Ode Intimations of Immortality by William
Wordsworth
by Barry Wright
Essay: Ode Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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Ode Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth
In Ode: Intimations of Immortality, William Wordsworth explores the moral development of man and the
irreconcilable conflicts between innocence and experience, and youthfulness and maturity that develop. As the
youth matures he moves farther away from the divinity of God and begins to be corruption by mankind. What
Wordsworth wishes for is a return to his childhood innocence but with his new maturity and insight. This would
allow him to experience divinity in its fullest sense: he would re-experience the celestial radiance of childhood as
well as the reality of his present existence. Wordsworth wants to have the better of the two conflicting worlds:
childhood and maturity, divinity and knowledge, but these two existences are antitheses and the source of the
irony behind Wordsworth's utopian dream.
In stanza one and two the speaker is recalling his childhood perception of nature. The speaker perceived nature
idealistically as a child and still as an adult recalls the perception and briefly experiences his childlikeness through
the memories.
THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell'd in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
In stanza two "Wordsworth not only confirms his senses but he also confirms his ability to perceive beauty"(Davis
145). He explains his reactions to loveliness of the rose and the moon. Stanza three the speaker expresses his grief:
"to me alone there came a thought of grief (1481)."
In stanzas three and four, the speaker is attempting to relive his childhood splendor, but it is a useless effort, and
the reader senses that it is forc...
In stanzas three and four, the speaker is attempting to relive his childhood splendor, but it is a useless effort, and
the reader senses that it is forc...