Reading a Romantic Nature Poem

The idea

A Romantic nature poem is usually about the mind meeting the world, so read it in stages. First, find the scene and the moment: where the speaker is and when, often returning after an absence, as in "Tintern Abbey." Second, track the speaker's feeling as it changes, since the poem often moves from description to reflection. Third, find the turn inward, the point where the landscape becomes memory, thought or a sense of spirit, as when the daffodils "flash upon that inward eye." Fourth, ask what nature gives: consolation, moral teaching, a feeling of the sublime, or loss. Fifth, notice the listener: many poems end by addressing someone, a sister or a child, who will carry the experience forward. Then state what the poem claims about the relation between mind and nature, not only what it describes.