A reading response to: Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During A Tour, July 13, 1798

I enjoyed reading this poem very much. I thought it beautifully written and that Wordsworth did a magnificent job of entwining his emotions with the scenes of nature that he viewed. I liked the way he brought to our attention that this was a journey back in time for him; he had been there before and had maintained the view in his memories. "Though absent long, These forms of beauty have not been to me, As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:" and also, he speaks of the 'forms of beauty' as having brought him 'tranquil restoration.'

Later in the poem, Wordsworth included his own maturation and how it affected his perception of nature. "For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth." This appears to be a transition, leading into a sense of wisdom that Wordsworth wants to convey. "A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things." I was happy he included his later years in life because, to me, it was metaphorical in the sense that, life keeps going forward, people keep changing, and the Wye keeps flowing. I thought it gave a very strong sense of motion to the poem.

As for the lady Wordsworth refers to in the last part of the poem, I am wondering if she is an allegory of his two states, younger and older. My thinking along these lines is because he refers to her in two different manners: first as a Friend, and then as a Sister. Perhaps, his reference to her as a friend implies the perspective that she (nature) aroused in him in his youth. And then, of course, the sister reference would imply the mature perspective she inspires in him now. Food for thought!