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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... light , for all the hill about us was dark . Before we reached Thirsk we saw a light before us , which we thought at first was the moon , then Lime - kilns ; but when we drove into the market place it proved a large Bonfire , with Lads ...
... light of the declining sun rebounds with such surprising flashes . " Diamond " and " sparkling " suggest a hard glitter of light in contrast to conventional notions of evening light , when " barred clouds bloom the soft - dying day ...
... light Had failed , and every leaf and flower were lost In the dark hedges . So their days were spent In peace and comfort . ( Ll . 523–33 ) His hard work is measured against both natural and social time scales : " In summer , ere the ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Ordered and Disordered Time | 29 |
The Nature and Status of the Mind | 51 |
Copyright | |
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