Why does the poet feel sad in the grove in "Lines Written in Early Spring"?

While reclining in a beautiful natural grove, the speaker feels sad because he contemplates and contrasts the sweetness of this lovely scene to what "man has made of man." By this phrase, he means the violence and ugliness of human civilization with all its wars, poverty, hierarchies, and degradations. He contrasts that to the beauties and harmonies of the natural world.

The speaker then goes on to describes some of these beauties. These include the primrose and the periwinkle, which he is convinced enjoy the air they breathe. He watches the birds hopping around him and thinks, though he cannot know for sure, that they must be experiencing pleasure. He also imagines the budding twigs spreading out in the breezes enjoying their existence.

The poet is sad about what "man has made of man" because he sees the simplicity of nature as part of God's "holy plan": if people would live in much closer harmony to the natural world, they would experience more joy and contentment.

How does Wordsworth describe nature and express sadness in "Lines Written in Early Spring"?

As the speaker relaxes in a lovely grove, they imagine the feelings of the other, non-human creatures around them. In this “green bower,” there are countless flowers, including primrose and periwinkle. The speaker imputes agency to these plants:

. . . 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

Similarly, the birds that flit and hop all around, and the “budding twigs” all show “pleasure.” However, this enjoyment not only emanates from the flora and fauna themselves but is evidence of God’s intentions as he perceives them: he has a “heaven sent” belief in “Nature's holy plan.”

The speaker’s deep appreciation for nature extends to distress over its being despoiled by humans. Their enjoyment of the sylvan bower is marred by knowing that such locales are becoming harder to find. The effects of human greed and neglect are destroying the natural world to which the speaker is so devoted, which causes him grief. The speaker first states and then asks rhetorically,

And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man . . .
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

Why is the poet sad in "Lines Written in Early Spring"?

In "Lines Written in Early Spring," the poet, presumably Wordsworth himself, sits reclined in a small woodland grove. It is obvious to the reader, even without foreknowledge of Wordsworth, that this is where the speaker feels most at home. As he sits taking in the beauty of nature in spring, he hears a birdsong that he considers to be the most beautiful harmony imaginable. All around him seems to be a cooperative and peaceful existence, one completely devoid of worry and pain. While he cannot hope to understand the thoughts of the animals and plants, it seems plainly obvious to him that they are happy.

This, in turn, makes the poet happy immediately, but it also makes him very sad existentially. This sad feeling emerges when he begins to compare the lives of men to the lives of the creatures of nature. The observation he continually makes is "what man has made of man," no doubt referencing the pain, war, strife, and hatred that has infected the human experience for all of time. He looks upon the natural world with an intense longing for a world in which humankind could live in such harmony and happiness, unburdened by the fear and pain which we cause each other.

What sad thoughts does the poet have in "Lines Written in Early Spring" by William Wordsworth?

As the speaker sits in nature, he becomes intricately linked to the spirit of all it links together. Through this connection, he is suddenly grieved to "think / What man has made of man."

In this poem, birds playfully hop. Twigs joyfully spread out. Flowers seem to enjoy the thrill of being alive. Yet in the midst of all the beauty, a beauty which surrounds not just him but all of his fellow mankind, the speaker sees that mankind has destroyed itself. Hate, war, genocides, murder, slander, and distrust are but a few of the ways that mankind engages with other members of the human population. How can man be part of this deep and beautiful connection to nature when he is capable of so much destruction and ugliness?

Nature has within itself the power to heal the speaker's soul and thus all of mankind's as well. However, the speaker's thoughts remain dejected, imprisoned in the reality of the misery of the human experience.

What sadness does the poet express in the second stanza of “Lines Written in Early Spring”?

In the first stanza of the poem, we are introduced to the speaker as he reclines in a peaceful grove, listening to birdsong. Unfortunately, the speaker's reverie is disturbed by sad thoughts, which, as he reflects, are often brought to mind by pleasant thoughts.

In time-honored Romantic fashion, “Nature”—note the capital letter showing personification—connects the poet's soul to all her “fair works,” the many beautiful things she has created.

But as we saw earlier, pleasant thoughts bring sad thoughts to the speaker, and so, despite the extraordinary natural beauty that surrounds him, he cannot help but grieve over “what man has made of man.” In other words, what humanity has done to itself.

One cursory glance at the pages of history gives us plenty of evidence in support of Wordsworth's contention. There, we are given a truly terrifying insight into the evils that men do. Instead of living together in peace and harmony with our natural surroundings, we are all often at each other's throats, fighting and killing each other.

For Wordsworth the Romantic, a man who keenly perceives the harmony of Nature, this is a great tragedy. We are a part of Nature, and yet we act as if we're not, as if we're somehow apart from it, set over against it.