Topic > Representations of the literary sublime - 1146

The representation of sublimity in William Wordsworth's “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” Percy Shelley's “To a Sky-Lark,” and Gerald Hopkins' “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” is characterized from the beauty and forms of nature, the power of nature and the use of metaphors in descriptive passages. They use the sublime to express the grandeur of nature and to describe specific objects of nature. Writers also use the sublime as a way to communicate their imaginations and interpretations of nature to readers. Wordsworth, Shelley, and Hopkins use the sublime in their literary works to interpret and express the aesthetics of nature. Wordsworth expresses the sublime beauty and forms of nature in “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by illustrating the scene of nature using daffodils, clouds, stars, and waves. His personification of daffodils, “Shaking their heads in a merry dance,” (Wordsworth 12) distinguishes them from being just a simple organic plant to a vivid being that possesses an inner life. His personification of daffodils creates a vibrant and beautiful illustration. Shelley uses a lark in his poem "To a Sky-Lark" to express the sublime beauty and forms of nature. The beauty of nature is developed by Shelley's sublime imagination of the lark's song. He notes the beauty of the lark's song implying that even the rainbow clouds are not as beautiful as the melodies of the lark's song, "From the rainbow clouds floweth not" (Shelley 33). Shelley connects the bird's emotional state to the beauty of nature by considering the bird's happiness when flying in the sky. It implies that the beauty and forms of nature contribute to the bird's happiness: "What objects are the fountains / Of your happy ... half the paper ...... n limbs, and lovely in the eyes not his" (Hopkins 12-13). Wordsworth, Shelley, and Hopkins express their gratitude for the sublime of the natural world in their literary works. To accurately represent the sublime in their works, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Hopkins selected suitable words and suitable arrangements of their language. Their use of striking and beautiful words contributed to the overall sublimity of their poems. Furthermore, their figurative language possessed great natural power, which helped give their metaphors solid meanings. Poets referred to things they considered interesting, such as the kingfisher, the skylark, and daffodils, to express their literary sublime. Their literary sublime is important because it helps readers visualize scenes and understand the message of the poem, which also helps readers benefit or appreciate the poem..