Romantic poetry tends to be more subjective/emotional than
objective/intellectual. Romantic poetry was a reaction against the reason of the
Enlightenment. The emphasis of Romanticism was emotion and individualism. So, most of
what is now considered “romantic” is subjective, introspective and emotional. A lot has
to do with personal experience, themes in rural settings and
individualism.
This poem is mostly subjective and
emotional. The speaker says that the site of a rainbow currently makes his heart leap
just as it did when he was a child. He hopes for the same effect when he is an older
man. Wordsworth believed that a subjective outlook was preferable and that people were
not as emotionally (or intellectually) restrained in rural and natural
settings.
The speaker hopes his days are bound by this
natural piety. On one hand, this means that he hopes his feelings of free expression and
wonder with nature never leave him: his days are bound by this perspective. This is his
personal, subjective way of engaging the world.
On the
other hand, you could interpret this as a hint towards an objective in the sense that
such a perspective could be shared by all people. Subjectivity implies difference
between all individuals. Objectivity implies a truth that applies in all situations. The
only way you can attribute this “personal love of nature” sentiment as an objective
sentiment that may apply to all people is with line 7. “The child is the heart of man.”
If he had said, “my child,” the poem would retain its complete subjectivity. But this
statement is sweeping. It applies, or attempts to encourage the speaker’s sentiments to
all “man” or human kind.
So, it is primarily subjective,
but there is a subtle plea for objectivity; each individual is capable of this
subjective and emotional perspective of nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment