Wordsworth’s Life Lessons: Splendour in the Grass

William Wordsworth’s Ode to Intimations of Immortality is the classic example of the beauty of the mind, and the complexity of the values of innocence and experience.

The key passage from this Ode, is the following. It is so profound that it inspired the movie Splendor in the Grass with Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood(1961)

“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;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.”

 William Wordsworth

Benché la radiosità
un tempo così luminosa
sia adesso tolta per sempre dai miei occhi,
benché nulla possa portare indietro l'ora
di splendore nell'erba,
di gloria nel fiore,
noi non ce ne dorremo, piuttosto troveremo
forza in quel che resta dietro;
nell'affinità primaria
che essendo stata per sempre deve essere;
nei pensieri docili che sgorgano
dall'umano soffrire;
nella fede che vede attraverso la morte,
negli anni che portano la mente filosofica

LEOPARDI and WORDSWORTH
SIMILARITIES

• Importance given to emotions and feelings
• Focus on nature in his poems
• they believe in the existence of different phases in human life
• Youth is the age of hopes and illusions
• poetry as a creative activity is the product of recollections ' in a state of tranquility'
• they have a tendency to personify the elements of nature (the moon, the rainbow, the daffodils)
• they are aware of what is painful to live 

DIFFERENCES
LEOPARDI

• in Leopardi's view, nature is evil, blasting and indifferent to the man  
• he doesn't believe in any possibility of comfort or solace
• he rejects the idea of life after the earthly one
• life is a sequence of painful moments 

WORDSWORTH

• nature is a moral guide
• it gives joy and relief
• it has a comforting function
• it's a haven from the horrors of the Industrial Revolution
• he believes in 'Intimations of immortality'
• before the birth the soul pre-existed in heaven and the child is in a state of innocence and purity because he is still close to God.
• he is able to recall the heavenly state of his soul
• through his imagination and the close contact with nature, the poet may recall that condition, as well

La ginestra

it's an example of solidarity and solace in the desert of life 

Daffodils

they're an example of joy and comfort for the man. It's a vital force, a direct expression of the presence of God