For Wordsworth, it is the human imagination and the potential not only to observe, but to understand nature that ascribes sublime meaning. Without human cognition, objects and elements of the sublime are merely physical signs. The finite existence of man and the apparent totality of the sublime appear in opposition to each other. However, for Wordsworth, it is man's interaction with the sublime of nature that represents a profound feature of human experience. Although man is never able to fully appreciate or understand the universe as a whole, its entirety can almost be parceled out and understood by appreciating the objects and elements of the sublime in nature. In this case, in both “The Prelude” and “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth uses the sublime to express the finite condition of man and the yearning for a full understanding of the universe through the sublime. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The sublime is omnipresent and powerful. For Wordsworth, as well as his friend and fellow Romantic contemporary Coleridge, the sublime represents the desire for a deeper understanding of a holistic universe. Both Wordsworth and Coleridge struggled with their finite existence and understanding the metaphysical forces that govern their existence. For both poets, this is characteristic of the human experience. James Heffernan writes that “this deep longing for transcendent unity, this passion for 'one life'” (Heffernan 606) was a vital component of Wordsworth's poetry. In “Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth describes “A motion and a spirit, that drives / All thinking things, all objects of all thought, / And flows through all things” (101-103). It is this “spirit” and “movement” of the sublime that stimulates conscious human thought and contemplation. Here, Wordsworth links human interaction with the sublime to innovation and intellectual, perhaps even scientific, progress. Wordsworth explicitly links this notion of development to his own intellectual progress. He states that the sublime apprehension is “of something far more deeply infused” (98) than the simpler joy he obtained from nature in his youth. In this sense, as one matures, one is better able to understand the human condition and connect with the sublime. Wordsworth attributes the power to identify the sublime as located squarely in the human mind. In this sense, the human being is fundamental to interpreting the sublime. According to Heffernan, in “The Prelude,” Wordsworth draws a distinction between the silhouette of a bucolic shepherd silhouetted against the sky and the masses of densely populated London (Heffernan 608). Wordsworth writes that the silhouetted shepherd represents the sublime. The shepherd seems to unite and embody in himself the “grace and honor, power and dignity” (389-407) of all human nature. However, to a human being incapable of exercising the power of his mind and understanding the shepherd's silhouette as sublime, this sight may not be obvious. Heffernan writes that Wordsworth's “'sources of sublimity' are not found in nature, but rather deep within the 'soul of man'” (Heffernan 607). Nature is simply the means or apparatus through which an educated man can experience and understand the sublime. However, it is an excellent, and perhaps the most prominent, channel for doing so. In London, however, Wordsworth discovers the “sublime idea” of the “unity of man, / A wit over ignorance and vice” (665-673). Even in the urban mass of the English capital, Wordsworth finds the universalized “single spirit” he seeks in nature. On both occasions, in the city and incountryside, is the intellectual and cultured man who can appreciate the divergent elements and conditions of the sublime. The ability to distinguish the sublime increases, for Wordsworth, with age and tutelage.Wordsworth's conceptualization reflects the educational system, particularly his own. Although nature is multiple, like the various subjects taught in school, its diverse universality is majestic and essentially sublime. In the education system, seemingly marginal and divergent subjects are taught to ideally build a permanent foundation of knowledge. According to Heffernan, “Wordsworth saw in nature not a dead uniformity but a vital current of relationship, generated in and through infinite variety” (Heffernan 610). In the “Prelude,” as a schoolboy, Wordsworth could observe “affinity / In objects where there is no brotherhood / With common minds” (403-405). As a young schoolboy, with some pedagogical instruction under his belt, Wordsworth can already identify elements of the sublime without necessarily being able to articulate it. To those without his privileged upbringing, “common minds,” these seemingly disparate contingents of the natural world would not seem universal. At Cambridge, Wordsworth develops as both a human being and a student, and can now feel and describe “the one Presence and Life / Of the great all” (130-131). For Wordsworth, his maturity as a man and an intellectual helped him better grasp the sublime in nature. At his intellectual peak, Wordsworth began, “seeking the shades of difference / as they lie hidden in all outward forms, / near or remote, minute or vast” (155-160). This initiation into the search for the sublime in nature, then, marks Wordsworth's maturation and rise in his intellectual manhood. Wordsworth affirms the importance of distinguishing and understanding the sublime as a hallmark of human intellectual development. However, the sublime affects man in multiple ways. For example, the Mount Snowdon episode of “The Prelude” illustrates the transformative power of nature over man. According to Heffernan, this passage “perfectly exemplifies that unity of natural forces that can best be defined as interfusion: the flow of one object into another, the fusion of elements in such a way that each, while retaining its distinctive character, becomes part of a sublime and pervasive whole” (Heffernan 613). In order for the observer to fully appreciate and understand this subtle but complex distinction, he or she must be intellectually and emotionally mature. Otherwise, as in the Mount Snowdon episode, there could be negative repercussions or, at the very least, a lack of understanding. Heffernan adds that the sublime is “that unifying power of nature which symbolized, in his eyes, the imaginative power of higher minds” (Heffernan 613). It is therefore intellectualism that allows the appreciation of the sublime. The development of man and the human being towards a deeper appreciation for the sublime is central to Wordsworth. This is best illustrated, perhaps, through the awe-inspiring and terrifying elements of nature. The Mount Snowdon episode illustrates the importance that the natural world had on Wordsworth's concept of the sublime and on his maturation and conception of himself as an individual. Professor Philip Shaw also explores the role of the sublime in Wordsworth's development as an individual and the key role that intellectualism plays in this notion. Reflecting on the ascent of Mount Snowdon, Wordsworth writes, “A meditation arose in me that night / On the lonely mountain when the scene / Was gone, and there appeared to me / The perfect image of a mind” (66-69). . For Wordsworth, understanding the majestic and sublime nature of his journey relies on the ability of his “mighty mind.” It is this mind that “feeds itself. 2016.