Darcy Tintern Abbey IRP

8/9/2019 Darcy Tintern Abbey IRP

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We Are Two: The Address toDorothy in Tintern Abbey

Article by Heidi Thomson

Presentation by Darcy Miozza


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General Interpretation

Most critics read Tintern Abbey as if its

about one character, closely identified withWordsworth himself, but there is always a

lack of emphasis on a silent auditor and

many critics do not elaborate on the address

to Dorothy.


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Thesis

Tintern Abbey is a poem about the

necessity of a shared experience with abeloved person.

Specifically the address to Dorothy and

Dorothys overall part in Tintern Abbey

affirms the necessity between Wordsworthand his sister to substantiate the myth of

mystery.


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Thomson says

The poem is the autobiography of anindividual who goes through a number of lifecrisis's which are then channeled into aresolution.

She argues that the certainty of a sharedexperience far outweighs a merelyremembered or projected experience.

Also that the speaker articulates theindispensible need for a familiar community.


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Quintilians Use of Apostrophe

112: reflexive examination, emphasis on all

my moral being 113: until now the reader thinks Wordsworth

has been addressing the public.

After line 113, he addresses his sister as his

dearest and closest friend. For thou art with

me here, upon the banks of this fair river.


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Dorothy

The address to a living, conscious Dorothy

goes beyond a projection. not so much the future and the one life and

humanized imagination, but rather the

shared present moment that is crucial.

The immortalizing of the moment of naturewhich Dorothy and William share as siblings

cannot be lost.


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Dorothy

The importance of personal association

suggests that Dorothy not only holds the keyto the past but also to the present and future.

The speaker sees Dorothy as a younger

version of himself.


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Extended Vision

Desire for a sense of family can be found in, Westood together

Dorothy embodies a circumscribed version ofextended vision

a hope for a future that goes beyond knownbounds.

Dorothy shares an intimacy with the speaker Her mind is an infinite dwelling place, that can

accommodate all sweet sounds and harmonies.Meaning that her mind can accommodate extendedvision.


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Lasting Community

Dorothy is part of a lasting community,

which constitutes the We Are Two, againstthe evil tongues, rash judgment, or the

dreary intercourse of daily life.


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Kinship

And in thy voice I catch

The language of my former heart, and read

my former pleasures in the shooting lights

of thy wild eyes. Oh! Yet a while

may I behold in the what I was once,

My dear, dear Sister! (116-20)

Implication Dorothy is younger establishes kinship.Thomson says the speaker recognizes himself inher, They are different but with a shared kinship.


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Kinship

This sense of shared kinship helps the

speaker make his prayer in the knowledgethat they will be protected by each other.

This protection also guarantees the

individuals freedom in the poem.


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Final Thought

Thomson says the blank verse with

meditative tranquility may have obscured thefinal section of the poem

But in the end, I hear a speaker who turns to

his sister and prefers to say, not I am One,

but We Are Two.

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Darcy Tintern Abbey IRP