Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

From the onset, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality of Recollections of Early Childhood” by William Wordsworth appears to be a melancholic reflection on the lost idyllic vision of the child through the process of maturation. Wordsworth’s introductory lines, “The child is the father of the man” (Poetry Foundation), elevate the romantic notion of the child as the adult’s superior; the child is also the one who experiences the events that eventually shape one’s manhood, and therefore it is the precursor to the man. Furthermore, Platonic ideals pervade the length of the work and carry its themes to great metaphysical heights. Immediately, then, this poem seems to be quintessentially romantic, glorifying the innocence of childhood to the point of unreality. However, upon a detailed inspection, we discover that Wordsworth does not indeed wish to inhibit the natural process of growth or confine humanity to the merely spiritual world. After all, in the same opening lines Wordsworth states he desires to be “Bound to each”—what could only mean both the child and the man— “by natural piety”. Therefore, the poet argues that a simple hint of perceiving the immortal world reminiscent of childhood is sufficient to better our lives—one need not give themselves entirely to the pursuit of the ideal and briskly abandon the physical world. Instead, a balanced contemplation, and not obsession with, the romantic is what leads to deeper personal inspection and achievement of convivial light.

The title of the poem first strikes the reader as peculiar. “Intimations”, after all, may have two very distinct meanings. It is either “the action of intimating, making known, or announcing; formal notification or announcement” or merely “the action of making known or expressing merely; an expression by sign or token, an indication; a suggestion, a hint” (OED). In other words, there appears to be a deliberative ambiguity in Wordsworth’s choice of title; is the intimation of immortality a wide proclamation, or is it a subtle gesture toward an unseen reality?

Heralding the first stanza, Wordsworth recalls a time when the picturesque and the ideal lay entwined in glorious simplicity. The poem begins in the past tense with a phrase typical of fairytale openings, “There was a time…”, signaling that this age is no longer and that a harrowing blindness ensued: “The things which I have seen I now can see no more” (Stanza I verse 9). The poet even attempts to find comfort in nature, a customary, wholesome cure for the romantic. However, Wordsworth subverts the expectation that nature welcomes the distressed and mild of heart. After all, he possesses a distinct, unnerving sense that the sweetness nature can offer pales in comparison to what he has lost. The inklings of despair trickle down as he realizes he may never find the “glory “that “hath past away from the earth” (II, 9).

In addition to wallowing in bygone shadows, the poet experiences this anguish alone, stating, “To me alone there came a thought of grief” (III, 4). He lists countless beauties one by one, yet despite the bright splendor all around a profound sense of alienation encapsulates him. Here Wordsworth conforms to a romantic trope, that of the anxious poet who envisions the startling beauty of nature as a mocking, antagonistic force to his depression. In time, however, the gayness of “all the earth” (III, 11) eases the pangs of his soul. With exaggerated notions like beasts “keeping holiday” (III, 15), Wordsworth appropriates almost biblical imagery of the surreal utopia, a place where beasts are no longer ferocious (i.e., “the wolf will lie with the lamb” – Is. 11:6). “Thou Child of Joy” (III, 16), he exclaims, perhaps addressing the figure of the child as an abstract concept or indeed his own childhood self, “My head hath its coronal” (IV, 5). A “coronal” may either mean “a circlet for the head; esp. one of gold or gems, connoting rank or dignity; a coronet” or “of or pertaining to the crown of the head” (OED). Thus, the poet is cured of his mental affliction as he dons a symbol of elevated status, much like the gift of Christian salvation gives the individual new attire to “clothe” (Rm. 13:14, Col. 3: 12). In the poet’s case, his balm literally encircles the head, that which originates distress.

Overwhelmed with the profundity of his meditations, he cries, “I feel—I feel it all” (IV, 6). Once again, he fluctuates and contrasts nature’s beauty with his own dejection: “Oh evil day! If I were sullen / While Earth herself is adorning…” (IV, 7-8). Indeed, the conflict of the poem keeps increasing as the “Children are culling” (IV, 10). Note the unusual interpolation of the word “culling”, which may imply “to gather, pick, pluck (flowers, fruits, etc.)”, “to fondle in the arms, hug, or embrace”, or even, “to select and kill (wild animals or birds), usually in order to improve the stock or reduce the population” (OED). While I do not suggest the children in “Intimations” are in fact killing wild animals, the mere suggestion of an evil deed may indicate how cruelly mocked the poet feels for being unable to achieve the same bliss as the children.

“—But there’s a Tree, of many, one / A single field which I have looked upon” (IV, 16-17) interrupts the miserable display with a glimmer of hope. Here, the poem’s central argument begins to unfold, but it is a mere hint of what is to come. Wordsworth selects a single piece of the ethereal view before him and decides to focus all his strength upon that desirable object. One cannot help remembering “Tintern Abbey”, wherein he demonstrated equal diligence in observation and continually returned to the beauty of one carefully admired landscape. He then converses with “The Pansy” (IV, 19), flowers that may symbolize love, remembrance, or nostalgia, very much in keeping with the poet’s current emotional state. Inquiring about the location of “the glory and the dream” (IV, 22), the poet conveys the impression that his visage of childhood may be nothing but a mirage or illusion.

Leaving us on that uneasy note, Wordsworth transitions to the philosophical interlude of the piece, recounting the journey of the human soul in either Aristotelian or Platonic terms—either way, both espoused the preexistence and immortality of the soul. Humans are lonely foreigners to this world, for “The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, / hath had elsewhere its setting” (V, 2-3). The younger one is, the closer one is to clarity and enlightenment since the “Boy…beholds the light, and whence it flows” (V, 11-12). Much like the descriptions of the sensible world in Plato’s “Symposium”, Earth distracts the soul with “pleasures of her own” (VI, 1). The physical senses distract man from his path to the true form of things and ideal “being”. By comparing the earth to man’s foster mother (VI, 6), Wordsworth implies this world is rubbish compared to the spiritual realm. But if so, why, we might ask, is so much of the poem dedicated to the praise of nature? It is here Wordsworth subtly invites the reader to beware of a superficial reading of his work. One might be led to think, with all his glorious descriptions of the immortal world, that the poet denounces the bodily as a frail hindrance. However, progressing throughout the poem will reveal the exact opposite.

Wordsworth recounts the seventh stanza with a moving, pithy outlook on man’s life. Alluding to Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, he compares man’s life to a “humorous stage” (VII, 15) with its various disorienting, ridiculous parts. The verses in this stanza are short and direct, mirroring the tragicomic perceptions one often finds in life. With the concluding couplet, “As if his whole vocation / Were endless imitation”, Wordsworth posits the argument that there is no originality, creativity, or artistry, in the strivings of most men. In other words, most adults lose their sense of connection to that which is fundamentally human, i.e., the lack of imitation.

Once more, Wordsworth constructs deliberate ambiguity with the use of the word “belie” to denote the soul’s exterior. “Belie” is “to surround, encompass”, but it may also be “to deceive by lying, tell a lie to.” The body, the home of the soul, is in fact what occludes and imprisons the soul. The poet keeps on praising the child as the true visionary and concludes the stanza by denouncing custom, who lies “upon thee with a weight, / Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life”. Indeed, the Histories of Herodotus is famous for its assessment that custom is “king of all” (187). It seems that human custom is the curse preventing humans from realizing their eternal destiny.

Emotions proceed in a whirling crescendo as the poet begins to change his mind regarding nature’s ephemerality: “O joy that in our embers / Is something that doth live, / That Nature yet remembers / What was so fugitive!” (IX, 4). Hope is “still fluttering in his breast” (IX, 10), a familiar poetic metaphor featuring hope as a bird. Tension and passion escalate until, midway through the stanza, Wordsworth recreates one of his most famous lines in “Tintern Abbey”: “Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make / Our noisy years seem moments in the being / Of the eternal Silence”—it is impossible to ignore the chiming ring of “the still, sad music of humanity”.

From then onward, the dawn of hope emerges anew through Wordsworth’s finalizing thoughts. Despite remaining hidden, the secrets of the soul are not completely lost and the reminisces of childhood are not hopeless. After all, “neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour, / Nor Man nor Boy, / Nor all that is at enmity with joy, / Can utterly abolish or destroy!” It is still possible to contemplate immortality and “hear the mighty roars of waters rolling evermore”.

The poet repeats the sounds of nature’s invitations, “Ye that pipe and ye that play, / Ye that through your hearts to-day / Feel the gladness of the May!” (X, 5-7), yet this time, his jubilant call to action contrasts sharply with the dispirited beginning. Echoing William Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence”, he calls man to see the “splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower” (“To see a World in a Grain of Sand /And a Heaven in a Wild Flower” – Blake). Most shocking of all, Wordsworth invites us to taste the “soothing thoughts that spring / Out of human suffering”. He invites the reader to find beauty even amidst tragedy, which is what makes this poem so radically different than a tale of childhood loss. The “philosophic mind” brings comfort, yet in his heart, the poet feels the force of nature’s “might”. Spiritual enlightenment must come, but there is a caveat: the poet does not completely give up earthly pleasures. Thus, Wordsworth establishes a balance between philosophic speculation and emotional romantic upheaval. It is thanks to this mere “intimation”, a glimpse, of immortality that the poet can face his trials and encounter “thoughts too deep for words”. It is in the liminal space between the physical attractions of the world and its undying and underlying spiritual reality that man must find his peace, and not, as one might initially expect, with a superabundance of one or the other.