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
Results 1-3 of 17
... scheme he might have absorbed from Coleridge , and certainly richer than any scheme a reader may extrapolate from his work . Nevertheless , certain provisional distinctions help to identify what is happening in the poetry . A good deal ...
... schemes . My scrutiny of Wordsworth's highly original treatment of these themes is the substance of this book , but ... scheme to another . Serious students of Wordsworth have in the recent past been fortunate in a wealth of exploratory ...
... scheme of sending Luke to their prosperous kinsman , hoping that by his industry he will recover their fortunes . Isabel is soon thinking of the encouraging history of Richard Bateman , the parish boy who at his death left estates and ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Ordered and Disordered Time | 29 |
The Nature and Status of the Mind | 51 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown