The Relationship between Nature and the Mind in Coleridge’s and Wordsworth’s Poetry

Inhaltsangabe oder Einleitung

The topic of nature and how it was treated in poetry is one of the most discussed questions when talking about the period of Romanticism. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were contemporaries and many critics say, that both share many parallels in their lives as Romantic poets as well as in their private lives; others although claim „that the two men destroyed each other as writers“ (Ulmer, 190). They were the founders of a newfound sensibility in writing, because they turned away from the traditional style of poetry. Instead, especially Wordsworth, introduced a poetic expression that was much more based on simplicity and conventionality using the language of nature (cf. McKusick, 4). This is meant to be a language, which is understandable by everybody because it is closer to the common language at that time, but also meant nature as a motif in poetry. Without these two authors it would be hard to understand and comprehend the period of Romanticism.
In this essay I want to describe what the contemporary poets Wordsworth and Coleridge had in common concerning their use of nature in their poetry. First, I will therefore look at the importance of nature in that literary period in general; I will then introduce facts about Wordsworth’s life and poetry. After that I will examine how Coleridge’s poetry differs from Wordsworth’s, to then come to a conclusion about these two outstanding poets. For closer analysis I will refer to the poems Frost at Midnight (1798) by Samuel Coleridge and Lines composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798 by William Wordsworth, which were written in the same year and deal with similar topics.