How is the earth described in the poem, Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood?

The earth as a character is introduced predominantly in the sixth stanza of the poem. Here, the earth is described as a feminine entity, possessing “something of a Mother’s mind” and having her own impulses and desires (80). The speaker also describes her as a “homely Nurse,” suggesting that she is a nurturing spirit. According to the speaker, it is the earth’s wish to make people forget the glories they have come to know in the world as they grow older, “and that imperial palace whence [they] came” (85). Throughout the rest of the poem, the earth is more generally described in terms of its natural features and characteristics, rather than its agency or desires.