Tintern abbey ireland - Essay Example

Indeed, one's uninvited thoughts can express themselves as beautiful, nostalgic, lyrical recollections as is the case with William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey," a poem inspired by the thoughts which came to his mind upon his visitation and re-visitation of Tintern Abbey. Reading through the poem, one feels that Wordsworth is leading one by the hand, taking one on a walk through the abbey grounds and, more so, through Wordsworth's life and his thoughts - the thoughts which had crept unbidden into his mind when gazing upon, and walking through, Tintern Abbey.

Halfway through the poem, midway through this guided tour, however, I realized that I did not need to take the "walk" with Wordsworth, because I had been on the walk myself. I decided to scour my computer for images from my senior trip to Ireland and was delighted when I uncovered the photos of my experience buried deep within the cavernous depths of a black hole I call my MacBook. I then continued reading the rest of the poem as I glanced up every so often at the image plastered on my glass screen.

In my dim dorm room, the image seemed to emerge out of the screen and back into my mind. I could actually see Tintern Abbey the way I saw it that day in Ireland. Over a year later, Wordsworth's poem and the photos of my trip brought the feelings I had felt and the thoughts I had thought of that day as I gazed upon Tintern Abbey and walked through its grounds, to mind; thoughts and feelings which had been buried deep under more recent ordeals and experiences, came rushing to the fore. Wordsworth's words had not only drawn me into his mind and his feelings but had forced me to recall my own memories of that day.

In so doing, I found myself questioning the purpose of this poem. What is it that Wordsworth wanted us, his readers to see, think of and experience Did I, just over a year ago, experience the same walk which Wordsworth had almost five centuries ago Was time repeating itself and were experiences being replicated across the centuries The answer to these questions lay hidden in Wordsworth's poem and in my own memories. I, therefore, had to examine both, much more critically than I had been doing.

"Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798" is divided into stanzas that I believe manifest Wordsworth's thought process as he sorts through memories and new revelations when in Tintern Abbey. Wordsworth begins the poem after revealing that it has been five years since his last visit to Tintern. Yet, it is evident that the memory of every sight, sound and smell he experienced that day were still fresh in his mind and were brought to the fore during this second visit: "Once again do I behold these steep and lofty cliffsthe landscape with the quiet of the sky.

" (Lines 3-5)Wordsworth is not writing of new experiences but is recollecting thee past through the present.As Wordsworth recollects his memories of Tintern Abbey, I gaze at my photographs and recall my own. I can see the rolling hills and cliffs as I saw them that day, and through Wordsworth's words I can distinctly remember the calm of the sky and quiet aura that flooded the ancient arches of the Abbey. To be completely honest, at first I could only remember my personal feelings about