How does Wordsworth present the relationship between the poet and the natural world

in these texts?
In the extract from “The Prelude” and “Nutting”, Wordsworth looks back on two memories
from childhood to shed light on his relationship with nature at that age. It is clear his love of
nature was present even from that age, and the natural world is something he took great
pleasure from, but both poems focus on a different idea. Unlike human-nature relationships
explored in other poems, the poet in these two poems plays the intruder to the natural
world, purposefully invasive and damaging. Wordsworth highlights how we are simply
another predator in the natural cycle of life and this is reflected in the destruction in the
poems and the poet’s dubious motives. Crucially, despite his intentions, the poet ends up
revelling in the beauty around him and reflecting on the power of nature, as if his
destruction has only offered a more vivid glimpse of the true “spirit” of the natural world.
The remorse or wonder that follows makes Wordsworth realises the natural world offered
him more than joy or even satisfaction, but also education and personal maturation, and
this is the key message conveyed throughout these two poems.
Even as a child, Wordsworth still has his appreciation of the joy and beauty that nature
carries. He fancies himself to have been “Fostered alike by beauty and by fear” and he uses
language such as “beloved” and “joy” to describe his sentiment towards the areas he
roamed in “The Prelude”. In “Nutting”, young Wordsworth sets out in “eagerness” and
when he comes to the hazel tree, stands “Breathing with such suppression of the heart / As
joy delights in”. This “sudden happiness” is inspired by his explorations, and it allows his
heart to “luxuriate” in one scene, and his mind to be filled with “huge and mighty Forms
that do not live / Like living men”. The comfort nature gives him allows Wordsworth to
waste his heart’s kindliness on “stocks and stones, / And on the vacant air”. Nature is
something that has a positive changing effect on Wordsworth, and it modifies how he sees
the outside world.
Despite the emotional inspiration given by the natural world, the first aspect of the primary
relationship here is the intrusiveness of the poet. Not only does do we see the poet
“forcing” his way through the systems of nature, but we also see the intent of destruction
that the poet carries in both poems. In “The Prelude”, he recognises that both in “thought
and wish” he was a “fell destroyer”, one who is heading off with “springes hung” to predate
on birds, while in “Nutting” the “huge wallet over my shoulders slung” is meant to collect
nuts. He even recognises explicitly that his object was “mean” and “inglorious”, which links
to the idea of morality. Wordsworth’s poet is aware of the damage that he is about to exact
on nature, and this separates these two sections from other poems such as “A Night Piece”,
where the relationship with nature is more accidental and spontaneous. Furthermore, there
is a sense from the language Wordsworth uses that the poet does not belong in the natural
setting. In “The Prelude”, his visitation is “anxious” and he is described as “hurrying on, /Still
hurrying, hurrying onward”. The emphatic repetition highlights the feeling of disharmony
which comes with rushing through a place where everything is still. Similarly, the poet
appears “a Figure quaint, /Tricked out in proud disguise” in “Nutting”. His unusual
appearance, combined with the fact that he has disguised himself for this task, creates a
further sense of intrusion. The poet’s awareness of this is evident when Wordsworth says “I
was alone, and seemed to be a trouble to the peace that dwelt among them”.
Having intruded upon the natural landscape, Wordworth then presents the poet as treating
nature forcefully. To communicate this violent intent in both poems, predatory and sexual
language is used. In the Prelude, the bird becomes “my prey” and poet acts as “a
plunderer”, even taking the birds which were the “captive of another’s toils”. There is a
ruthless survivalist attitude here, with nature seen only as a resource which the poet can
take advantage of. In “Nutting”, Wordsworth notes that he was “fearless of a rival” as he
“eyed” the hazel tree, which communicates that same animalistic drive. The comparison of
nature to “a flock of sheep” further implies the underlying predator-prey relationship that
the poet has with nature. Furthermore, the contrast between idyllic and destructive
language when describing the poet’s gathering of the hazels highlights the near savage
nature of the attack. He talks of “joy” and “flowers”, “fairy water-breaks” and “sparkling
foam”, all before detailing dragging the branch and bough, “with crash and merciless
ravage”, leaving the scene “mutilated” and “deformed”. The emphasis on contrast invites us
to condemn the actions of the poet, something he himself does later. Linked to the
predatory language is the sexual imagery that is also present. In “The Prelude”, Wordsworth
is a “plunderer” “Shouldering the naked crag”, while in “Nutting”, the hazels are described
as “Tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung, / A virgin scene!”. He describes nature in the
context of sex to highlight the primitivity of human desire and how nature can act as
temptation. The combination of these two types of language cover humanity’s most
animalistic reflexes, to hunt and to mate.
It is important to remember that Wordsworth was but a child in both of these scenarios,
and he is eager to emphasize this fact. He begins both sections with a reminder of the
childishness with which he set out on these expeditions - “(‘Twas at an early age, ere I had
seen / Nine summers)” and “the eagerness of boyish hope”- which puts a context around
the poems. It seems that Wordsworth accounts for his questionable actions by putting them
down to the recklessness and selfishness of youth. The reason he allows “strong desire” to
overpower his “better reason” is because his youth made him susceptible to lust and desire:
the primitivity described above is because he is just a child. What defines these poems from
here is the change of outlook that happens in both poems. In “The Prelude”, climbing the
trees to steal eggs leads to a much greater reward, one that meant the end was “not
ignoble”. Instead, he experiences the sublime as he rests on the “perilous ridge”, loud winds
blowing around him. Despite his human desires, the only thing that remains is the presence
of nature, and his utter amazement justifies his actions previously. In “Nutting”, despite
feeling “rich beyond the wealth of kings”, Wordsworth cannot help but feel “a sense of
pain” as he realises what he is leaving behind. The “silent trees” remind him that there is a
“spirit in the woods”, and the remorse he feels for mistreating this spirit with his actions is
what drives him to advise the “Dearest maiden”. There is a slight nuance here: in “The
Prelude”, the change in outlook is from desire to wonder, while in “Nutting”, it changes
from desire to regret. Nevertheless, the transformative power of nature is common to both
poems, and the lasting effect these experiences have had on Wordsworth is also evident.
Wordsworth praises the “Wisdom and Spirit of the Universe” in “The Prelude” for
intertwining in him “The passions that build up our human Soul / Not with the mean and
vulgar works of Man, / But with high objects”. Both these poems reflect the change in
perspective that nature offers. Wordsworth’s passion for exploration is at first urged by a
desire to attack and pillage, but thanks to nature’s intervention, that passion becomes
linked with an appreciation for the wonder and beauty of the natural world.
Wordsworth places great significance on his childhood, regarding it as a time when he could
see nature truly and let it imprint on him without the clouding of lesser human affairs. These
two poems present that very influence that Wordsworth alludes to throughout “The
Prelude”. There is no other human presence but the narrator, and this solitude highlights
the rawness of his relationship with nature. Without external interference, the young
Wordsworth was free to treat nature however he supposed, and therefore free to make
mistakes and perhaps give in to his worldly temptations. It is the spontaneous personal
learning he undergoes when the beauty and splendour of nature dawns on him that is the
key event in each poem. Without words or actions, just simply by being and holding that
“Wisdom and spirit of the Universe”, the natural world taught Wordsworth small lessons
about morality and beauty, lessons that he many years on would consider important
enough to relate to Coleridge and his “Dearest maiden”.