Final - The Twisting and Turing of Ascetic Value and Love

What exactly did Wordsworth mean by the word “upon” in, Lines Left Upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree? Lena Tortorice addresses this specific question in her blog entry from April 10^th, 2010. She narrows her focus on the use of the word “upon” metaphorically rather than literally. Specifically Lena believes the tree is a parallel to the man’s life; its formation and character reflect that of the man, and the tree’s everlasting presence is the man’s unwritten story.

This interpretation differs greatly from mine but was nonetheless very insightful and helped me better understand the poem as a whole. As I will later demonstrate, I believe that both interpretations complement and build upon one another. Lena points out that the man in his youth was “pure in his heart” but later in life, his spirits were broken. Accordingly, the tree grew wild with bent branches serving as a metaphor to the man’s broken spirit. The very soul of the man was fed and sustained by pride and in following the suit the tree was described as desolate and lonely. Not only is the man’s life recorded by the tree but also his feelings. This is where my focus differs from Lena’s as I concentrated on the oppression of the man because of his pride. As I discussed in my previous blog – pride stops us from viewing nature aesthetically for we become to consumed in our own lives to take notice. But Wordsworth believes that true knowledge leads to love, and quite possibly if the man had learned to see the beauty of the natural world he could have learned to love as well.

Wordsworth does not tell us the story of the Yew-Tree, instead he only gives us parallels between the tree and the old man. But the man was full of deadly pride – a sin that was left upon the tree as well. The man’s prideful life was empty, and unfruitful just like the tree was barren of leaves. But is a barren tree less aesthetically pleasing then one full of leaves? As pictured above, a sparse yew can be aesthetically pleasing to the senses. However Wordsworth's Yew-Tree is a record of events from the man’s life, as well as a record of his feelings. Thus leaving the consuming emotion of pride upon the tree. The story of the man is a negative one associated by isolation. The tree ultimately becomes isolated from the rest of the natural world and its beauty, mainly because of its negative association with pride and despair.

The tree ignores what the future holds because it is so deeply intertwined in the emotions and life of the man. The old Yew-Tree tells us exactly what it saw in the man through the story metaphorically imprinted upon its natural body. Although the old man has passed – his emotions live on through the tree depriving it of ascetic value and ultimately love.

The Celtic song, “The Yew Tree” reinforces the power and great personality of such trees. The shadows of Scotland are embedded upon the tree in the song just like the man’s story is upon Wordsworth Yew Tree. Both trees will continue to tell their stories of the past as time constantly moves forward for they have been profoundly influenced by human life.

Sources - Tortorise, Lena. http://lenateng.blogspot.com/2010/04/lines-left-upon-seat-in-yew-tree.html#comments, posted on April 10th, 2010.

Coleridge - strays from the traditional...

Sarah – with an “h” is the traditional spelling and its origin is Hebrew meaning princess. However Coleridge speaks of a Sara without an “h” perhaps he left off the “h” by mere accident but I highly doubt this is the case. So then why would he stray from the biblical spelling?

In the opening of the ballad, Effusion XXIII: To the Nightingale, Coleridge addresses the “sister of love- lorn poets Philomel”! Philomel comes from the name Philomela the princess of Athens. Long story short - both Philomela and her sister were turned into birds specifically Philomela into a nightingale – hence the nightingale being called Philomel.

This background information is rather important since Coleridge does hear the call of the Nightingale which in turn inspires his “phantasies”. Perhaps he believes the bird pictured to the above to be the call of the ancient princess. Although Sara is the best belov’d of human kind, Coleridge wants to go back into nature and listen to the sweet melancholy song of the Nightingale. This may explain why the “h” is left off in the spelling of Sarah – because she is not as alluring as the Nightingale and not a true princess like the soul of Philomela. As we find out in the end of the ballad however, Sara is a real woman who will soon take Coleridge's last name but the superstition still remains - Sara with out an "h" has a more wild and superstitious appeal connecting to the world of fantasies drawing Coleridge to her.

Give up on your pride...

Pride – yet another deadly sin…

In Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree a stranger tells us of a kind of man whose soul was fed and sustained on pride. The very man who taught the tree how to bend its arms in circling shade; the same man who looks down on the world, and humanity, with mournful joy because of its loveliness. The stranger tells us a story of a man who seems to be oppressed through his own prideful life who died and left the Earth the Yew-Tree seat his only monument.

Pride stops us from seeing the real beauty of nature for we become entrenched in our own lives and forget the serenity of the world. Wordworth warns us of the power of pride and that “true knowledge leads to love”. True knowledge lies in the aesthetic values in life, in appreciating the natural world for its vast beauty and understanding nature’s intrinsic value. But when we become consumed with our own abilities sin can quickly overtake aesthetic values.

The lyrics of Pride by Syntax seem to reinforce the same message of Wordsworth “don’t hide, shine a light, give up on your pride…” If one is not careful with their pride it will shroud the fact that life is beautiful and nature is aesthetic.

Envious Opression

Envy – it is one of the seven deadly sins also known as the Cardinal Sins. The Christian church uses the Cardinal Sins to instruct its followers about “fallen humanity’s tendency to sin”. Sonnet XLIV written by Charlotte Smith is full of envy towards the dead bodies being battered in the oceans surf. The bodies no longer hear the warring elements but as for Miss Smith – she is doomed by an oppressive lifelong storm. It is therefore not surprising that she is envious and wishes she could be free and gazes with envy on their gloomy rest.

Charlotte Smith is oppressed by life and her inability to control her emotions. She longs to be part of the Earth again like the dead bodies although this thought itself is oppressing. It can be argued that envy can lead towards a life of oppression as it did for Miss Smith. Sonnet forty four is filled with melancholy emotions but the cause of envy is not revealed until the end. Perhaps if Charlotte Smith stopped being so envious her overall tone would be different. Yes, she lived a hard life but her works of literature could portray an optimistic look into nature. It was not until I read this Sonnet of hers that I believed that the cause of such oppression was in fact her envious view of the freed dead.

The picture below is a some what comical view of envy. The big green dog represents Charlotte Smith who has a life, and yet is envious of the smaller dog who has a bone, the dead floating bodies!

A Delusive Art

A delusive art is what Charlotte Smith defines the game of a muse in Sonnet I. Therefore it is not surprising that the tone of the poem is overcast by a delusive and melancholy state as well. The Old English Dictionary defines delude as “to frustrate the aim or purpose of….” And the muse does exactly this – she confuses our feelings between friendship and unhappy love, between serenity and turmoil. But there must be more than just the muse on the surface.

As I read the sonnet over and over again I could not escape the idea of the muse representing the wildness of nature and its delusive state as well. Nature tricks us and frustrates us in the same way as a muse. It is pristine and beautiful and yet can be destructive and horrific without any notice. Nature tempts us and frustrates us but we would not be able to survive without the natural world and its elements.

Charlotte Smith notes that - those who never learn of the muse’s delusive art will be much happier. However this is also true in the representation of the wildness of nature. Those who turn a blind eye to the destructive beauty of nature are likely to be happier than those who have experienced firsthand the power and mockery of natural disasters. The picture below demonstrates the muse of nature – beautiful but destructive… a delusive art.

Top Left: Land before Hurricane Katrina
Bottom Left: Land after Hurricane Katrina
Right: The Delusive Art of the Nature

A Purple Orgasm?

In the sonnet “On Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress” the color purple is representative of the blood flowing through Wordsworth veins. The pumping of Wordsworth is a direct consequence of seeing Miss Helen cry. Purple is not only a symbolism of royalty as we typically assume, but it is also the combination of red and blue. Red is symbolic of strong emotions and blue is symbolic of the human emotion of sadness; the combination of these two colors express the sentimental tone of the poem.

In the last half of the poem the two colors of red and blue seem to collide again although purple is only mentioned in the first line of the sonnet. “Dear was the pause of life…” can be interpreted as a sexual orgasm – and as we all know and orgasm is filled with strong emotions from both participating parties and the human emotion of sadness when the pleasure is over. The two emotions combined create the color purple which we originally examined, for intensely flowing blood is needed for an orgasm. The idea of two colors uniting and being representative of an orgasm seems rather abstract but can be represented by the painting below.

Symbolism of Five?

For five years Wordsworth travels about and writing his ballads and for five years he has not seen the very spot in which he stands. “Tintern Abbey” is about returning to a town after a five year exclusion into nature and the collision of past and present thoughts.

Yes – the number five represents the actual years Wordsworth has been gone. But as I have learned there is always a deeper more “wild” meaning to the words that Wordsworth puts to the page. The number five symbolizes human life, and for Wordsworth his life has been drastically altered by his experiences in the past 5 years. He understands the difference between escaping what he dreads and following what he loves. This ballad is a type of autobiography of his life in a mere 160 sixty lines.

As Wordsworth is looking down onto the town there seems to be a picturesque balance between the babbling stream, cottages, grand old cypress and pastoral farms. In the town there is balance between the natural world and society, and he seems to be greatly satisfied with his place in the midst of it all.
The harmonious balance reminded me of another symbolism of five in the Wheel of Being used in both Celtic and Druid societies. It represents the four powers or elements united by a fifth... balance in all.

The symbolism of five only strengthens Wordsworth’s ballad and I believe it was no mere accident.

The five fold pattern of the Wheel of Being with the middle representing balance!