Romantic Poetry Explication “Ode: Intimations of Immortality Recollections From Early Childhood”

In Wordsworth’s poem “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” his opening tone is one that is reminiscent and nostalgic, he is looking back on a time gone by, “There was a time…appareled in celestial light” (line 4). Something has happened between that time and the time at which the poem is being written that has destroyed the “celestial light,” the reader at first is unaware of the specific event to which Wordsworth refers, but we see his depression that time has passed, and there the hint that the past was a much happier time- “It is not now as it hath been of yore” (6), “The things which I have seen I now can see no more” (9). The reader is led to believe that this change is not external, being rather something that has happened to the speaker of the poem, to his person, something has changed the way he thinks and feels, but it is not necessarily a certain even that has happened to him. We are presented with the question of what this change is, for it has affected the speaker in such a way that certainly there is an explanation to follow.
At the end of stanza one, with the line “The things which I have seen I now can see no more” (9), is the first real clue as to what has happened to the speaker. Upon first reading the poem, one may not catch this blunt clue until rereading the poem in its entirety, but it is here that we are told what it is that has plagued the speaker. Soon thereafter, it is stated more obviously, that the speaker laments the loss of childhood; the innocence and purity of mind. He writes that as people get older, there is something that we forget, that we lose sight of, which is a terrible thing to lose. “But yet I know, where’er I go,/ That there hath passed away a glory from the earth” (19). The description of a young shepherd boy and of the rural nature surrounding him shows the persona’s strong feelings for the purity of childhood (mentally and otherwise), and his lamentation at how quickly it fades. He makes note of the fact that a child can be happy and carefree in even the most desolate conditions, a happiness that is forgotten or lost as we grow old.
Wordsworth’s idea that “At length the Man perceives it die away,/ And fade into the light of common day” (76-77), is one that many can relate to. As children, Wordsworth believes us to be at our intellectual and philosophical prime. The way we are as a child, we see the word with unbiased eyes, our mind absorbs knowledge like a sponge, everything is new and exciting, all of this quickly fades away. While some are able to retain some of this childlike innocence, for the most part, once we are exposed to the world, we take on some of its worse traits, reflecting as a mirror rather than absorbing like a sponge.
The child that tries to go up too quickly, however, is worse than the child that grows up out of necessity. Everyone knows or has known someone who acts older than they are, trying to be a figure of authority when they have no actual power, such is the child that imitates adults. He is in too much of a hurry to have to responsibilities of adulthood, and misses out on the carefree childhood that all should savor. “As if his whole vocation/ Were endless imitation.” Trying to be something, or someone, that you are not, is never a good use of time nor effort, and Wordsworth is truly touched by the child that is hurried to grow up, for he so wishes to be young again. Wordsworth describes children with fondness and reverence, “thou Eye among the blind,” “Thou best Philosopher,” “Mighty Prophet! Seer blest!” able to see what adults are missing. While it is acknowledged that we never know how good things are until they are gone, remembering your youth can be a benefit, and not just a nagging reminder of what you are missing out on. “What though the radiance which was once so bright/ Be now forever taken from my sight,/Though nothing can bring back the hour…We will grieve, rather find,/Strength in what remains behind.” Wordsworth advises his readers not to regret what has been lost, but remember it, and use your past knowledge to create your present self.