The Beauty of Female Images and Nature In Wordsworth’s Poetry

Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture,Beijing,China Email:784930679@qq.com

[Abstract]This paper tries to explore Wordsworth’s view of nature through the analysis of beautiful female images in his poetry.Using the method of close reading,it analyzes the beauty of female images from three aspects:simplicity,pleasure and hope.The study attempts to prove that the description of the beautiful female images with simplicity,pleasure and hope reflects Wordsworth’s view of nature.

[Keywords]Female;beauty;simplicity;pleasure;hope;nature

Introduction

William Wordsworth is one of the greatest poets of English Romantic period and is regarded as a poet of nature.Wordsworth ranks among the best poets of English literary history,and his poetical performance and value are considered as superior to all the other poets except for only Shakespeare and Milton(Arnold,1974,p.133).In many of his poems,he shows this ideal state of human and nature by depicting some images of common rural people.Among all these images,there are a great many females that have left a very deep impression in the readers’mind.These female images can be regarded as effective in showing the poet’s ideal of the combination of the human and the nature.

Wordsworth declares in the“Preface to Lyrical Ballads”that a poet should give“immediate pleasure to a human being”,which is“an acknowledgement of the beautiful of the universe,an acknowledgement the more sincere”,and a homage paid to“the grand elementary principle of pleasure,by which he knows,and feels,and lives and moves”(Wordsworth,2008,p.21).He fulfills his aim by delineating the nature,which is a presence,standing in the poems as an inspiration and disturbed man“with the joy/Of elevated thoughts”(Wordsworth,2008,p.95).In his poems,the female images are described as evoking the happiness and expectation in people’s heart.The beauty of women,who inspire people to experience pleasure and hope,embodies the beauty of nature.In the following part I will discuss the simplicity,pleasure and hope of the females,both physically and mentally,and analyze how they embody the beauty of nature.

Beauty in Nature and Female Images with Simplicity

When mentioning the simplicity of a woman physically,“She dwelt among the untrodden ways”is a good example.From the environment she dwells,the image she resembles and her death,the beauty of both nature and female are illustrated.This poem narrates a story of a woman,who lives and dies in the nature.Wordsworth employs plain words,mainly one syllable words to express the simple beauty of a female image.

The first stanza shows the environment that she lives.

SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways

Beside the springs of Dove,

A Maid whom there were none to praise

And very few to love:

“Untrodden ways”is the unexplored place which nobody walks or stands on,and there is no disturbance and pollution.She dwells in this isolated and clean natural area,and her beauty is simple and pure.Although the maid is beautiful,there is“none to praise”and“very few to love”her.It is because her beauty is natural beauty,while the people in the society do not care or pay any attention to nature and they would not see the beauty.Only the poet,who loves and understands nature,could appreciate her beauty.

In the second stanza,the poet compares her with natural things,a violet and a star,to portray her simple beauty.

A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!

--Fair as a star,when only one

Is shining in the sky.

She is as beautiful as a little violet.The beauty is not seen by all,but“half hidden”“by a mossy stone”.A green-colored rough mossy stone is in contrast with a purple-colored soft flower,which emphasizes the beauty of the female.Near a stone is the circumstance where a violet hides,which implies that her beauty is not in the complicated society,but in the simple nature.Only by exploring the nature,can her beauty be found.Then,she is described as a fair star shining in the sky.In the dark night,only the pure and bright things,without any spot or stain,could be seen.A star can be seen at night,and she is like a star,with pure and bright beauty.She is the“only one”in the poet’s eyes.After the sunset,the first visible star is Venus,which represents the goddess of love.This diction makes clear the poet’s love for the maid.As a nature admirer,seeing a woman who is beautiful as nature,the poet cannot help but falls in love with the maid.Critic Cleanth Brooks comments that she is“the single star,completely dominating[his]world,not arrogantly like the sun,but sweetly and modestly.”(Brooks,1975,p.193).The poet does not employ the sun or the moon,which are larger and brighter than a star,but uses a star to compare with the maid,which conveys the simplicity and commonness of the maid.

Her name is not given at the first two stanzas of the three-stanza-poem,which also shows that she is one of the women,common and ordinary.The present poem contains three stanzas,but the original version is five stanzas.The first and fourth stanzas,which were later deleted from the original version,are as follows:

My hope was one,from cities far,

Nursed on a lonesome hearth;

Her lips were red as roses are,

Her hair a woodbine wreath.

And she was graceful as the broom

That flowers by Carron’s side.

But slow distemper checked her bloom

And in the Heath she died.

A bunch of flowers,like the roses,woodbine,and broom,are removed,and one little violet is left.Diverse flowercolors,like red,pink and yellow,are removed,and violet is left.Wordsworth uses one little flower of one color to describe the female,which underlines the simplicity of the female.The two deleted stanzas have obvious feminine quality,like the red-rose lips,the woodbine wreath on the hair and graceful as the broom.The deletion is a convincing proof that the poet intends to weaken Lucy’s feminine quality,and emphasizes Lucy’s natural quality.The beauty of women does not consist in their typical female appearance or quality,but consists in nature.As some critics remark that although Lucy is called a maid in the poem,she is sexless.The sexlessness emphasizes the connection with nature,and the female’s beauty is the natural beauty.Wordsworth erases the evident feminine hue in order to emphasize the relationship between the female and nature.She is a simple violet flower on the earth and a pure and bright star in the sky,whose beauty is equivalent to the nature’s beauty.

In the last stanza,her death is told in a few words.

She lived unknown,and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be;

But she is in her grave,and,oh,

The difference to me!

When she is alive,few praise her beauty.When she dies,few know her death.She lives and dies quietly and lonely in the nature.Her death is only narrated as“ceased to be”and“is in her grave”.The expression of her death is short and brief.She just leaves the world in an easy way,without mourning or funeral.Like a violet which withers and a star that falls down,she dies silently.An ordinary maid’s death,for the people in a busy and complex world,is nothing;but for the poet,it is a big difference.It is hard for the poet to speak out his feeling,and he could only speak a few words:“oh,/ The difference to me!”.The short sentences,just like the female’s simple beauty,leave a deep impression on the reader.The woman,who is like the half-hidden violet and the bright star,represents the true beauty of nature.

Beauty in Nature and Female Images with Pleasure

Females are the beautiful happy images,who send pleasure and joy to the people.Wordsworth depicts a happy female in“She was a phantom of delight”.She in the poem is generally acknowledged as Wordsworth’s wife,Mary.The poem was written in 1804,two years after their marriage.It is a poem of love and celebration of happiness with three stanzas.The poem records the pleasure that the poet experiences when he watches the woman.

In the first stanza,the poet expresses his delight when seeing the beautiful woman,who is a phantom gleaming in beauty.

SHE was a Phantom of delight

When first she gleamed upon my sight;

A lovely Apparition,sent

To be a moment's ornament;

Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;

Like Twilight's,too,her dusky hair;

But all things else about her drawn

From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;

A dancing Shape,an Image gay,

To haunt,to startle,and way-lay.

At first sight,the female is described as a phantom with pleasure.The words of“delight”,“cheerful”,“gay”show that the pleasant and enjoyable feeling of the poet when he watches the female.She does not appear before the poet’s eyes,but gleams upon the poet’s sight.“Gleam”is a vision experience of light and a mind experience of happy.A vision experience of light comes from the natural time that the female resembles,such as“twilight”,“dusky”,“drawn”,“May-time”and“dawn”.A mind experience of happy implies the pleasure when watching the beautiful,“l(fā)ovely”and“fair”female.The beauty of her,who is an animated and joyous image with a beautiful dancing shape,keeps coming to the speaker’s mind,and surprises him.The speaker is so obsessed with the beautiful phantom that he can do nothing.The only thing left in his mind is the delight.The poet seems to be so dizzied by the delight upon his sight that he is haunted,startled and way-layed by the female.In the poet’s dream-like happy stance,the female is not a real person,but a“phantom”,“apparition”,“ornament”,“shape”,and“image”.The female becomes a sparking natural spirit and surprises the poet with happiness.

The female is like the golden daffodils in“I wandered lonely as a cloud”.Wandering beside the lake,the poet looks at the sparkling and dancing daffodils,and he expresses his feeling by writing“A poet could not but be gay,/In such a jocund company”(15-16).The daffodils are beautiful nature,with which the poet gets pleasure and gay.Through the beautiful female,by watching her,the poet could also feel happy and pleased.The happiness could get from nature,daffodils and the females.The females,who are described as sending delight,represent beautiful nature.

Seeing from afar,the light of the female gives the poet delight.In the second stanza,the female is seen upon nearer view:

I saw her upon nearer view,

A Spirit,yet a Woman too!

Her household motions light and free,

And steps of virgin-liberty;

A countenance in which did meet

Sweet records,promises as sweet;

When going close to the phantom,the speaker notices that she is not only a spirit of happy,but also a substance of delight.Wordsworth uses an exclamation mark to show that the excited emotion when the speaker finds she is a woman,besides a vision.Her motions are“l(fā)ight and free”and her steps are“virgin-liberty”,which indicate the softness and gentleness of her image and freedom of her heart.She is a woman with mildness and free will.When watching the mild female,whose action could be seen clearly,the poet feels sweet.“Sweet”means kind,gentle and friendly in image as well as making someone feel pleased,happy and satisfied in thoughts and emotion.Sweet conveys the image of the female and the emotion of the poet.The emotion of sweetness,which contains the pleasant and satisfied thinking,is deeper than the feeling of delight at the beginning.It implies,by watching close,the pleasure of the poet is stronger than the first glance.“Sweet records”refer to not only her beautiful countenance upon nearer view,but also the cheerful impression that she leaves in the poet’s mind at first sight.The clear beautiful image of a woman,both recalls the poet’s delightful feeling when he watches the natural light from her in the first stanza,and inspires him with sweetness now.“Promises as sweet”,meaning the sweet feeling will not stop but continue in the future,shows the poet’s belief in the female and the pleasure.

After first impression and seeing her from nearer view,the speaker begins to feel her“with eye serene”:

A perfect Woman,nobly planned,

To warn,to comfort,and command;

And yet a Spirit still,and bright

With something of angelic light.

She is“A Perfect Woman”with“angelic light”.Seeing with the serene eyes,which are the calm inward eyes,the poet is less impassioned and sensuous and more thoughtful.She,warning people not to go far from nature,comforting them when they suffered,and calling for the involvement with nature,makes noble plans and takes action cheerfully.What she does is like an angel who not only radiates light of pleasure to the human world,but also helps human to find their delight in the heavenly nature.

The pleasure that the female sends is just like the daffodils.In“pensive mood”with“inward eye”,by thinking daffodils,the poet feels bliss,his heart“with pleasure fills”and“dances with the daffodils”.The pleasure getting from the female leaves in the poet’s mind and lasts for a long time,which is like the bliss from the daffodils.The pleasure from the females demonstrates the joy from nature.

In the last stanza,the female is still“a Spirit”with angelic light,who is the combination of a phantom of nature light at first glance and a real woman through a close watching.She is a perfect woman because she represents nature.The female image is combined with the nature spirit,which illustrates that the description of a woman is the embodiment of his view of nature.

By approaching nearer to the female,the happy feeling is sensed stronger bit by bit,from delightful,sweet to angelic feeling,and the pleasure is experienced deeper step by step,from vision,thinking to mind.The experience of watching the female resembles that of watching the daffodils.By going closer to the daffodils,from glance,gaze to pensive mood,the daffodils inspires the poet’s sight and mood with glee and pleasure.When he portrays a female,Wordsworth endows the identical influence on the people between females and nature,and employs the similar method between the description of females and the praising of nature,which means that he intends to reflect his view of nature from the description of the females.

Beauty in Nature and Female Images with Hope

The beautiful females also give hope to people.Wordsworth declares that a lady is the“Dear child of nature”.As a nature’s child,a woman inherits the nature’s beauty and represents the hope in the nature.The idea is showed in“To a young lady”.The poem describes the successive stages of a woman’s life,from a wife and friend,a mother,to an old age.Each stage of the female gives hope to the people.

At first stage,she is a wife and friend:

DEAR Child of Nature,let them rail!

--There is a nest in a green dale,

A harbour and a hold;

Where thou,a Wife and Friend,shalt see

Thy own heart-stirring days,and be

A light to young and old.

The woman lives in“a green dale”,nature,where is“a nest”,“a harbor and a hold”for her.As a child of nature,nursed and reared by nature,she succeeds the feature of nature.Getting married in nature,she becomes“a wife and friend”and is“A light to young and old”.Being a light which is a natural radiation,she illuminates both young and old people in the dark.She is a guide for and the hope of people at different ages and directs them to see and find brightness and nature.

The first three lines show the female’s attribution to nature and the last three lines shows her attribution to human being.Through the woman,the nature and human being get connected.Through the woman,the young and old could find the way to nature.The woman represents nature and is the hope of people.

Then,she is a mother:

Thou,while thy babes around thee cling,

Shalt show us how divine a thing

A Woman may be made.

A woman giving birth to babies,who are the offsprings of human beings,is the expectation of the future,and the hope of people.The babes are the divine things,who are the descendents of human as well as nature because the origin of their mother is nature,to combine human and nature.The babes are the hope for people to go back to nature to find their origins and the hope for their future lives in the nature.The babes are made by a woman,which means the hope could be given from a woman.The females possess the energy of giving hope to the people.

At third stage,she is an old lady:“But an old age serene and bright,/And lovely as a Lapland night”.Although she is at her old age,she is still serene and bright,because she inherits the energy and hope from nature.She is“l(fā)ovely as a Lapland night”.“Lapland”is a real place in the Arctic Circle,where there is a beautiful Polar night with stars shining all days and all nights.The woman is resembled as Lapland,which shows that she is still beautiful and lovely when she is old.Another meaning for“Lapland”is the legendary home of Santa Claus and reindeer herdsmen.They,send presents to everyone at Christmas Eve,whose home is the treasure-house.“Lapland night”is the Christmas Eve when everyone makes best wishes.The female,who is like the Santa Claus and reindeer herdsman,sends the treasure of nature to the people,giving them blessings and help them to fulfill their wishes.

When she is a wife and friend,the female,who is nursed by and inherit from nature,has her connection with nature.The hope that she gives is like a light,which can be seen by the people.When she is a mother,the female,who bores babies,is combined with nature.The hope that she sends is like a baby,which can be felt by the people.When she is an old lady,the female,who helps people fulfill their wishes,stands for nature.The hope of the people could be achieved by her help.The three stages of the female are a process of describing a female getting more affinity with nature,and hope to send by the female becoming more achievable.

The beautiful nature gives hope to the people.The females,who connect and combine with nature,indicate the hope in nature.The hope that females send contains beauty,which means the females are beautiful.

Acknowledgements

Reform of vocational education and teaching.Project No.1910028.