INTRODUCING THE ODE: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. (Popularly termed The Immortality Ode)
By: Muhammad Hamidul Islam Assistant Professor, Department of English, Govt. M.M. University College, Jessore, Bangladesh
Held as the high water-mark of romantic poetry of the Romantic Revival, Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood popularly known as The Immortality Ode was written in two phases between 1802 and 1807. While making an anthology of his poems, Wordsworth placed this ode at the end most probably to mean that it is the crown of his creation and the last words on the central issueds is the crown of his creation and the last words on the central issues of his creative life. The ode consists of eleven stanzas and the first four stanzas deal with his poetic crisis and were written in 1802 but the last seven stanzas were written some four years later. The delay in composition, however, didn't affect the unity of thought and style of the poem. Different strands of thoughts and feelings have been successfully blended into a harmonious whole in the ode.
The poem has built upon a very simple and majestic plan. The first four stanzas tell of major spiritual crisis, of some glory fading from the world of nature and end by questioning why this has happened. The stanzas in the middele (V-Viii) probe the nature of the glory passing away, the nature of the spiritual crisis and then attempt an explanation of the crisis in terms of the Neoplatonic theory generally called the docrtrine of reminiscence from a pre-natal existence. The last three stanzas tell of an ample recompense that the poet has gained in spite of the fact 'the visionary gleam' has perished. So the three parts of the poem deal in turn with a poetic crisis, an explanation of the crisis and a consolation or a compensation. Thus the contents of the parts make an excellent organic whole, give us a taste of perfect unity and speak eloquently of something most important and original in Wordsworth's poetry.
The immortality Ode is vital to an understanding of Wordsworth's artistic career. Besides making a most memorable affirmation of the glory of childhood, the ode explains the decline of his imaginative insight and the growth of dispassionate philosophic insight in his later poetic works.
The Neoplatonic idea that Wordsworth makes use of in this ode is the most important idea here and explains in a convincing manner the nature of his poetic crisis. The doctrine popularly known as the theory of reminiscence holds that human soul comes into this world from its original home, the heaven. And with the birth of the child begins his journey from heaven to this tangible material world. Fresh from heaven he finds himself wrapped in heavenly light and sees heavenly light in each and every object of nature. His vivid memories of celestial existence invest whatever he sees around with a kind of visionary cream-like splendor. As he grows up, the charms and attractions of the material world stand on the way and attempt to efface those heavenly memories and keep away the romantic dream-like glories in natural objects.
But there are moments in mature age when his mind travels back to his childhood days and gets vague intimations of immortality from his recollection of childhood memories of heavenly existence. Thus both the fresh memories of pre-natal heavenly life and the memories of of childhood days give him a sense of immortality. It is because of his fresh and clear memories of heavenly life, that a child comes to learn many truths which the grown ups spend all their lives to learn. Thus his sense or awareness of the deeper thruths especially the immortality of the soul comes from his vivid recollections of holy heavenly life. Whtinh the passage of time, howeve, the vivid memories of life in heaven fade out of his mind and he sees simply 'the light of common day' and the celestial beauty that he could see before, he can no longer see. And the decline in his aesthetic awareness of heavenly beauty in nature is evident in the flat and unemotional beginning of the second stanza: the Rainbow comes and goes.
In his mature days he may be away from the seashore of immortality, his memories of that immortal heavenly life may be dimmer and dimmer but he is still able to catch occasional glimpses of it in moments of tranquility. The very title of the poem Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood suggests these ideas. There are also other ideas forming the thematic basis of the poem. For example the poet's doubts about the solidity and concreteness of the material world. In his childhood the poet used to experience some fits of dreaminess when the material world uses to melt away into a sort of nothingness leaving only a mist before his eyes. He had to grab at a tree or something else to see whether it was actually there. This is, however, a typical Platonic belief. To Plato the world of sense is an illusion, a shadowy world, a world of appearance, not the real world. In his childhood Wordsworth had a similar Platonic feeling of the illusory nature of the material world. And this feeling of doubt about the solidity of the world might be Wordsworth's own, not everybody's. Because an average reader has every doubt whether a child has any such doubt and confusion about the solidity of the world around him. To him the world about his is absolutely concrete.
Wordsworth claims that a human child having a fresh memory of heavenly life is an integral part of eternity and has profound intuitive vision of things and then gives an exaggerated description of a child. He idealizes childhood like anything when he welcomes a child as 'Thou best philosopher', 'Thou Eye among the bline', 'Mighty Prophet! Seer blest!' The epithets that Wordsworth has showered upon a child here just in view of the purity and innocence of childhood can better be lavished upon the great ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The poet's address to a child has all the depth of sincerity and the warmth of feeling but there is hardly any reality about it. He is carried away with his idealization of childhood. And that's why he has been criticized by many even his learned friend Coleridge.
Then there is the poet's idea of child as an actor spending his whole time in senseless imitation of whatever he sees around like a wedding, a festival, a mourning even an old man suffering from palsy. And as he imitates things related to business, love, strife and a funeral, he is simply at war with his inner blessedness, his inner divine self. Thus imitating the roles of different people, their actions and speeches, the child invites maturity to come fast upon him with all its responsibilities, trails and tribulations, hardships and harassment 'with a weight heavy as frost' crushing his lush green Eden of innocent romantic imagination. This analysis of the poet regarding the imitative nature of a child and the consequent decline in imaginative vision is psychologically convincing.
Wordsworth, however, claims that his Immortality Ode hinges upon these ideas and they 'have sufficient foundation in humanity' and he has made the best use of them as a poet in the fashion of the 17th century Platonic poet Henry Vaughan who made use of one of these ideas namely the idea of pre-natal heavenly existence in his famous poem 'The Retreat'. That is, Wordsworth wants to suggest that these ideas have their roots in the feelings and emotions of the average human beings and are, therefor, appealing to them. As a matter of fact the poet is claiming too much because average people don't feel these feelings, think these thoughts and understand these theories. However, these thoughts and ideas have some appeal to a coterie of people with a profoundly philosophic, meditative or reflective bent of mind. But on average people they are most likely to fall flat.
The Immortality Ode centres on the theme of loss and gain. The loss is the gradual decline in the powers of sensitivity and responsiveness and the keenness of imagination as a man passes from childhood to maturity. But if the loss is great, the gain or recompense is greater. And the poet feels rejuvenated by the ample recompense that he has received in the form of new powers. Now he has a greater sensitivity and responsiveness, greater power to think and feel than ever before. Now he feels a greater sympathy for the suffering humanity, a greater faith in life after death. Now he has gained a more mature and profound philosophic insight into things and beings around. Now his love for the world of nature, the world of sense has deepened rather than declined. Now he feels a greater bond of sympathy between man and nature and thinks 'the soothing thoughts that spring out of human suffering'. Now the most commonplace object of nature radiates a deeper meaning and significance to his higher philosophic outlook. Having witnessed the tragic sufferings of life, he has now become more meditative and reflective. He now sees things in their true perspective.
The poet now feels a deep sense of gratitude for the joys of his past life, for the persistent doubts as to the reality of the sense perceptions and the solidity of the material world and also for the fits of dreaminess and abstraction in his childhood when the external natural world seemed to him to be unsubstantial and unreal. Now he looks upon all these childhood memories as the guiding power of his future moral life. The sympathy that he feels for the things and beings around, will, he hopes, get deeply seated in his heart, last throughout his life and be his guide.
Now he expresses a feeling of 'thanks to the human heart by which we live' and also a feeling of 'thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears'. Now he welcomes the human heart as a great blessing to humanity which with all its capacity of feeling sympathy, joy and fear makes life worth living. The clouds gathering around the setting sun now 'take a sober coloring' from his eyes and the humblest flower that blows can arouse in him profound thoughts 'too deep for tears', that is, thoughts which even tears can't express. Now even the most ordinary objects of nature convey a deeper meaning to him. He finds them all pervaded by the divine sprit and therefore adorable and worthy of being worshipped. All the different objects of the natural world now stand out to be the embodiment of the eternal spirit of God and inspire in him a train of profound thoughts.
Thus the Immortality Ode begins with a sense of loss of some power but ends with a deep meditation and a sense of gain - gain of some new powers. So far from being a conscious farewell to art or a dirge sung over some departing powers, the Immortality Ode is a dedication to some new creative powers. Lionel Thrilling is very much apt when he says that the Immortality Ode is a poem about growing up, not a poem about growing old.
In his Dejection Ode which is his swan song, Coleridge makes a similar lament like Wordsworth on the decline of his creative imagination. But while in Wordsworth's Ode the lament ends in relief and recompense, in Colerdge's Ode the lament finds no relief rather ends in utter dejection. So Coleridge's Ode can be called a clean dirge sung over the departing powers of imagination. On the other hand, the Immortality Ode is a welcome song sung over some new poetic powers that the poet has gained as a blissful consequence of his age and experience. Both the odes are irregular in structure and stanza form. That is, however, an interesting point of comparison between them.
All Rights Reserved By Muhammad Hamidul Islam 1998