Resolution and Independence

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Quick Summary:

William Wordsworth’s poem “Resolution and Independence” is a poem that describes an actual conversation that Wordsworth once had with a leech-gatherer.  The poem is made up of 21 stanzas that stick in rhyme royal and iambic parameter. As far as the plot of the poem goes, it consists of three parts. The first including the first three stanzas, that are Wordsworth examining the beautiful day that surrounds him on his morning walk. Stanzas four through seven consist of Wordsworth’s slip into what he describes as, “Dim sadness—and blind thoughts” (line 28). Stanzas eight through twenty are when the readers actually witness the conversation between the old leech-gatherer and Wordsworth. The conversation helps Wordsworth pull out of his dark thoughts and back to a secure state. 

Analysis of Stanzas 1-3:

         The first stanzas are mainly surround Wordsworth enjoying his walk within the Lake District. His visualizations give the stanzas a renewal theme. The first few lines reveal this theme when Wordsworth states, “The rain came heavily and fell in floods; But now the sun is rising calm and bright;” (line 2-3). The water works as a purifying element that seems to make everything right in Wordsworth’s world. This theme is repeated within the first three stanzas of the poem and works itself as the ending message of the poem.  

Analysis of Stanzas 4-7: 

Stanza four is when Wordsworth begins explaining his depressing nature or as he refers to in stanza three, “all the ways of men, so vain and melancholy.”(line 21). The future haunts Wordsworth and make him fear the day when his fortune and happiness will one day disappear. This “woe is me” attitude continues through stanza seven. However, stanza seven is important and gives deeper insight into Wordsworth’s fears about his future. Stanza seven references two other poets that met a sad end. First is Thomas Chatterton, a poet who killed himself at the age of seventeen and is sometimes regarded as the father of the Romantic era. Chatterton moved to England in order to become a poet, but the harsh work load and the hunger led the poet to take his own life. The second poet is Robert Burns, who is the national poet of Scotland and famously known as “the Ploughman Poet” for being a farmer. He died from a long-term illness that made him suffer greatly. Knowing these references lets the readers see that Wordsworth is afraid to end up like these two famous poets in the end.

Analysis of Stanzas 8-21: 

Stanza eight is when the readers get a glimpse of the old leech-gatherer. Stanza eight is interesting in the fact that Wordsworth claims it was divine intervention which caused him to meet the leech-gatherer that day. This tells the reader that this character somehow will have a positive effect on Wordsworth. The description of the old man and his actions continues through stanzas nine through thirteen. Wordsworth describes this man as solitary and aged, as if a stone with white hair. Wordsworth finally speaks to him in stanza thirteen and starts the conversation. Stanzas fourteen through seventeen give deeper description to who the old man’s identity and his demeanor. Stanza seventeen is strange due to the fact that Wordsworth can’t decide whether or not the man is someone insignificant, “Like one whom I had net with in a dream;”(line 117) or someone that came to save him, “like a Man from some far region sent; to give me human strength, and strong admonishment.”(line 119). Again, Wordsworth gives into his anxiety in stanza eighteen, but still seems to ask the leech-gatherer how he has kept going through his difficult life. The old man tells Wordsworth that even when his livelihood became more and more difficult he still endured to live. Yet he still “perseveres, and find them where I may.” (line 133). This line is the climax of the poem due to it letting Wordsworth discovers the enduring capabilities that he has always had. Stanza twenty and twenty-one wrap up the poem nicely in seeing Wordsworth’s new resolve and pledge to remember the leech-gatherer whenever he needs to renew his mind to a “secure” state. 

Ending Thoughts:

The first stanzas represent a renewed state within the moor after a heavy rain. This theme comes again after reading the entire poem and realizing that Wordsworth needed to cleanse his fears and doubts about the future in order to survive it. In the lines, “’God,’ said I, ‘be my help and stay secure; I’ll think of the Leech-gatherer on the lonely moor.’”(lines 146-147). The heavy rain from the beginning of the story represents the thoughts of despair and melancholy. While it is the thoughts of the leech-gatherer that give Wordsworth the cleansing state that is expressed at the beginning of the poem. 

Questions: 

1. There were four creatures within the poem that seemed to have its own underlying purposes. What was each creature’s purpose and what did it add to the theme of the poem. 

2. Wordsworth claims in stanza four that in our happiest moments people tend to think themselves down. Do you believe this to be true?