Mans Relationship with Nature in Hughes and Wordsworths Poetry Essay

Man's Relationship with Nature in Hughes and Wordsworth's Poetry Concentrating on one Poem by each Poet, Compare and Contrast the ways in which Hughes and Wordsworth Present Man’s Relationship with Nature Both Hughes and Wordsworth have beliefs about man’s relationship with nature, but I feel that they see the relationship between the two in different ways. Hughes has a more pessimistic and negative approach, feeling that nature must protect herself from man’s destructive nature, while Wordsworth believes that nature is a teacher and nurtures you. Wordsworth uses a more optimistic and positive approach in his poetry. Wordsworth sees nature in a romantic and spiritual sense that protects and is constantly feeding and inspiring man’s mind and helping it to grow. On the other hand Hughes sees man as interfering and destructive towards nature and is excluded from its harmony. Hughes personality is much more complicated and hard to deal with, so to speak, than Wordsworth’s; this is reflected in his attitude towards nature because he thinks that nature is a violent and brutal enemy towards man and even itself. From this you can tell that he is quite a brooding and depressive man. I have chosen to compare ‘Work and Play’ by Hughes and by Wordsworth I have chosen ‘Expostulation and Reply’ and ‘The Tables Turned’ which are poems on the same subject but ‘The Tables Turned’ is set later on in the day and is the ‘Companion-Piece’ to ‘Expostulation and Reply’. I chose to study these two poems because I think that it is very interesting how the beliefs of Hughes and Wordsworth are presented, showing that they both have an admiration for the beauty of nature and its power, and how Hughes believes that in comparison m... ... the relationship between man and nature. This is because Wordsworth lived in a period in time that was called the romantic era, this is reflected in his views and the ways he writes as a poet. Whereas Hughes who lived in the 20th century, had quite different views about man’s relationship with nature. I think that this is because the period of time that you live in influences you very heavily in the way you write or express anything. This is because public attitudes change along with what is accepted and what is not, or what the public will find most popular. I think that if Hughes had lived in Wordsworth’s time his style of writing would not have been as popular as it is today, this is because Hughes style of writing has a more dramatic and dark edge to it whilst Wordsworth’s poetry is more romantic so to speak and has a gentler way of putting things.