Living In The Past In Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey

Inferring that the Nurse is a representation of all mankind, Blake uses her ability to step outside her current position in a moment as a way of raising the question of whether there is such thing as the present. When we are told to live in the now, is this even possible? Science says no. The reason for this definitive no on the subject of the scientific present is because of the neuroscientific principle known as the 80 millisecond rule (Musser). The rule essentially states that our consciousness or our awareness of actual event is on an 80 millisecond lag. The ramifications of this being that we are quite literally always living in the past. There is no escape from our past because it is our day to day reality. Similar to the quantitative

It is essential when looking at this piece to take note of the full name “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13th 1798”. From this title, Wordsworth is immediately bringing attention to his elevated state physically. This mirrors the elevated state at which his mind is at during a large portion of the piece. The word “revisiting” is a nod to the notion that this is to be a poem reflecting on the past and the date added to the end solidifies the concept of how critical the role of time will be. Wordsworth began with, “Five years have past; five summer, with the length/of five long winters!” in order to put time at the forefront of the piece’s discussion (Wordsworth 288). It is as though time is more important than the settings around him which he describes secondary. Wordsworth use of the word ‘past’ and not ‘passed’ indicates how he has sectioned off these years, but they are not gone. They have not yet ceased to exist in his mind. In the start of the second stanza where he references, “These beauteous forms,” his word choice from the first line is further solidified in meaning (Wordsworth 289). The “forms” he speaks of are his memories that he has not let go of. The definition of the word ‘forms’ in the dictionary is noted as “an abstract idea that real things imitate,” which further demonstrates how Wordsworth is aware that these memories are heightened versions of reality. Wordsworth understands that the mind augments the world around us especially when it comes to time and our memoires in the past. He states that our mind amends our memories to, “lead us on-- / Until, the breath of this corporeal frame / And even the motion of our human blood / Almost suspended, we are laid