Title: Wordsworth’s Poetical Works Themes | GradeSaver
Headings: Wordsworth's Poetical Works Themes
Wordsworth's Poetical Works
by William Wordsworth
Wordsworth's Poetical Works Themes
Nature
Memory
Mortality
Humanity
Transcendence and Connectivity
Morality
Religion

Content: Memory
For Wordsworth, the power of the human mind is extremely important. In several of his poems he begins in a negative or depressed mood, and then slowly becomes more positive. The most important use of memory, however, is to maintain connections. For instance, in poems like "Line Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" and "I wandered lonely as a cloud" Wordsworth is in nature (his favorite place to be) and he is happy, but he becomes even happier when he realizes that he never actually has to leave his memories behind. Once he has returned to the daily gloom of the city, he will be able to remember the time he spent among nature and make himself happy again: " And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils." As Wordsworth begins to consider his own mortality memory is again a huge comfort, because he realizes that even after he has died he will be able to live on in the memory of his family and friends, just as those who have passed on before him are in his memory. Wordsworth is especially heartened to know that his sister Dorothy, with whom he spent countless hours, will remember him fondly, carrying him with her wherever she goes. Mortality
Wordsworth's fascination with death frequently shows up in his poetry. The Lucy Poems, for instance, are a series of poems about a young girl who may or may not have been a figment of Wordsworth's imagination, and who ultimately dies.