Traces of Mysticism in Wordsworth’s Aesthetics of Nature: A Study on William Wordsworth’s Nature Philosophy in the Light of Ibn Al-‘Arabi’s Ontology

Maryam Soltan Beyad,Mahsa Vafa

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.12n.3.p.109

Abstract

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is generally known as a nature poet or a “worshipper of nature”. Yet, his nature poems are not merely confined to the portrayal of the physical elements of nature but are marked by his enlightened spiritual vision. The belief in one life flowing through all, which is a prominent feature of Wordsworth’s nature poetry is a prevalent theme also in the treatment of man and the universe in Ibn al-‘Arabi’s philosophy_ a Sufi mystic whose philosophy is most famously associated with the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud or “the oneness of being”. This paper is an attempt to critically analyze the traces of pantheistic and mystical elements underlying Wordsworth’s poetry, and more importantly compare this with Ibn al-‘Arabi’s stand on the matter. Through analysis of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s ontology, particularly his concept of unity of being and his emphasis on the importance of the faculty of imagination, this study first meets the controversy surrounding the pantheistic elements in Wordsworth’s nature philosophy and then attempts to demonstrate that the mystical doctrine of unity in all beings and the reliance on intuition and imagination as a means of perception of divine immanence is evident in both Ibn al-‘Arabi’s ontology and Wordsworth’s nature poetry. This study also reveals that Wordsworth’s attempt to get to coalescence of subject and object via imagination and its sublime product, poetic language, resembles the mystic’s yearning for transcendental states of consciousness and unification with the divine.

Highlights

At the root of Wordsworth’s poetry one can discern an awareness of the world’s wonder to the point that some critics claim it is a kind of pantheistic mysticism that found expression in the poetry of William Wordsworth
This study reveals that Wordsworth’s attempt to get to coalescence of subject and object via imagination and its sublime product, poetic language, resembles the mystic’s yearning for transcendental states of consciousness and unification with the divine
Philosophy in the Light of Ibn Al-‘Arabi’s Ontology al-’Arabi’s conception of God and the universe, this paper aims to utilize these thoughts to examine several text from Wordsworth to shed lights on his nature philosophy and to bring their commonalities in to sharp focus, revealing how two great minds of very distinct milieu share similar concerns

Summary

INTRODUCTION

At the root of Wordsworth’s poetry one can discern an awareness of the world’s wonder to the point that some critics claim it is a kind of pantheistic mysticism that found expression in the poetry of William Wordsworth. Wordsworth believes that if we could train our eyes and ears to be receptive to the influence of nature, we would be able to come into contact with the unifying divine spirit immanent in all the elements of nature He claims that even the tiniest things of Nature seems illuminated with a heavenly splendor and sublimity when he says “The earth, and every common sight/ To me did seem/Apparell’d in celestial light.” (Ode: Intimations of Immortality 2-4). For Ibn al-‘Arabi “there is only one Being and all the existence is nothing but the manifestation or outward radiance of that one Being” (Chittick 1989: 79) In other words, he believes that nature, man and the whole universe are images or attributes of God; that is, humanity and nature are diverse images of one unifying principle, a belief that, as will be discussed, is a pervasive theme in Wordsworth’ nature poetry

Literature Review

Aims and Findings

CONCLUSION