Expostulation and Reply Analysis

"Why, William, on that old grey stone,

Thus for the length of half a day,

Why, William, sit you thus alone,

And dream your time away?



"Where are your books?--that light bequeathed

To Beings else forlorn and blind!

Up! up! and drink the spirit breathed

From dead men to their kind.



"You look round on your Mother Earth,

As if she for no purpose bore you;

As if you were her first-born birth,

And none had lived before you!"



One morning thus, by Esthwaite lake,

When life was sweet, I knew not why,

To me my good friend Matthew spake,

And thus I made reply:



"The eye--it cannot choose but see;

We cannot bid the ear be still;

Our bodies feel, where'er they be,

Against or with our will.



"Nor less I deem that there are Powers

Which of themselves our minds impress;

That we can feed this mind of ours

In a wise passiveness.



"Think you, 'mid all this mighty sum

Of things for ever speaking,

That nothing of itself will come,

But we must still be seeking?



"--Then ask not wherefore, here, alone,

Conversing as I may,

I sit upon this old grey stone,

And dream my time away,"

.: Da best of da Best :.

The author William Wordsworth is speaking about his dear life in his past. In this poem he speaks about his mom and how he can only be happy next to her in her grave. There are many symbolic elements in this poem that make it represent a better time and when he was happy, not whithering away on his mother's tombstone
-Sammy

| Posted on 2008-04-04 | by a guest

.: Da best of da Best :.

The author William Wordsworth is speaking about his dear life in his past. In this poem he speaks about his mom and how he can only be happy next to her in her grave. There are many symbolic elements in this poem that make it represent a better time and when he was happy, not whithering away on his mother's tombstone
-Sammy

| Posted on 2008-04-04 | by a guest

.: :.

The two speakers of this poem could be seen to ventriloquise the competing ideologies of enlightened reason (the expostulation) and romantic sensibility (the reply). During the 18th century, the neo-classical tradition perceived reason as the supreme funciton of the human mind. In response to this, Wordsworth and his contemporaries prioritise the notions of passivity and humility. In this poem, the speaker learns through submission to nature's "Powers", and it is through "wise passiveness" of nature's transcendental quality, not through intellectual pursuit that the second speaker finds contentment.

| Posted on 2005-05-26 | by Approved Guest

.: analysis :.

This poem complements "The Tables Turned," which serves as a response. In "Expostulation," Wordsworth's friend seeks to convince him that men should learn from books. "The Tables Turned" provides Wordsworth's response. He "turns the tables" in his address to his friend, insisting that men should learn from nature instead of books. Some situational irony does exist, however, given that Wordsworth medium for communicating this idea is poetry (books).

| Posted on 2005-03-28 | by Approved Guest