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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... constant awareness that the pain and fear with which man confronts time result not from the mind's limitations , but from its qualities ; and second , his notions that all modes of sensing time 22 Time and Mind in Wordsworth's Poetry.
... measurement are misinterpreted , whereas in other cases only one mode is wrongly understood . The result is a growing sense of alarm as Wordsworth looks in turn at every set of time 42 Time and Mind in Wordsworth's Poetry.
... mode of comparison or statement . We need not judge Wordsworth , as we judge Volpone , in order to see that " Tintern Abbey " can be read in a similar way . The false notes then become a necessary part of the tone , a defensive emphasis ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Ordered and Disordered Time | 29 |
The Nature and Status of the Mind | 51 |
Copyright | |
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