Assignment on English and American literature

rtality" (March–April), he plainly recognized that "The things which I have seen I now can see no more"; yet he emphasized that although the "visionary gleam" had fled, the memory remained, and although the "celestial light" had vanished, the "common sight" of "meadow, grove and stream" was still a potent (strong) source of delight and solace (comfort). 
Thus Wordsworth shed his earlier tendency to idealize nature and turned to a more sedate (calm) doctrine (set of beliefs) of orthodox Christianity. Younger poets and critics soon blamed him for this "recantation" (renouncing), which they equated with his change of mind about the French Revolution. His Ecclesiastical Sonnets (1822) are clear evidence of the way in which love of freedom, nature, and the Church came to coincide (come together at the same time) in his mind. 
The Prelude 
Nevertheless, it was the direction suggested in "Intimations of Immortality" that, in the view of later criticism, enabled Wordsworth to produce perhaps the most outstanding achievement of English romanticism: The Prelude. He worked on it, on and off, for several years and completed the first version in May 1805. The Prelude can claim to be the only true romantic epic (long, often heroic work) because it deals in narrative terms with the spiritual growth of the only true romantic hero, the poet. The inward odyssey (journey) of the poet was described not for its own sake but as a sample and as an adequate image of man at his most sensitive. 
Wordsworth shared the general romantic notion that personal experience is the only way to gain living knowledge. The purpose of The Prelude was to recapture and interpret, with detailed thoroughness, the whole range of experiences that had contributed to the shaping of his own mind. Wordsworth refrained from publishing the poem in his lifetime, revising it continuously. Most important and, perhaps, most to be regretted, the poet also tried to give a more orthodox tinge to his early mystical faith in nature. 
Later years 
Wordsworth's estrangement (growing apart) from Coleridge in 1810 deprived him of a powerful incentive to imaginative and intellectual alertness. Wordsworth's appointment to a government position in 1813 relieved him of financial care. 
Wordsworth's undiminished love for nature made him view the emergent (just appearing) industrial society with undisguised reserve. He opposed the Reform Bill of 1832, which, in his view, merely transferred political power from the land owners to the manufacturing class, but he never stopped pleading in favor of the victims of the factory system. 
In 1843 Wordsworth was appointed poet laureate (official poet of a country). He died on April 23, 1850. 
LOVE OF WORDSWORTH FOR NATURE
Wordsworth is considered a poet of nature. He soon showed his deep interest in nature. His poems usually focused on the poor, the children, the common man…especially the nature. Partly, the beautiful landscapes of his hometown affected deeply to him, partly he was influenced by the close contact to nature of his sister Dorothy.
 Like other poets of the period of romanticism, Wordsworth wanted to hide himself from civilization industrial, complex life, crowed cities, and the nature is the best place for him to hide.
Wordsworth fell in line with nature. In “the daffodils” he compared himself like a cloud wandering and moving lonely “on high o’er the valleys and hills” without a clear destination. Suddenly, he saw daffodils along the bank of a lake underneath the shadow of the trees. Daffodils the first flower of spring made him forget everything of life, just wanted to cheer up with them:
“I wandered lonely as a cloud (simile)
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,”
Although the daffodils appeared very simply, but in the vivid imagination of the poet they were very brilliant. At first sight, the poet was fascinated by the long and vast field of the daffodils. 
“Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (Personification)
Continuous as the stars that shine”
The poet used the simile subtly that gave readers the imagination of countless shining stars.
“Continuous as the stars that shine”
The field of daffodils, that created a beautifully scenery, seemingly stretched in unending lines. They were very excited and merry in “sprightly dance”.
“And twinkle on the milky way, (simile)They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glanceTossing their heads in sprightly dance.” (personification)
However, daffodil is just a kind of plant, through the poet’s eyes it became a lively creature. The golden daffodils can toss their heads and dance. They can do activities like human does. The poet used personification for daffodils perfectly.
The beauty of the daffodils made the poet sink into happy and excited:
 “The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but the gay, 
In such a jocund company;
I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:” (metaphor)
The poet forgot his present life, he just wallowed in the happiness together with the daffodils. He joyfully became a friend of the golden daffodils which gave him a warm welcome and valuable experience:
“A poet could not but the gay, 	
In such a jocund company;”
The poet left his loneliness aside and looked the daffodils tenderly. He believed that daffodil’s charm was a great gift and no fortune was as wonderful as the beauty granted by the God: 
“I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:” (metaphor)
Though the poet had come back home but the image of the daffodils always fill in his heart. Whenever he remembered the daffodils, his heart was filled with pleasure and happiness. And the poet seemed to dance with the daffodils in his imagination:
“For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude; (oxymoron)
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”
Wordsworth accomplished the poem splendidly by using many techniques as hyperbole, simile, comparison, figurative language, oxymoron and personification to describe the daffodils. The language of the poem “the daffodils” is very creative and flexible, which prove the impact of the revolution in literary language use to Wordsworth.
In the “To the cuckoo”, the poet experienced another image of nature, the cuckoo bird and her beautiful voice. The poet had described a beautiful and lovely cuckoo singing in the sky and the cry of the bird gives the poet a lot of romantic thought. The cuckoo reminded the poet of his innocence childhood. He usually searched for it for many hours.
O blithe new-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice,
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?
In the first stanza, the poet uttered joyfully when hearing the voice of the cuckoo bird which he has known before:
“Oh blithe newcomer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice,”
The poet wondered whether he should label it as just a bird, or it’s just a “wandering voice” which is a creature bigger than his comprehension.
“O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?”
While lying on the grass, the poet heard the cuckoo cry around the hills where he was lying. The cuckoo’s cry seemed very far but maybe very near to the poet. Her voice passed around the space made the poet submerge into her song.
While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass
At once far off, and near.
This bird’s voice had much attached to it than one could perceive.
To me, no Babbler with a tale
The cuckoo was portrayed is not a meaningless creature with a story about flowers and sunshine, as most cuckoo’s song would be:
 “Of sunshine and of flowers,”
The bird sang the story of “visionary hours”. Wordsworth’s past has an attachment to the cuckoo’s song:
“Thou tallest, Cuckoo! In the vale
Of visionary hours”
The poet welcomed the cuckoo happily, he considered cuckoo like a darling of the spring. The spring is the best season in four seasons. When spring comes, nature becomes fresh, happy again. And the cuckoo starts crying with all its ability:
“Thrice welcome, darling of the spring!
Even ye thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice a mystery;”
Although the poet can not see the cuckoo, he believed that the cuckoo’s voice was mystery.
This 2 stanza, The cuckoo seemingly brought back the poet’s memories. Its voice made the poet remember his golden schoolboy days, the time he usually heard the dong of the cuckoo, yet he could not find it even though he had sought it in “thousand ways”. He truly want to find the bird, “ a love”:
“The same whom in my schoolboy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love; 
Still longed for, never seen.”
Now when the poet is adult, but the emotion from the past is still in his mental.
“And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
The poet believed that the earth is the fairy place which brought him “the cuckoo’s voice” a wonderful of the creator.
O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for thee!”
The melody of “To the cuckoo” is very harmonious with the rules of rhythm such as /eil/, /eiz/, /et/, etc…, and with the sentences have the same rhythm like /a:s/, /ein/…
Through two poems above, we can understand clearly the love of Wordsworth for nature. He wrote about plant and animal or simple thing which are very close to his daily life with dear words. He considered nature is his close friend.