POEM TO BE USED FOR THIS ESSAY:
“Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the
Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798” by Willam Wordsworth
ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS:
“Nature” is a complicated term in Romanticism, and we may observe that it is
approached in various ways, and within various meanings. Some issues you might
consider (you will not have space to consider them all):
– Is nature passive without the human subject’s animation of it?
– In what ways does the poet represent nature as necessarily mediated (or not mediated) by human consciousness?
– What is the relationship between the poet’s individuality and his/her engagement with the natural world?
– How and why does nature play a crucial role in human creativity?
– Are nature and the human at strife?
– Is the poet ambivalent about nature’s effect on them?
These questions are intended as a springboard to help you define a thesis and develop an argument; they are NOT intended as “questions for you to answer.” You will have to limit the number of issues you consider. You should define a thesis within this more general rubric (rather than writing in over-general terms). Choose a topic about nature and human consciousness that interests you and which you would like to explore in greater textual detail. The reflections posed in the above paragraph should be helpful in orienting you to the kinds of questions that are most relevant, but you might well find other questions about nature and consciousness that are equally fruitful.