Sonnet III To a Nightingale

In "To a Nightingale" Charlotte Smith discusses her melancholy state to a nightingale. I feel that Smith feels connected to the nightingale. Her poetry is inspired by her sadness similar to the song of a nightingale. Although she feels connected through emotion, she questions the meaning behind the nightingale’s gloomy song. “ What mean the sounds that swell thy little breast, when still at dewy eve though leavest thy nest, thus the listening night to sing thy fate”.  Smith wonders what brought on the nightingales sadness. She does not know what the nightingales “tale of tender woe” is however, she understands what it is like to sing a sad song (or in her case a poem) to nothing but the “listening night”.  Through this connection Smith realizes that she is actually envious of the nightingale. She ends the sonnet with a couplet expressing her envy “ Ah! Songstress sad! That such my lot might be, To sigh and sing at liberty-like thee!” Smith is not envious of it’s suffering, but rather its ability to express that suffering freely. 

Sonnet on Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress

One of the several definitions of the word sensibility given by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is: awareness of and responsiveness toward something (as emotion in another). Although I am not writing my blog on To Sensibility, I believe that word sensibility is pertinent to grasping Sonnet on Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress.  In displaying his response to seeing Helen Maria Williams weep, Wordsworth uses incredibly emotional and descriptive words. Thrilling vein, swimming eyes, delicious pain, loaded heart, and pause of life are a few examples.    His response struck me as natural and instinctive. The combination of his unrefined sensibility and the physical portrayal of it evoked a connected feeling in me. As the reader, I felt a bond to Wortsworth's sentimental sensibility. Wordsworth evoked an emotional response in me; however, I do not feel he took the "easy way out". By easy way out I mean I do not feel he tried to produce emotions in his readers through vulnerability. Wordsworth did not manipulate his readers' emotions. He did not simply throw something sentimental that would create an emotional response in anyone on a piece of paper. A connection that I was able to make through art would be Norman Rockwell's Sunset and Frida Kahlo's Without Hope. When looking at Sunset you see two young children cuddling before a sunset with a puppy behind them. Without thought the viewer feels delightfully cheerful. If Without hope were placed before a viewer one might have to think about her history. Kahlo developed polio as a young child, was crippled from a serious bus accident later on, and then struggled with multiple miscarriages. Even if one did not know her history, the question of why she is displaying her feeling of hopelessness in that way arises. 

Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

In Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey Wordsworth describes a “tranquil restoration” of a pure and happy mind state. This pure and happy state of mind arises when the narrator re-visits a location in nature that he spent time in as a child.  When he returned he felt unified with nature even though he hadn’t been there since he was a child.  He describes this connection as something beyond the obvious relaxation of being on a short vacation. He expressed his connection when he stated “ And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply infused…the guardian of my heart, and soul Of all my moral being”. He truly feels that there is an over arching oneness between nature and humanity.  He explains that his relationship with nature will never be the same as it was five years ago. However, he can now consciously understand the powers behind the beauty of nature that he did not recognize as a child.  One thing I asked myself after reading this was whether the narrator would feel this connection with nature had he not been introduced as a child. This made me think of how children over time have began spending less time outside.  I did a little bit of research and it is said that lack of nature in children’s lives has a noticeable affect.  Some noticeable affect includes anxiety, depression, adhd, and obesity. Attached is a youtube video that illustrates this affect. 

The Tables Turned

 In the poem Tables Turned an interesting take on humans ability to learn from nature given our off balanced relationship is displayed. I feel everything the speaker tells the subject is a spontaneous flow of words. The speaker says to take your nose out of books because you are missing out on the true lessons nature can teach. He expresses how birds are teaching you through song, you just have to be able to listen. He says that nature is always going to be there ready to bless your heart and mind with wisdom and happiness. He explains the amount of knowledge you would gain from being close to a forest compared to knowledge gained from listening to a wise human. If you learn to be in sync with nature it can teach you lessons about man, morality, evil, and good. Wordsworth then comes to say that humanity often obstructs the beauty of natures wisdom by distorting it for our fictitious knowledge . "We murder to dissect" describes the lack of harmony in humans relationship with nature. The purpose of dissection is technically to learn about nature but it displays our one sided, imbalanced relationship. In the end he states that once you can open your heart and establish an interconnected relationship with nature, endless wisdom will be obtained. 

We Are Seven

The battle between rational and supernatural belief is displayed in We Are Seven. The narrator was unwilling to accept the girl’s belief that her deceased siblings still accompanied her. At first read, the little Maid seemed ignorant to the reality of death. The rationality of the narrator overpowered the child's brilliance. The child regarded the death of her siblings in a supernatural way. She assures that they are all there, all seven of them. She eats supper, sings, and knits by their sides. Not once in the poem did she renounce her view, even after repeatedly being told that she was wrong. By stating that they lie in the churchyard she does not seem completely ignorant of the idea that they are dead. It is rare for humans to seem as content when talking about the death of family as she was.  Her faith in the supernatural has made her content. Wordsworth demonstrated two attitudes on death. The attitudes demonstrated were logical and superstitious. Although, the narrator deems the child to be wrong, I think Wordsworth is leaving it in the readers’ hand to decide. 

The Nightingale

The significance of communicating and being in harmony with nature is what Coleridge is trying to express in The Nightingale.  Starting with the significance behind the Aeolian harp. A human cannot play an Aeolian harp with out natures assistance. It is as if the harp is a mediator between a human and the natural world. The fifteenth line of the poem shares " In nature there is nothing melancholy". Coleridge is trying to convey that discovering how to be in harmony with nature brings forth untainted joy. Humans and the natural world are not always in tune with each other. He illustrates nature’s aptitude for brining peace and joy to humans. The agitated infant being put to rest by nature demonstrates this. This is why he feels there is significance behind creating familiarity with nature at a young age. I connected these ideas to a poem by Mary Oliver entitled "The Gift".  She not only appreciates the joy of nature, but also tries to communicate with it. She plays Mahler songs to the mockingbird on what she refers to as a machine. When she returns to the field she hears the mockingbird singing Mahler and feels linked with the natural world.

The Gift is found on page 36 of Mary Oliver’s book of poems entitled House of Light.

The Gift by Mary Oliver

I wanted to thank the mockingbird for the vigor of his song.

Every day he sang from the rim of the field, while I picked

blueberries or just idled in the sun.

Every day he came fluttering by to show me, and why not,

the white blossoms in his wings.

So one day I went there with a machine, and played some songs of

Mahler.

The mockingbird stopped singing, he came close and seemed

to listen.

Now when I go down to the field, a little Mahler spills

through the sputters of his song.

How happy I am, lounging in the light, listening as the music

floats by!

And I give thanks also for my mind, that thought of giving

a gift.

And mostly I’m grateful that I take this world so seriously.

The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere.

In the Rime of the Ancyent Marinere one of the final stanzas states " He prayeth best who loveth best,/ all things both great and small:/ For the dear God, who loveth us,/ He made and loveth all." I think the entire poem is meant to build up to that statement. The realization that everything should be cherished whether it is big and mighty, or small and insignificant.  The marinere had an endless guilt for taking the Albatross' life.  He was unable to pray, drink, and he was faced with the gruesome reality of death. In this period of sorrow he described his soul that was in agony and his heart that was dry as dust. He was burdened until he appreciated the magnificent beauty of the snakes. As soon as he became aware of their beauty he was able to pray and the Albatross fell off of his neck into the sea.  He realized the beauty of every creature small or large and was released from his troubled state.  He lives on to share the insight that he gained.  I have attached the trailer to the movie Avatar. I saw connections between that film and this part of the Rime of the Ancyent Marinere. In Avatar the main character initially goes to Avatar land to take a precious and expensive stone that is in their land.  Obtaining that stone would involve killing many of the Avatars and ruining their peaceful lifestyle. He was able to live with the Avatars, which eventually led to him appreciating their existence. After gaining that appreciation he felt remorse for ever considering destroying their way of life.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi531039513/