Poetical Analysis of Ode on Intimations of Immortality

The Romantic Poet William Wordsworth wrote "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" in the midst of the Romantic Period during the early 19th century. This was a time of new scientific thought, observing nature, and social reform.

In "Ode to Intimations of Immortality," Wordsworth recalls a time when he was a child. This was a time in his life when he felt that he was truly innocent, innocence in the view that everything was new and full of awe to him, wonderment at the world around him, especially nature and natural occurrences. As a young child he did not know how the things that fascinated him occurred. (Just like today, when we see children amazed at how a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat.) The theme of many Romantic poems had a loss of innocence aspect and dealt with nature. This was also the case with William Wordsworth's poems.

He was an acute observer of nature, possibly not as precise as his sister Dorothy, but most would agree more artistic in sharing his impressions and the inspiration he derived. Through his sister Dorothy's journals of their day to day activities living together in the countryside around the Lake District and the English moors we see that Wordsworth would be out in nature everyday. It is also revealed to us how quickly he would move through the creative process, many of his poems taking only one day to complete after the point of inspiration.

In the first four lines of "Ode on Intimations of Immortality," Wordsworth talks about a time when everything seemed "Appareled in celestial light". In other words the wonderment and awe he felt as a child. In line 9 of the poem he states that he can no longer see his surroundings through the eyes of a child as he once did, thus proving he is weary or melancholy over his perceived loss of innocence. In the very next line he talks about rainbows and how they come and go. Wordsworth is telling us that since he is older now he has seen many rainbows in his lifetime and they are nothing new to him. It is a common occurrence to him. Wordsworth gives us this impression in line76 and 77 of the poem. Also since he is living in a time of scientific explanations of nature and the romantic thirst for knowledge he probably knows of how, why, and when rainbows occur and that they are not magical or godly as he once thought of when he was new to the world. They are just the sun's reflection on particles of rain or mist left in the air after a storm, which splits the spectrum of color into what we call a rainbow. Lines 86 and 87 and 93 to 108 in the poem shows us how Wordsworth thinks society in its learned rituals and rules set upon its members turn them from innocent at six years old, with the world being blissful, to a grown up that has forgotten or lost the ability to see nature for what it really is, heavenly. Line 19 of the poem Wordsworth says a glory has passed away from the earth. This also lets us know that he no longer believes that God (Glory) has anything to do with nature. We know that he is saddened by this by looking at the lines that precede this, which talk about how beautiful the moons reflection is on a lake and how glorious it is to see the Sun rising and that wherever he goes now he knows images like those will not be as emotional as they once were when he was a young child. Lines 57 and 58 also lead us to the loss of innocence theme, where he states that there is no gleam in nature and asks where the glory and the dream he once had as fled too, meaning nature does not thrill him anymore because he has lost his innocence.

Lines 67,68 and 69 reveal to us Wordsworth's belief that when we are young the world around us is like heaven, line 67, but as we grow older, line 69; this fades and slowly turns into a prison, line 68. He likens this awe of nature and seeing the world as heavenly to being born into royalty knowing glories and luxury living in an imperial palace and slowly having those luxuries being taken away from you until you have no rights at all and become an inmate.

For these reasons I believe that Wordsworth's poem an Ode on Intimations of Immortality is about his and other peoples loss of innocence when they get older and how and why this occurs. I am sure through deeper analysis of this poem and comparison of his other works one can find even more evidence of his infatuation with losing his innocence.