William Wordsworth's Poems And David Malouf's Novel, An Imaginary Life, It Is Evident How Different Times And Cultures Affect The qualIty And Importance Of The Relationship humanIty Can Have wIth The Natural World

In both William Wordsworth's poems and David Malouf's novel, An Imaginary Life, it is evident how different times and cultures affect the quality and importance of the relationship humanity can have with the natural world.   Themes that are explored in both texts include interaction with nature, the role of nature in childhood and adulthood, religion and the role of language.   These all show the quality and importance of humanity's relationship with nature and how times and culture influence the relationship.   Although they are influenced by very different cultural and social values, both writers have the same goal, which is to understand nature and become a part of it.   Wordsworth learns through his interaction with nature in "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798," and "It's a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free," that there is a spiritual presence in the landscape.   Ovid's interaction with nature helps him break down the divisions between people and their environment to become at one with it.   Both writers demonstrate how interaction with nature is necessary to appreciate it.    

The importance of humanity's relationship with the natural world is shown through the main characters interaction with the environment.   The different contexts of the authors make Wordsworth's relationship with nature not nearly as physical as Ovid's.   He is a gentleman from the early nineteenth century, and he would not "bush bash" to get places.   To him nature is just a source of pleasure and a way to get closer to God.   This is a reflection of his context and culture as this is what he is accustomed too.   His world is much more civilised, "Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke."   This demonstrates the domestic elements of his world.   There is a contrast in environments in Tintern Abbey and the landscape around Tomis in An Imaginary Life.   Wordsworth's environment   appears to be fertile and suited to...