature, to the point where it touches each of their lives in a different way. The speaker in “Lime-tree Bower” goes through a transformation throughout the poem. In the beginning, he describes himself as trapped in a lime-tree bower and therefore unable to see the parts of nature with more grandeur (Coleridge 16). After the sun begins to set, however, and the surrounding area is bathed in golden sunlight, he begins to see how each part of nature is beautiful, not just the parts with obvious beauty (16). He before describes meadows, thick forests, and the ocean as the splendid aspects of nature (16). However, after spending time sitting trapped in his lime-tree bower, the speaker realizes that the little aspects of nature are beautiful too, such as the grass and the bark of the trees.

            In contrast to the speaker in “Lime-tree Bower”, the speaker in “Tintern Abbey” always knew nature was beautiful. He came back to the outskirts of Tintern Abbey and was profoundly moved by them once again (Woodsworth 4). When he was a boy he would come to Tintern Abbey and build memories with the nature surrounding it (4). As an older man, he still appreciates the same serenity and memories he made there even after he had seen it many times. While the speaker in “Tintern Abbey” holds great stalk in existing in nature, he also believes his memories of the nature around Tintern Abbey are important; he says “Thy memory be as a dwelling-place / For all sweet sounds and harmonies” (5). Nature had a great impact on both the poems’ speakers’ lives. For the speaker in “Lime-tree Bower”, the impact was a transformation; the speaker in “Tintern Abbey” gathered memories from exploring the grounds around Tintern Abbey that made an impact on his life and his view of nature. 

Sentence(s) starting with a FANBOY: The cat chased the mouse down the hall. But, because of the mouse's small nature, it scurried out of reach of the cat.