These
beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration: -- feelings too
Of unremembered pleasures…
-
William
Wordsworth, ‘Tintern Abbey’, Lines 23 – 32
Some of
the most important roles of a poet, according to Emerson, are to be able to not
only see into the soul of man, but also be able to interpret it and share it
with others. In some ways, it is his job to be able to recognize those things
that connect us all; things we do, see, or feel. In these specific lines from
one of Wordsworth most famous poems, I believe it brings to light the idea of
what I like to think of as an ‘emotional memory’.
Wordsworth, in so
many words, describes that feeling that we have all experienced at some time.
It starts with a quick sense; a smell, a sound, or as in the case of this poem,
at sight. For this particular entry I will be using one of my own emotional
memories. When I was about 7 years old I had a secret spot. It was part of the
river at the end of my grandparent’s property on their farm. Since they have
moved, I have not seen it in about 15 years. I do not remember much about how
it looks, but I can recall the sound of the river, children’s laughter, the
smell of wet earth, the picturesque way the light would stream through the
trees, and the beautiful swan. But above all else, I remember how it made me
feel. It is a place that has calmed my anger, roused my spirits out of sadness,
and given me a feeling of tranquility and uplifting.
Even though Wordsworth
has not seen his perfect little spot in nature in over 5 years, he still feels
that while he was gone it still gave him a feeling of ‘tranquil restoration’.
This poem, to me, presents the perfect idea of what an emotional memory is. It
is a memory of a person, place, thing, or even event that seems to be ‘Felt in
the blood, and felt along the heart;’ even more so than you specifically
remember the memory itself. It is that amazing feeling it gave you when you got
to experience. I find that this was one of Wordsworth’s goals in this poem; to
be able to show people that you can internalize those feelings and can draw
from them when you seem to need it most.
