Thoughts on Wiliam Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"

I'll admit, I had a hard time while reading William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey". Not because it was long (which it is) or because the concept of a writer pondering the passage of time in a secluded place surrounded by the wonders of nature is something you read everywhere (which it is) or because the first time I was reading it, it was about 2 am and I was too tired to function (which I was). To be reasonable, I'm sure that all of these things did play a part in the difficulty, but what made reading this the most difficult was that this particular poem has so much more depth than many other poems written by poets as they ponder the passage of time in a secluded place. It has layers: internal versus external, past, present, and future, shifts in moods. It seems that the author has a genuine struggle, one that commercial poets can't convey with polite, meaningless words. There is so much to this poem that it would take days or weeks to sort it all out and organize it in a way where you can say "I know what this poem means."  The most striking part of "Tintern Abbey" to me was the ending. Within the last 50 or so lines, there is a clear shift; Wordsworth transitions from a very personal speech that was clearly between nature and himself to an equally personal speech that appears to be between him and his sister. The lines are as follows: For thou art with me, here, upon the banks

Of this fair river; thou, my dearest Friend,

My dear, dear Friend, and in thy voice I catch

The language of my former heart, and read

My former pleasures in the shooting lights

Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while

May I behold in thee what I was once,

My dear, dear Sister! And this prayer I make,

Knowing that Nature never did betray

The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege,

Through all the years of this our life, to lead

From joy to joy: for she can so inform

The mind that is within us, so impress

With quietness and beauty, and so feed

With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,

Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,

Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all

The dreary intercourse of daily life,

Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb

Our chearful faith that all which we behold

Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon

Shine on thee in thy solitary walk  The use of capitalization to change common nouns into proper nouns helps emphasize that there is another entity that Wordworth is refering to, but who is? There are three words that are capitalized: Friend, Sister and Nature.  Because the word "Sister" was capitalized, my first assumption while reading the poem was that he was talking to his sister. It was natural. However, even though they were very close siblings, it seemed odd to me that anyone would give such a personal speech to his sister. These words are an expression of something that is obviously very close to his heart, so why would he be sharing them with his sister? After reading it once more, I developed a sort of theory about it, which is mostly based on the fact that the word "Friend" is also capitalized. Wordsworth capitalizes the word "Nature" after he capitalizes the word "Sister," which shows that he considers nature as a living being. This being said, since immediately before he gave such a personal speech about his connection to nature to his “Friend,” I interpreted those lines as him talking to nature. Nature is his friend and he feels her presence as he stands on the banks of the river. I also drew a connection between Nature and his sister. It seems that he considered them one entity; he praised his sister in the same way that he praised nature, and saw in them his former self. In nature, meaning his natural surroundings, he sees how he has changed. His settings remind him of the way he was and the things he did the last time he was in Tintern Abbey and emphasized how he has transitioned from boyhood into adulthood. In his sister, he sees what he calls his “former pleasures.” She is a reflection of him as he was in his youth, and he sees in her what he hopes will develop into a love of nature that equals his own. As I said before, there is so much to interpret in “Tintern Abbey” that I could keep typing for days or weeks, and there very well may be more to come (I often have wonderful epiphanies in the middle of the night, so whether or not I contribute more thoughts about this poem depends on whether or not I have one tonight and whether or not I feel like getting out of bed to actually get my laptop and type about it). Anyway, for now I will leave it at my big take away.