WORDSWORTH'S ATTITUDE TOWARD NATURE

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Man comes from, and returns to, nature, we have been told. And we had the most enthusiastic advocate of this truth in William Wordsworth. He occupies a unique position in English literature in that he was the most impassioned and sublime singer of nature. Many gifted poets before and after him played beautifulrunes on it, but no one did it with more passion and sympathy than him; and no one invested it with more profound and everlasting ideas. During his life time his recognition came slow but steady, and once his fame established, it began to have lasting holds on poetic minds. Generally speaking, the number of his admirers has been on steady increase since his death in 1850, and even among Koreans who usually find it difficult to appreciate poetry properly composed in English, he is quite familiar. There may be several reasons for this, but I should think it mainly for two reasons. Firstly, he was a poet of nature, most devoted and singular. We cannot think of man apart from nature, and even this age of mechanism it is still the home of homo sapiens physically and spiritually. For nature is as ancient and immortal as time. Secondly, he was a poet of heart, composing his poetry in such a manner as to appeal to elementary feelings of all people beyond age and nationality.