It’s a poem about a walk that Wordsworth took to the area surrounding Tintern Abbey, an old ruined abbey built in the Middle Ages. Doesn’t sound too exciting? Well, it is, especially when we put our New Historicist lenses on.
So. The poem was written on July 13th. That’s the day before July 14th. Sure it’s obvious if you’re good at counting, but if you know your international holidays then you’ll be aware that the 14th is Bastille Day, the day that marked the beginning of the French Revolution of 1789. How does this knowledge change our reading of Wordsworth’s poem?
What kind of social and economic contrasts does the poem allude to or set up? Where do we find traces of these contrasts in the poem?