Compare And Contrast Wordsworth And John Muir Essay Example

Imagine spending your time in a Murky, cold, overgrown swamp or wandering through a vast field filled with beautiful daffodils dancing in the wind. John Muir and William Wordsworth both have a connection to nature, but what’s different about the two? John Muir is a naturalist that uses the study of nature to connect all things in the world. William Wordsworth uses romanticism in his poem, he uses nature as a symbol for human life. John Muir and William Wordsworth both use similar ideas in their writing, but the result is very different; John Muir is a naturalist while William Wordsworth is a romantic poet. 

William Wordsworth is a romantic poet, he uses nature as a safe place for him to explore his spiritual foundations. William uses bold words to describe nature, he uses the phrase: “a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze” (“Wandered lonely as a cloud”) to describe the simple nature of the flowers and how it makes him feel. He gives them humanity and helps to create a symbol of optimism for his emotions. In the first part of the poem, he recollects feeling lonely and wandering aimlessly until he finds the flowers. They help create a simple and free persona for himself to use when he feels sad. He uses the next phrase to describe the flowers in comparison to the waves: “ [the] waves beside them danced; but they out did the sparkling waves in glee: a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company,” (“Wandered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth) the flowers create a safe environment for him to relax in. Romantic poets often use nature as a safe place. In this sentence, he explains how joyful and happy he is in the company of the flowers. His main focus for his poem is nature and how freeing it is. 

While William Wordsworth is a romantic poet, John Muir is a naturist. John Muir uses his power of observation to conduct studies about nature and how they interact in their environments, he uses the phrase “growing not in the ground but on a bed of yellow mosses.” The phrase describes nature and how it is interacting with the swamp it is growing in. The bog was then described as being “freezing cold” and shortly below the surface the water was ice. John marveled in its beauty and described it as being “ the most spiritual of all the flower people I had ever met.” (“Calypso Borealis”) Naturist also studies how humans interact with nature. While John was exploring, he took a note of how he moved through the thick bog, he describes it by saying, “entering one of these great Tamarac and arbor-vote swamps one morning, holding a general though very crooked course by compass, struggling through tangled drooping branches and over and under broad heaps of fallen trees.” (“Calypso Borealis”)Naturalist believe human beings are also a part of nature and should be studied as they interact with their surroundings. As John Muir was writing his story about the Calypso Borealis, he described nature and how he interacts with it.

 Both writers have a connection to nature, but the way they perceive it is different. William Wordsworth uses nature as a symbol in his life while John Muir uses it to study human interactions with nature as well as nature itself. They both love nature but view it with a different perspective. These differences are what make their writing so unique and different from each other. Since William Wordsworth is a romantic poet, he uses nature as a symbol in his life. People everywhere take nature as a symbol of life, instead of taking it for granted that nature is simple beauty. John Muir studies nature and how humans react to it. In John’s short story, he describes nature in vivid details to help the reader imagine its beauty surrounded by the muck. Both authors were able to find beauty in the ugly, and so should we.