Tintern Abbey—by Wordsworth

Introduction

This poem appeared in the Lyrical Ballads published in 1798. Wordsworth writes: “No poem of mine was composed under cir­cumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this. I began it upon leaving Tintern, after crossing the Wye, and concluded it just as I was entering Bristol in the evening, after a ramble of four or five days with my sister. The visit to Tintern called forth memories of a previous visit in the summer of 1793 and led Wordsworth to review the change which had affected his attitude to Nature in the interval. Apart from its personal interest, the poem possesses a special historical value as the first clear statement of the emotional change in poetry of which the Romantic Movement was the climax.