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Essay / Wordsworth: The Young and the Wise
"Resolution and Independence" and "Lines Written Above Tintern Abbey" respectively illustrate the difference between a naive young wandering poet and a traveler who has found wisdom in through time and nature. Furthermore, the two poems are also capable of elucidating different types of wisdom gained through the poet-figure "Tintern Abbey" who ultimately receives abundant recompense for the loss of the sounds of his youth and the old leech-gatherer of " Resolution and Independence.” who receives no reward for his lost dynamism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay An important emblem for youth in "Resolution and Independence" is the music of the natural world that surrounds the character, thus explaining how his loss becomes an indication of the loss of youth for the speaker of “Tintern Abbey.” The younger character expresses joy at "The birds... singing in the distant woods... / The jay [does] respond while the magpie chatters; / And all the air is filled with the pleasant sound of the waters" (Resolution, lines 4 -7). The imagery of familiar sounds from the outside world presents vibrant life, lacking nothing apart from what the earth offers. "Tintern Abbey" contrasts sharply with this passage from an elderly man's speech: "...I have learned / To look at nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but by often hearing / The sweet, sad music of humanity” (Tintern Abbey, 88-91). This last character obviously demonstrates great efforts to learn to pass from the noise of youth to silence; he now “looks at nature” that contains him rather than having the freedom to hear “the air…filled with pleasant noise.” The way the two speakers address the other characters in the story once again demonstrates the differences between their experiences. The elder character not only remembers his happiest times in the Wye Woods, he also realizes the loneliness of having lost the wonderful youthful part of his own personality. Turning to his sister, he almost desperately wishes her strength for the future, fully anticipating the moment when she, too, will have to look back to remember the significant events of her youth, as he seeks to do: “Therefore may the moon / Shine on you in their solitary walk; / And let the misty mountain winds be free / To lament against you... in the years to come / ... these wild ecstasies will ripen / In one please sober" (134-139). The speech from the speaker to her younger sister serves as a warning for the adulthood that awaits her in the future and which will leave her deprived of the vivacity of life as she currently knows it. The young poet of “Resolution and Independence. " does not yet grasp the idea of involuntary loneliness that the old man from "Tintern Abbey" tries to convey to his sister. Upon meeting the leech gatherer, he inquires about the reason for the loneliness of the. worker: “What occupation do you have there? / It is a lonely place for one like you” (Resolution, 88-89) gives the idea that with age. comes the inevitable isolation of nature, while the poet of "Resolution and Independence" searches for the reason for the loneliness of the old leech collector. The younger character does not accept loneliness as inevitable. He does not yet understand the older speaker's experience that developing maturity carries the necessary price of isolation from nature. Although the older character in "Tintern Abbey" slightly regrets the loss of the "pleasant sound", his sister and the younger speaker."