Wordsworth + de Certeau

William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” as a Spatial Story

William Wordsworth’s poem “Tintern Abbey” is a poem that focuses a lot on this sense of place. In the first stanza, the poem introduces us to a place that seems so dear to him and he uses his words as a vessel to convey images and ideas which later on relate to Michel de Certeau’s “ Spatial Stories”.

He starts off the first stanza with the idea of going back to a certain place; to revisit after “five summers, with the length of five long winters” which gives us the assumption that he is taking us to a place that in a way seems new to him. However, he goes on to tell us about this area where waters murmur instead of crash and where seclusion exists. Wordsworth in a way maps us an area of sweetness but gives us a tour through his thoughts and emotions. This subject relates to Michel De Certeaus’s “Spatial Stories” –Tours and Maps where a map is a written tool to give directions while a tour is similar to a map but with a movement- an action. The ‘tour’ Wordsworth gives us gives us the feeling of calmness while going through this place he describes in a very descriptive manner.

Wordsworth moves on next to tell us of “Mid groves and corpses” signifying the intrusion of man on nature. By using words such as “secluded”, “silence”, “Hermit” and “alone” gives the impression that he is longing or revisiting this area of escape where he is allowed to have thoughts in deep seclusion. This again can be seen in relation to “Spatial Stories” where the sense of ‘space’ and ‘place’ are differentiated. Wordsworth describes this incredible place with these descriptions like “cottage” and “landscape” which immediately attracts us to this place he keeps talking about but it is clear that even though this place is as beautiful as it is described, it is not the place that Wordsworth is focusing on but the space that it represents. To him, it is a place or a space where his thoughts are allowed to roam free- free of the noise. He is free of such clutter and is able to do what he wishes to do.

Wordsworth continues to further enhance our sense of calmness throughout the first stanza however towards the end of the stanza, we are a hint of sadness where he describes “The Hermit sits alone”- this goes back to his idea of seclusion earlier in the poem- which does not necessarily mean a bad thing but in my opinion it enhances the importance of the space to him and the reader. He makes use of the last line of the first stanza to define this space that seems so significant to him.

Wordsworth makes use of words to create a space, to define a place, to describe a map and to let us live through a tour.