Closing the gate: The Story of the Shepherd

Word "Lamb" highlights Wordsworth's poem best. The Last of the flock is a poem about sacrifice and that is why lamb, the symbol for sacrifice in western culture, is a good directing word in the poem. In my opinion Wordsworth's general point for this poem is to show the sacrifice that is being made so the new, civilized, developed world could thrive. First of all, the choice of a shepherd as a main character, in this not very happy story, is not random. Generally Pastoral poems in Wordsworth's era pictured shepherds as people with great connection to nature and sort of careless individuals whose love of nature fulfilled every need. However, Wordsworth takes this well known symbol of harmony with nature,the shepherd, and pictures him as a confused, frustrated, desperate and melancholic individual who is loosing what is closest to him, his sheep. In my opinion, the shepherd looses a big part of himself, which allowed for this beautiful contact with nature, along with the sheep. Also, he is being torn to pieces by the confusion caused by double meaning of the sheep. On one hand the sheep are his portal to the conversation and relationship with nature and on the other hand, from the civilized, capitalist point of view they are just a commodity which should serve the shepherd in making profit. I think the shepherd desperately tries to hold on to the old ways and looks for the doorway to nature through his everyday work with the sheep. However, the world has changed, and the passage to the natural is getting more and more narrow along with his narrowing flock. The last of the flock is a great metaphor for the detachment from nature, the idea which characterizes the Lyrical Ballads.

Mourning for the Old Ways

Mourning is the best word to highlight William Wordsworth's poem. It is the very last word in the poem but in my opinion the most meaningful. I see this poem as a way to mourn for the old ways that are passing with time and are replaced with the new which are not necessarily better. The poem Simon Lee is a one big symbol for this process. As the beginning lines are read one can feel a sense of a dignified harmony. Those were the times when all the people were necessary and close to nature and the closeness to the nature was necessary for humans. The way the author describes those times is very peaceful and arise warm feelings. And then comes mourning. Mourning shows up because the author realizes that the old ways are dying along with Simon Lee. The old Huntsman who is surrounded by the industrial farming symbolizes the leftover piece of the times when people could coexist with nature and themselves in harmony in places like the village commons. Poor, old Simon Lee and poor, old natural ways are struggling to survive which is symbolized by the Huntsman's struggle with the root of the tree. However the new ways are coming which I think are symbolized by the narrator himself. The ease with which the narrator does Simon's work makes the old man realize how weak he is already, but also grateful for doing his duty for him. Which makes the narrator realize what is being lost along with Simon Lee and perhaps the narrator sees himself in Simon's shoes many years down the road. This poem fits into the whole collection perfectly. Its metaphorical meaning of the diminishing connection with the natural world and alienation from nature and one another is the essence of the Lyrical Ballads so far. Also, the dead tree on the picture is a proper symbol for passing time, the death of the old ways and a symbol fo human perception of nature.

If we could listen as a child does

The word "melancholy" which is used throughout Coleridge's poem in my opinion is the best description of the tone of the poem as a whole. Coleridge starts by criticism towards using that word towards the songs of the Nightingales and from my standpoint he is right about the fact that there is nothing melancholic about it. Through the use of that word in the chain of thought in Coleridge's poem the author is showing us how the civilized, or else human, world has impacted our perception of nature. The development of the criticism, in my opinion, culminates when author writes about the aeolian harp. The harp could be understood as a civilization's attempt to interpret nature and also as a symbol for poetry. The harp takes the sounds of the blowing wind and transforms them into sounds which are an outcome of human development, the harp. There is a visible connection between the harp as a interpretor of nature and poetry as a interpreted of nature. Poets can only hear melancholy in the bird's singing because poets just lake the harp are a product of the civilized human world which, as it appears can only interpret nature in a broken way, and mirror its melancholy, depression and overall feeling of being detached to everything around it. The biggest symbol, however, appears at the end of Coleridge's poem. It is the child. Child which a symbol of purity. Not yet diseased by civilization and the human world, the child can listen and hear nature in a way that it is meant to be heard. Only the child can engage into a conversation, or a close connection with nature.I think that the image above illustrates nature through the twisted and mislead eyes of the civilized man best.

In the poem entitled "The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge one can find many words which depict the nature of the poem. In my opinion the word "Marinere" ,which is even a part of the title, highlights the adventurous side of this work. Marinere is a word that almost instantenously brings adventure and quests to most people's minds. It is a great indicator of the era in which the poem was written, since those elements were one of the characteristcs of Romantic Ballads. Also, the word Marinere can indicate the separation or almost the fight of civilization with the natural world. Marinere is a person who takes a product of the civilization, a ship, and tries to face the wild natural world. As the poem and the story progress it becomes evident that the author is trying to show the encounter of civilization with the natural world and the magnetism that humans feel towards the wild. The journey of the Marinere could be understood as an attempt of the human being to express himself in nature and bind to nature, but also the journey of the Marinere shows how hard it is for a modern human to go out to the wild and not try to fight it. In my opinion the artwork atteched to this entry depicts this struggle in a clear way. In the distant plane one can see the beauty and enjoyment of nature which would be symbolized by the rainbow and the Albatross, however in the first plan one can see almost angry icebergs which are ready for the fight with civilazation, the ship, the crew, the Marinere.