The Divinity of Nature

Wordsworth portrays nature as a divine entity throughout the poem in order to emphasize its spiritual significance to the speaker.

One of the initial ways the speaker illustrates the divinity of nature is by describing it as a serene paradise. “Once again/Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,/That on a wild secluded scene impress/Thoughts of more deep seclusion,” the speaker says in the first section (4-7). In the ensuing lines they go on to describe “the quiet of the sky” and the “pastoral farms,/Green to the very door” (8, 16-17). The seclusion and tranquility of the setting impress upon the reader a heaven-like image of nature. Thus, the landscape of the River Wye becomes something of a paradise regained, or perhaps maintained, for the speaker, representing a place free from the anxieties of modern society to which they can...