wretched thing forlorn

In his poem The Eolian Harp, Samuel Taylor Coleridge stresses the interconnectedness of the human experience and the power of nature. Coleridge paints a vivid picture of nature?s beauty as he describes the ?desultory breeze? caressing the ?lute.? Coleridge suggests that nature is exquisite and inviting. William Wordsworth also emphasizes the association of nature and the human experience in his poem The Thorn; however, Wordsworth crafts this relationship in an extremely different manner. Whereas Coleridge focuses on nature?s beauty, Wordsworth concentrates on nature?s harsher qualities to present a gloomy story about nature and the human experience.

Wordsworth initially exposes the reader to an ?old,? ?grey? thorn. He describes it as ?a wretched thing forlorn.? Other descriptions of nature include a ?muddy pond,? moss that has allegedly been covered in an infant?s blood, and a tree that a baby hung from. Under the moss lies an infants grave, and the narrator describes the weather as ?storm(y)? and ?rain(y).? Wordsworth connects nature?s dreariness to human pain and suffering. Wordsworth's use of nature in this poem seems odd; whereas many of the Romantic poets seem to celebrate nature and its beauty, it appears that Wordsworth detests nature and its uses it as dreary backdrop.