The film draws direct parallels from the text and as a whole reflects Wordsworth’s ruminations concerning innocence and youth. In the third stanza of the poem the narrator is looking upon a lovely natural scene but is overcome by a “thought of grief” (22). The only relief the narrator can find that will restore his strength are the sounds of nature, “The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;” (25). In the opening scene of the film the young couple is engaged in an intimate moment parked in front of a beautiful waterfall. In this moment, Deanie experiences an apprehension too, she is torn between her sexual desire for Bud and the society’s pressure to maintain her purity till marriage.
In the seventh stanza, of Wordsworth’s poem the narrator is struggling with the idea of conformity. That, as humans, from a young age we begin to imitate the lives of the people surrounding us. In this way, all of our existence is but a copy of someone else’s. The narrator feels that childhood is when we are closes to our true selves, because as we develop into adult, as we form our “philosophic mind,” we are influenced by societal norms of appropriate behavior that puts boundaries on our personalities. Deanie and Bud share a common flaw: they both desire a life that differs from the life their parents want from for them. Bud’s father wants him to make a name for himself through earning a degree from Yale. It is less important to Bud’s father that his son is happy and engaged in academics that will further his understanding of the world, rather it’s the image of a degree from a well to do school that he desires instead. Bud conforms to his father’s wishes, but still yearns for a simpler life as a rancher. Similarly, Deanie’s mother has an image built in her mind of what her daughter ought to be, and that includes a well-off husband and a college experience. While Deanie isn’t opposed to this idea, she isn’t open to marrying for the sake of marrying. She desires a relationship that is passionate and free, where she marries for love rather than reputation.
As Bud becomes overwhelmed by the pressure of his father’s expectations he breaks things off with Deanie. She is not only stunned by his decision but becomes erratic. During class she is asked to read lines from Wordsworth’s Ode, “What though the radiance which was once so bright/ Be now for ever taken from my sight,/ Though nothing can bring back the hour/ Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;/ We will grieve not, rather find/ Strength in what remains behind;” (175-80). In this moment, she is overcome with the sense of loss that the blissful happiness of her relationship with Bud has reached its extent. Deanie is devastated and has a mental break down following this experience. But is the root of her instability the collapse of her relationship, or the realization that the overwhelming feelings induced by a first love, or a first anything are fleeting? That there is only one first of everything and all that follows may just be an imitation of what has already been felt.
This poem and film are narratives of loss and recovery. John K. Mathison states, “The Ode may be considered the representation of the condition of the mind of the poet in a particular reverie on a particular May morning, the reverie being introduced by certain memories stimulated by the beauty of the morning and the realization of a difference between his present and past reaction to nature.” While this true for Wordsworth and the narrator of the poem in relation to nature, it is also true for the characters in Splendour in the Grass. Both Deanie and Bud realize a difference within themselves after their departure and return. It’s not that time revealed a shallowness of their affection, rather what was felt was real but cannot be revisited. This idea is the center of Wordsworth’s Ode and this film is the embodiment of its ideals.
Mathison, John K. “Wordsworth’s Ode: ‘Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 46, no. 3, 1949, pp. 419–439., http://www.jstor.org/stable/4172896.
Wordsworth, William. Ode: Imitations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. 1807-1815. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. 5th ed. Vol. 2A. New York; Longman, 1992. 553-558. Print.
I had no clue that a movie was ever made about Wordsworth’s poetry (that probably wouldn’t fly today). I enjoyed how you showed the linear progression of both the poem and the movie, and how the characters developed as time went on. It was surprising to see that Deanie and Bud did not get together in the end, but maybe that is what Wordsworth would have wanted. Adulthood means being able to reflect on the days of your youth, not change the outcome. This was an interesting read, and I will have to check out the movie now.