A Poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) A Study Guide | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Study Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings..© 2010 Title Information .......When Wordsworth completed this work in 1804, he called it simply "Ode," and the poem carried this title when it was published in 1807. In 1815, when the poem was republished, Wordsworth expanded the title to "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood." Intimations means hints, inklings, or indirect suggestions. Most readers and critics today use the title "Intimations of Immortality" when referring to the poem. ......."Intimations of Immortality" is a lyric poem in the form of an ode. A lyric poem presents deep feelings and emotions rather than telling a story; an ode uses lofty language and a dignified tone and may contain several hundred lines. Composition and Publication Information .......Wordsworth completed the first four stanzas of "Intimations of Immortality" between March and April of 1802. He completed the rest of the poem by early 1804. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme published the poem at Paternoster Row, London, in May 1807 as part of a collection of Wordsworth's works, Poems, in Two Volumes. .......The
entire earth—all its fields and streams and
trees—seemed like heaven to
me when I was a child. Now, however, as spring
begins to unfold its splendor,
I no longer perceive the world this way. True, there
is much beauty around
me: rainbows, roses, moonlight, sunlight, the
reflection of the stars on
evening waters. But these sights, magnificent as
they are, lack the full
glory of what I once saw.
Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood By William Wordsworth .
.......Wordsworth's poem expresses the view that the human soul exists first in heaven. When united at birth with a body, it brings with it impressions of heaven, as the following passage from the poem indicates: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,These “trailing clouds” remain in a growing child as “intimations of immortality,” or memories of his celestial abode. However, when the child passes into his adolescent and teen years, his increasing exposure to the material world and the beauty of nature dims his memories of his heavenly beginning. By the time he enters adulthood, all but the merest recollection of his previous existence disappears. (In the ancient world, Plato believed that the human soul existed before birth in an incorporeal realm. Although it possessed vast knowledge, its memory of this knowledge failed after it united with a body at birth. A human being then occupied himself with restoring this knowledge through education.) Nevertheless, this faint memory is enough to light for him the path back to heaven: Those shadowy recollections, .
Themes Children See the Light .......The speaker of the poem maintains paradoxically that the more a person ages—the more educated and experienced he becomes—the less he knows about heaven and God. A very young child, on the other hand, is a fountain of insight and enlightenment about the supernal world. After all, says the poem's speaker, a child's soul is a recent arrival from paradise. Memories of his heavenly abode are still vivid to him. He still sees the light of the eternal God. Faith .......There is in all of us a heavenly spark that can ignite the fire of faith to support us through troubled times, keeping alive the thought of reuniting with the Creator in the celestial realm. Ennui .......Humans become jaded and world-weary after losing their childhood innocence and enthusiasm. .......Wordsworth
uses iambic feet throughout the poem. An iambic foot
(or iamb) consists
of a pair of syllables, the first one unstressed and
the second stressed.
For example, in the fifth line of the first stanza,
the first two syllables
(The GLOR) make up the first iambic foot, and
the second two syllables
(y AND) make up the second iambic foot. The
meter of the poem varies
from dimeter to hexameter. (A line with two iambic
feet makes up a dimeter;
three feet, a trimeter; four feet, a tetrameter;
five feet, a pentameter;
and six feet a hexameter.)
.......The poem uses end rhyme and internal rhyme. The pattern of the end rhyme varies. Note, for example, the difference between the rhyming pattern of the first stanza and that of the second. There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,Wordsworth uses internal rhyme sparingly but to good effect. Following are examples: But yet I know, where'er I go (line 17)
. Figures of Speech .......Examples of figures of speech in the poem are the following: Alliteration
From God, who is our home (line 66)Anaphora Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups occurring one after the other Ye that pipe and ye that play,Apostrophe Addressing an abstraction or a thing, present or absent, or addressing an absent person or entity And O ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,Metaphor Comparison between unlike things without using like, as, or than The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep (line 25)Paradox Contradictory statement used to express a truth Those shadowy recollections,Personification Comparison of a thing to a person The Moon doth with delightSynecdoche Substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for a part thou eye among the blind (line 112)Study Questions and Writing Topics 1.
Have you ever had "intimations of immortality"? If
so, explain the nature
of them.
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