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. |
From inside the book
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... consciousness of his own straight - time path to the grave . ( Here surely is the counterpoint Blackstone is seeking . ) The whole of " The Fountain " is deceptively worked out , the simple diction and meter constantly encouraging us to ...
Jeffrey Baker. The idea of a place so secluded that it suspends one's consciousness of time is explored further in ... consciousness that counts . The outrage that follows is perhaps a symbolic reenact- ment Ordered and Disordered Time 47.
... consciousness of time , I totally ignored his sense of history . Byron , of course , is the Romantic poet who most immediately and fruitfully associates places and past events ; in this respect there is no poem quite like Childe Harold ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Ordered and Disordered Time | 29 |
The Nature and Status of the Mind | 51 |
Copyright | |
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