Introduction:
William Wordsworth is known as the greatest poet of Nature. He is universally acknowledged as essentially and pre-eminently a poet of Nature. Wordsworth has observed, understood, enjoyed, admired, interpreted and depicted the beauty and sublimity of Nature in a minute, precise and detailed manner. Nature constitutes the most dominant theme of his poetry. As a lover and interpreter of Nature, Wordsworth surpasses all others. Wordsworth is rightly considered the greatest poet of the countryside and of the life of Nature in its physical as well as spiritual aspects. His delight in nature was not confined like the pre-romantic poets to mere external manifestation of the varied charms of nature, but he went a step higher than they to represent nature as a mystical force capable of enlightening and ennobling the human soul and mind.
Stages in the Development of Wordsworth's Conception towards Nature:
Wordsworth's conception of Nature was not the outcome of any momentary impulse or experience. It was the consequence of gradual process extending from childhood to manhood. In Tintern Abbey and in The Prelude, Wordsworth gives us impression that his love for Nature passed through three stages before it turned into a mystic passion.
1. First Stage:
In the first stage, his love for Nature was without any mystical and spiritual touch. Nature served only a background to the poet's boyish sports. W. H. Hudson observes: "In the first stage his love for Nature was a healthy boy's love of the open air and freedom of the fields." In his early days of boyhood, Wordsworth passed most of his time in childish joys, such as bathing in streams, laying traps for birds, climbing trees for robbing the mother-birds of their young ones from their nests, gathering May-blossoms, hunting hare, boating and skating and so on. But occasionally he used to become aware of some presence which he could not ignore. Once, while he rowed a stolen boat, a huge black peak up reared its head. When he indulged in laying snares for woodcocks, he felt some sort of sound trailing behind his guilty steps. Even during his boyish sports, Wordsworth experienced moments of calm delight. He often felt gleams like the flashing of a shield and Nature at this stage seemed to speak to him rememberable things.
2. Second Stage:
In the second stage, the poet was attracted towards the beauty of Nature. The outward appearances of Nature began to fill him with delight. Indeed it was the age of sensations. He was thrilled and enchanted by the sights and sounds of Nature. He writes:
In this stage, the coarser pleasures of his early days ceased to interest him and he grew a fondness for Nature. This fondness was mainly for her sensuous and picturesque aspects. No spiritual or intellectual significance was attached to various natural objects, and they were loved for their own external charm. When he viewed Nature with a physical passion, he writes boldly in Tintern Abbey:
3. Third Stage:
In this stage, Wordsworth's love for Nature turned into a kind of religious love. He saw Nature by the eyes of soul, and not by the physical eye. At this stage he felt spiritual experience of Nature. In this third stage, Wordsworth begins to find in the objects of Nature a soul and a living spirit. He now starts looking into the objects of nature spiritually and mystically. He feels the presence of God in all the objects of Nature. He finds Him in the stars shining in the sky and in the flowers. The whole of the universe thus becomes for the poet permeated by one life, one soul irradiating the thousand manifestations of nature. He believes in the close relationship between man and Nature. He finds intercommunion between Nature, the soul of Man and God. He considers Nature and God to be one and thinks man's soul to be related to both in close harmony.
Nature, the Best Educator for Human Beings:
Wordsworth believes that man can get lesson from Nature. Nature can be a perfect educator of man. He thinks that Nature is a vast storehouse of knowledge, and man can learn much more from it than he can from books. Nature is the best moral teacher and the greatest moulder of Man's character and personality. He writes:
In his Lucy Poems, the poet represents the education of Nature. The Prelude is an account of the best part of the poet's education that he received from Nature. He was always grateful to Nature for the means which she designed to employ for the poet's intellectual and spiritual refinement.
The Poet's Presenting Calm and Tranquil Aspects of Nature:
Wordsworth never presents nature 'red in tooth and claw'. He rarely presents Nature in its tumultuous and roaring aspects. As he himself was a peace-loving soul, so his conception of nature is essentially placid, calm, serene and untroubled by painful thoughts. Wordsworth's healing balm to festered sores of humanity rises out of this tranquil and peaceful representation of Nature's objects.
Coming in the Lap of Nature for True Serenity, Joy and Simplicity:
The poet believes that most of the evils and miseries of human life are due to man's loss of contact with Nature, which in turn, is due to his over- absorption in the materialistic activities in the industrialized world. According to Wordsworth, the remedy for the ills besetting humanity lies in Rousseau's gospel of a ‘return to Nature' and a renewal of the harmonious relationship between man and Nature. Wordsworth advocates a return to the elemental simplicities of life and feeling and a revival of the primitive mode of life.
Finally it may be observed that Wordsworth remained a true interpreter of Nature to humanity. He became the worshipper of Nature, her true priest and a revealer of her harmonies to humanity. This high priest of Nature identified himself so completely with his Goddess (Nature) that it is difficult to see him as a being apart from her.