The poem by William Wordsworth “A sleep made my spiritual seal” requires different interpretations depending on the readers. In this case, two critics, Cleanth Brooks and FW Bateson, analyze the poem and produce two contrasting interpretations. For the most part, both reviews focus on examining the same facts in the poem, particularly the last two lines of the poem. However, although Brooks and Bateson draw their conclusions from common facts, they approach the text with different assumptions. Brooks uses the method of new criticism, in which one focuses only on the words of the poem. Bateson, on the other hand, takes into account influences such as the author's life, his other poems, and his philosophy about nature in general. Brooks struggles with a narrow spectrum of interpretation that leads him to a more biased report, while Bateson's integration of other texts allows him to appear less biased and develop a more complete interpretation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Brooks' commentary on the poem reveals that it is heavily influenced by the concept of new criticism. This approach focuses solely on interpretation through the language of the poem. He rejects the examination of biographical information, which can influence how one understands the poem. For example, Brooks literally reads the description of Lucy's death. Brooks takes “No motion has she now, no strength” (1.5) and “[s]he neither hears nor sees” (1.6) to mean that Lucy is dead; he doesn't consider that this could describe Lucy resting calmly. Furthermore, Brooks does not consider Lucy's mind; he reads no other information into the description of its lifeless presence. For Brooks, the last two lines of the poem have no spiritual significance. Had he been inspired by the related works of Wordsworth, he might have reconsidered this assessment – ​​but then he would not have followed the principles of New Criticism. Despite his adherence to New Criticism, Brooks is still unable to escape his own prejudices. For example, Brooks describes the elements of nature in the poem (rocks, stones, trees) as contributing to "the girl's falling back into the jumble of things" (Hirsch p.7). The perception of nature as harsh is Brooks's. Similarly, Brooks writes that Lucy "is drawn helplessly into the empty whirlwind of the earth" (Hirsch, p. 7), implicitly stating that the earth is a place in which people can get lost and lost – a belief personal, not a general belief. an accepted fact and certainly not an idea put forward by Wordsworth. Another example of Brooks's anti-nature belief appears in his argument that Lucy "falls back into the jumble of things, accompanied by things chained like a tree" (Hirsch p.7); it features a tree, which most people would consider a symbol of life and growth, as a constraint. In these and other examples, Brooks' negative attitude toward nature and the earth appears repeatedly. His New Criticism is not as objective and strictly text-driven as it would be if applied perfectly. Bateson analyzes the poem under the influence of other texts, in particular Wordsworth's "The Lyrical Ballads" and "Tintern Abbey". Bateson takes a more positive view of "A Slumber did my spirit seal" because he takes into account Wordsworth's romantic views on nature. In his preface to “Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth describes how “low and rustic life was generally chosen as the subject of poetry, 2007. 4.