"Why William, on that old grey stone,
Thus for the length of half a day,
Why William, sit you thus alone,
And dream your time away?
"Where are your books? that light bequeath`d
To beings else forlorn and blind!
Up! Up! and drink the spirit breath`d
From dead men to their kind.
"You look round on your mother earth,
As if she for no purpose bore you;
As if you were her first-born birth,
And none had lived before you!"
One morning thus, by Esthwaite lake,
When life was sweet I knew not why,
To me my good friend Matthew spake,
And thus I made reply.
"The eye it cannot chuse but see,
We cannot bid the ear be still;
Our bodies feel, where`er they be,
Against, or with our will.
"Nor less I deem that there are powers,
Which of themselves our minds impress.
That we can feed this mind of ours,
In a wise passiveness.
"Think you, mid all this mighty sum
Of things for ever speaking,
That nothing of itself will come,
But we must still be seeking?
"--Then ask not wherefore, here, alone,
"Conversing as I may,
"I sit upon this old grey stone,
"And dream my time away."
I am proposing Wordsworth's another poem (already included in your coursepack) "THE TABLES TURNED" as a complementary part of this poem, and I strongly suggest it. It can be a good comment on this poem, as well! and you can see "books/nature" dichotomy clearly:
ReplyDeleteUP! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet, 10
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless--
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness. 20
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:--
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves; 30
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
I think william tries to say that we learn more by experiencing things around us than reading books.In nature we see, hear, feel, sniff and taste, lets say we use all our senses. But when reading the active part is just our brain without any sense.. The first mover is the nature. First nature inspires us and forces us to think, to imagine and then we writes. Furthermore; creativity comes with nature while by reading we add new information on our previous information.
ReplyDeleteI think the poet wants to emphasize on nature. He thinks old books are not sort of inspration anymore. But in order to create something,you need knowledge so he never deny the importance of knowledge. He wants to emphasize that books are important but not enough for writing something. As zuhal says, experiencing things and giving importance to nature are important as well.
ReplyDeleteElif Kılıç
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, nature and our heart teach better than anything. As in the poet,even an "old grey stone" inspires people. Because of having potential to discover information by the help of nature, heart, mind, and the signicant qualifications that God gives, people can look at their environment from different perspectives. While all organs of our body feel hungry to get information, being stucked in books is unwise.
İlknur Kaya
ReplyDeleteIn this poem,the part which i like the most is the last stanza.I think, here W.Wordsworth does not underestimate the science or art accordingly the books.The idea here is that books can guide us in some ways, but they should not totally occupy our mind.If one does this he restricts his imagination,recreation and his full potential as well.
"Come forth, and bring with you a heart."
This line states that with our feelings we watch and perceive nature better than anything.Lastly one can say that inspiration is in the nature not in the books.
Here, in this poem we see the competition of two ideologies. First one of them is the enlightened reason (expostulation) and second one is the romantic sensibility (reply).
ReplyDeleteDuring the neo-classical period reason was seen as the most important function of the human mind. Disagreeing with this mentality our poet W.W. supported passivity and humility.'sitting on that old grey stone' refers to these inertia and serenity, I think; not the old enlightenment.
Another thing which supports my disagreement is that it is the expostulation part of the poem, and in this part his friend 'expostulates' romanticism, defends the old enlightenment period and criticize his friend William for not reading or doing something, instead just sitting on that old grey stone (as we've already said his knowledge/wisdom) and dream his time away. Then William 'replies' that even if he, himself does not do anything some things are always being done in nature and we perceive/sense them either aware or not-'against or with our will'.
Melek Özer
ReplyDeleteI think William Wordsworth is reacting that people generally think that books are the best way to learn. He does not say "do not read any book." In my opinion, he believes that a person could learn many things by observing what is around him rather than just reading a book. He says that we can understand and discover the hidden knowledge of mother nature. I think this poem is a great work explaining Romentics' idea of learning. Lastly I want to say that " If you miss this moment, you miss your life"
NUR GEDİK
ReplyDeleteIn the 5.stanza:
The eye it cannot chuse but see
we cannot bid the ear be still
Our bodies feel,where'er they be
Against or with our will.
Nature is speaking here.A person sees hears,feels the things around him whether he wants or not.Our bodies can act our will and against will.EVEN IF we sit on old grey stone we are not stick to stone'.that is emphasized in the last stanza again.In the last stanza he is also saying that we are not stick to our traditions ,old procedures..Our imagination is not bound to old gray stones.He is saying that Maybe I can be controlled by the traditions or social problems but no one can avert me from dreaming ,thinking mostly contemplating.I think we can see here the effects of Romanticism and its livelines.
In this poem William Wordsworth seems like he is against to books,but actually as the other romantics, he is against industrialization. Because industrialization makes people like machines. Everyone looks like the other one, they always live, work, speak, think similarly. But he doesn't want people to be like this. He wants everyone be themselves, be unique. He says not read books. Of course books are important but he wants people to think by themselves. He thinks that if they read that books, they will start to think like that books and again they will repeat the same things like machines. According to him it is better to think and produce new ideas or create new things than to think the same things and ideas. He knows the importance of books but he wants people to be creative.
ReplyDeletein this poem, poet emphasizes the importance of nature. and he also thinks that the knowledge gained through the nature is not enough. we should add some sort of imagination. for me, the most important part is; poet sits on an old grey stone by the lake, and thinks about the nature. here, lake is the source of inspiration and the wind of wonderful thoughts coming from the lake prompts him to think about nature and write. he no longer gives importance to the informations coming from books. he gives importance to them only when imagination and the nature love is added. and he thinks that our eyes and ears are open to the outside world so we can see and hear the nature and can judge indeğendently. and even if he sits upon that old grey stone,traditional thoughts, in deeper meaning, nobody can prevent him from thinking about nature. and rpmantic source of inspiration is nature and human spirit. books are no longer the source of inspiration. we should rely on our imagination. nature nurtures the mind with a wisdom of its own.
ReplyDeleteand i also want to make comment about THE TABLES TURNED.
ReplyDeletein that poem, poet wants his friend to quit his books. outside there is a beautiful evening scene, and so why you choose to be so serious and so in trouble.
and he says ' come here and listen to birds' singing. there is much more wisdom in it than the books. and let the nature be your teacher.
she is so wealthy. let her nurish our minds and hearts with her wealth.
nature can teach you more than the books can.
and the last stanza is the most important part for me, because he thinks that we shouldnt ruin the nature with science and art. just come to the nature with a heart that can watch and receive and also can learn from the nature.
and the most important thing that is emphasized in the poem is that; there is much more to be learned by watching and listening to.
and we can conclude that poet is not ready to throw books altogether. of course you will learn from books but that knowledge is not enough. you should observe the nature.
GKHNOZKAN:
ReplyDeleteI just wanna share an article related to the poet and French Revolution :
http://valentindebyzantium.blogspot.com/2009/09/fransz-devriminin-ortasnda-bir-romantik.html
Sevil Özkan,
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, in this poem, the poet Wordsworth who is one of the leaders of the Romantic period in literature history replies with an answer that reflects his philosophy: nature feeds the mind with a wisdom of its own. There is a man sitting near the lake passively, physically passive but his emotions are not stable. He is mentally active and I really liked this poem because it reflects the power of the emotions and spiritually freedom of the people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWY2mEhkjUI here there is a part of the another poem of Wordsworth 'Daffodils'.
ReplyDeleteGULNOZA NURULLAEVA
ReplyDeleteAs William said:
"The eye it cannot chuse but see,
We cannot bid the ear be still;
Our bodies feel, where`er they be,
Against, or with our will.
I think this stanza explains everything in the poem. Either we want it or not, we are connected to the environment, learn from it and are dependent on it, so not only books, but also the things around us are the source of knowledge. Also, it talks about the nature of humans of wanting to be free and rebellious. Either the authorities want it or not, things are going to change and liberty wins at the end. The old, conservative ways will give way to new and domocratic approaches.
-MerveKıymaz-
ReplyDelete''Expostulation and Reply'' expresses a principle of Romantic Movement,I think.İt is the idea that nature and human intuition impart a kinda knowledge and wisdom not found in books and formal education.
this is the the most impressive and explanatory part of the poem:
''Think you, 'mid all this mighty sum
Of things for ever speaking,
That nothing of itself will come,
But we must still be seeking?
The poet reveals his ideas in this stanza very clearly and asks a question:Do you think that people must always seek knowledge in books even the totality of nature and intuition are forever speaking to them?The implied answer is ''no!''
BirsenKubat
ReplyDeleteIn this poem there are two different ideas about getting the knowledge.One of them is getting the knowledge from the nature and the other is getting it from books.Forexample in the second stanza the poet asks:"Where are your books?" Because he thinks that books lighten people,without books people will be in dark.And in the third stanza he continues saying humanbeings should have purposes in life so they should read and leave some wisdom other people.On the other hand William says that if you want to learn you can do that easily in the nature.Ofcourse we should read but the important thing is creating new ideas...
SEDEF KONUK
ReplyDeleteMatthew asks in his expostulation why william spends so much time at the lake when he could be reading books to educate himself. In this way, matthew is musing.as an answer william says that nature nurtures the mind with a wisdom. This idea reflects his philosophy. He is listening to nature and therefore learning in his own way because nature is a value not found in formal education. His idea is nature is the teacher:)
In my opinion in this poem the poet is suggesting the idea that nature helps mind develop its own wisdom. In this poem the poet prefers using some symbols because this makes the poem much more effective. the light stands for wisdom and " drinking the spirit" stands for reading the ideas. the poet suggests that anyone learn wheteher he wants or not because; nature is always speaking to him. A person sees, hears, and feels what is around him. In this poem ı most liked the seventh stanza because the poet asking the question; "Must person alyways seek the knowledege?" and implies the answer "No". In coclusion the poet supports the idea that people can learn a lot from nature rather than just reading books.DERYA YILMAZ
ReplyDeleteBURCU KÜPELİ
ReplyDeleteWhen l was reading the poem, firstly, l felt the affects of romanticsm. There are elements like nature or sitting alone.For me, there is one part which is more interesting than the others.
‘wise passiveness’
Normally, passiveness is a negative characteristic for a poet because a poet must be a productive person. He must write, read or search to become a poet; however, our poet is in a passive situation. He is sitting on an old grey stone, but in a wisw passiveness which means that he is in nature. He is away from industrialization. As we mentioned in our previous lessons, industrialization was a negative thing for people. It is used for bad purposes ( it abuses the children,women or labourer class) In that period, poets and poetry were very popular because people thougt that only they had the capacity of receiving nature’s message, so Wordsworth is in a good position while sitting in nature. He can be physically passive but he is mentally, spiritually active. His senses are receiving the nature’s message. ''Nature is a great teacher and the things like knowledge or wisdom which aren’t found in formal education can be found in nature.''
Jiyan Taher :
ReplyDeleteIt seems that there is somebody who speaks with William and tries to make him believes that book on lights him and if he doesn’t have a books, he is blind. The speaker tries to tell William that he should learn writers ideas ”Up!Up! and drink the spirit breath’s/From dead men to their kind. “ He says to William that there is a purpose behind your birth . and the purpose is to study and learn.
William replies that we can’t control our eyes and whether we want or not we have our senses and we can’t control our senses to stop.
I think this is beatifully written poem and wants to tell us that nature is the teacher...
ReplyDelete'Expostulation' here means syprym funcion of human life and the 'replay' is way of thinking about the change about romantisisim so it is romantic poem...In addition the poem seems conversational in style, making it more appealing to the reader. Even though the story is argumentative in wording, the tone is not angry or even serious. It is rather relaxed. This is probably due to the fact that we should approach it with an open mind and without bias.
TulayOrucu
ReplyDeleteThis poem seeks to create a difference between two kinds of education. The first from nature and the second from books. Wordsworth in his bid to bring man back to nature, portrays nature as an instructor of our minds. The best kind of education can be gotten only from nature and not books that light has bequeath'd on mankind.
Fatma Kaya
ReplyDeleteI think in the last stanza of the poem explains it very cleary.He says that then do not ask me why i am sittin on a stone because I’m sittin and listening to the nature in which i can feel everything through my senses. We see that nature is the greatest teacher of all so inspiration and creativity come from nature as we interact it.Even if we sit on a grey stone we can not stick to it we have our senses and thoughts. People don’t have to always seek knowledge in books.
Hanım ÖNcel
ReplyDeletethis poem tells us thatlisten to the nature you will hear the voice of your brain and heart and you will find the real desirable life. In modern age people are always busy with life.The cities are crowded and dirty. people is crying because of Depression. Acoording to William WE acn find solution to this problems by Sitting on natyre and fell the tranquility there. You dont need to read books for having knowledge about world.You should read boos of course but They should not be your guide for truth and realization of yourself. Nature is better than a middling doctor. A CHİNESE PROVERB
William Wordsworth's 'Expostulation and Reply' seeks to create a difference between two kinds of education. The first from nature and the second from books. Wordsworth in his bid to bring man back to nature, portrays nature as an instructor of our minds. The best kind of education can be gotten only from nature and not books that light has bequeath'd on mankind
ReplyDelete