2. NATURE

Nature is not artificial, it is pure and can be beautiful. Writers and poets often describe the beauty of nature and the constant changes being made, including seasons and the sky. Since nature is not manmade this can be very important to Romantic poets. The natural world can express a pure beauty that can set a scene or make the mood.
In the beginning of both William Wordsworth's Lines and Odes the description of nature starts the poem and is a continued theme in both poems. In Lines, Wordsworth states, “Knowing that Nature never did betray” (line 122) speaking of the faith one has in nature, including both Mother Nature and human nature. Believing in nature he later states being “A worshiper of Nature” (line 152). In Ode, Wordsworth describes the earth and onto the night sky in the beginning. He continues to use nature in describing Earth’s life and all its creatures and children. He ends it repeating the use of nature, but mentioning ‘all’ the meadows, hills and groves he started the poem with.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge also uses the theme of nature in his Dejection: An Ode. In the fourth verse Coleridge states, “And in our life alone does Nature live” (line 48) noting that nature is always around us. Restating at the end, “Enveloping the Earth— And from the soul itself must there be send A sweet and potent voice, of its own birth, Of all sweet sounds the life and element!” (lines 55-58). Coleridge continues to use the natural world and natural being throughout the rest of the poem. In the sixth verse he brings the two together, “From my own nature all the natural man— This was my sole resource; my only plan: Till that which suits a part infects the whole, And now is almost grown the habit of the soul.” (lines 90-93). I feel here he is describing that through human embracement of nature, a person allows the state of the natural world to become their human nature.
Romantics can use the theme of nature in their poetry for many benefits. Since there is no concrete definition for nature it is a broad theme that can be specified by the writer. They can talk about the natural world being the stars and grass to the natural state of a parent’s love for their child. We are all nature and are included in the natural world; these are important concepts for poets and writers alike to apply.