Nature in the earlier part of the period is thought of to be only something that the educated can enjoy. To others, the non-educated, Nature is something horrible and also a frightening. In James Thomson's The Seasons this distinction between the common people and the educated view's of nature is best seen. Thomson describes the common peoples feelings upon viewing nature (specifically the northern lights) as being fearful.
"From look to look, contagious through the crowd,
The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes
The appearance throws - armies in meet array,
Thronged with aerial spears and steeds of fire;" lines 1115-1118
The rest of the stanza produces more images of disaster and fear. However the educated do not feel the same way.
"Not so the man of philosophic eye
And inspect sage: the waving brightness he
Curios surveys, inquisitive to know
The causes and materials, yet unfixed,
Of this appearance beautiful and new." lines 1133-1137
In the later part of the period this view of nature changes and becomes something that is beautiful and viewed through the individual and the self. In Lines Written in Early Spring, Wordsworth makes a connection between the self (his own self) and nature:
"To her works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran" lines 5-6
Similar connections between the individual and nature are drawn in Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey.
"Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth;" lines 102-105
"Well pleased to recognize
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being." lines 107-111
Tintern Abbey is also filled with words that create a separation of the individual and Nature.
The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes
The appearance throws - armies in meet array,
Thronged with aerial spears and steeds of fire;" lines 1115-1118
The rest of the stanza produces more images of disaster and fear. However the educated do not feel the same way.
"Not so the man of philosophic eye
And inspect sage: the waving brightness he
Curios surveys, inquisitive to know
The causes and materials, yet unfixed,
Of this appearance beautiful and new." lines 1133-1137
In the later part of the period this view of nature changes and becomes something that is beautiful and viewed through the individual and the self. In Lines Written in Early Spring, Wordsworth makes a connection between the self (his own self) and nature:
"To her works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran" lines 5-6
Similar connections between the individual and nature are drawn in Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey.
"Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth;" lines 102-105
"Well pleased to recognize
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being." lines 107-111
Tintern Abbey is also filled with words that create a separation of the individual and Nature.
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