The idea that beauty is subjective is frequently put forth. This is accurate given that humans frequently view the universe from a personal vantage point. The life of an individual is short; thus, it is wise to make the most of the time left to appreciate the beauty of the environment if one were to take this concept even further. John Keats’ and William Wordsworth’s masterpieces both discuss the link between beauty and how people spend their lives oblivious to it because they are focused on unimportant things. Despite appearing to hold similar opinions, the two authors express a few minor distinctions. The below discussion will be dedicated to the comparison of The World Is Too Much With Us and Ode to a Nightingale from the perspective given.
In his poem, Wordsworth argues how the connection between humans and nature is one of loss. That bond previously flourished, but as civilization has had an increasingly negative influence on daily life, humanity has lost its capacity to enjoy, embrace, and find solace in nature. The poem addresses this core loss in three ways: economically, spiritually, and culturally. It should be noted that Wordsworth offers no advice on how to get back what has been lost. Rather, he argues that the original link between humans and the environment can never be restored in a frantic manner.
The poem begins by presenting loss from an economic perspective, subtly attributing the alteration in people’s relationships with the environment to urban life. People tend to be “late and soon” given that the urban society has “too much” influence over humanity. Nowadays, people constantly waste time or money, and their lives are governed by a never-ending string of meetings and trades since they are working class in an intensively metropolitan environment.
This way of life has a cost; it undermines our ability to enjoy the natural environment and relate to it. People lose sight of their larger, and probably more significant, surroundings when they concentrate their “powers” on material things. The speaker may be suggesting that modern humans abandoned the capacity to think of relations and feelings in any way other than economic terms by referring to the environment as a thing that can be purchased or held.
The poem then focuses on spiritual loss, keeping in mind that this loss also has economic causes. The narrator continues that people have handed their hearts away. Even though he utilizes economic vocabulary – humans trade something for something else – this remark broadens the picture of loss. The human heart, a representation of life and passion, is the cost of material success and industrial advancement.
The poem’s concluding phrases depict cultural damage, and the mood of despair in its language implies that the loss is irreversible. The narrator introduces a civilization in which the environment played a bigger part in human existence by making references to Greek paganism. Once he admits the futility of old customs, his wishes seem more whimsical than sincere. The speaker is unable to be “less forlorn” by connecting with nature because they are a part of contemporary civilization.
At this point, it seems reasonable to turn to the analysis of Ode to a Nightingale. Nothing can endure forever, according to the poem’s significant idea. The narrator is seated in the woodland and enjoying the nightingale’s wonderful song. He sees “immortality” in the bird as a creature that, in his opinion, is not troubled by humankind’s worry about the passing of time and death and whose voice has resounded throughout the ages. Even the nightingale ultimately takes off, providing the narrator with a profound feeling of loss and the apparent conviction that everything eventually disappears.
The knowledge that nothing can last forever dampens the author’s capacity to appreciate the world. Possibly, as a result, the narrator in the opening verse feels conversely “too happy” to hear the nightingale’s singing. This delight appears overwhelming to him since it has already sort of ended.
The narrator often wonders if using alcohol or drugs would provide relief from the stresses and pain that accompany the fact of being a human. This is so since the author believes that thinking itself is a hardship and that consciousness is a pain as well. Therefore, he muses on the possibility that alcohol can lessen this sadness by blunting the emotions. The nightingale also acts as a reminder that he cannot really escape human intelligence, even though the author vows not to be jealous of the “happy” bird. The latter begins to stand in for liberation from the constricting, isolating limitations of the nervous human psyche via the magnificence of its song.
Then, the poem examines the connection between two sorts of beauty: the great diversity of life produced by nature and the dimension of art made by humans. The author wonders if nature—manifested in the nightingale’s singing and the bird itself — represents a form of beauty superior to anything created by people, one that is in some way more pristine and timeless. Throughout the poem, the speaker mulls over this issue but eventually comes up with no clear solution.
Investigating the parallels between the two masterpieces is appropriate after the above examination. It is important to remark on how similar the development of the narrative is. The very opening words of both authors’ works, therefore, depict a picture of all the issues that are related to human life. It is obvious that this route’s overall meaning focuses mostly on the negative. It seems apparent that the two narrators purposefully chose to highlight life’s bad parts to juxtapose them with the magnificence they will go on to discuss. The use of imagery of mythological animals is the second way in which the poetry of the two authors is comparable. Given that Ancient Greek and Roman mythology serve as the foundation for Western civilization, it makes sense that they would make reference to the monsters portrayed in those tales. Wordsworth mentions a number of animals, including – Proteus, for instance. Keats, in turn, uses images such as Lethe or Poesy.
However, it is crucial to stress several areas where the two writers diverge significantly. For instance, despite the author’s skepticism of the way of life of a modern person, one may argue that Wordsworth’s poem’s conclusion is encouraging. The poetry of Keats, on the other hand, indicates an entirely another viewpoint. Many of the lines are filled with depressing imagery, which is an obvious sign that the author is having a hard time. The poetry in question conveys a depressing message because, despite the fact that people can understand the majesty of the bird’s singing, they can never fully appreciate it. Then, the authors’ perspectives taken are another difference between the two poems. Although Wordsworth makes various personal comments, it is obvious that when discussing life, he had the entire human race in mind. Keats, however, is far more obsessed with his own issues and viewpoint.
To conclude, the above discussion was dedicated to the analysis and comparison of The World Is Too Much With Us and Ode to a Nightingale. It was found that the poems have both similarities (both contrast life’s beauty to contemporary hardships) and differences (the poems have different concluding tones and general perspectives). Still, both these poems remain significant manifestations of the genre and time.