Analysis of The Empirical Phase - Essay Example

Analysis of – “The Empirical Phase” In his chapter entitled “The Empirical Phase,” Alan Grob (1973) argues that the structure of Wordsworth’s poem “Tintern Abbey” is that of a continual expansion of the ideas he puts forth in his opening description of the landscape. This structure enables Wordsworth to connect the manmade objects to the inherent calm of the landscape as a means of then connecting the inner man to this external view. His admission that this calming state of mind is only temporary is somewhat tempered by his ability to remember the scenes of the hillside even when in the hustle and bustle of the city and is illustrated not to be simply the ideal, but also duplicable as it is seen in the growth of his sister. Throughout this careful structure, Grob argues that Wordsworth’s purpose was to challenge the present social order that was focused on the “disorganized and directionless” (19) mode of existence found in “the fretful stir / Unprofitable, and the fever of the world” (Wordsworth, 52-53) and present a more favorable development. Grob’s argument rests not so much upon the actual words in the poem as it does upon the way in which Wordsworth presents his case, progressing from the simple ease with which mankind connects with nature to the stabilizing influence it has even when lost in the “fever of the world” and demonstrating how this natural development was not unique just to him, but can be universally applied to others as well. In presenting his case, Grob suggests that Wordsworth’s poem can be basically divided into three main concerns beginning with the natural connection that occurs between man and nature. “As a vehicle for symbolic discourse, the landscape of Tintern Abbey possesses a latent multiplicity of reference so that almost every ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical judgment rendered later in the poem seems latent in its initial image” (14). This is started within the very first stanza as the poet describes the scenery before him, imbuing it with “a deep and abiding calm and a coalescence of particulars into a single, interlocking and indivisible pattern of harmony” (14). This image includes not only the untouched natural wonder that surrounds him, but also the human effects that have taken place within it, such as the hedgerows, cottage-grounds and orchard tufts. After having linked the efforts of mankind into the overall splendor of the natural environment, Wordsworth moves on to discuss the essential internal interconnectedness of man and nature. The silence and unity of nature is converted in man into such concepts as tranquility contrasted with the senses of the city and sympathy, “a feeling of shared participation in the being of a life outside oneself, that issues in the moral concern and moral will that make up ‘the best portions of a good man’s life’ (Wordsworth, 33)” (15). This state of being allows him to enter much deeper states of introspection, when man is able to truly be aware of the common identity of himself with all things around him. Once this essential connection between man and nature is established, Wordsworth moves on to acknowledge that it is not a state that can be maintained indefinitely, but rather something that one takes with them into the world to remember against times of tribulation. “Man can be a creature of the calm, but he does not dwell there in unchanging repose as the objects of nature do” (16). This is not only the effect of the city, but also the effect of time, which forces men to change while allowing nature to remain relatively untouched. Grob points again to Wordsworth’s blending of the manmade and the natural illustrated in the first stanza as proof that the two can still be intrinsically linked despite the flux of one and the stability of the other. “Man can know no such perfect stability as the objects of nature display; but because the objects of his past experience of nature are always at least potentially available through memory, he can acquire a general disposition to calm and harmony that for the time-bound individual constitutes … a life lived in accordance with the ways of nature” (17). This connection with nature leads to the development of nature-based dispositions of pleasure, virtue and knowledge which is illustrated through the presentation of Wordsworth’s biography within the poem. “The next step in the poem’s logical sequence, therefore, is to determine how these qualities were developed by the formative agency of nature as it works in and through time. It is to this end that Wordsworth in the fourth stanza presents an account of his own development … as a descriptive summary of the essential pattern of individual growth” (19). The final phase of the poem, Grob argues, is that in which Wordsworth attempts to prove not only that this was the proper course of development for him, but that it can be repeated by and is the proper course for others as well. Grob sees, in Wordsworth’s biographical section of the poem, the proofs Wordsworth is offering that his theory of development is the proper one. “The proper function of this retrospective survey for Wordsworth is to explain how others by subjecting themselves to the formative agencies that determined his own growth can acquire what he has acquired, how they too can move from time’s random to its ordered flow” (20). Again, Grob points out how this biography is connected back to the beginning illustrations of the poem, linking personal evolution to the “growing consciousness of the depth and extensiveness of one’s relational ties with man and nature (the human equivalent of the harmony of landscape)” (20-21). This sequence, in Grob’s argument, illustrates Wordsworth’s challenge regarding the proper development of man. “In Tintern Abbey, at least, Wordsworth conceives of the mind’s growth as primarily a matter of its correspondence to, or perhaps identity with, nature and hence with the metaphysically real” (21). However, Grob indicates Wordsworth also worked diligently to assure his poem was not read as a single, anomalous accident of chance in bringing about such a wondrous personal development by including some discussion regarding his sister. “Dorothy … reenacts the course of the poet’s own development with such exactness that she supplies living confirmation of the deterministic axiom that similarity of circumstance produces similarity of character” (32). Because she is younger, she is progressing through the same exact stages that Wordsworth already described as having happened to him, indicating that the process is duplicable and equally applicable to male and female. By analyzing the structure of the poem as it progresses from a contemplation of nature to a contemplation of the development of man, Grob argues that Wordsworth is trying to present a theory regarding the more desirable method of maturing as a natural process held in conjunction with a deep connection to nature. This is illustrated as Wordsworth points out the interconnectedness of nature with man in the general landscape before him. He then shares his current connection with nature and attributes this connection to his earlier experiences as well as indicating that this connection has been invaluable to him in surviving the disorganized rush of life in the city, suggesting it as a necessary part of development if one desires a full life. He follows this up with evidence, in the form of his sister, that this developmental process is applicable to all. In making this progressive analysis, Grob is successful in convincing his reader that Wordsworth was arguing for the importance of a connection to nature in this poem. Works Cited Grob, Alan. “The Empirical Phase: Tintern Abbey.” The Philosophic Mind: A Study of Wordsworth’s Poetry and Thought, 1797-1805. 1973. Read More