Tintern Abbey

7 Pages 1856 Words

ation of nature and the scenery takes a decidedly personal and emotional turn as Wordsworth yearns for the return of both his youth and his beloved Abbey. Wordsworth writes, “…nor with their green and simple hue, disturb the wild green landscape,” (14), associating the innocence of youth with words such as ‘simple’ and ‘wild’. He also writes “…from this green earth…in nature and the language of the sense…the anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, the guide, the guardian of my heart and of all my moral being” (106), connecting ‘greenness’ and innocence as part of the same memories and emotions.
Wordsworth looks down on the ruins of Tintern Abbey and feels as though the corruption of the political state is directly related to the corruption of nature, and his own youth. When he refers to the undisturbed landscape of green on green, he tells the audience of the pure, passionate and unspoiled nature of his youth, and his first visit to the Abbey (Peters 1). Wordsworth repeatedly depicts himself as a young man, using imagery of wildness, passion and thoughtlessness. His idealization of youth is well documented, as he writes in “The P...