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Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

by William Wordsworth

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How does Wordsworth interrelate his senses, mind, and conscience in "Tintern Abbey," lines 88-111?

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In "Tintern Abbey," Wordsworth explores the relationship between his senses, mind, and conscience. He reflects on how his sensory experiences of nature influence his intellectual and moral development. While his youthful perception was marked by unbounded joy, maturity brings a deeper understanding of life's complexities, symbolized by the "still sad music of humanity." This interrelation highlights a sublime connection between nature and humanity, guiding his moral being and offering a sense of renewal and hope.

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Wordsworth, in this poem, is concerned with nature and the manner in which it relates to his own personal mental and emotional development. In your question, the "senses" would equal the poet's perception of the surrounding world—in this case, specifically the landscape around Tintern Abbey and the river Wye. "Mind" and "conscience" are the elements within him, the interior self, that have a symbiotic or reciprocal relationship with that outside world. Nature creates and influences the poet's mind, and, as is typical in Romantic thought, the poet's mind interprets and re-interprets nature in terms of its own character and growth.

In "Tintern Abbey," Wordsworth recognizes a change between the way he now views the scene and his perception of it five years earlier. There is a sense of loss in his reaction. This experience of loss is a theme that runs like a thread among different poems of his. It...

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is perhaps most clearly expressed in the "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from recollections of Early Childhood":

Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day.
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
Similarly, in "Tintern Abbey," especially in the lines referenced in your question, we sense a similar feeling of regret over the change that has taken place:
That time is past, And all its aching joys are now no more, And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense. For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes The still sad music of humanity,

This line, about the "still sad music of humanity," relates to Wordsworth's increased awareness, as a more mature person, that life does not consist of endless joy but nevertheless has value, and that both of these sentiments—the unbounded enthusiasm of youth and the mature conscience that comes when one has grown older—are reflected in nature. The presence of Wordsworth's sister, with whom he was very close, symbolizes the connection to the past and their shared childhood; it also is a recognition that, despite the changes that have come with maturity, there is a constant renewal of feeling and hope that stems from his connection to her. What his mind and conscience are focused upon—which is reinforced by his senses, by his perception of the world around him—is now

A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns . . .
This expresses a recognition of his own mortality in "the light of setting suns." Wordsworth was only twenty-eight, in 1798, when he wrote this poem, but his concerns, like those of most poets, already centered upon the darker aspects of life. Yet in some ways, his views are the opposite of pessimism, because even the dark or negative side of the world is construed as a source of joy. It is precisely this interrelation between Wordsworth's interior self and the world his senses show to him that is typical of his own concerns and those of his contemporaries and successors in the Romantic movement.
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In these lines, Wordsworth connects what he has experienced with his senses—the beautiful scenes of nature—with the workings of his intellectual mind and moral conscience. He no longer views nature with the same intellectual and moral innocence that he did when he was younger; his thoughts about nature have been impacted by his experiences with humanity as well. He now sees the connection between all of nature and humanity, a sublimity "interfused" in the air, the sky, the ocean, and in the minds of humankind. There is a "spirit" that moves through all things in nature and in people, himself included, and what he perceives through his senses, he understands to be true intellectually. This serves as the "anchor of [his] purest thoughts": in other words, this spirit guides him and directs his "moral being." What he has experienced with his senses has affected his thinking and his new thoughts now direct his morality.

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