Trnava University in Trnava

Faculty of Education

Tintern Abbey
William Wordsworth

Author: Samuel Kosmál

Grade and Approbation: 2. Bc., Teaching of the English language and literature
Academic Year: 2021/2022
Semester: Winter semester
Teacher: Mgr. Zuzana Sucháňová, PhD.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Obsah
1 William Wordsworth......................................................................................................................3
2 Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the banks of the Wye during a
tour, July 13, 1798..................................................................................................................................4
1 William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in West Cumberland, just on the northern fringe of the
English Lake District. When his mother died, the eight-year-old boy was sent to school at Hawkshead,
near Esthwaite Lake, in the heart of that thinly settled region that he and Coleridge were to transform
into one of the poetic centres of England. William was spending his free days in the sports and
rambles described in the first two books of The Prelude. His father John Wordsworth died when he
was thirteen. William was able to enter St. John’s college, Cambridge, in 1787, where he found little
in the limited curriculum of that time to appeal to him. He took his degree in 1791 without distinction.
In 1790 William ventured with his closest college friend, the Welshman Robert Jones, through France
and the Alps (described in Prelude 6). After finishing his studies at Cambridge, he went back to France
alone to master the language and qualify as a traveling tutor. During his year in France (November
1791 – December 1792) he fell in love with Annette Vallon, a warm-hearted daughter of a French
surgeon. They planned to marry, despite their differences in religion and political inclinations. For
lack of funds he had to return back to England, as the war had started to unravel between England and
France, he could no longer return to her love, and back in England he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge
with whom he published Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems anonymously in 1798. These
works had ignited the Romantic period. His works, e.g. The Prelude, are meditations of his own self
and thoughts throughout his life, contrasted with his reflections on his old self compared to now. A
growth of the inner, the mind, the soul, the heart. His works are befitting for the era of romanticism for
their strong connections with the feelings and inner reflections of his former self, complemented by a
view of the mundane in a new light that gives meaning even to the smallest things. He was the one to
help launch the Romantic age in English literature, together with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

3
2 Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the
banks of the Wye during a tour, July 13, 1798

The Romantic period was stared off by six canonical figures of the times. Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Byron, Percy Shelley and Keats, Blake. This period is marked by many historical events. 1789 – 1815
Revolutionary and Napoleonic period in France (Storming of Bastille; Napoleon crowned emperor,
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo). 1807 British slave trade outlawed. 1811 – 1820 The Regency. 1820
Accession of George IV. The main event that was taking place was the uprising against monarchy,
which was lead by a vision of true democracy. Romanticism celebrates the human spirit, uplifts the
mundane and the poetry is made closer to ordinary human speech, meaning that it can be appreciated
by ordinary people. Romanticism states that society and mainly industrialisation corrupts the human
spirit, twists the heart, thus’ rendering it as a kind of “bad” or “evil” of sorts. This period also
emphasises the rural life, subjectivity and individualism over the whole, inward action, sincerity,
openness, spontaneity. Most notable thing is the huge centring on the feelings of the individual, and
how they develop in them by inward actions. Literary works have the concept of unity in common, the
unity of nature, soul, god, that everything is one.
The “story” of Tintern Abbey, is not a story but an evolution rather. Here the character of William
Wordsworth contemplates his views and compares them with his younger self. How everything when
he was younger seemed rather more physical and sensational, compared to now, when he is more in
touch with his intuition, his inner views combined with maturing feelings. Now he is seeing a more
unified landscape. Everything having it’s own meaning, that is meaningful, has a background to it, and
most importantly has this sense of unity, of oneness that is present in all romantic period works. As he
reflects upon his views, a sense of a maturing mind, or a maturing of the soul can be spotted as he is
comparing his older, or younger rather, views on the landscape. Just his description of a hill is
eloquent, showing how the mundane can be seen in a different light. How everything has a beauty to
it. Appreciation of nature can be seen as the main theme of the poem. As William progressively starts
to acknowledge as the poem goes on, he feels more connected with the land around, nature herself.
Nature is symbolised in the story by small landmarks. The Wye river, unripe fruits of July, and a line
from his poem that further strengthens the connection with nature and her powers: “tranquil
restoration”. These are opposed the cities that William has lived in, to only state that these cities have
done no good for him. Tone of the work is rather uplifting whilst having a nostalgic undertone that can
be only described with a Portuguese word ‘saudade’.