A False Hope

The cold, wet, and windy weather turns my face as cold as ice. When I step outside, the hairs rise up on my arms. I dream of the warmth that is hours away; the beautiful bright sun.

The weather man gives a false hope that the rain will stop and there will be sun.

I wake in the morning and the weather has not changed. It is not raining; there is frost on the ground. As time goes by it slowly changes. I feel the excitement rise along with the weather. The nice warmth I feel on my face. And the happiness from the spring flowers blooming. The sound of the birds and nature fill the air. The year goes on with the excitement still rising; the temperature increasing along with each season.

At last, summer is here!

I travel to a sunnier place, where the blue waves of water crash along the shore. I feel the sand between my toes and the smell of salty air from the breeze. The sun is as bright as the smile on my face. With everything so perfect, it was too good to be true. The beauty is overwhelming, but I know what is to come.

This was very enjoyable; although, I miss the wintery season. I imagine myself snowboarding down a freshly covered mountain; making snow angels with my family, then having snowball fights with my friends. After, when I’m frozen and my cheeks and nose are red, I drink hot chocolate and snuggle up in bed. The weather man tells of a snowy day, but he gives false hope. When I wake in the morning the snow is nowhere near.

Lord Byron; c'est la vie Blog

The “Lord Byron; c’est la vie” blog is a very helpful and interesting blog. The blog is created by Valentine Protsenko, Selina Chart, Amanda Reed, and Sydnie Janes. Their posts are all about Lord Byron and they contain a lot of information about his poetry. Because I did not know what c’est la vie meant, I was interested and wanted to read their blog. The group’s layout is nice because it is pleasing to the eye, but yet also easy to read, has pictures, and shows videos.

There is a lot of really good information on their blog but I especially liked how they went through some of Lord Byron’s poems such as “Darkness” and “And Thou Art Dead, as Young and Fair.” They explained what the poems were about and gave a clear understanding of what Byron was trying to convey. I found The Byronic Hero post really interesting. It explained what a Byronic Hero is and where it appeared in Lord Byron’s work. Amanda Reed stated, “A Byronic Hero is an idealized, but flawed young man who is often haunted by their past.” She also explained how “The Byronic Hero is merely an extension of Byron himself.” The five videos about how Lord Byron was a sexual magnet were really interesting and stood out to me. The videos told about how Byron’s work was so explicit and crude that they could not publish some of them. Also the biography of Lord Byron was excellent because it provided a lot of information on his life, family, and poems.

This blog is very important because it explains how good of a poet Lord Byron was and brings you through some of his work. For those who do not know about Romanticism or Lord Byron, it is very educational. When looking at Lord Byron’s Biography post, I found that it teaches a lot about who he was and gives an idea about the topic of Romanticism. The site was easy to explore and look through. Overall, the group did a very nice job, gave great information, and showed much knowledge on Lord Byron.

Reading Response: Comparing Wordsworth and Blackwood

In “A Wordsworth Source for Algernon Blackwood’s The Sea Fit” the author Terry W. Thompson explains how closely related Wordsworth’s and Blackwood’s poems are. Algernon Blackwood and William Wordsworth were both romantic poets that used nature in so much of their work. The article portrays that Blackwood’s poems have a lot in common or directly quote some of Wordsworth’s work. Most of all, In Blackwood’s “The Sea Fit” the theme seems to be directly from Wordsworth’s poem, “The World is Too Much with Us.” Also Blackwood’s poems “Ancient Lights” and “The Wendigo” have the same related theme to “The World is Too Much with Us.” In those poems a force comes upon the modern world where noise and bustle are normal and nature is ignored or abused; this is the same with Wordsworth’s opinion in “The World is Too Much with Us.” While going through “The Sea Fit” Thompson says “Just like the speaker in Wordsworth’s sonnet, Ericson (the captain in the poem) never concerned himself with getting and spending during his adventurous career, did not lay waste his powers. Rather, he lives in the seaside cottage with just a few meager possessions; and most of those are but sentimental reminders of a way of life that he is now too old and too frail to pursue.” Thompson clarifies this because it is related to Wordsworth’s poem so much. The poem also goes on repeatedly about how Ericson doesn’t care about the tangible or material things, but how he always looked for the transcendent in life. Later Thompson explains that “this old sailor declares he would rather be a pauper at sea,” “than make a million on shore” (Blackwood line 188). It is later in the poem that Ericson is having “one of his queer sea fits” (Blackwood 189) and the priest quotes Wordsworth: “My uncle’s such a pagan, you know […] that as I flew along those deserted sands from Studland I almost expected to hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn” (Blackwood 197). When the captain was washed away by the sea Thompson explains that Blackwood “has achieved what the speaker in “The World is Too Much with Us” could only dream of doing: becoming one with nature.” In “The Sea Fit” Just as in the one that inspired it by William Wordsworth, Algernon Blackwood makes an atmosphere that shows the reader what it’s like to become one with nature.

In the article, Thompson describes how Algernon Blackwood’s “The Sea Fit” is inspired and related to William Wordsworth’s “The world is Too Much with Us.” Blackwood loved nature and his poem is just like Wordsworth’s. By looking at both poems you can see how closely related they are. In “The World is Too Much with Us” Wordsworth is disappointed with the modern age losing its connection to nature. It talks about how people are distracted with material things and how nature is going to waste. “Late and soon” means now and in the future we waste our powers. “Little we see in nature” is saying we do not notice of care about the beauty of nature. For all of this “we are out of tune” and Wordsworth would “rather be a pagan suckled in a creed outworn” then be stuck in an industrialized world where everything is based on material things. He would rather stand o this pleasant spot and “Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; / Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; / or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn” (Wordsworth lines 12-14).

In “The Sea Fit”, He “owned nothing in the world on land except this tumbledown, one-story bungalow-more like a ship’s cabin than anything else” (Blackwood line 188). Ericson didn’t care for the material things but he always looked for the transcendent in life. Thompson explains “This old sailor has made great fortunes for others during his long career, but none for himself; and he declares he would rather be a pauper at sea,” “than make a million on shore” (Blackwood 188). When he is having a sea fit the priest states almost exactly what Wordsworth said in his poem. He says “My uncle’s such a pagan […] I almost expected to hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn” (Blackwood 197). Because of all the resemblance and the quotes that are the same, it is obvious that “The Sea Fit” was inspired by William Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much with Us.”

William Wordsworth's use of Nature

Nature is a huge part in romanticism. Many romantics viewed nature as a healing power and a source of subject and image. It encompasses how nature can touch and change one’s life for the better. They view it as organic and don’t like scientific views. Wordsworth uses nature in so much of his work.  For example, in “The World Is Too Much With Us” Wordsworth said, “This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers”.
In the poem “I Wander Lonely as a Cloud”, the whole poem is about nature. It talks about clouds, vales, hills, trees, the breeze, stars, the Milky Way, a bay, waves, and most of all daffodils. Nature brings a state of imagination. It brings people into a different state of mind, an ambiance to encompass the world and make it a better place.  In this poem, a host of daffodils stops the speaker while traveling through nature. The word “host” makes it transform into a vision, which is imagination. In “The Thorn”, Wordsworth also uses nature throughout the whole poem. It talks about a thorn overgrown with lichen, rocks and stones, moss, mountains, a stormy winter gale, clouds, a muddy pond, a hill of moss, spikes, branches, and stars. In “Ode on Intimations of Immorality” Wordsworth uses nature to explain his perception on the beauty of nature. He uses meadows, groves, streams, the earth, rainbows, roses, birds, lambs, seasons, mountains, seas, valleys, the sun, flowers, and stars. In “To a Skylark” he uses clouds, the sky, a nest, sloths, mountains, rivers, dusty winds, and heaven to portray nature. And in “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” nature is described by the earth, the sky, fields, valleys, rocks, and beautiful hills. The romantics believe that nature makes people know what they truly are. It is a source of sensations and people can discover emotional health in nature.  In romanticism, nature helps people feel there worth in society, a feeling for what and who they truly are and also what God wants them to be.  It helps them transform and discover their emotional health with nature.

William Wordsworth's "The Prelude"

“The Prelude; or, Growth of a Poet’s Mind” is an autobiographical poem by William Wordsworth. There are three versions of the poem. “Two-Part Prelude” was the first version of the poem that Wordsworth wrote when he was twenty eight years old in 1798 to 1799. The second version was found and printed by Ernest de Selincourt in 1926. This version is thirteen books long. The third version was published after Wordsworth’s death and is fourteen books long. “The Prelude” was a poem of a lifetime and Wordsworth never gave it a title. He called it “Poem (title not yet fixed upon) to Coleridge.” Wordsworth planned to write this with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem was unknown to people until after Wordsworth’s death. His wife Mary gave the poem its final name, “The Prelude; or, Growth of a poet’s Mind.” The poem contains fourteen books: "Introduction – Childhood and School-Time," "School- Time (Continued)," "Residence at Cambridge," "Summer Vacation," "Books," "Cambridge and the Alps," "Residence in London," "Retrospect- Love of Nature Leading to Love of Man," "Residence in France," "Residence in France (Continued)," "Residence in France (Concluded)," "Imagination and Taste, How Impaired and Restored," "Imagination and Taste, How Impaired and Restored (Concluded)," and "Conclusion."

In book one Wordsworth is speaking with a mature point of view. He experiences relief with coming back to nature. He feels optimism and creativity and recalls his past. Wordsworth wishes to create some work of art. He finds that he has a vital soul, knowledge of the underlying principles of things, and a host of painstaking observations of natural phenomena. Instead of historical and martial themes, he is looking for some philosophic song. He then doubts the maturity of his views and decides to review them to see how much they have changed. Wordsworth remembers some of his childhood, like river bathing and climbing to rob bird nests at night. Also he sets a tone in a discussion of education by speaking religiously of nature. Wordsworth describes how when he was young he stole a boat and went across Ullswater Lake. He then imagined that a peak beyond the lake came close and threatened him for taking the boat. This brought him to address what he terms the spirit of the universe. He tells more of pastimes he use to do, but he explains that he tried to be outdoors at all times of the year so the nature could educate him.

Walking Through "The World Is Too Much With Us"

“The World Is Too Much With Us” is a sonnet written by William Wordsworth in the early 1800s. It is about nature going to waste and people wasting their powers. William Wordsworth is disappointed with the modern age losing its connection to nature. This talks about people being distracted with material things and being disconnected with nature. Society is encompassed with the materialistic side of life. They do not care about what happens in the world. They are so involved in their materialistic life that they forget about the reality of the world and what the effects of their actions are and how they impact the future. When it says “late and soon”, it means, now and in the future we spend and waste.  People in society are looking at the here and now.  They are not looking at what and how their actions are going to impact the world of tomorrow.  “Little we see in nature” is saying we do not see much or care about the beauty of nature.  Society takes advantage of the beauty of the earth and is not concerned with the fact that their actions are impacting the future of today.  They are making purchases and buying foods and then throwing it all away because it went bad. There are countries that would die for a meal but America throws it away like it’s nothing.  “A sordid boon” is a shameful gain and “This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon” is showing a woman exposed to the heavens. For all of this we are out of tune, and because it does not change anything, William Wordsworth wishes, or would rather be, “A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn.” It is saying that he would rather be raised of the Roman and Greek religion so that he might be able to stand on this pleasant meadow, and see the gods Proteus and Triton. It would make him less forlorn if he could have sight of Proteus rising from the sea or hear Triton blow his horn. He would rather live in the past then live in the here and now when people do not care about the future.