WORDSWORTH AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

Abstract

Almost all the Romantic poets, with the possible exception of Byron, have accepted the existence of evil and considered pain and suffering as a part of human life. The sources of evil and suffering are diverse: socio-economic imbalance, political crisis, personal failures and disappoints of the poet, and, above all, a sense of alienation from social, economic, philosophical and religious dimensions. Wordsworth in his poetry has recorded the presence of evil in life and consequent human suffering. The tragic elements in Wordsworth’s poetry demonstrate this inescapable pattern of human destiny. The spirit of Wordsworth’s poetry lies, in the face of all individual, social and political evils, in denouncing warfare, in upholding democratic ideals and in finding a solution to the problems of evil and suffering that mankind has always confronted. He tried to find in his despair a consolation which lies in love for humanity, love for Nature, the transfiguration of vision, and a belief in an afterlife. Wordsworth undertook to reconstitute the grounds of hope for mankind in a world full of pain, sorrow, and despair. From a reading of his poetry, one can be familiar with Wordsworth’s conception of the true end of man, which can be applied to the social, moral and metaphysical issues of our time. The purpose of this paper is to show that although Wordsworth’s approach to the problems of evil and suffering follows theological and philosophical archetypes, his solutions are essentially aesthetic and humanistic.