I love poetry. And I suppose I forgot how much I loved it because it's been so long since I've read such beautiful writing. Nature is such a big deal to Wordsworth. It really makes all the difference to him. So much so that it is nature that "turns the tables" as it causes him to find purpose. He makes it out to be almost an intelligible force that comes upon us and changes us, more so than our own intellects.
When reading "The Tables Turned" I couldn't help but think of our Kant discussion day. We discussed the Copernican Revolution and how it shifted our understanding of the subject-object dynamic. Here in this poem in the last stanza Wordsworth says...
"Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives."
So now the subject is passive again. Not active in searching out nature and analyzing it, with "our meddling intellect." Now we are simply spectators of this Nature that changes us.
Just trying to connect the dots.
P.S. I commented on Hannah's post.
Hmm I love the observation. In the last poem, however, he almost describes nature as a person to be interacted with. Not to be analyzed necessarily, but something with which to be engaged.
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