Time and Mind in Wordsworth's PoetryWilliam Wordsworth was fascinated by the relationship of the creative mind to the created world, and by the effect of time on both of them. In this important new study, Jeffrey Baker explores the significant ways in which the theme of time is manifested in the imagery and diction of Wordsworth's major poetry. He discusses the poet's preoccupation with "clock" and "natural" time, as well as his escape from time through "deliberate holiday" and in the famous visionary "spots of time." Throughout his analysis, Baker concentrateson the texts which the poet himself approved for publication, asserting that the growing practice of citing poetically inferior versions for biographical or other extra poetic reasons misdirects a reader's attention. Only by reexamining the familiar poems as poems, rather than as philosophical or psychological statements, is it possible to appreciate how Wordsworth's changing concepts of the creator, the poet, and the ambiguities of time function as works of art. The volume includes a selected bibliography and an appendix describing the early Christian shrines alluded to in The Prelude. |
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... indicates dereliction , a withdrawal of the human touch . “ The soft handling of the elements " is reminiscent of a different kind of handling to which the bowl used to be subject ; had this not ceased , the bowl would not be broken and ...
... indicate the early stages of natural encroachment . The effect is of blurred edges , heaviness , and weariness . The garden has “ lost its pride of neatness , " and the flowers have " broken their trim border - lines . " To notice that ...
... indicates is not securely grounded , for we know that there is corruption in the stars and spruce budworm in the forests , and the convent of Char- treuse is " from the undiscriminating sweep / And rage of one state whirlwind , insecure ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Ordered and Disordered Time | 29 |
The Nature and Status of the Mind | 51 |
Copyright | |
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