Romanticism of William Wordsworth is the worship of nature- the green and harmless nature. ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’ is no exception to this. The poem treats nature as an ideal code of life and presents a philosophy of oneness and harmony, using images from plant and bird life in spring.
The poem has four inter related but distinct parts. At first the speaker states his mood. Then he presents images of life that suggests the independence and cooperation of things in nature. The speaker next depicts pleasure that prevails in nature. Lastly the speaker restates and explains his mood. Thus the movement of the poem, like everything in nature is cyclical.
The season is spring. The poem opens with a hyperbole. He hears a thousand distinct, but blended notes impressing as an orchestra. The speaker is sitting reclined in a grove, in a solemn mood when pleasant thoughts lead to sad thoughts.
In this solemn state, he is able to recognize his own identity. The image of unity in multitude is further developed here. His identity is universalized at two levels. Though he is a unique individual, a distinct note, his essence is the universal human soul. This human soul also is not isolated. Nature has linked it with its entire “fair works”. To establish this co-existence of independence and togetherness, he shows the periwinkle plants trailing their wreaths through primrose tufts without any discordance.
Independence and togetherness naturally lead to pleasure. Everything in nature- the budding twigs and the birds- enjoys the air it breaths and the movements it makes. They do, not as ‘work’, but as joy. A life of Independence and harmony is also a life of pleasure. Thus, nature presents the ideal condition of life which humans also must follow. This thought brings the speaker back to sad thoughts. He has every reason to lament because human world is a contrast to that of nature. It is filled with dependence, disharmony and unhappiness.
The principal theme of the poem is the conflict between free and harmonious community life of nature and broken, competitive and discordant state of human life.
Wordswoth’s imagery reveals two patterns: they are from spring, the season of regeneration and secondly, they are from plant and bird life without anything wild about them. These images suggest a code of happy life that results from independent and peaceful togetherness. The emotive content of the poem is balanced with regularity of form. The poem is a fine lyric, divided into six quatrains of iambic pentameter lines that rhyme ‘abab’.
To summarise, the poem registers nature as the ideal culture. Uniqueness of everything, cooperation of all and the happiness thereof- these are the rules that nature teaches us.
