ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The chief faith of Wordsworth, namely, his pantheism, is lyrically expressed in this poem. Here the poet ‘most directly expresses the sense of a unifying spirit within all things’ (Durrant 1979: 6). Thus Wordsworth identified ‘God and Nature as one’ (Coles 1991: 45).

Detailed explanation-2: -Pantheism was popularized in Western culture as a theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza, in particular, his book Ethics. A pantheistic stance was also taken in the 16th century by philosopher and cosmologist Giordano Bruno.

Detailed explanation-3: -It’s a pantheistic view: he thinks that in nature there are a lot of values which are the guide to the spiritual and moral life of men. Nature means also the world of sense perceptions. He was influenced by the philosopher Hartley, he thought that our ideas aren’t inborn in our mind, but we get them by the world.

Detailed explanation-4: -Wordsworth believed (as he expressed in poems such as the “Intimations of Immortality” Ode) that, upon being born, human beings move from a perfect, idealized realm into the imperfect, un-ideal earth.

Detailed explanation-5: -Tintern Abbey expresses most clearly Wordsworth’s pantheistic philosophy, a belief that a mysterious spirit permeates not only the objects of Nature, but also the mind of man. It is this spirit which gives life to all thinking creatures, to all objects of external Nature.