Wordsworth and Eastern Thought

             William Wordsworth is considered the greatest poet of the Romantic period in British literature, and one of the greatest poets to ever write in the English language. His friend and contemporary, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, hailed him as "the best poet of the age". At first, however, the public did not openly embrace Wordsworth's poetry. The subject matter of the poems and the language it was written in was so revolutionary that his contemporaries did not know how to react to it. His poetry relied heavily on his experiences in nature and the lives of common people, and he explained in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads that he wanted to represent "incidents and situations from common life" (Stillinger 446). Throughout his poetry, the effect that nature had on his understanding of life, and the way he looked to nature for comfort can be seen. Wordsworth's deep connection with nature and the natural processes of life make for an interesting comparison to the basic tenets of Buddhist doctrine. Comparing Wordsworth's view of nature and life to the basic Buddhist views of both offers an interesting insight on some of the commonalities between the two. Seeing the connections between Wordsworth, a central figure in the Western Tradition, and Buddhism, the main belief system of the Eastern world, will point to the fundamental similarities underlying all of humanity's existence. By looking through the poetry of Wordsworth and going through the underlying tenets of Buddhism, striking similarities appear. Of course, there will be a few contradictory points, but seeing the many similarities will help to put Wordsworth into a context where his unique belief system is actually quite similar to an age-old belief system. Thus, the initially radical beliefs that Wordsworth filled his poetry with can be seen as a continuation of beliefs that had been held for thousands of years. By looking at his poetry in this context, it will also b...

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Wordsworth and Eastern Thought. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 05:38, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/27536.html