TINTERN ABBEY

Lines Written A Few Miles Above

Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks

Of

The Wye During A Tour, July 13, 1798

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
TINTERN ABBEY

Presentation Outline

Introduction Speaker

Plot Textual analysis

Reader reaction
Setting

Q & A
INTRODUCTION

William Wordsworth
ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL OF ENGLAND'S
ROMANTIC POETS.

WORKED WITH SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

ON LYRICAL BALLADS (1798).
HELPED ROMANTICISM TAKE HOLD IN
ENGLISH POETRY.
INTRODUCTION

Biographical Details

BORN IN 1770 AT COCKERMOUTH IN CUMBRIA

THE SECOND OF FIVE CHILDREN
WORDSWORTH'S MOTHER DIED
SENT TO SCHOOL IN HAWKSHEAD
WORDSWORTH'S FATHER DIED
ATTENDED CAMBRIDGE AND GRADUATED IN 1791
FELL IN LOVE WITH ANNETTE VALLON
MOVES TO DORSET
LYRICAL BALLADS PUBLISHED IN 1798 1770 - 1850
INTRODUCTION

writing style
“THE LANGUAGE REALLY USED BY MEN.”

THE STYLE OF WORDSWORTH IN LYRICAL

BALLADS IS VERY EMOTIONAL AND CONTAINS
NATURAL SCENES
INTRODUCTION

William Wordsworth's Impact On

The Romantic Period

WORDSWORTH GIVES PERCEPTIONS OF SEEING,

OBSERVING, AND UNDERSTANDING NATURE, AND ITS
INNUMERABLE SECRETS.
PLOT

Poem Analysis

The first stanza (line 1 - 22)

Wordsworth begins his poem by telling the reader that it has been five years since he has been
to this place and he now again can hear the sounds of the river and see the surrounding scenery.
This scenery has a big impact on how he thinks and he enjoys it again while watching from his
position under a sycamore tree.

“Steep and lofty cliffs,” “wild secluded scene,”

"FIVE years have passed; five summers, with the length
“quiet of the sky,” “dark sycamore”
Of five long winters! and again I hear
“pastoral farms” with “wreaths of smoke”
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a sweet inland murmur." "unripe fruits" "hermit cave"
PLOT

The second stanza (line 23 - 50)

Wordsworth departs from the present moment to describe how his memories of the scene
inspired and sustained him over the past five years.

Though absent long,

These forms of beauty have not been to me,
As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye: In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the din Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart,
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, And passing even into my purer mind
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, With tranquil restoration:
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart,
And passing even into my purer mind
PLOT

The third stanza (line 51 - 59)

The speaker starts with the hypothetical worry that his whole theory is totally bogus – a "vain
belief." Wordsworth acknowledges that his faith might be in "vain," but reiterates how important
his memories of this landscape have been to him, addressing the river directly: "O sylvan Wye!"
"If this
Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft,
In darkness, and amid the many shapes
Of joyless day-light; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart,
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee
O sylvan Wye! Thou wanderer through the wood
How often has my spirit turned to thee!
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished though[t,]
With many recognitions dim and faint,"
PLOT

The fourth stanza (line 60 - 113)

Wordsworth begins by explaining the pleasure he feels at being back in the place that has
given him so much joy over the years. He is also glad because he knows that this new memory
will give him future happiness. He explains how differently he experienced nature five years ago,
when he first came to explore the area. During his first visit, he was full of energy.

"like a roe
What then I was. The sounding cataract
I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Wherever nature led: more like a man
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
Flying from something that he dreads, than one
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then
That had no need of a remoter charm,
(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days,
By thought supplied, nor any interest
And their glad animal movements all gone by)
Unborrowed from the eye."
To me was all in all.--I cannot paint
PLOT

The fourth stanza (line 60 - 113)

Wordsworth quickly sets his current self apart from the way he was five years ago, saying, "That
time is past." At first, however, he seems almost melancholy about the change.
Over the past five years, he has developed a new approach to nature.

"For I have learned

That time is past,
To look on nature, not as in the hour
And all its aching joys are now no more,
Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes
And all its dizzy raptures.
The still, sad music of humanity."

"And I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused..."
PLOT

The fourth stanza (line 60 - 113)

"Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye and ear, both what they half-create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognize
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being."
In this passage in lines 102-110, Wordsworth claims that he is a lover of the meadows and of all
which we see from this green earth. The poet comes to one important conclusion he is now
consciously in love with nature. He has become a thoughtful lover of the meadows, the woods,
and the mountains. Though his ears and eyes seem to create the other half of all these sensations,
nature is the actual source of these sublime thoughts.
PLOT

The fifth stanza (line 114 - 159)

Wordsworth addresses his companion by the banks of the Wye, his sister Dorothy.
Dorothy reminds Wordsworth of the boy he was since they are brother and sister and have spent
their lives together: she is a shortcut back to his childhood. He wants Dorothy to remember this,
as well as their excursion to the Wye Valley in the future.

"...in thy voice I catch

The language of my former heart, and read
My former pleasure in the shooting lights
Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while
May I behold in thee what I was once,
My dear, dear Sister!"
PLOT

The fifth stanza (line 114 - 159)

At the end of the poem, Wordsworth combines their current setting with his sister's future
memory of the moment. He is satisfied knowing that she will also carry the place, the moment,
and the memory with her.

Now wilt thou then forget,

That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves, and for thy sake
TINTERN ABBEY

Setting
Time : July 13, 1798

Tintern Abbey is located in Monmouthshire, Wales and was

abandoned in 1536. An abbey is a monastery. The area is
considered to be an extremely beautiful part of the Welsh and
English countryside.
SETTING

Setting

THE WYE VALLEY, WALES

The River Wye is the fourth-longest river in the UK. It

flows from the moorlands of central Wales, through
England to its Irish Sea mouth in the Severn Estuary.
The Wye Valley is designated an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty. It is important for nature conservation
and recreation, but is severely affected by pollution.
CULTURAL ANALYSIS
The French
Revolution
( 1787 - 1799 )
The French Revolution played an
important role in politicizing the
Romantic Movement. Wordsworth and
other Romantics believed in the ‘Utopia
of Democracy’. Though initially angered
by Britain’s declaration of war on France,
Wordsworth retracted his support for
the Revolution during the Reign of
Terror.
Industrialization
( 1760 - 1914 )
Since the onset of the Industrial
Revolution, the town of Tintern in the
Wye valley supported ironworks. Since
the poem’s publication, several scholars
have traveled to the Wye valley and
have confirmed that “the region
showed prominent signs of industrial
and commercial activity”.
 Speaker
William Wordsworth

The poet wrote about himself and his feelings while visiting Tintern Abbey
for the first time in five years. William Wordsworth appreciated the scenery of
the place as it was too beautiful to be forgettable. Once he returned to this
place again, he knew his feeling toward it had changed from the past five
years when he was younger and livelier. He used to enjoy just how beautiful it
was. But this time, because of growing older, he can think deeper and
understand how life is. He described that the sereneness of Tintern Abbey
nourished and restored his soul, helping relieve him from pessimistic thoughts
from living in the cold city. He also mentioned his younger sister, Dorothy
Wordsworth, who once visited this place together. He can see himself back
then in Dorothy because she is young, lively, and full of joy. So, he prayed to
nature: for her youth’s happiness would last longer.
 Repetition words

Five Mountain

Landscape

Green Nature
 001

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“Five years have past; five summers, with the length

Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.”
 001

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“Other gifts
Have followed, for such loss would believe,
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth,”
 001

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“Nor perchance,
If I were not thus taught, should I the more
Suffer my genial spirits to decay:”
 001

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,

Knowing that Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her.”
 001

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“With quietness and beauty, and so feed With lofty thoughts,

that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish
men, Nor greetings where no kindness is,
nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we beholdIs full of blessings. ”
 001

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

“And let the misty mountain-winds be free

To blow against thee: and, in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place.”
TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Literary Devices
 Connotation

“Evil Tongues”
“Rash judgments”
“The sneers of selfish men”
“The dreary intercourse”
 Imagery
Sight

“The sounding cataract

Haunted me like a passion
“Rolling from
their mountain-springs”
 simile

“These forms of beauty have not been to

me,
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:”
“What I was, when first I came among
thee hills; when like a roe
The memory be as a dwelling-place”
 personification

“Therefore let the moon

Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain winds be free”
 Irony
SITUATION IRONY
WHEN LIKE A ROE
"I BOUNDED O'ER THE MOUNTAINS, BY THE SIDES
OF THE DEEP RIVERS, AND THE LONELY STREAMS,
WHEREVER NATURE LED: MORE LIKE A MAN
FLYING FROM SOMETHING THAT HE DREADS, THAN ONE
WHO SOUGHT THE THING HE LOVED. FOR NATURE THEN
(THE COARSER PLEASURES OF MY BOYISH DAYS
AND THEIR GLAD ANIMAL MOVEMENTS ALL GONE BY)
TO ME WAS ALL IN ALL.—I CANNOT PAINT
WHAT THEN I WAS."
SYMBOL

Symbols

Hermit

Hermit can be a symbol of seclusion. It leads to the speaker’s thoughts.

He uncertainly notices where the smoke comes from but he guesses
that it may come from the cave where the hermit lives. This means the
speaker may think of living alone with a wonderful nature. Because it is
the best way to escape from the industrial world.
SYMBOL

Symbols

Unripe fruit

Unripe fruit can be a symbol of time and change because fruit has to
take time to be ripe. So, it is like the speaker who takes time to be
matured from 5 years ago. He grows up and changes his viewpoints on
seeing nature.
SYMBOL

Symbols

Dorothy Wordsworth

Dorothy Wordsworth can be a symbol of her brother, William Wordsworth.

When William Wordsworth was young, he just looked at nature with his
innocent thoughts. But when he grew up, he admired and was impressed
by the nature more deeply. He saw his sister as his reflection in his youth
so, he hoped that nature will heal his sister’s pain and his sister’s weariness
as it healed him.
THEME

Themes

Nature
This poem was written when Wordsworth was in the industrial revolution
era. In the poem, Wordsworth talked about life in town which was very
noisy. He wanted to escape from his difficult time and spend his time with
nature. Nature can heal his weariness and can calm his soul from urban
life. So, he wished that nature can also heal his sister and the readers like it
healed him. And nature can help him inspire this poem. As you can see, he
put a lot of his imagination into the poem by addressing the landscape,
mountain, river, and a lot of natural things.
THEME

Themes

Time and Change

This poem mentioned the speaker’s past which was his youthful time. At
that time, he still had freedom, joyfulness, and energy. He didn’t know to
be impressed by nature because he had just the purest thoughts. When
the time changed and he grew up, he lost his youthful happiness. But
growing older he changed the way he impressed nature, he deeply
appreciated nature from his soul.
READER REACTION

Mindset

Childhood and Adulthood memories with natural beauty

Environment

Civilized environment and Wild environment

Q & A

1. What does looking at Dorothy make him

remember?
Q & A

2. What makes the speaker view on nature

changed?
TINTERN ABBEY 011

Thank you

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