(Download) "Wordsworth's "Nutting" and the Ovidian "Nux" (William Wordsworth)" by Studies in Romanticism # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Wordsworth's "Nutting" and the Ovidian "Nux" (William Wordsworth)
- Author : Studies in Romanticism
- Release Date : January 22, 2006
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 228 KB
Description
And will any one say he had no right to those Acorns or Apples he thus appropriated, because he had not the consent of all Mankind to make them his? Was it a Robbery thus to assume to himself what belonged to all in Common? (1) THE CENTRAL IMAGES OF WORDSWORTH'S POEM "NUTTING" ARE SO STRIKING that they have garnered him the highest accolades for originality. To quote but one major voice, that of Geoffrey Hartman: "Few before him would have been inspired by the event recorded in 'Nutting.' That Wordsworth is so inspired argues a new phase in the development of the sympathetic imagination...." (2) He does note that the act of the boy may be compared to that of a hero in Romance and cites the prefatory essay to Tile Borderers, where Wordsworth referred to "the Orlando of Ariosto, the Cardenio of Cervantes, who lays waste the groves that would shelter him." (3) But, Hartman insists, "The scene, however, remains English, the hero a boy, the wood a wood" (Hartman 74). The convictions about the poet's absolute originality have had important consequences for the interpretation of the text, as commentators have sought to account for such radical innovation by delving into Wordsworth's biography. Such investigations have frequently moved on into the realm of speculation about the psychology of puberty, about the nature of Wordsworth's relationship to Dorothy, and about gender identity. (4) Other readings have taken the assumption of originality as barfing the investigation of contexts and as legitimating intensive work-immanent readings. (5) Some have investigated the poem's relation to other sources, especially in Milton and in Ariosto. (6) All these approaches have enriched our understanding of the poem and have made it into a significant moment in Wordsworth studies, and I do not aim to slight or deny the respective value of their contributions. Rather, I hope to add another dimension to the discussion by focusing attention on an unnoticed source for the poem in the Ovidian elegy "Nux." The recognition of this source raises some important questions about the poem's story as well as its history and may elucidate Wordsworth's motives in removing "Nutting" from The Prelude and thereby isolating it from a revealing context. (7)