The Act of Travel in Wordsworth’s “I travelled among unknown men”

Wordsworth’s “I travelled amongst unknown men” appears at first to be a tribute to a lady he loved and a poem of patriotism. It is initially unclear how Lucy and England are similar beyond getting items that are eventually crucial to him. Through further interpretations, it becomes evident that Wordsworth employed particular tools such as personification and images of nature to connect the two beyond the reader’s first reaction. Soon after the reader realizes how Lucy and England are tied collectively, the feelings of loss that Wordsworth’s “melancholy” experience of travel are connected with his feelings towards the death of Lucy as a travel expertise and not just a deportation from his life. This poem is in turn not a statement about life and enjoy, but a statement about death as a permanent journey.

In the initial two stanzas Wordsworth chooses not to mention Lucy in efforts to put emphasis on the importance of his love and devotion for England. He resolves to have not understood “what adore [he] bore to [England]” (four) until he left England to travel to other lands. He describes his travelling adventures as a “melancholy dream” (5) and promises to not “quit [England’s] shore/A second time” (six-7). In creating this promise, he is recognizing not only the value that his travel played in his really like for England but also, he is realizing that in his path of travel he is given a second possibility Lucy’s travel away from England is permanent.

Wordsworth also utilizes techniques of personification all through the poem. He chooses to personify England and describing feelings of human enjoy and devotion towards it. Personifying England makes it less difficult for the reader to connect the nation to Lucy given that it currently appears so human. Wordsworth also decides to describe his travels abroad by the folks he encountered rather than the landscapes themselves. In doing this, he is conveying to the reader the value of a private connection with men and women in his life. Travelling in a foreign territory “among unknown men” would undoubtedly develop feelings of unfamiliarity and a sense of feeling lost till he returned property to England. In these observations the reader should also realize that Lucy herself has traveled in a sense. When the reader realizes that both Wordsworth and Lucy have left England in their own methods, this poem becomes not a poem declaring timeless love, but a description of what death should be like. This can be interpreted in two methods, depending on the reader’s encounter with other Wordsworth poetry.

A reader who is not familiar with other performs might interpret that Lucy’s death would be a horrible knowledge and the departure from her home. Wordsworth left England only temporarily and feels as if his journey was a miserable encounter that left him in an altered state of consciousness, a lot like a “melancholy dream” (5). He is able to return to England and renew his faith and adore for it feelings of happiness are brought back to his life as soon as he returns. Lucy has permanently travelled away from England. She will never be able to return and regain feelings of happiness and hope. The reader is then forced to query if this melancholy altered state Wordsworth temporarily identified himself in whilst traveling is the fate of Lucy permanently since her travels will never ever bring her back. Nevertheless, a reader who is much more familiar with Wordsworth’s operates and his style would know that as a romantic poet, his poetry locations emphasis on the all-natural planet, imagination and religion, among other themes. Wordsworth would believe that Heaven is home and Earth is just a temporary cease along a person’s journey of life. He claims that from “trailing clouds of glory do [humans] come/From God, who is our home:/Heaven lies about us in our infancy!” (Ode 64-66) and refers to Heaven as “that imperial palace” (Ode 83). Wordsworth is putting Heaven as the holiest and happiest spot that our immortal souls will live. Being aware of this, the reader would be able to conclude that Lucy is in truth going home, to Heaven, and will be happier there.

Wordsworth tends to make the guarantee to his nation: “Nor will I quit thy shore/A second time for nonetheless I look/To really like thee much more and more” (six-8). He only realized the value of England in his life after he had left. When he returned, he felt his really like for his nation develop daily and he could relish in the things that he loved most about his country, but only as they had been connected to Lucy. This guarantee may have been produced to his nation because he was wishful that he could tell Lucy he would never leave her again, or due to the fact he had the realization that the miserable life he led temporarily is the misery that Lucy would include forever.

Wordsworth’s “I travelled among unknown men” seems at initial to be a easy enjoy poem but concludes on a much deeper level. He is explaining to the reader the travels that are taken, each temporarily and permanently it is up to the reader to conclude no matter whether Lucy’s permanent journey away from England to Heaven is a journey to her residence or away from it. Wordsworth is connecting his travels and Lucy’s death by way of the description of his personal journey away from England. This poem is considerably more than a adore story it is a testimony on the life and death knowledge of mankind.