Both David Malouf's `An Imaginary Life' and William Wordsworth's selected poems explore the tension between humanity and the natural world. Despite distinctly different contexts, nature is the prevalent theme of both composers, with an agenda of overcoming the tensions between humanity and nature. `Humanity' refers to human nature and characteristics of a civilised man, whilst the ` natural world' is referring to the environment and behaviour existing in or caused by nature. Achieving a connection with nature, that is significant and benefits the individual, is the focusing step in breaking the barriers of tension. Only when this is achieved humans can completely benefit and or commune with `the wild'.

The context of each composer is significant, as these influences of `social, historical, and cultural conditions ' contribute to the different exploration of tensions. Wordsworth composed in the context of the Industrial revolution, which Wordsworth, as many other Romantic composers...