The Solitary Reaper, It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free and An Imaginary Life - Essay Example

Leigh In the Wild 24 May 2006 IN THE WILD The term "Wild" may be defined as, "uncultivated, uncontrolled, or undomesticated". And it is the purpose of this essay to do a comparative analysis of the texts by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth- The Solitary Reaper, It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free and the twentieth century writer David Malouf's, An Imaginary Life with regard to the contexts they have used in providing their readers with an insight into the relationship between man and Nature or "The Wild". Context refers to the circumstances - be it social, cultural, or historical from which something is composed. Both texts endeavor to explore on the wings of imagination, the quality of man's understanding and interaction with the eternal enigma that is Nature. The narrative in both cases stems from the values and belief-systems that characterized the time period in which they were created. Thus for a proper understanding of the respective texts the contexts in which they were written as well as read must be taken into account. William Wordsworth is one of the foremost Romantic poets. The early 1790s found him in France where he imbibed much of the spirit of the revolution, which characterized much of his early writing. His work also shows the influence of the great French thinker Rousseau, who believed that those living closest to nature, were superior to those living in the heart of the jungle that is civilization. Wordsworth appears to have the same bent of thought as is evident in his idealization of nature and belief in the presumed innocence of rural life as opposed to the corruption and moral decay of urban society. His views are clearly outlined in The Prelude, (1850), " the close and overcrowded haunts of the cities where the human heart is sick." An important theme in his Solitary Reaper is Man's communion with and ultimate oneness with nature. The rusticity of the surroundings constitutes an idyllic setting for the poet, unblemished by the organized chaos of the city. Here Man exists with "The Wild" in a sublime if momentary state of purity and ecstasy. The lines, "Oh listen! For the Vale profound/ Is overflowing with the sound", reveals that the Reaper's music has intermingled with the core of Nature thus making them one. Wordsworth finds in Nature a means of escape from the mundane and vulgar realities of life. His poetry is inspired by the emotions Nature evokes in him which allows him glimpses past the opaque curtain of life that clouds one's vision of the mysterious and promising world beyond.Thus he endorses the view that through Nature, it is possible to transcend the unrewarding nitty-gritty of everyday life and soar exultantly through the realms of the universe as an essential part of it. Wordsworth reiterates the timeless and universality of the reaper's song by indicating that it appears to "have no ending" and by saying that it takes up residence in his heart, "long after it was heard no more." In contrast to Wordsworth, David Malouf's portrayal of "The Wild" is tempered with harsh reality. This is because the text is reflective of his contextual views pertaining to Australian culture and its violent history. Malouf attempts to reconstruct the life of Ovid, the great Roman virtuoso in narrative skills and linguistics from the point of his exile. Ovid is exiled to Tomis, which he feels exists at "the very edge of things, where Nothing begins" (Malouf, 1993, p.27), and comes dangerously close to losing his identity. A parallel can be drawn to this scenario by comparing it to Australia under colonized rule, when it was seen to be at the edge of civilization and as the home of convicts by England and Europe. Thus Malouf has been seen as a postcolonial writer. Malouf is a Postmodern Romantic in that he is critical of a world run by the machines of civilization and technology which he sees as suppressing the essential nobility of man in his natural state. His Ovid when confronted with the bleak and foreboding landscape despairs and initially sees only the what he perceives as the hostility and savagery of "The Wild", but gradually as he becomes more sensitized to the environment and as his relationship with Nature grows in leaps and bounds, he finds his lost identity. He has his moment of awakening when by happy chance he finds a wild poppy in a field. This occurrence gives him a new lease of life as he realizes, "Now, I too must be transformed" (Malouf, 1993, p.33) in order to transcend reality and become one with nature. Language and its use in relating to nature is an important component of both texts. Wordsworth's language is free-flowing, conversational, prosaic and rather irreverent, almost as though he uses it to merely express the exquisite feelings Nature alone has evoked in him, placing emphasis on the communion between Man and Nature. For Ovid, his exile was particularly hard because he could not speak the language of the locals. But soon he realizes the power of language, when he realizes that the language of the Getae is his key to the magical world of Nature, "Seeing the world through this other tongue I see it differently. It is a different world. Somehow it seems closer to the first principle of creation" (Malouf, 1993, p.65).This is a significant step towards his eventual self-discovery. Wordsworth and Malouf celebrate the child's unfailing ability to communicate with Mother Nature. The pure, unadulterated joy experienced by a child cannot be felt by an adult jaded by continuous exposure to an increasingly materialistic and cynical world. The adult can only hope to recapture this ecstasy by detaching himself from the trappings and maudlin fripperies of civilization. Wordsworth's It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free was written for his daughter Caroline Vallon. The poet points out the wonders of that special evening to his daughter and noting that she appears "untouched by solemn thought" realizes that the child is attuned to nature in a way that is quite impossible for him to achieve and he must be content with his occasional glimpses of all that hidden finery. He tells her, "Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year", referring to a biblical allusion, meaning that she is always close to Nature which he equates to God. Ovid's encounter with the child brought up among wolves results in his ultimate redemption. Theirs is a luminous relationship where culture meets nature, and which results in the triumph of the spirit over adversity. The child having grown up in "The Wild" shares many of its attributes - primeval innocence, a complete lack of artifice and innate wildness. Thus the child can be likened to Rousseau's "noble savage." Initially Ovid tries to civilize the child, but soon their roles are reversed and the child guides him to a fuller understanding of Nature. Therefore Ovid calls the child his "teacher, pointing out to me the tracks in the grass and explaining with signs and gestures of his body, or with imitation sounds, which bird or beast it is that made them." (Malouf, 1993, p.93). Thus the child helps Ovid transcend mortality. The context in which the text is read is crucial for gleaning the meaning it was intended to convey. Today both texts are relevant as the world is becoming environment consciousness and is striving towards spirituality. Both texts are also in keeping with the New Age movement which seeks to transform society by emphasizing the primacy of Nature and spiritual awareness. Personally a study of these texts, has led me to appreciate Nature like never before and while it is unlikely that I worship Nature anytime in the future, it does reiterate my belief in keeping things simple and free of clutter at a physical and emotional level, and as close to the heart as possible. References Malouf, D. (1993) An Imaginary Life. Sydney: Pan Publishers. Wordsworth, W. (1999) The Complete Poetical Works. [online]. London: Macmillan and Co. Available from: http://www.bartleby.com/145/ [Accessed 25 July 2006] Read More