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March 30, 2004 Nature: Wordsworth, Darwin, and Carroll |
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The true nature of this debate is the relationship between science and sentiment—between Darwin and Wordsworth. Wordsworth is a Romantic poet who “held up the idea of nature as a source of serenity, joy and rapture” (Durant 32). A Wordsworth poem titled “Michael, A Pastoral Poem” contains the following lines romanticizing nature, “The common air; hills, which with vigorous step/ He had so often climbed; which had impressed/ So many incidents upon his mind” (XA 53). The title of the poem prepares the reader for some version of an elegy, but actually praises not only the life of the Michael but also the nature in his life. Furthermore, in verses 127 through 130 of Wordsworth’s Resolution and Independence, take note of how the old man is perceived in the context of nature: “While he was talking thus, the lonely place,/ The old Man's shape, and speech--all troubled me:/ In my mind's eye I seemed to see him pace/ About the weary moors continually…” Wordsworth, as a devoted lover of nature, must have been one of the earliest conservationists in a world growing more tuned into the world around him. John Durant, author of “Enchantment in the Tropics,” suggests that because of the growth in science can humans further appreciate and service nature. Darwin is a scientist, best known for his work, The Origin of the Species. On the topic of nature, Charles Darwin considers himself “a man who has become colour-blind” (Wordsworth) to the sentiments nature arouses. |
“From a love of Wordsworth and Shelley to the mechanistic grinding out of general laws,” Darwin has become nominalistic in attitude—he tends to generalize and not see each individual law for which it is. Upon his first encounter with a tropical rain forest during his HMS Beagle trip, Darwin writes, even “‘the grandest scenes would not cause any such convictions and feelings [of wonder, admiration, and devotion] to rise in my mind’” (Durant 32). Although Wordsworth is very sentimental towards nature, he doesn’t completely lack a sense of science. Lori Burton mentions that Wordsworth valued truth and feared decline of the imagination. Lori Burton, author of Wordsworth and the Reweaving of the Rainbow, cites that “by working so diligently to understand and explain the functioning of the mind, to explain the previously unexplainable, Wordsworth could be seen as just as guilty of following Newton’s science as the scientist he deplored.” Note the more methodical, Romantic writing with “ordinary words to express his personal feelings.” Ironically, Wordsworth’s “scientific, methodological thinking” distinguished himself from his fellow English poets who were predisposed to the more sentimental, grandiloquent writing style. Based upon Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll appears to have no scientific method in the way he writes: his sentences demand a great degree of imagination and less rationalizing. Moreover, nature is all about Alice in the form of animals, flowers, and bugs. However, this particular writing style is in part because he writes the story from the point of view of a child. Although Carroll may parody, and in fact is demonstrating high regards for Darwin and his ideas, he admires from a distance. Carroll merely mentions Darwin’s ideas in his writing: say for instance, Alice reaches an ethical dilemma about whether to eat the animals or not. Meanwhile Wordsworth’s style of sentiment and love for nature influences and infiltrates into Carroll’s very writing style though cloaked in the juvenile writing of a child. In conclusion, I would place Carroll closer to Wordsworth than Darwin. Works Cited Durant, John. "Enchantment In the Tropics." New Statesman 13 Dec. 1996: 32+.Ebsco. UT, Austin, TX. 29 Mar. 2004. Keyword: Wordsworth and nature. Wordsworth and the Reweaving of the Rainbow. Comp. Burton Lori. 13 Jan. 1998.
Florida Gulf Coast
University. 29 Mar. 2004 |
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