Line 148 begins
mid-sentence, so to understand it requires referring back to the
preceding lines. Lines 143 to 147 discuss how W is hopeful, for
children, but for “those obstinate questionings of sense”
(144). Line 147 directly precedes the thought in line 148, that
is, the object that is moving is the creature of 147. This
“creature” can be interpreted as one’s soul or
spirit, because it “vanishes” (147) and “moves
about in worlds not realized” (148), and is only vaguely
understood (146)- all of which are qualities of what Wordsworth
defines as a spirit.
148
High instincts
before which our mortal Nature
The “high instincts” of line 149
may be yet another reference to the soul, since wordsworth
believed the soul inside us was so transcendent and yet an
intuitive part of us. Our “mortal nature” may refer
to the physical, natural man. In Lines 149 and 150 the narrator
describes how much greater the spirit is above the physical. So
great, in fact, that when the physical man comes in contact with
the spirit, the physical man “trembles” in awe of the
spirit and acts as if it has be caught committing some wrong
against the spirit.
149
Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised:
150
But
for those first affections,
The “but” in line 151 signals a
transition, a break from the thought of the preceding lines.
“those first attractions” also in line 151 may also
be referring to the previous thought, and drawing the description
of the exchange between spirit and natural into a new thought. It
is also likely that, since this is a poem focusing largely on how
the spirit is gloriously known in childhood, “those first
affections” refers to a childhood of natural glory. Line
151 may be interpreted, “but for that first childhood
interaction between spirit and nature”.
151
Those
shadowy recollections,
Line 152 seems to qualify line 151. After
describing the spirit and natural interaction as “first
affections, the narrator now calls them “shadowing
recollections” (152), as if he is showing hesitation in
singing the laude of youth.
152
Which,
be they what they may,
Line 153 and 14 go on to expand this thought:
whatever these experiences were in the past, they are our
“fountain light” for the rest of our life, or “all
our day” (154). Fountain light seems to be a word that
either has passes out of linguistic memory or was coined by
Wordsworth, but the following line, line 155 seems to help
clarify it’s meaning when the communication with soul in
childhood, the “fountain light” is described as the
master-light of all our seeing. In other words, although we can
never again experience the glory of a soul recently abandoned
from heaven (151), that shadowy recollection of line 152 remains
our headlights or guiding beacon throughout our entire life (154)
and it helps us navigate through a spiritual world in which we
would otherwise be blinded to (155).
153
Are yet the fountain-light of all our day,
154
Are yet a master-light of all our seeing;
155
Uphold
us, cherish, and have power to make
Line 156 continues the description of the role
of our childhood memories. The narrator relates that it is these
remembrances of childhood glory that hold us up and “cherish”
us. The narrator ascribes to this memory that it can make “Our
noisy years seem moments in the being /Of the eternal Silence”
(157-158). In other words, if we comprehend this masked glory, it
makes us realized that our long lives we find so busy are really
passing seconds in the face of the one who holds eternity. In the
truth, the colon in line 158 instructs us, reside eternal (159)
truths that awake us to glory.
156
Our noisy years seem moments in the being
157
Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake,
158
To
perish never:
159
Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour,
160
Nor
Man nor Boy,
161
Nor all that is at enmity with joy,
162
Can utterly abolish or destroy!
163
Hence in a season of
calm weather
164
Though
inland far we be,
165
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
166
Which
brought us hither,
167
Can in a moment travel
thither,
168
And see the children sport upon the shore,
169
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.
170
In
Wordsworth’s Ode: Intimations
of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,
the narrator is standing in a field in a beautiful day in May and
although the sun shines and the meadow is beautiful, the flowers
blooming, and children and animals happily playing around him, he is
melancholy. The narrator mourns for a time when nature was greater,
bolder, and communicated with him more. He thinks back on his
childhood and finds some glimmer of that happiness, but he cannot
entirely recapture it, the flower reminds him. In the fifth stanza,
he indicates what is the chief reason for his sadness: “Our
birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…/ trailing clouds of
glory do we come / From God, who is our home...” (59, 65-66).
The narrator is mourning the fact that his life, even his childhood,
was merely the dissipation of an earlier, better existence, where
life was pure and joyful and completely in league with the spirit of
nature. The narrator mourns that though he can capture glimpse of
this glory by remembering his childhood, he can never again renew the
glory that has faded. In the ninth stanza, however, the author
experiences a brief recapturing of that glory. My examination
of lines 150 to 172, which occur in the second half of the ninth
stanza, are a part of Wordsworth’s revival of glory in the
ninths stanza, and as such, represents a resurging of beauty and
naturalistic appreciation. The tone of the ninth stanza rises, with
some hesitations, and continues rising throughout the rest of the
ode.
