Who is William Wordsworth Born 7 April 1770

Who is William Wordsworth? �Born: 7 April 1770 Cockermouth, Cumberland, England �Died: 23 April 1850 (aged 80) Rydal Mount, Westmorland, England �Considered the greatest poet of the world �He was known as a “Lakeland Poet” �He helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature

Lyrical Ballads �Is one of the poems that is in The Lyrical Ballads. �Helped by: Samuel Taylor Coleridge � A collection of poems. � Marked the beginning of Romantic Movement in literature

Romanticism (Romantic Period) �literary movement that celebrated nature and concentrated on human emotions �artistic, literary, and intellectual movement �originated in Europe �characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature �embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, etc �a movement that championed imagination and emotions as more powerful than reason and systematic thinking.

How his masterpieces were created �Influenced by: his mother’s death and Dorothy’s journal �emotional and intellectual response to nature and the landscape around them.

Strife • noun • angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict. Lore noun • knowledge gained through study or experience Blithe • adjective • happy or joyous. Vocabularies Woodland • noun • a land covered with trees and bushes Mellow • adjective • very calmed and relaxed

The Tables Turned BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you'll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble? She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless— Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness. The sun above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow. One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it. Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things: — We murder to dissect. And hark! how blithe throstle sings! He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.

1 st and 2 nd stanza Get up and see the world. Stop being cooped up in your room, or else you’ll gain weight. Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you'll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble? The sun above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow. In the first stanza, the poet invites his friend to leave his books offer is very little. they cause "toil and trouble“ and add little to man. The alliteration on /t/ between "toil" and "trouble" intensifies the companionship of these two effects and consequences of reading books. The poet asserts that if he neglects and quits his books , he will "grow double" in his understanding of Nature with "clear looks" so as to appreciate its beauty and holiness. The repetition of "Up!" in the stanza expresses the poet's great concern in his attempt to convince and encourage his friend to change his attitude to life and nature.

3 rd and 4 th stanza Books are dull and full of conflicts. The nature is like calling us to listen because we can learn more from it than dull books. Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it. And hark! how blithe throstle sings! He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. Books are dull and an endless disagreement. Come outside instead, where the birds are singing beautiful music that has more wisdom than books. The reader should rather go outside because nature has more to offer and teach, going out is better than staying in a room with your nose buried in a book.

5 th and 6 th stanza “she” referring to mother nature She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless— Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness. One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. It can teach us the difference between good and evil. All we have to do is sit back and watch. By she, he was referring to mother nature. Mother nature is full of wealth, ready to bless our mind and hearts. Wisdom also comes from being healthy and cheerful. A tree can teach more of man (humanity), moral evil, and good than a sage (a kind of plant).

7 th and 8 th stanza Our need to gain more knowledge is destroying the beauty of nature Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things: — We murder to dissect. Enough of Science and of Art; “barren leaves” is referring to Close up those barren leaves; books Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives. Nature brings sweet stories or mythologies, our desire to know or learn more destroys the beauty and the sweetness. So why murder to dissect, why murder to learn? If you are willing to receive, nature will present its intellect to you. Enough Science and Arts, close those books, and simply come into nature ready to learn with a heart that is observative and attentive.

Summary �William Wordsworth is telling his friend (readers) to stop reading books. Instead go out and enjoy nature. We can gain more knowledge, wisdom and wealth through nature. Because of our desire to know about everything, we “dissect” the beauteous things, we ruin them. There is more to learn from nature than of books. The true source of knowledge is from the outdoors.

Summary �-The first stanza -The second stanza -The third and fourth stanzas -The fifth -The sixth stanza -The final two stanzas

Analysis � "The Tables Turned" fits perfectly with the Romantic Movement, which emphasizes the importance of being a part of nature. At the same time, � There is a strong element of irony at play here. “Wordsworth is making these statements in a poem, which will become a part of a book meant to be read. Even though he believes that nature is a great teacher, he is not ready to throw away books altogether. ” � Wordsworth metaphorically turns the tables on his friend, for this time it is Wordsworth who makes the confrontation. � This poem talks about all of the “smart things” to do in life, but is trying to convince nature to be the teacher.

Analysis � It is important to note the poem's title: "The Tables Turned. " The title leads us to believe that Wordsworth is reacting to the status quo, or to the way that people usually think, which in this case is that books are the best way to learn. � The education we can receive from experiencing nature is superior than learning from books. � He describes the pages of books as “barren leaves”; an image of withering suggests that the knowledge of books decays and becomes devoid of any value. While nature is fresh, lively, green, full of sights and sounds and renews itself. Its ability to share knowledge is everlasting. � The hard work that goes into exhaustively extracting information from books makes it an unnatural and artificial practice. However, to receive the knowledge of nature, one simply has to pay attention to the sights and sounds they experience with their natural senses which are endowed to every person. � The Tables Turned is one of the important poems which Wordsworth portrays, present and express some of the main features of the romantic spirit. � You can't ever really know anything if you always learn through other's experiences (books). You have to experience life for yourself to truly learn anything.

Tone �The overall tone of the speaker is straightforward, passionate, and optimistic. The tone of the speaker shifts from this hopeful voice to forceful in the seventh stanza, when he says, "We murder to dissect. “ �He uses literary techniques such as repetition and rhyme to make the poem flow. �This style that uses the rhyme scheme and length of lines helps the poem keep the upbeat and motivational tone.

Patterns of sound �The poem is a couplet which rhymes every other line- in the first stanza "books" and "looks" and "double" and "trouble", and so on throughout the rest of the poem. �There is no strong alliteration use, but onomatopoeia in "the throstle sings!" and "spontaneous wisdom breathed by health" as though you can hear someone breathing in nature's fresh air.

Figurative Language �The first stanza repeats, "Up! My Friend, " twice, inferring that the speaker is trying to cheer up or wake up this friend. �There is inconsistent rhyming throughout the poem, switching between masculine and feminine rhyme. �Every other line rhymes, making it singsong.

Figurative & Poetic Language � paints a strong picture for the reader. He speaks of the "sun, above the mountain's head" and "long green fields" to paint a picture of imaginative understanding. � describes birds as being a teacher without extra thought- the bird is "blithe" and is "no mean preacher" but can teach a person more if they surround themselves by nature than bury themselves in books trying to dissect the meaning of everything. � he asks his friend to "close up those barren leaves" and "come forth", almost as though you can picture the friend closing his big philosophy books and following the speaker into nature as if his words had made an impact on the listener.

Stanzaic pattern � is a lyric poem which expresses emotion. � It is a quatrain and a couplet, rhyming every other line. � it is constructed of 8 ballad stanzas, and a total of 32 lines. � eight four-line stanzas � interlocking rhymes (abab) � ballad form � written in iambs with four beats in the first and third lines of each stanza, and three beats in the second and fourth lines. � Wordsworth wanted to simplify poetic language. �.

Imagery �Nature is referred to many times. There are several metaphors between nature and education. The second stanza paints a picture of the Lake District, where Wordsworth grew up.

Theme �The speaker continually conveys the expression carpe diem, or “seize the day. ” �Throughout the poem the speaker advises to, “close up those barren leaves, ” referring to books �“One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, ” �The Beneficial Influence of Nature

Memory �allows Wordsworth’s speakers to overcome the harshness of the contemporary world. �Recollecting their childhoods gives adults a chance to reconnect with the visionary power and intense relationship they had with nature as children.

Symbols �Light often symbolizes truth and knowledge. �Wordsworth contrasts the barren light of reason available in books with the “sweet” and “freshening” light of the knowledge nature brings. Sunlight literally helps people see, and sunlight also helps speakers and characters begin to glimpse the wonders of the world.

�The poem "The Tables Turned" is in reply to the poem "Expostulation and Reply" where the speaker wants to send across the message that experiencing things are a much better way to learn than of just reading books and trying to learn just through that. �“Expostulation and Reply” is a poem that expresses a principle of the Romantic Movement - namely, that nature and human intuition impart a kind of knowledge and wisdom not found in books and formal education.

Remarks � Though the poem sounds good and is well written, we like it the best because � � of what it is talking about. The author is talking about how things can be learned from nature that can’t really be learned from books or science. We really agree with this. You can read all the books you want, but if you don’t go out and do things, you never will really learn. There is more to learn through experience than just reading books. It is nice how he made his poem into an irony because he informs his reader to not read books, instead go out and enjoy nature. But he is informing us through the poem which he wrote that is part of a book. This poem is teaching us to accept what God has provided for us. . . take great advantage of it instead of over thinking it and abusing the great and magnificent beauties of nature. Love it while it lasts. As you can see, he is trying to be blunt to prevent one from even further divulging in his "barren leaves. " Even his rhyme scheme is plain and simple. He doesn't want us to dive in, he wants us to read it as bluntly as we can, so we don't waste a moment and can hurry up and experience what lies beyond his pages.

By: RR Villegas & Chawne Gosyco