For Wordsworth, it is human imagination and the potential to not only observe, but understand, nature that attributes sublime meaning. Without human knowledge, the objects and elements of the sublime are only physical signs. The finite existence of man and the apparent totality of the sublime are opposed. However, for Wordsworth, it is man's interaction with the sublime of nature that represents a profound feature of human experience. Although man is never able to fully appreciate or understand the universe as a whole, its entirety can almost be fragmented and understood through the appreciation of the objects and elements of nature's sublime. In this case, in "The Prelude" and "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey", Wordsworth uses the sublime to express the finite condition of man and the longing for a complete understanding of the universe through the sublime. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayThe sublime is omnipresent and powerful. For Wordsworth, as well as for his friend and Romantic contemporary Coleridge, the sublime represents an aspiration for a deeper understanding of a holistic universe. Both Wordsworth and Coleridge struggled with their finite existence and with understanding the metaphysical forces that govern their existence. For both poets, this is characteristic of the human experience. James Heffernan writes that "this deep desire for transcendent unity, this passion for the 'one life'" (Heffernan 606) was an essential component of Wordsworth's poetry. In “Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth describes “a motion and a spirit which moves / all thinking things, all objects of all thought, / and which runs through all things” (101-103). It is this “spirit” and “movement” of the sublime that stimulates conscious human thought and contemplation. Here, Wordsworth connects human interaction with the sublime to innovation and intellectual, perhaps even scientific, progress. Wordsworth explicitly links this notion of development to his own intellectual progress. He declares that this sublime apprehension is “that of something much deeper” (98) than the simpler joy he derived from nature in his youth. In this sense, as we mature, we are better able to understand the human condition and connect to the sublime. Wordsworth attributes the power to identify the sublime as lying directly within the human mind. In this sense, being human is essential to interpreting the sublime. According to Heffernan, in “The Prelude,” Wordsworth draws a distinction between the silhouette of a bucolic shepherd silhouetted against the sky and the densely populated masses of London (Heffernan 608). Wordsworth writes that the silhouette of the shepherd represents the sublime. The shepherd seems to unite and embody in himself “the grace and honor, the power and dignity” (389-407) of all human nature. However, to a human being unable to exercise the power of his mind and understand the figure of the shepherd as sublime, this sight may not be apparent. Heffernan writes that Wordsworth's "sources of sublimity are not found in nature, but rather deep within the 'soul of man'" (Heffernan 607). Nature is simply the means or apparatus by which a learned man can experience and understand the sublime. However, it is an excellent, and perhaps the most eminent, way to achieve this. In London, on the other hand, Wordsworth discovered the “sublime idea” of “the unity of man, / One mind against ignorance and vice” (665-673). Even in the urban mass of the English capital, Wordsworthfinds the universalized “single spirit” he seeks in nature. In both cases, in the city as in the countryside, it is the intellectual and the scholar who can appreciate the divergent elements and conditions of the sublime. The ability to distinguish the sublime increases, for Wordsworth, with age and tutelage.Wordsworth's conceptualization reflects the educational system, particularly his own. Although nature is multiple, like the various subjects taught at school, its universal diversity is impressive and essentially sublime. In the education system, seemingly tangential and divergent subjects are taught in order to build, ideally, a permanent foundation of knowledge. According to Heffernan, “Wordsworth saw in nature not a dead uniformity but a vital current of relationship, generated in and through infinite variety” (Heffernan 610). In “The Prelude,” as a schoolboy, Wordsworth could observe “affinities / In objects where no fellowship exists / With common minds” (403-405). As a young schoolboy, with some educational training under his belt, Wordsworth could already identify elements of the sublime without necessarily being able to articulate them. To those who did not benefit from his privileged upbringing, the “common minds,” these seemingly disparate contingents of the natural world would not seem universal. At Cambridge, Wordsworth develops both as a human being and as a student, and can now feel and describe "the one Presence and Life / Of the great whole" (130-131). For Wordsworth, his maturity as a man and intellectual helped him better grasp the sublime in nature. At his intellectual peak, Wordsworth began by “searching for shades of difference / As they hide in all outward forms, / Near or far, small or vast” (155-160). This initiation into the search for the sublime in nature therefore marks the maturation and ascension of Wordsworth in his intellectual virility. Wordsworth affirms the importance of distinguishing and understanding the sublime as a mark of human intellectual development. However, the sublime affects man in many ways. For example, the Mount Snowdon episode of “The Prelude” illustrates the transformative power of nature over man. According to Heffernan, this passage "perfectly illustrates this unity of natural forces which can better be described as interfusion: the flow of one object into another, the mixing of elements in such a way that each, while retaining its distinctive character, becomes part of a whole. a sublime and omnipresent whole” (Heffernan 613). For the observer to fully appreciate and understand this subtle but complex distinction, he or she must be intellectually and emotionally mature. Otherwise, as in the Mount Snowdon episode, there could be negative repercussions or, at least, a lack of understanding. Heffernan adds that the sublime is “that unifying power in nature which symbolized, in his eyes, the imaginative power of higher minds” (Heffernan 613). It is therefore intellectualism that allows us to appreciate the sublime. The development of man and human being towards a deeper appreciation of the sublime is essential for Wordsworth. This is perhaps best exemplified by the majestic and terrifying elements of nature. The Mount Snowdon episode illustrates the importance that the natural world had on Wordsworth's concept of the sublime, as well as on his maturation and conception of self as an individual. Professor Philip Shaw also explores the role of the sublime in Wordsworth's development as an individual and the key role intellectualism plays in this notion. Reflecting on climbing Mount Snowdon, Wordsworth wrote: "A meditation dawned upon me that night. 2016.