Comparing Coleridge and Wordsworths Views on Peoples Relationship to

Comparing Coleridge and Wordsworth's Views on People's Relationship to Nature Although Wordsworth and Coleridge are both romantic poets, they describe nature in different ways. Coleridge underlines the tragic, supernatural and sublime aspect of nature, while Wordsworth uses anecdotes of everyday life and underlines the serene aspect of nature. In order to imply a connection between nature and the human mind, Wordsworth uses the technique of identification and comparison whereas Coleridge does the opposite in 'The Ancient Mariner' and 'Kubla Khan'. Both admire nature's healing strength and hope that their children will grow up in a natural environment instead of growing up in cities. For Wordsworth nature seems to sympathise with the love and suffering of the persona. The landscape is seen as an interior presence rather than an external scene. His idea is that emotions are reflected in the tranquillity of nature. On the contrary, Coleridge says that poetry is clearly distinguished from nature. Reading the poems of both Wordsworth and Coleridge, one immediately notes a difference in the common surroundings presented by Wordsworth and the bizarre creations of Coleridge. Thus they develop their individual attitudes towards life. I will look at differences and similarities concerning people?s relationship to nature in poems by Coleridge and Wordsworth such as: ?The Ancient Mariner?, ?Kubla Khan?, ?The Nightingale,? ?Lucy?, ?Tintern Abbey,? ?There was a boy?, ? Old Beggar?, ?I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud? and "Frost at Midnight". In ?The Ancient Mariner,? Coleridge demonstrates how violating nature and her subjects brings doom to the infracted. In this poem, the poet emphasises the vengeful, dark side ... ...heir respective views on nature. Wordsworth illustrates man?s necessary bond to nature, one that was being destroyed by state men. Coleridge chooses to present nature as a natural law that one should not violate. Coleridge?s ?Ancient Mariner? poem makes me think of a painting by the romantic painter Turner. Especially of his painting of ? the slave ship? painted in 1840. This painting depicts a slave ship in the red sunset heading into a typhoon creating an anxious feeling. I think that Coleridge poem can be compared with Turner and his apocalyptic view of nature, and Wordsworth can be compared to Constable with his peaceful landscape of English countryside. Bibliography: Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: darker reflection: London: HarperCollins, 1998 Abrahms, M. H, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 2, 7th edition. New York, 2000