How does Wordsworth address the theme of the value of imagination in the poem, Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood?

Throughout the poem, the capacity for imagination represents our ability to imporve our relationship with the world around us, despite the loss of innocence.

Imagination is in part presented as a means of enhancing sensory experiences. This is predominantly displayed in the speaker’s descriptions of their childhood perspective of nature. As a child, the speaker viewed the natural world as being “apparelled in celestial light” and possessing “the glory and the freshness of a dream” (4-5). Such are the “new-born blisses” that the speaker claims surround children in their early days (86). This imaginative engagement with experience makes possible the “heaven [that] lies about us in our infancy” and turns what adults often view as a mundane world into a veritable paradise (67). Furthermore, as imagination is closely linked with the act of seeing or envisioning, the speaker underscores the child’s ability to see in the eighth stanza, referring to them as “thou Eye among the blind” and “Mighty Prophet” (112, 115). The use of the label prophet is of particular significance as prophets are known for their ability to see into the future, or envision that which is not directly before them, an act requiring a strong imagination. Thus, this valuing of youth and highlighting of a child’s ability to engage with the world in an imaginative way emphasizes the significance of an imaginative interpretation of one’s experiences.