Wordsworth Romanticism
This article was written by Lonestar Writer Natalie Lehman
Although, the Wordsworth siblings’ literary pieces crossover in setting and thematic elements, Dorothy Wordsworth stands for more than just her brother’s inspiration through her feminist values and progression as a romantic poet in the 1800s.
Wordsworth’s The Grasmere Journals emphasize her feminist ideals through her solitary time in the Wordsworth cottage in a blooming England. The social standpoint of a woman at the time the journals were being documented, women in general were not supposed to have a voice — let alone a poetic voice unintentionally published in print. Her private journals prove how a great author’s writings can be overshadowed simply because of their social standpoint. Wordsworth’s deep connection with the nature around her creates many “exquisite feelings” about “daffodils so beautiful” and “the glorious brightness of the moon itself,” that they can be directly compared to her brother’s as being just as well written (609). Even though the author talks about how she misses her brother and at times feels “dull and melancholy,” it is about the only thing she can not seem to transform into something more positive and full of “light and life and joy” in her mind (605 and 610). The particular reason for this is not because she relies on her brother’s genius to feel significant but because she simply loves and cares about her brother. This actively demonstrates that Dorothy Wordsworth’s literary material is important and interesting in its own right without William Wordsworth’s renowned poetry.
The basis of romanticism as a genre depends on an author’s individualism and emotional connection to the world around them. A key factor for poets to be able to bond to their material world is to write not in the height of emotion but relay their enhanced feelings after pondering the meaning and existence of those emotions to begin with. Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals demonstrate exactly that. Her extreme attachment to nature demonstrated through her reactions to “the wood rich in flowers” that made her “heart so full” and her eyes “flood with tears,” (605) and her recount of “one night… [she] will never forget” where “the waves roared and broke against the pier, and as they broke and as the travelled toward [her], they were interfused with greenish fiery light,” (610) carefully crafted exploits of imagery show how Wordsworth was able to create intense scenes of reflection on nature itself.
The Grasmere Journals were never meant to be published whereas her poems A Floating Island and Grasmere — A Fragment illustrate Wordsworth’s ability to not only bind to nature for herself but to find the interconnection between nature and the human condition. Her progression as a romantic poet in this sense is seen in the poem Floating Island where Wordsworth compares a “mossy” adorned “little island [-like]” log to “a peopled world it is; in size a tiny room” (lines 9, 16 and 18). As “Harmonious Powers with Nature work On sky, earth, river, lake, and sea: Sunshine and storm, whirlwind and breeze All in one duteous task agree,” with the cycle of life in simple creatures found on a log and metaphoric humans directly compared to the seemingly insignificant insect on the same log (1–4). Dorothy Wordsworth’s revelation that nature doesn’t consider the feelings or emotions of its creations but simply recognizes life and death, proves her individuality as a poet not reliant on her brother. In Grasmere — A Fragment, Wordsworth connects wild nature with human constructs and creates a peaceful view of the two in consinity to an extension of her home (37–52). The ability to find beauty in just about anything and create distinct declarations about her emotions on the subjects of nature ensure that though William Wordsworth did use his sister’s material as inspiration, Dorothy Wordsworth’s significance is not because of, but in spite of her brothers writing as she was able to overcome his fame to be her own celebrated poet.
