Lines Written in Early Spring

• Title: Lines Written in Early Spring

  ‘Lines’: Vague, seemingly not worth noting - but contents sum up Romanticism

  ’Early Spring’: Symbolises new beginnings/life, Romanticist’s ideal
• ‘I heard a thousand blended notes’


  Sensory imagery and sense of harmony.

  Hyperbole, extreme emotions convey ideas of Romanticism
• ‘To her fair works did Nature link the human soul that through me ran.’


  Personification: Described Nature as a woman

  Refers to connection between him and nature
• ‘Through primrose tufts in that green bower, the periwinkle trailed its wreaths; and ’tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes.’


  Natural imagery: Beauty in nature

  Personification: Nature is an entity that experiences and embodies peace
• ‘And much it grieved my heart to think what man has made of man.’


  Thoughts of the destructive nature of man.

  Disconnection between mankind and nature due to our own actions.
• ‘The birds around me hopped and played, their thoughts I cannot measure:- but the least motion they made it seemed a thrill of pleasure.’


  Innocence and joyful image.

  ’Measure’ enlightenment reference.

  ’Least‘ juxtaposes ‘thrill’.

  Wordsworth cannot communicate or understand the birds, but he can tell they’re enjoying the simplicity of life - something Romanticists yearned for.
• ‘The budding twigs spread out their fan, to catch the breezy air’


  Natural imagery and personification.

  Peaceful and carefree.
• ‘If this belief from heaven be sent, if such be Nature‘s holy plan, have I not reason to lament what man has made of man?’


  Religious references.

  1. If it is God’s or Nature’s plan to make him consider humanity, shouldn’t he have more reason to find connection between him and the universe?
  2. Questions of whether his reflection is created by God or Nature

  Complains about man’s determination to reject nature’s power to heal the soul.
• Rhyme scheme: ABAB

  Suggests never ending presence of nature against backdrop of destructive humanity
• First three lines have iambic tetrameter, last line has iambic trimeter.

  Suggests human existence is not neat or tidy.