William Wordsworth
"Words do more than plant miracle seeds. With you writing them, they can change the world."- by Ashley Rice
Despite what I was learning about the interconnectedness of science and art, I remember Professor Johnson (see Why Teaching?- Part 1) telling us about John Keats' struggle to choose between pursuing pharmacy or becoming a writer. Though his background in both were impressive, Keats chose to focus on his writing. Why? He felt that through his writing, he could touch or change the lives of others not just during his lifetime, but long after it as well.
I didn't realize the extent of how true this was- how writers and their words could influence and inspire way past the writer's own lifetime until, looking back, I think, here I am, more than ten years after learning about these romantic poets. They lived over two hundred years ago, yet I'm still turning to their words for advice and learning, and I'm about to share with you how they (or one in particular) has changed my life. And I've also passed on their poems and lessons to my students, who hopefully will pass them on, and so forth. That means generation after generation can be, and have been, moved by writers and words that were written long before these readers even came into this world. There is something so magical about this timelessness of words- the way they can continue to span over long stretches of distance and ages.
The writer who reached out to me long after his death was William Wordsworth. Though the classes I took with Professor Johnson were about the Romantic Writers in general, I felt a strong connection to Wordsworth because we spent more time learning about him than any of the other writers, and the Wordsworthian concepts we learned about resonated with me. I needed them in my life at the time to help me learn about myself and make my own choices. My guess is that Wordsworth must have been one of Professor Johnson's favorites.
And soon, because of the enthusiasm our Professor showed towards this writer, Wordsworth became one of my favorites as well. I think I even pictured Wordsworth to look like Professor Johnson- beard, content, relaxed, yet pensive and wise. Somehow, I could see many of the qualities of Wordsworth we were learning about- his love of nature, his belief in balance, his faith in imagination and childhood, and his "down to earthness" in Professor Johnson as well.
In his Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth emphazised his desire to speak in the "language of men". He wrote that he felt these works, as they speak of human emotions, human experiences and human life, should be written in normal, human language- humble and rustic like the lives of the characters and ideas he discussed in them. He felt it important to speak in an "ordinary" language rather than making things more complex and contrary to his ideas. Professor Johnson taught us in a very casual, ordinary, and simple manner as well.
Wordsworth also believed that the greatest "philosophers" in the world were children, or the Child- that source of innocence, playfulness and imagination- within us. His famous and powerful line "The Child is father of the man" from his poem "The Rainbow", has stuck with me for many years, and often finds its way back to me - in books, on the internet, in presentations- when I am not even looking for it. I often feel like Wordsworth, though I never knew the guy (haha!) is speaking to me from above (or is a channel through which God can speak to me and others?), reminding me to get back to my inner child, to the real me, when I need it the most.
Wordsworth believed that the children around us, as well as the child in us, could guide us and teach us more than we sometimes realized. And one of the simplest ways in which Wordsworth believed we could retrieve that child in us- that freshness of insight that we had when we were younger- was by turning to nature. He believed that nature could ground us while simultaneously lifting us up to a state of creativity and authenticity that we possessed as children. Wordsworth felt that if people were sensitive to the world around them- the natural world- this sensibility could be carried over into their everyday lives including their relationships with other people. Simply put, an appreciation for nature could lead to an appreciation for human nature.
Wordsworth, like many romantic poets, ruminated on his feelings. He was very contemplative and described poetry as a way to become more in touch with our thoughts- with who we are, what is important to us, and what we have learned along each stage of our life journey. He celebrated in writing the overwhelming feelings of love, loss, pain and happiness that came back to him in moments of solitude. His definition of this collection of words that is born out of feelings and experience is one that will stay with me always: "Poetry is emotion recollected in tranquility" explained Wordsworth.
The more I learned and soaked in Wordsworth's words, the more they would just appear to me when I didn't even know that I needed them. I remember being disengaged in some of my other classes, or even in my daily life. But then a speaker would mention the romantics, or a line of Wordsworth's would pop up in what seemed like the most unforeseen circumstances, and I would automatically become more connected to what was being presented. My focus and interest would return. Again, it was as if this man I never met, this artist who lived during an era that should have been so foreign to me, was speaking to me. And at that time, I didn't realize that I was listening. My subconscious was, at least, and over the next couple of years, the messages that he was sending were to greatly influence my life path.
This man who lived two centuries before I did, was shaping my life with his words, his view of the world, and the pictures he had created on paper. Pictures created through poetry. And Professor Johnson helped open up this world to me. The passion and connection that Professor Johnson seemed to feel towards Wordsworth's ideas made me feel as if he knew Wordsworth, and therefore, that we were getting to know Wordsworth in some way as well.
I'm sure that Professor Johnson shared many of Wordsworth's beliefs, and learned so much about himself by reading Wordsworth. Because in teaching me about this writer, Professor Johnson also taught me so much about myself. And over time, I was to discover that these teachings, and Wordsworth, would lead me to places that I didn't even realize I wanted to, or was meant to go. I did not know at that time how deeply Wordsworth was to affect my life, but I was soon to find out.
(More on this to come in Why Teaching?- Part 3)
