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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... suppose that with an upright path Your feet must struggle . ( Ll . 1–4 ) We need to rouse our attention to look at these details again . In the phrase " You will suppose , " Wordsworth is not in fact telling the reader how to get to ...
... suppose that the three ramblers round Grasmere are , like the dandelion seeds , moved by a correspondent invisible breeze , " the spirit of the season . " If I give the opening lines this kind of importance , what am I to make of the ...
... suppose that he knew this . It is also not unreasonable to suppose that he may have perceived a certain symbol in the tumbled stones and debris of a church which , through centuries of decay , maintained its consecrated status and ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Ordered and Disordered Time | 29 |
The Nature and Status of the Mind | 51 |
Copyright | |
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