Contents

. . . . . . . . . . Opening Remarks Vision of Prelude Influence of Nature on Wordsworth he Prelude is histor! of poet"s imagination #egins in sensation and ends in thought $uman mind%creator and recei&er 'oth (!stic e)periences Imagination was impaired and restored Poet"s theor! of Imagination Conclusion

A prominent characteristic which differentiates the English Romantics from that of the poets of 18th century is to be found in the importance which they attached with the imagination and in special view they held of it. In 18th century poetry, imagination was not cardinal point. For Romantics, Imagination is very important. For Romantics, without imagination poetry is impossible. For ordsworth being the pioneer of Romantic cult, imagination was the most important gift that a poet can. he Prelude is beautiful e!ample of turning scenes of native into poem. he Prelude is full account of how ordsworth"s poetry grew and how his imagination developed. In #he $relude, ordsworth laments that language cannot fully incorporate the idea of the imagination, which he adds is named only hrough sad incompetence of human speech *+,-. VI/ -012 #he imagination is particularly important in ordsworth"s most famous wor%, the epic, multi&boo% poem, #he $relude. ordsworth uses his imagination to describe the world, and uses the language of the world to describe the imagination. 3o also hath that intellectual lo&e4 5or the! are each in each4 and cannot stand di&idedl!. *William 6.7lmer2 Framing ordsworth"s fall, the great visions of $relude '(1) foreground this foundational identification. As ordsworth discovers he 3oul4 the imagination of the whole on the summit of snow don *8III4 9-2, so did his confrontation with imagination in *oo% ' move him to remar% similarly that now reco&ering to m! 3oul I sa!4 I recogni:e the glor! *VI4 -1+;<2. Robert +ang *aum has even argued that synonymy of the words soul = imagination remains entirely causal throughout #he

$relude. *ut I must agree with ,onathan ordsworth"s comment on the -now .on episode. /ne responds to the terms soul ( imagination as radically opposed as bringing together and momentarily e0uating the religious principle in man and human creativity. ordsworth was perfectly capable of a slovenly use of language in which no such distinction would be intended. It is disconcerting for instance, to discover his willingness to cross out heart and write soul4 soul and write mind, simply to avoid repetition. -ince his childhood"s days, 1ature has filled his mind with sensations and impression2 and these developed into passions of youth and ideas of maturity in later years. -o form the beginning to the end, we find him tracing the growth and development of this divine faculty and telling us how senses become a gateway to the imaginative mind through which it enters the realm of spirit. It has been made clear by the poet himself in the concluding *#ook 8IV2 boo% of this great poem3 >..we ha&e traced the stream 5rom the 'lind ca&ern whence is faintl! heard Its natural murmur4 followed it to light 6nd open da!? accompanied its course 6mong the wa!s of Nature4 for a time @ost sight of it 'ewildered and engulphed4 hen gi&en it greeting as it rose once more In strength4 reflecting from its placid 'reast he works of man and face of human life. In his inspired poetical language he has tried to tell us in these *oo%s what imaginations and what it do. *ut from the very first *oo% it is clear to us that the whole of #he $relude is a history of the poet"s imagination. For ordsworth, for the growth of his mind, we already %now that the e!perience begins in sensation and ends in thought.

e find how this sense&e!perience ends in such thoughts. #he poet"s bird&nesting adventure that led him to hang 4Above the raven"s nest, by %nots of grass" ends in such e!alting thoughts3 .ust as we are, the immoral spirit grows @ike harmon! in music4 there is a dark Inscruta'le workmanship that reconciles Aiscordant elements4 makes them cling together In one societ!. Although not so very e!plicitly we get some of the very finest lines telling about the mysterious faculty of imagination while ma%ing some philosophic observations on childhood and the child mind. #he child is not outcast, B'ewildered and depressed"3 5or feeling4 has to him imparted power hat through the growing faculties of sense Aoth like an agent of the one great (ind Creates4 creator and recei&er 'oth4 Working 'ut in alliance with the works Which it 'eholds. #hus human mind, rather our imagination is 4creator and recei&er 'oth". e find that all the beautiful and sublime sights, sounds and ob5ects of nature engendered in him an e!alted and ecstatic mood and thence the poet dran% 4the visionary powers" or creative sensibility. #o the poet 4sense and imagination are two e!tremes in the scale of poetic or spiritual apprehension". Oft in these moments such a hol! calm Would o&erspread m! soul4 that 'odil! e!es Were utterl! forgotten4 and what I saw 6ppeared like something in m!self4 a dream4 6 prospect in the mind.

In *oo%s 6II and 6III, and to some e!tent in *oo% 6I7, ordsworth tells us how is imagination and #aste was impaired and restored. *ut in these *oo%s we also find the didactic and moral tone of the poet asserting itself, probably to the detriment to his poetic genius to some e!tent. 3o feeling comes in aid Of feeling4 and di&ersit! of strength 6ttends us4 if 'ut once we ha&e 'een strong4 OhC m!ster! of man4 from what a depth Proceed th! honours. I am lost4 'ut see In simple childhood something of the 'ase Or which th! greatness stands? 'ut this I feel hat from th!self it comes? that thou must gi&e4 Dlse ne&er can it recei&e. *ut, in fact, the poet gives us in the concluding #ook 8IV, an e!plicit statement of his theory of imagination in his own poetic language after his mystic e!perience or vision that had on the top of -now down mountain3 here I 'eheld the em'lem of a mind hat feeds upon infinit! that 'roods o&er he dark a'!ss4 intent to hear Its &oices issuing forth to silent light In one continuous stream4 a mind sustained #! recognitions of transcendent power4 In soul of more than mortal pri&ilege -o, the poet saw the symbol of a mind that derives sustenance from the Infinite. #o him, it was the symbol of a mind that can convert simple sense&impressions into ideas and images and that e!hibits itself as immorality in the soul.

#he poet believes that the spiritual love and the imaginations are interdependent, and it is not opposed to reason, as it combines reason with emotions, feelings with thought and ultimately converting them into inspiration that e!alts and elevates our mind. And we may say that to the poet"s imagination represents the power of the soul to see into 4the life of things" and to reali8e complete unity and oneness of life. e may now conclude by 0uoting the very illuminating lines on this divine faculty by Prof. Earrod/ he imaginati&e facult! is that facult! which4 '! 'inding the things of sense to the moral affections4 transmutes them4 makes them of part of poetr!%whether the poetr! of 'ook or of life% and4 in so doing4 links us with the things in the world which are present4 and assures us of immoralit!. he &ision of the sense melts and dissol&es4 'ut it melts into the re&elation of permanent super sensual realities. he fashions of the world passes awa!? 'ut it fades 'efore a mind conscious of an order of things fashioned immoralit!.