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Reading Response

“The Psycho-Aesthetics of Romantic Moonshine: Wordsworth’s Profane Illumination” by Geoffrey Hartman is an article with a frightening title, but is filled with in-depth explanations of Wordsworth poem “Strange Fits of Passion I Have Known”, furthermore describing Wordsworth style of poetic writing and view on everyday, rural life. The poem, “Strange Fits of Passion I Have Known” is only one of the several Lucy Poems that Wordsworth wrote in the second volume of Lyrical Ballads. This poem can be taken in many ways; straightforward vs. not straightforward, real vs. surreal and naturalism vs. supernaturalism. The poem starts out with a lover riding on horse back in the moonlight to his beloved in her cottage (Lucy.) At the end, the poetic-lover has a final cry when the moon drops behind Lucy’s cottage; he fears that his beloved is dead. “Oh mercy, to myself I cried/ If Lucy should be dead!” (II 27-8). Hartman says about the poetic-lover’s final cry, “What is not straightforward is that the narrator’s “evening ride” or “walking cure” to cite Celeste Langan’s witty concept (225-271), ends in the final cry of distress that places a special burden on interpretation.” He distinctly says this because the final cry is ultimately the “strange fit”, however the “strange fit” can be viewed in several different ways, which seems to be what Wordsworth was going for with his readers.

The Lucy poems are a group of poems by Williams Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge that are about a woman Lucy, but “Lucy” is not just a woman. She is viewed as the spirit of the place she inhabits. In the poem “Strange Fits of Passion I Have Known”, it only suggests that Lucy is dead, but in the other Lucy poems, it justifies that Lucy does truly die. It makes the most sense that Lucy in this poem, portrays the poet’s sense of country side and rural environment. She is the Spirit of Nature that has remained mute and unknown. The thought the poetic-lover has that Lucy is dead, is not just about a dead woman. It is Wordsworth foreshadowing through his poetry the death of the rural environments ability to influence our imagination. The hidden beauty in nature that fuels are imagination will be forgotten and our imaginations will be dull. To analyze and pursue deeper into this poem, notice that the poetic-lover has the thought that Lucy is dead once the moon becomes hidden behind the cottage, what importance does the moon have to this poem? Nature’s beauty (the moon) pulls the lover into almost a trance-like hypnosis. “In one of the sweet dreams I slept/ Kind Nature’s gentlest boon!” (ll 17-18) This passage justifies that the lover is in a trance, through stanzas 5 and 6 the poem continues to describe the lover’s condition. Once the moon disappears, the lover falls out of the trance and back to reality. A mental defense is removed which causes the sudden fear of death to appear, and the lover begins to show anxiety. If this is the case, than the poem is about the mind, rather than action itself. Like all poetry, this poem does not have to “make sense.” “I have already admitted that the boundary between sense and non-sense is not a bright line.” This is what Hartman says about the poem. If we use our imagination when reading this poem we can say that the poetic-lover connects the moons disappearance with Lucy. He raises her, to be all sublime and be equal with the moon. If Lucy represents the moon, than the moon exists both in the mortal and sublunar realm and Lucy appears to be mortal and immortal (also existing in both realms.) As nature reveals its self, the thought of Lucy’s mortality appears and the moon-inspired spell on the lover is broken by the voice from a sublunar realm amplified through the sublimity of the landscape, replacing the previously dominant moon in its imaginative effect (Hartman pg 12). This means that the mute voice of nature is being heard when the spell breaks, and a whole new imagination can begin to excel and fill people’s mind. Almost like a wake up call to the world that is stuck in this “trance” of dull or hidden imagination. This explanation of the poem is definitely a stretch, but the message Wordsworth is trying to convey still comes across, using a part of the imagination that may even seem to be non-sensible. I have found that a lot of Wordsworth writings, or Romanticism poetry in general, seems to be full of hidden messages and when reading this type of poetry, imagination is key to understanding the deeper meanings.

(Alex Young) William Wordsworth “The Idiot Boy” by Joshua Gonsalves

Joshua Gonsalves wrote an article about William Wordsworth’s poem “The Idiot Boy.” The article is titled “Reading Idiocy: Wordsworth’s The Idiot Boy.” This is a very nice strait forward, to the point title. Joshua Gonsalves begins the article by telling how much William Wordsworth enjoyed his poem “The Idiot Boy” As Wordsworth tells here, “I wrote the poem with exceeding pleasure and whenever I read it I read it with pleasure”. Gonsalves begins to explain why Wordsworth had this great love with this poem in particular. He tells us that its is because the poem reminds him of his mother how recently passed away He then goes on breaking down the poem and describing it in a great detail.

After reading “The Idiot Boy” I can see why Wordsworth enjoyed this poem so much. Joshua Gonsalves argues that the idiot at heart of this poem is not as the reader expects, the boy, but his mother. You first assume that the boy is the idiot especially while looking at the title of the poem. Once you actually read the poem all the way through you can see that the mother is actually quite crazy in her own way. In the poem it appears that she looses her mind as she yells into the distance over and over and then later runs into the woods and finds a place to weep. Maybe this is Wordsworth’s way of describing his own mother. In the poem we find that William Wordsworth has opened up his feminine side in a way to write about the mother Betty Foy. As he writes the poem he had to of used a great amount of mother-love thinking. Wordsworth creates Betty Foy as a character who openly shows her love towards her son. This is not the first time that Wordsworth has used Betty Foy as a character in a poem. He also used this character in his poem “The Mad Mother.” Again in “The Mad Mother” Betty Foy lives for her boy. She also appears wild or crazy in the poem “The Mad Mother.” Here we see the mother appears to be the true idiot again. Wordsworth seems to have some deep emotion with his poem “The Idiot Boy” because is says many times that he enjoys it so much. Here he says, “I never wrote anything with so much glee.”

There have been a huge amount of comments on the actual character Johnny From “The Idiot Boy.” A majority of these comments share the same general idea that it is unnatural that a person in a state of complete idiotism should excite the warmest feelings of attachment. I agree that Wordsworth creates Johnny in a way that makes him seem so delighted even with his current problems. Johnny truly never losses his happiness even when he is lost in the woods. Wordsworth does an amazing job changing the way we look at Johnny who in the beginning of the poem, seams that he is sad and depressed because if his idiocy. Then after reading the poem you see that he is very happy and content to just have his mother around. This is why I believe that Wordsworth is telling the story of his life that he had longed for, the life that he never got due to his mothers death. This could partially explain why he loved this particular poem so much. I see Wordsworth is having is mother play the role of Betty Foy, as she is very loving and emotional, and can even come across as a little bit crazy at times. Wordsworth portrays himself as Johnny. Even with his current problems he is overjoyed, and has great satisfaction while being around his mother. This poem truly shows the love that Wordsworth has for his mother who died when he was just 8 years old. William Wordsworth is trying to tell a story of his life and how happy and loving his life would be if his mother were still alive.

"Daffodils" by William Wordsworth

This poem, (which can be found here) like all poetry can be taken many ways. I see this poem in more of a literal translation than I see most. For this poem, it makes sense that Wordsworth is the narrator. After reading this and considering my past observations and thoughts, I believe Wordsworth is the narrator or at least taking more heavily from his experiences. He starts by talking about how he is lonely and wandering. He uses his signature nature simile to link his emotions to nature by calling himself a cloud. He finds the daffodils and falls in love with them. The simplicity of the flower as well as the image they have as a whole. He says they are as "Continuous as the stars that shine" and is thus saying their beauty will never end and neither will they. Possibly a metaphor for nature as a whole rather than just the flowers as he believes that nature is one of the most important things in the entire world. He considers them more beautiful than the ocean beside it, and thus, is filled with happiness as he spends time in the flower patch. This could be an example of that sense of awe people find in nature (this is in reference to one of my last posts on Nature and its impact on Wordsworth and other Romantic poets). He then talks about he can't stop thinking about these flowers, even after being away for awhile, and often the image comes back to him. This brings him more joy as he remembers dancing with the daffodils. This poem is an example of the love and affection that poets had for nature and its importance in their lives. In the beginning, Wordsworth is alone and sad. By the end, he is happier and feels overall better. This is because of nature. The daffodils represent nature as a whole in this poem.

"Wordsworth's Response to Darwin" by Robert M. Ryan

Robert M. Ryan of Rutgers University wrote a paper comparing Wordsworthian philosophy and Darwin philosophy. It is called "Wordsworth's Response to Darwin". A fitting title in my opinion. The basic idea can be summed up in one sentence as it compared the difference in how these two influential men saw nature. Wordsworth viewed nature as almost a religion, while Darwin viewed nature as science. A quote can help add influence to Robert’s view of Wordsworth, "Wordsworth rarely concerned himself with questions of the origin or history of creation. He was interested in testifying to his own experience of a divine Presence immanent in Nature, whose reality, benevolence, and moral intent he never doubted". Nature is important to both of these men. As the quote above stated, Wordsworth believed that Nature was more of a faith and did not need all the answers because he knew Nature was there. Darwin needed science as a way to prove and express his findings about evolution.

Both of these men lived in the same time period, however Wordsworth died in 1850. Nine years later, Darwin published his book, On the Origin of Species. This created some havoc as Wordsworthian philosophy (thinking of nature more as a faith and religion) conflicted in some ways with this radical new scientific idea. While Darwin was off learning about nature from his voyages on the H. M. S. Beagle, Wordsworth was writing poetry and shaping peoples opinions on nature based on said poetry.  At first there was not enough evidence to support Darwin’s theory and thus it was ridiculed. It was years later before people started believing that Evolution could be possible and that humans could have evolved as well. Many people had just started believing in something other than the Catholic church and  many didn’t want to consider that there was nothing divine in this world. That’s what many of these people saw in Darwin’s book. Most of Darwin’s own family were Wordsworthians, including his daughter, Henrietta. It was said “Wordsworth was her religion”. In many of Wordsworth poems, and many other romantic poets poems, nature is a common topic. Often, nature is commonly used as an analogy for humans and human characteristics. This suggests that Wordsworth and the other romantic poets felt something special in nature. Robert says “Wordsworth saw it as his own primary mission to ‘spiritualize’ the appearances of nature. At this profound level, no two visions of nature could be more different. To those who were dismayed by Darwin’s representation of nature as a random, brutal, apparently godless product of natural selection with no bonus of meaning beyond its physical or organic functions, Wordsworth’s prestige as a religious teacher and a reputable authority on the life of nature offered what seemed a legitimate, culturally respectable alternative”/ Another thing Robert points out in his article was a quote by Huxley, that if Wordsworth was to leave “latitude 50 North” and take a walk through a tropical jungle, his opinion on nature might change. This is to say, that Wordsworth would be shocked at what he saw in nature and would have to fight for his survival. In my own personal opinion I disagree. I believe that if Wordsworth (or any of the romantic poets) were to take a walk through a jungle, yes they might be miserable from the heat and bugs, but they would also see the beauty in that. Just because something may not be “perfect” to humans on one level does not mean it wont be “perfect” on another level. I believe Wordsworth would see that nature is perfect here. He may not want to live there as his type of lifestyle would not agree with a tropical jungle, Wordsworth would strengthen his opinion on nature from that voyage. Possibly even have more material to write poetry on because of that expedition. In November, 1859 when Darwin published his book, he sent a copy to his old friend and mentor Adam Sedgwick. Sedwicks response to the book is an interesting one. Robert said, “As a scientist he understood the full importance of Darwin’s argument and as a priest he was sensitive to its religious implications”.  Robert also calls attention to an article in 1864, Reverend John Campbell Shairp, Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1877 to 1884 wrote “Whereas to most men the material world is a heavy, gross, dead mass, earth a ball of black mud, painted here and there with some color, Wordsworth felt it to be a living, breathing power, not dead, but full of strange life”. Readers of the poetry, he said, “caught, as they read, a glimpse into the life of things such as no other poet of these days has given them”. Robert ends with a question. “There are at this moment walking nature trails in America who connect the outdoor life with moral virtue and even with religious inspiration. There are people walking these Lake District fells who harbor the same sublime sentiments. There are people at the Wordsworth summer conference, perhaps, who sometimes find themselves communing with nature. With what are they communing?” An interesting question. I will end my post the same way. If you feel so inclined, post what you thing they are communing with in the comments.

(Alex Young) Prose Poem

It is the day before Winter Break, and I am stuck sitting in class. All I can think about is what will be happening during the break. All day long I dream of the wonders of Christmas. I think about the smells of fresh baked apple pie, and the pine tree sitting in the living room. I find myself seemingly unable to think about anything other than than these irresistible, warm, fresh smells coming from the kitchen. My teacher hands me a worksheet to complete by the end of the day, But i just continue to dream of the relaxing food filled break that is ahead of me.


Finally, The clock has reached 2:30! I rush out of the building into the blistering cold wind. I continue to my truck and begin to drive home to were my dreams were happening. I drive into the drive way at a unusually fast speed, throw it into park and rush to the door. As I open the door the smells of Norwegian deserts and sugary pies come wiping into my face. I grab one of the cookies that are still sitting on the cooling rack fresh out of the fiery oven, put it into my mouth and I receive a indescribable taste of warm sugar and sweats. As I thank my mother I go to then coach and tun on the television. There I am sitting on the couch almost lifeless, although I saw to myself this next to weeks is dedicated to stuffing my face with a wide variety of sugary treats, and snowboarding my favorite thing to do in my free time.

It is come neer to the end of my wonderful break and i begin to think of the dreaded school once again. I have 3 days left to, I pause in mid sentence as I came to realize I still need to complete this Blog project which has been assigned to my during my break. So know I will slave away for the next few days to make sure that I complete this project.

Review of "The Headless Boyfriend" Blog

"The Headless Boyfriend" and interesting name for a blog if you don't mind me saying. For someone who does not know what it refers to, it would be even stranger. Created by Cody Schaffer, Lauren Fleskes and Geoffery Braught. The basic design is good. There is nice color flow and easy to read text. I enjoy the simplicity of the header. There are good pictures and content, however it appears that, aside from the very beginning, only one person uses this blog now. That being, Cody. Lauren was the first to post something, and Geoffery after her, but after that, nothing has been posted by either of those people since.

It is interesting to me that they chose to do an entire blog on a single poem. That appears hard to me. Then again, the poem the chose is big enough to find many thing to talk about. From the content of the poem to its influences on the world, to even a post completely on basil!

I enjoyed the post "Why Basil" as it gave me some new information on that herb that I commonly use while making soup. Gave me a sense of "Huh, I did not know that before now" feeling. I also enjoyed the fact that Cody linked to more content on Basil at the end of his post. I think it is always a good idea to link to more information when you are talking about something like that. Your post can often peak the interest and linking to more content helps the reader satisfy that interest without having to go research on his/her own.

This blog gives lots of good information on the poem. If someone asked me where to find more information on said poem, I would recommend this blog because it gives lots of varying information on the poem. Its not just talking about what the poem means, as many similar sites do. This blog contains information on the poem from many areas.

If the other two authors were to post as well, I believe this blog could have enough content to satisfy someone interested in the poem. Aside from that little flaw, I see no reason this blog should not be widely viewed. It has plenty of content and information to help someone in their understanding of the poem and has an appealing view, in terms of layout and color scheme. If this were a regularly updated blog, I would consider bookmarking it in my commonly visited blog folder to read the new content when it came out.

Wordsworth and Nature

Back before Wordsworth and other romantic poets were alive, the Catholic Faith was a major power in the European world. Everyone believed the word of God and few questioned it. Then the masses became more educated and learning was a skill that more people acquired. They began reading the bible and realizing that some of the things they heard in church were not real. "Actually we don't have to pay to protect ourselves and our loved ones!" and similar things. People started questioning the Church and the Catholic Faith. By the time the Romantic Poets came along, lots of people could read and lots of people believed many things.

Wordsworth commonly wrote about Nature. For him, Nature was his Faith. His religion. Many people read his poetry and followed his thoughts. In Thomas Henry Huxly's essay "Wordsworth in the Tropics" he says, "In the neighborhood of latitude fifty north, and for the last hundred years or thereabouts, it has been an axiom that Nature is divine and morally uplifting. For good Wordsworthians -- and most serious-minded people are now Wordsworthians, either by direct inspiration or at second hand -- a walk in the country is equivalent to going to church, a tour through Westmorland is as good as a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. To commune with the fields and waters, the woodlands and the hills, is to commune, according to our modern and northern ideas, with the visible manifestations of the 'Wisdom and Spirit of the Universe.' " Let me just say that the fact that us students decided to call ourselves Wordsworthians before even coming to terms with what that really meant (and that it was an actual term (which is awesome)). But I digress. Nature is a important part of a lot of peoples lives. It is not uncommon for people to say they went out into nature and felt at awe with the beauty they saw. Is that awe feeling because we are in the presence of something greater than ourselves? and if so, what is that greater being? Is it Mother Nature herself or even the Christan God himself?

For as long as I can remember, my father would commonly take me for a drive up the Columbia river Gorge. At first, I didn't enjoy these trips very much. However, as I grew older, I started appreciating these trips more and more. I began to feel that sense of awe when I was in the presence of Nature. A couple years ago, I was camping with my grandfather at Lake Timothy, at night I walked down to the lake and looked up. What I saw almost made me fall to my knees. There were so many stars in the sky. I felt such a sense of awe when I looked up into that sky. I felt so small and tiny. I was filled with joy, it was almost a feeling of high, and the sky was my drug. I have longed for that feeling.

 What is it that gives us humans that sense of joy when we see the beauty of nature? Is it perfection that we will never see anywhere else? Or are we really in the presence of a being? Was it just that feeling that we are small and part of something so much bigger than ourselves? When Wordsworth talked about Nature being his faith and religion, was he truly believing in a Deity of nature or did he just not have the scientific knowledge to understand that perfection on Nature that we have today? Maybe he believed in a Deity because they are considered to be perfect, and Nature was perfect. Did he sense that awe in people and, being unable to describe it the way we can now, did he use the knowledge he did have and relate it to religion?

Maybe I am over speculating, but Wordsworth believed there was something special about Nature. I believe he was right. Nature is special and I have felt that sense of awe. I do not worship Nature and I don't believe Wordsworth wanted people to. Like the article quote above, sometimes just walking through Nature and experiencing it is all it takes to get that sense and that joy. Every time I can get out to the wilderness and look into the sky I get that feeling of high. In the city we are covered. Its only when you are out where nothing can get in your way do you see all the lights and stars. Or is it really something more?

(Alex Young) Community Blog

I decided to review the blog Blake Is My Homie created by Megan Townley, Ethan Palioca and Maria Castllanos from period 3. I decided to review this blog because I don't know a lot about Blake.


I really like the colors that they chose to create the blog with, but the overall layout is hard to read. If your blog is hard to read some people wont even try to read it they will just leave. The blog is hard to read because there main information is in a narrow column down the center of the screen. Although What really matters is the information that is displayed.

A thing I really like about this blog is that there is a variety of topics including, poems, songs and artwork. I read there analysis of the poems that they chose to go into depth about. I really liked to see how other people my age interpreted the sometimes hard to read and hard to grasp the real meaning of the poems. After reading there analysis of there poems I actually found it much easier to understand the poem and grasp Blake's main idea of the poem. I also enjoyed reading the songs that Blake wrote. I think I liked them just because they were something different than another poem. Having Blake's real artwork and poem on a picture really struck my attention. It is nice to see Blake's actual work that he made.

Overall besides the Blog being a bit hard to read, I found it very helpful and educational. It is a great place to learn about Blake and his work. The blog Blake Is My Homie creates a solid understanding on the poems and songs that were posted.

(Alex Young) The life of William Wordsworth



Wordsworth was born at Cockermouth, England, April 7, 1770, and he died on April 28, 1850 (victorianweb). He was buried by the side of his daughter in the churchyard shown to the right. He went to school at Hawkshead School, then at Cambridge University (victorianweb). William was also tended St. Johns in 1787.

In 1793, Wordsworth finished his first poetry collection (victorianweb). Although, his financial condition was weak. In 1795, he received a loan of 900 dollars from Raisley Calvert which really help him out during his hard times. In the same year, he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the two developed a long friendship and together they published Lyrical Ballads a collection of romantic poems in 1798. The collection was an amazing success. In his later life, Wordsworth began working on his philosophical poems, which he intended to publish in three parts. Meanwhile, he had began working on his autobiographical poem(victorianweb). In 1807, his Poems were published in to sets, making the people realize him more. In 1813, Wordsworth was appointed as Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland offering an income of $400 per year (victorianweb). The offer gave him the ability to move with his family to Royal Mount in Ambleside. Inspiration gradually failed him for this project, and he spent much of his later life revising The Prelude. Critics argue about which version is better, the 1805 or the 1850, but agree that in either case it is the most successful blank verse epic since Paradise Lost (victorianweb). Finally,Coloredge and Wordsworth toured the Rhineland in 1828. Durham University granted him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1838, and Oxford conferred the same honor the next year (victorianweb). Wordsworth died in 1850, and his wife published the much-revised Prelude that summer.

Additional information found from:
http://www.victorianweb.org