Compare the ways the poets have responded to the natural world in two poems from your selection.

In Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth, both poets express their feelings towards the beauty of nature but on slightly different aspects. Hopkins is overwhelmed by the variety the God has put into nature because he sees these differences to be unique in their own way, thus making them beautiful. On the other hand, Wordsworth is in complete awe at the silence and tranquillity of a London morning as it brings out the beauty rarely seen due to human interference. Even so, both of them show to us that the harmony within nature is enchanting and beautiful in ways that it can even affect our soul and mind. Nature is beautiful and that is the only way the two poets believe it can be described. In Pied Beauty, Hopkins simply states two words with no other adjectives used to describe it: finches wings. Nothing else is needed to lavish these two words because the symbol of finches wings epitomises everything he feels about nature. He sees nature being an endless source of variety because finches are very diverse, due to their wings coming in a beautiful array of colours and patterns, showing us how nature is filled with beauty. Hopkins continues the theme of variety through the poem structure. The different indentations constantly used vary the appearance of sentence length constantly, emphasising his perception of the beauty of variation. Wordsworth also sees beauty in nature but not necessarily because of variety but in its tranquillity and silence. The morning in London city is so magnificent that it is more fair than anything else the Earth has to show. Wordsworth personifies the Earth to create an image of the city being the most prized and presentable possession that Earth has to show, like in a competition, revealing how worthy the beauty is to show. The beauty of the morning is so grand that the city even wears it like a garment in its majesty. This simile portrays the city to be like royalty: it has exquisite beauty in its presentation and it is admirable. The garment also connotes comfort since it is clothing, suggesting that the feeling Wordsworth experiences upon looking at the natural scenery brings a deep comforting feeling. One of the qualities both poets seem to admire is the harmony within nature and out. Usually we believe that manmade structures conflict and ruin nature, but Wordsworth sees both to be complementing and open to one another. The Earth, City, Sun and River, a mixture of nature and manmade structures, are all personified by making them into proper nouns which links them together making one unity; they coexist together. The harmony highlights each entitys qualities making them more [beautiful] than before. The Sun makes the Citys smokele ss air bright and glittering, the Earth makes the Sun steep more beautifully; there is just endless complementing beauty. The harmony in Pied Beauty is conveyed through the juxtaposition of contrasting adjectives in swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim. By juxtaposing two opposites together, Hopkins again shows the contrasting variety but also how things in nature work together in perfect harmony. The asyndeton here has the added effect of compacting the adjectives together to show how richly abundant it is. Both poets I believe seem to appreciate this subtle harmony more than anything else as it makes everything else to them even more magnificent and both seem to experience a unique feeling because of it. When we see something such as the beauty of nature, we can experience something deeper and more spiritual. In Composed upon Westminster Bridge, after seeing such a beautiful sight he feels a calm so deep that he has never felt before. This shows us how deeply affecting beauty can be that it can affect our soul and mind and allow us to even enter a meditative state. The repetition of exclamation marks and also the exclamation Dear God! reveals the amazement of Wordsworth that he felt towards nature. Similarly, Hopkins is enlightened spiritually, realising that Glory be to God for creating such a masterpiece. The alliteration of G emphasises the association of god being glorious. The final line of Pied Beauty: Praise him, ends simply and directly to show how obvious it is that God should be thanked. Hopkins begins and ends the poem with God, suggesting that his final realisation is that everything begins and ends with God. Hopkins and Wordsworth both show how nature can alter someone through its beauty. They both believe that nature is beautiful and as we can see, in more ways than one. Hopkins is amazed at the masterpiece of nature, filled with variety and harmony that he concludes that God was the reason behind all of this. Wordsworth is stunned by the pristine silence of nature that can even cause someone to enter a deep relaxing meditative state. Both respond to nature in a different way but it shows the varying effects that the beauty and harmony in nature can have on someone.