The works of The Tables Turned by William Wordsworth, and My Heart Soars by Chief Dan George are two distinct forms of literature which share several similarities in their themes and messages. Both celebrate the beauty and spiritual power of nature, and hold reverence for having experience and a connection to the natural world. While Wordsworth employs a more direct approach in telling the reader to put away studies and learn from nature, within George’s writing there is an allowance of imagery to incept a more personal, and spiritual form of importance. However, while both literary works demonstrate different means of expressing the importance of nature, they both deliver a similar point on the matter.
When looking to determine how Wordsworth represented the importance of nature, it is important to look beyond the face value of the poem. Throughout The Tables Turned, Wordsworth emphasizes his value of nature as an educator and source of development; he believes that one should also immerse themselves into the natural world to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. Primarily, this is seen within Wordsworth's initial direct address, as he states “Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; / Or surely you'll grow double.” (Wordsworth) Not only does this direct address literally state a doubling of growth after leaving studies behind, however, while doing that it manages to draw the reader into Wordsworth’s world of nature from the outset. Furthermore, his use of natural imagery capitalizes on utilizing more of a pleasant, colourful vocabulary which is seen in “lustre mellow,” (Wordsworth) and “sweet evening yellow.” (Wordsworth) Contrasting this is the more bleak terminology that is directed towards sciences and arts, such as within “Books! ‘tis a dull and endless strife,” (Wordsworth) and Wordsworth’s metaphorical description of books as equals to leaves stating “Enough of Science and of Art; / Close up those barren leaves.” (Wordsworth) Not only does this provide a deeper meaning to the poem, but also furthers Wordsworth’s goal of inspiring readers to take up nature as a teacher. This is further supported by Jenny Carter, who has published within the non-profit environmental charity Alternatives Journal:
This realization of the vital role played by environment in the development of the human individual, and his detailed poetic illustration of how this works, constitute Wordsworth’s unique gift to us. (Carter)
Going further into depth on Wordsworth’s ability to draw the reader into nature, the alternate rhyming scheme employed throughout the poem allows for the interpretation of the reader’s footsteps of walking and exploring nature, after having been pulled out of studies. As stated by Will Christie within his publication of Wordsworth and the Language of Nature within the University of Chicago Press, together this all compounds to be Wordsworth’s “attempt to ‘transliterate’ or “transubstantiate” the language of nature into the language of poetry.” (Christie, 42)
While not specifically attempting to pull people away from studies of literature and science, Chief Dan George is able to achieve a similar effect within his poem, My Heart Soars. Throughout the poem, Chief Dan George emphasizes not only the vastness, but also the beauty of nature and the effect that it has on him. His use of sometimes personifying imagery throughout lends to Chief Dan George’s expressive description of nature. His representation is exemplified within descriptions such as “The beauty of the trees, / the softness of the air” and his personifying characterization of “The strength of fire, / the taste of salmon, / and the trail of sun” which all give nature a more lively appearance to the reader. Imagery is not the only thing seen throughout My Heart Soars, Chief Dan George similarly adopts the use of repetition. For the duration of the poem, there is a recurrence of “speaks to me” at the end of each stanza until the final, which is altered slightly to being “They speak to me.” Furthermore on the topic of repetition, there is also a recurring caesura which is persistent throughout the entirety of the poem aside from the final line. This may be interpreted as a method of displaying Chief Dan George’s taking in of nature, or experiencing it firsthand. Further supporting this information, Chief Dan George employs the use of free verse throughout My Heart Soars. As a result of this, it backs the idea that George is exhibiting the experience he has while exploring nature in verse. With all of this in mind, one theme that is represented by not only Chief Dan George, but many Canadian poets, is the importance of nature within one’s life. This is supported by Patrick D. Murphy, an educator on the matters of environmental literature, who published his account on the impact of nature within Canadian Literature with the Oxford University Press. Within the account, Murphy states that nature “appeared not as a separate entity, but an integral component of their life-world” (Murphy, 172) My Heart Soars highlights a deep spiritual connection within Chief Dan George, and this is expressed and encouraged through George’s enticing wordplay, however it heavily contrasts the more industrial mindset that was common at the time of writing. This idea was encapsulated perfectly within the book Spirit & Reason, Vine Deloria Jr. states that “in the Western European context human experience is separated from the environment.” (Deloria, 223)
Whether it be from either side of the Atlantic, both recognize the beauty of nature and its importance. Both William Wordsworth and Chief Dan George similarly manage to express both nature and its importance in different ways, and manage to utilize tools that were both comparable yet distinct. One commonality between the works of both authors is the use of imagery and descriptive language which creates an intimate connection between the reader and the natural world. Similarly demonstrated in both George’s description of “The summit of the mountain, / the thunder of the sky, / the rhythm of the sea,” and within Wordsworth’s description of the “sun above the mountain’s head, / a fresh lustre mellow.” However, there are visible discrepancies between the two authors, one such difference is seen when looking at the tone of their works. While Wordsworth’s poem focuses on the value of experiencing nature, it also has more of a political undertone which would come to define Romantic Era poetry with its criticism of society for neglecting the importance of the natural world. This is seen in his calls for the reader to “quit your books” (Wordsworth) and saying “‘tis a dull and endless strife.” (Wordsworth) On the other hand, Chief Paul George takes a more celebratory tone when speaking of spending time in nature. Furthermore, this extends into the realm of spiritual connection to the natural world, which is both passively encouraged, and frequently visible with his statements that it “speaks to me.” (George) One unique difference that each poem possesses is their unique use of rhyme. Within Wordsworth’s writing, it utilizes an alternate rhyming scheme which delivers the feeling of openly experiencing nature as if the reader was hiking. On the other hand, George’s writing using the free verse style allows for a free description of nature. While both are attained using different methods, the results of each are a very similar feeling of the freedom of nature.
In conclusion, both The Tables Turned by William Wordsworth and My Heart Soars by Chief Dan George both celebrate the beauty and importance of nature in different ways, yet manage to evoke a similar result from a reader. Both utilize boundless imagery to create a visceral experience for the reader to connect to nature, however both manage to achieve a different tone, and achieve it in different ways. Both poems serve as a reminder of the need to preserve the natural world while showcasing the feelings, and importance that are derived from nature.
Works Cited
Carter, Jenny. “Wordsworth As Environmentalist.” Alternatives, vol. 17, no. 4, 1991, pp. 40–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/45031816. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Christie, Will. “Wordsworth and the Language of Nature.” The Wordsworth Circle, vol. 14, no. 1, 1983, pp. 40–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24041018. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Deloria, Vine. Spirit & Reason: The Vine Deloria, Jr., Reader. Edited by Barbara Deloria, et al., Fulcrum Pub., 1999. Accessed 13 January 2023.
George, Chief Dan. “My Heart Soars - My Heart Soars Poem by Chief Dan George.” Poem Hunter, 28 July 2015, https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-heart-soars/. Accessed 18 January 2023.
MURPHY, PATRICK D. “Indigenous Nature: Native American Texts in Environmental Literature Courses.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 3, no. 2, 1996, pp. 171–74. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44085439. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Wordsworth, William, and Kathleen Rooney. “The Tables Turned by William Wordsworth.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45557/the-tables-turned. Accessed 17 January 2023.
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