Green Romanticism. The Perception of the Natural World in Texts by William Wordsworth

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Evolution of Green Romanticism
2.1 Literary Concepts and Important Dates in British Romanticism
2.2 Ecological Approaches to British Romanticism

3. Two Perceptions of the Natural World in Romanticism
3.1 William Wordsworth's Perception of the Natural World
3.1.1 Williams Life and his Literary Works
3.1.2 Perception ofNature in I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud
3.2 Dorothy Wordsworth's Perception of the Natural World
3.2.1 Dorothy's Life and her Literary Works
3.2.2 Perception ofNature in Grasmere Journals
3.3 Comparing Perceptions of Nature in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and Grasmere Journals

4. Conclusion

5. Bibliography

1. Introduction

“How we imagine nature always informs how we imagine ourselves, both as individuals and in our social relationships.” (Hess, Three Natures 2)

When thinking of 'nature', different people will give different explanations, in terms of their individual perceptions of the natural world. In other words, 'nature' can not simply be defined as one entity, since human beings conceive the natural world individually, concerning their specific beliefs, social positionings and cultural backgrounds (cf. Hess 2). Unfortunately, human-caused environmental hazards have led to an impending vitiation of our natural world; The burning of fossil fuels is producing extreme high amounts of carbon dioxide; Glaciers are melting; Forests are shrinking; Animals are suffering. Although these hideous problems affect us human beings as well, they primarily concern the natural world and non-human beings.

The Era of British Romantic poetry is, among other events, literally shaped by the bad influences and consequences of the Industrial Revolution in late 1780 England; A phase of modernisation, but most importantly, a phase of rapid urbanisation and capitalism. Therefore, Romantic poetry often sees nature as a save haven that protects the imagination, and "protests against the dominant ideologies of 'political economy' and industrialism'"(Clark, Literature and the Environment 1) Nevertheless, the natural world is often portrayed exclusively as a lovely decoration in the poet's life; Birds singing and flowers dancing to pleasure their humanly spectator. But nature is more thanjust a passive backdrop or setting for humankind. Who allowed humankind to treat nature like an open resource for their amusement and needs? Who invented a hierarchy within nature, and why is it that human-beings have more worth than animals or plants? British Romanticism, thus, deals with the relationship and the meaning of our existence and our moral values towards the natural world and our human community. Hence, poetry within this Era presents a form of ecocritical and environmental literature. Different authors represent different attitudes towards their perceptions of the natural world and, eventually, tell us not only how they imagine themselves as an individual, but within their respective social relationships.

This paper deals with individual perceptions of the natural world and different positions of oneself within nature. Therefore, it presents an overview of British Romanticism and pictures different concepts of this Era. Important historical events and ecological approaches will be discussed, in order to connect these concepts to Romantic Ecocriticism. The paper focuses on two selected texts by two prominent authors from the Era of British Romanticism; William Wordsworth and Dorothy Wordsworth. In detail, their different individual representations of the natural world and their own standing within nature will be analysed and compared; Eventually these findings will be connected to ecocritical concepts.

This paper is supported by various authors of studies in Romantic Ecocriticism and British Romanticism. Among others, John C. McKusicks and Kevin Hutchings' essays will help portraying the evolution of Green Romanticism. N. Hallam and Scott Hess are supporting this writing in terms of analysing the ecological concepts of respective literary works by the presented authors. Finally, a step into the future of the natural world will be taken, concerning present environmental hazards and their long term consequences for the humankind and the natural world, itself.

2. The Evolution of Green Romanticism

In late 18th century and early 19th century England, the natural world turned out to be a safe haven for humankind; Especially for poets, nature crystallized as an untouched environment where the imagination could run free and loose from society and its corrupt affects on the human mind and soul. The following chapter discusses the evolution of Romantic ecocriticism and, therefore, presents literary developments and concepts within the Era ofBritish Romanticism.

2.1 Literary Concepts and Important Dates in British Romanticism

The early 18th century had been a success for England and its expansion of the British Empire. The Act of Union in 1707 had helped Britain to become the biggest colonial power in the world. Nevertheless, tightening military control from Britain towards America caused Americas Declaration of Independence in 1774 and, eventually, resulted in the First American War of Independence, one year later. In 1785, two years after the War had ended, England began to change economically and socially; The Industrial Revolution started, and with it, mass urbanisation in various big cities, for example Manchester. Capitalism and commercialism indicated late 18th century England. Mass production of textile and steel had turned many parts of Britain into dark places, due to the coke­producing factories. Late 18th century England "was experiencing a change from a primarily agricultural society, where wealth and power had been concentrated in the landholding aristocracy, to a modem industrial nation" (cf. Greenblatt (Ed.), Norton Anthology of English Literature 1413).

When on July, 4th , in 1789 the Storming of the Bastille took place, the ideas of the French Revolution spread into various European countries. People started questioning hierarchies and ideological beliefs like social superiority, thus, concepts like monarchy and slavery, itself were challenged. Moreover, the French Revolution evoked enthusiastic support among English liberal and radical intellectuals who wanted a social change. Especially women gathered a momentum, when Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman from 1795 addressed the inequality and the underprivileged on her own sex and demands liberty, freedom and equality for everyone (cf. Greenblatt 1504). In other words, intellectuals in the Era of British Romanticism turned away from rational concepts of the Enlightenment and classical literature from the early 18th century. The individual is the only remaining meaningful identity, thus, democracy is the sole form of parliament. In detail, the idea of Romanticism is one of individualism and independence; The abolition of the British Slave Trade in 1807, as well the First Bill Reform Act in Parliament, in 1832, were the most significant legacies of this new form of radical social thinking.

Augustan Literature and the Neoclassicism from the 17th and early 18th century idealized poetry in terms of it following the rules of ancient authors, like Homer and Aristotle; Therefore, it was regulated strictly and of artificial language (cf. Greenblatt 1209). In the following years, poetry remained the dominant literary form, however, poets and philosophers began to emphasize a belief in the essential role of passion and realized that "the intuitive feelings of the 'heart' had to supplement the judgements of the purely logical faculty, the 'head'" (Greenblatt 1424). In detail, poetry in the Romanticism follows emotions and reason and, most importantly, is asking the people to make up their own minds. Nature had been the most prominent observation for many writers, since they saw the primary laws in the natural world. However, poems in which nature does not exist in terms of pleasuring their spectator, but rather speaks and exists for itself, gathered momentum. Moreover, "the new sense of power" that came from poets, made their literary imagination address social criticism and, eventually, guide historical changes, as well.

2.2 Ecological Approaches to British Romanticism

In his essay Ecology from 2005, James C. McKusick argues that the new approach of ecological literary criticism, also known as Ecocriticism, became prominent in the late 1990s, when ascending environmental hazards led to concerns throughout the whole industrialized world. Kusick mentions the literary critic Jonathan Bate, who had started to reflect on the importance of poets and the purpose of literary criticism, itself in his essential work Song of the Earth from 2000. Moreover, Kusick considers whether poetry should be engaged with political and social problems. He wonders whether poetry should be an realistic representation oflife, or simply the decoration on top. In detail, British Romantic poetry addresses "the relationship between humankind and the natural world (and) has become one of the most important terrains for the development of ecological literary criticism" (Kusick Ecology 199). Moreover, Kusick argues that any person who writes Literature, must be aware of the fact that the environmental hazards that are all human caused, are the reason why our planetary ecosytem is being destroyed. Although these problems had been acknowledged many years ago, Kusick explains that no effective action had been taken ever since. This is where Bate would see the main function of literature, namely to improve the people's consciousness. Poetry, thus, would question underlying ethical values and, eventually, put awareness on the natural world and the increasing risk of its downfall (cf. Kusick 199f). Following, Kusick defines the meaning of 'ecology' itself. The word is derived from the word oikos which means house, or dwelling place in Greek and was first recorded in 1873. In detail, an ecological view of the natural world portrays "the Earth as a household, a dwelling-place for an interdependent biological community" (Kusick 202).

In addition, Kusick refers to Lawrence Buell and his work The Environmental Imagination from 1995, where the author exemplifies which conditions consider a poem or a text to be an environmental text. Hence, an environmental text would describe nature not as a decoration or framing device but as a presence that puts nature as the origin of human history. Buell argues that these type of texts are particular prominent in the Era of British Romanticism, and, eventually, present a new 'green' reading ofRomantic Literature (Kusick 200f).

Moreover, he exemplifies different understandings of various Romantic authors, concerning their perception of the natural world. In his poem 'Summer', John Clare raises awareness on the importance of small insects within the natural world. Thus, he makes a beetle describe itself through its own point of view. Clare evokes the reader to sympathize with the small non-human being and appreciates its essential role within the ecosystem (Kusick 204). Charlotte Smiths' "The Return of the Nightingale" from 1791 portrays the female singing bird as "an embodiment of nature, possessed of mysterious powers" (Kusick 206). The nightingale takes on the power of nature and its complexity in terms of it being immortal, but, at the same time, is easily destroyable. Lord Byron's' poem "Darkness" from 1816, pictures an "apocalyptic dream-vision" of an earth that had been destroyed. Humanity is lost since darkness had fallen upon nature. The poem points out the "inevitable consequence of unsustainable human activity in a global ecosystem." Concerning the contemporary industrial revolution, Byron's vision could be read as a potential warming, back then; Especially when taking into account present environment hazards, like the global climate change (Kusick 209).

Kevin Hutchings argues that literature from the British Romantic Era often "values the non-human world most highly, celebrating nature as an beneficent antidote to the crass world of getting and spending, and lamenting its perceived destruction" (Hutchings, Ecocriticism 172). In his opinion, the Era of Romanticism had presented various social and environmental conflicts that. Timothy Clark discusses the human relationship with the natural world in his essay The Challenge from 2011. Most importantly, the belief that the natural world functions primarily as an open resource for humankind and its capitalist ideology is criticized by a radical grouping, the 'deep ecologists' (Clark, The Challenge 1). In particular, these people recognize the problem in the assumption that the human being is the centre of norm. The so called 'anthropocentric' view sees nature as entirely dependent on the humankind and primarily exists, in terms of a resource, in order to serve the human interests and their economic needs. In contrast, the ' biocentric' point of view values all natural life and identifies "with all life or a whole ecosystem, without giving such privilege to just one species" (Clark 3). In detail, ecosystems are able to work on their own in terms of being self-reliant and self-contained. They connect human beings and non-human beings and create an interconnected self-mechanism. Different from an ecosystem, the environment is build by human beings and is influenced by their motives; Thus, the environment is dependent on humanity and their interests only. Moreover, Clark refers to Murray Bookchin who explains that especially ecofeminists originate the anthropocentric view of dominating nature within the idea of domination in between the humankind. Therefore, ecological issues occur due to forms ofhierarchy within society (cf. Clark 2).

In conclusion, the contrary terms of anthropocentrism and biocentrism view nature extremely contrariwise; On the one hand, the natural world is seen as a dependent environment, where human beings always take priority over non­human beings. On the other hand, nature is portrayed as a self-reliant ecosystem, where all species have the same worth; No hierarchical structure are present within nature. Particularly, the anthropocentric view on nature pictures the human being as an egocentric creature, whereas the biocentric view embraces a holistic perception of the entire natural world and sees the human as a part of greater being, (cf. Clark 2). In detail, the idea of nature within the Era of British Romanticism portrays different perceptions of the natural world and one own positioning.

3. Two Perceptions of the Natural World in Romanticism

Presented ecological approaches within British Romanticism have shown how diverse the perceptions of nature can be. Especially within in the Era of British Romanticism, various poets have not only addressed environmental hazards, but challenged the consciousness for political problems and socially inequalities. The following chapter discusses two texts by William Wordsworth (/ Wandered Lonely as a Cloud) and Dorothy Wordsworth {Grasmere Journals) concerning their individual perceptions of the natural world. Moreover, presented ecological concepts will be connected to their texts, concerning the question whether poetry should be a representation of reality or simply functions as a decoration.

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