Prose Poem: The White Owl

The cold tree stood tall in the winter's eve. Swaying back and forth in the soft breeze of the night. The lights of the house down the road shined so bright, lighting up the frozen green needles of the tree. As the night went on, white flakes fell from the sky, turning the ground into a sheet of paper. Flying high in the sky, was a soft, white owl. It came closer. Closer, until it was no longer flying. The white owl now stood on the branch of the tall tree, warming it's branches. Using the tree for as much warmth as it could get, the owl just waited; waited for the sun. In the cold of the night, the owl found comfort from the tree and the tree found comfort from the owl. Waiting till morning, till the earth would warm up, giving the owl the strength to fly away. As morning came, so did the sunlight. The snow still glistened along the smooth ground, as white as the fur of a new born polar bear. Soon, the sun warmed the earth enough for the owl to once again take flight. The owl took flight. As it flew away, the tree went from having warmth, to being frozen again. The day went by and the lonely tree stood in the same spot. Small animals passed every once in a while, but none stopped to visit. There was no sound, there was no sight except the white of the ground and the house down the road. As the night approached, the owl came back once again. Needing a place to sit, the owl perched on the tree's branches once again for warmth. The tree turned from cold and lonely to warm again. As long as the owl would come back each night, that was enough for the tall tree.

Article Response: Wordsworth's Response to Darwin

Robert M. Ryan's "Wordsworth's Response to Darwin" is an article that discusses two men's views about nature. This article compares and contrasts the different views while also teaching some background of the two different men. The main point of this article is to explain to the reader the approach that the men have. It also focuses on how this affected people. Darwin had a very scientific approach when he spoke of nature and William Wordsworth had a more relaxed, open-minded view. These different views had a huge impact on people of the world, it was hard to know who to believe after the Darwin theory came out. A quote that can support this is "Through his numerous and influential disciples the dead Wordsworth rose to offer a serious challenge to Darwinian thinking in the second half of the 19th century." This article has a lot of information in it and was a great way to learn about how Wordsworth saw nature. The majority of the article explains Wordsworth's theory. Only a little part of it goes over the Darwin theory. Charles Darwin is the man responsible for creating the theory of natural selection. This is a process of evolution where organisms best adapted to their environment are the ones that survive. 

People were shocked after hearing this different approach to nature. They had always believed that nature was an innocent place, because that's what Wordsworth and all the other Romantic poets had taught them. The only way people learned of nature was through poetry. After years and years of believing Wordsworth's theory that nature is god, conflict arose because people no longer knew who to believe. I think it was hard for people to know who to believe because for so long Wordsworth was a very well trusted English poet, no one wanted to believe he was wrong. His religious approach to nature showed in every poem he ever wrote. In some complex way, he always added in something that symbolized nature or God. Conflict began when science proved that Darwin's theory was correct. To the people that had been Wordsworth believers, they felt betrayed that for so long they believed something inaccurate. To this day, some people still pick the Wordsworth view over Darwin's. Religion plays a huge role when it comes to deciding who to believe. Religious people are mostly the ones that follow Wordsworth's word because he was a man that never doubted God's energy, he just accepted it. In this quote, Robert M. Ryan illustrates this point. "Wordsworth rarely concerned himself with questions of the origin or history of creation. He was interested in testifying his own experience of divine Presence immanent in Nature, whose reality, benevolence, and moral intent he never doubted." I think Robert Ryan wrote this article, not only to explain the different ways of seeing nature, but to also show the passion that William Wordsworth had toward nature and God. Romantic poetry was his whole life and he helped to start it. Wordsworth could go anywhere and see anything and he would come up with a beautiful poem to explain how he viewed it. There is few spots in this article where it focuses all the attention on Darwin. I think this is because one of the the main reasons for writing this article was to talk about Wordsworth. People saw Darwin's theory as "insulting, brutal, and godless" so to the world, Darwin was the bad guy for announcing his theory. After all this time has gone by, most people have accepted Darwin's theory because science has proved it to be accurate. But there are still some people that have a religious, innocent, spiritual and creative view of the world. Those people don't want to accept Darwin's way of thinking. This article was a great way to learn about the effect that two opposite views can have on people. It is also a great article to read to learn about how William Wordsworth thinks. The main point that I took from this article is that people still feel connected to nature because of Wordsworth's influence. Even when Darwin's theory has been proven, Wordsworth's view is still the right one for some people.

Wordsworth's Perception of Nature

William Wordsworth is categorized as a Romantic poet because he is very drawn to nature and sees it in a different way than anyone else does. Wordsworth's poems all have something in common, no matter what they are about you can always find something relating to nature in them. Wordsworth has a very different view of nature compared to many other people. He sees nature as something that is very innocent and pure. Most of Wordsworth's poems speak on a time when nature has spoken to him. His view of nature is open-ended and there is not just one answer to sum up how he feels about nature. Wordsworth poetry is never simple, he makes all his poems very complex to make the reader think and do a lot of interpreting. Another thing that Wordsworth poetry suggests is that man and nature are one. Instead of putting them in two different categories, he views them as being equal and the same. Wordsworth's poem "The World is Too Much With Us" is a great example of how Wordsworth sees nature. He explains in this poem that the world used to be so pure and now it's turning into "too much." He explains towards the end of the poem that he would rather "Be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." He would rather have all these things happen then go on treating nature how we have been treating it for a long time. This is not the only poem that Wordsworth expresses these feelings. Most of his poetry reflects this same feeling after interpreting it. Wordsworth has a deep view of nature, it can't be summarized in one sentence, or even two. To him, the world is an innocent place without humans. But when you ass humans in, it becomes "too much." As he states in the above poem. Man and nature become one in Wordsworth poetry, and this can be seen in almost any Wordsworth poem.

Reviewing "William Blake's Art and Poetry"

The blog "William Blake's Art and Poetry" is a blog that I really liked. I like the layout of the blog and how it appears when you look at it, it's visually pleasing which makes it more interesting to look at. The artwork on the blog is one of my favorite things because it gives you something else to look at besides writing. There is also a lot of posts on this blog already, compared to the other ones which makes it good to read because there is more information. I loved Timmy's prose poem, "Sweet Summer" It was my favorite thing on the blog. It was about a boy and girl that fell in love and the boy couldn't believe that the girl could love someone like him. I thought his poem was great. It was also very relevant to the blog topic because William Blake is a romantic poet and the poem was written like a romantic poet. There were a lot of references to nature in his poem, "Sweet Summer." The blog does a good job covering Wordsworth topics, so therefore I think it is a pretty important blog and teaches a lot. For someone who knows nothing about romantic poetry, it would be a great blog to look at and they would get an idea that it has to do with nature. There is also another post on this blog about the poem "The Little Black Boy." It introduces the poem and them Timmy explains the meaning of it. This blog is important because it covers other poems besides the ones that were read in class. Nature is present in the poem "The Little Black Boy" because it's about an African boy that learns about God through his mother. God is another very big theme that Wordsworth covers in his poems. He believed that God is nature, so all his poems have God and nature in them. This blog is one of my favorites and it is definitely important and relevant to have. The poems that Timmy and Taylor wrote were great at portraying Romatic poetry. To view the blog click here.

Themes in "The Thorn"

There are many themes that can be found in William Wordsworth's "The Thorn." The poem is about a woman that spends almost all of her time weeping by a thorn because she lost her child. She was also in love with a man names Stephen, but he left her after she got pregnant. It says in the poem that no one knows how she lost her baby, but most people think she killed it. I don't believe that she killed her baby, because through all of her weeping, it shows how much she loved her baby. The poem takes us through stages of Martha's life to show us back when she was happy. The happiest time in the poem was when she was with Stephen. It talked about the love she had for him, but after she left all the happiness left too. After looking in depth at this poem, a deeper meaning comes out. Since Wordsworth was a romantic poet, we know that nature had a big part in this poem too. Martha sat next to this weeping, old, ugly thorn when she could have moved a couple feet and been in a beautiful, mossy hill. I think that the mossy hill was so beautiful to Martha because that is where her baby was burried. Another theme that this poem could have is being abandoned. Martha was in love with a man that she thought she would be with forever, but after she got pregnant he left and Martha was alone. It says in the poem that many people thought she killed her baby because she was so sad that Stephen left, and that could be possible, but if Martha was the one that killed the baby I don't think that she would feel the guilt that she felt. I think Wordsworth made the thorn so old and ugly to represent Martha's sadness. And he made the hill of moss so beautiful to represent her baby. This is how Wordsworth incorporated nature into this poem. In the end of the poem it says those who go up to the hill can hear the cries of Martha in the breeze. This is another way he put nature into the poem. All the characters in the poem were represented by nature somehow.

Looking deeper at Wordsworth

The article that I read is called "Wordsworth's response to Darwin." This article was written by Robert M. Ryan and he explains the two different views of nature. The Wordsworth view of nature is a very religious one compared to Darwin's. He believes that God is nature and whatever happens, always happens because God wants it to. There is a passage in this article that says "Wordsworth rarely concerned himself with questions of the origin or history of creation." It also goes on to say "Nature, whose reality, benevolence, and moral intent he never doubted." This illustrates Wordsworth's view more because it talks about how he never questioned anything that happened in nature. He just saw it as God's doing. The other side of this article talked about Darwin's view of nature. Darwin came up with the theory natural selection which is where only the strongest and most adapt creatures are the ones that survive in nature. When Darwin came up with this theory many people were outraged because they always believed that God was nature. There has been many people through history that argue which view is the right one, but no one ever wins. Some people believe that natural selection is how nature works. And the more religious people believe that God is nature and no matter what anyone says they will always believe that. It's been a very long time since Wordsworth came up with his belief and still to this day, people believe him over Darwin. Even when Darwin's theory has been scientifically proven. I think people still believe this because they don't want to accept anything else. Wordsworth was the best poet of his time and was trusted and respected by many people, so nobody doubted him when he presented his view of nature to the world. This article emphasized how people still believe Wordsworth over Darwin. It starts out in the beginning by saying "Wordsworth's influence was still impeding acceptance of the Darwinian vision of nature." After that, it goes into the different views of the two men.