One work in particular, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13 1798” arises with Wordsworth’s five year absence from his favored childhood scenery. In this delightful poem, Wordsworth makes a longing prose of tribute stating “With tranquil restoration: feelings of unremembered pleasure”, where he indulges readers to what he recalls as “the best portion of a good man’s life”. (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1540) Throughout the rest of the poem, Wordsworth displays a vivid and descriptive dialogue between his current life’s state and his memories of being a young boy where “like a roe”; he roamed through the mountains and streams without a concern for where he was going. He counters this wild-eyed freedom with the progression of his life, stating various woes such as the “lonely rooms” of the city and his observations of “the sad music of humanity”. His love and admiration for nature and his memories of “time that is past” (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1541) with all their vivid landscapes are quite evident as he contrast’s “joyless daylight; when the fretful stir” against the “Steep and lofty cliffs” and the “quiet of the sky”. (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1540)
As with any human, Wordsworth was most certainly not without many trials and sorrows. Even after the death’s his parents, he is twice again struck with loss of his loved ones. His favorite brother drowned and later two of his children died (Greenbalt, William Wordsworth, p.1534). This dire fate of loss expanded an even greater closeness with his sister Dorothy. Wordsworth refers to Dorothy as his “ dearest friend” (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1542) in the poem and reminisces of better days with her describing their former years as children like a “present pleasure” that renews his mind and gives him a hope for new memories like “life and food for future years”. (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1541) He speaks of her innocence by describing her “wild eyes” (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1540) He longs to see through her, “what he once was”. (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1542) William Hazlitt appropriately observed that Wordsworth’s work contained” images and moods that in many ways held a connection to his heart and that seemingly always awakened a memory of his former years” (Greenbalt, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, p.1534) Wordsworth’s work gives a great reminder of the beauty that lies in the innocence of childhood and the need to preserve it’s