"Wither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"
I venture to say that Wordsworth saw maturity as a kind of death concerning the visions of immortality. The idealized view of nature and the world seems like something portrayed through a child's eyes. What other time in life, besides perhaps very old age, are we so open to the wonders and mysteries of nature?
If our birth is "but a sleep and a forgetting", it makes sense to me that our childhood would be the time of remembrance, a mere re-discovery of glory previously known. I never really understood how Wordsworth could retain such an idealized perspective on the world. He has a sort of rose-colored glasses perspective that is intriguing. In finding modern day application to his poems, I've decided that sometimes rose-colored glasses are what we need in order to see things clearly.
Emily made a great comment on how the loss of childhood is sometimes what drives our society today. Wordsworth is also seeing this in his time and is pleading with us to take the time, make it count. He is truly grieving for this loss of glory from the earth. It almost makes it sound like the earth is losing something, but in fact the loss is in us. In line 23, I love that he makes the comment "a timely utterance gave that thought relief". It makes me feel that though we may be at the point where we have lost that glory in the earth, all hope is not lost. Time may bring it back to us as we reflect upon nature's mysteries.
Point: we have to put away the Nintendo and get out into nature. Childhood isn't going to be found in computer games, technology, and virtual reality. Who needs Virtual when we have Actual all around us? It's a bit ironic in our time that we create all of these things to supposedly make our lives more full. In reality, we are straying further and further from the "clouds of glory" in which we came.
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I completely agree, here. I love that Wordsworth is looking through his rose-colored glasses, his childhood eyes. Sometimes it's so great to get on the floor and roll around with the "rugrats," especially my three-year-old nephew. I love seeing him discover new things and get excited about them. It makes me go back to my own childhood of discovery. And I'm in total agreement that the loss of childhood is what drives our society. Wordsworth says in lines 99-102: "But it will not be long / Ere this be thrown aside, / And with new joy and pride / The little Actor cons another part;" I think we do in some ways put on a mask to make it through our daily lives. Maybe we aren't truly ourselves unless we are letting loose with the children in our lives, really playing and being completely free as they are free. Thank you, Jaree, for making that point that we need to put away the Nintendo. It makes me sad to see my older nephew and niece playing with their DS's instead of with each other. Technology is great (as I am currently listening to my iPod and posting on the internet), but sometimes it closes us off to real people in the real world. I sat in the lobby of the airport after Christmas and watched as people exited the plane. About 80% of them immediately pulled out their cell phones. It was amazing! Anyway, my point, I guess, is that we can put off the "actor" and become children again, and we should put down the DS and go outside to play!
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