Help- Nutting!

[kelby_lake]

Is it just me or is there a lot of sexual undertones in it? Why? Our teacher told us we were wrong but I'm doubting...

[JBI]

O'er pathless rocks,
15Through beds of matted fern, and tangled thickets,
16Forcing my way, I came to one dear nook
17Unvisited, where not a broken bough
18Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign
19Of devastation; but the hazels rose
20Tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung,
21A virgin scene!--A little while I stood,
22Breathing with such suppression of the heart
23As joy delights in; and, with wise restraint
24Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyed
25The banquet;--or beneath the trees I sate
26Among the flowers, and with the flowers I played;
27A temper known to those, who, after long
28And weary expectation, have been blest
29With sudden happiness beyond all hope.

The notions of voluptuous and erect as well as virgin and the simple fact that he is trampling over them, and disturbing the virginity of the scene. He is playing with the flowers, in a sense, exploring his, and their sexuality, they standing later to represent his lover Lucy. The feeling of the flowers is an act of embrace, and more darkly, violation.

OF course, there is also the Lucy reference

Then, dearest Maiden, move along these shades
55In gentleness of heart; with gentle hand
56Touch--for there is a spirit in the woods.

There is a sexual connotation to his placement within the idyllic scene - that of being within the presence of his lover, and the act of nutting the hazels symbolizing the sexual act between the two partners.

In truth though, the sexuality is more perhaps symbolic than literal. The maiden references maintain the innocence and nature of the partner, yet there is still a symbolic embrace between the two, which I personally see as somewhat erotic. Generally though, I like to compare their relationship to eachother to the sex scene between Adam and Eve before the eating of the apple in Milton's Paradise Lost. Generally, I see Lucy as a form of muse, who Wordsworth engages playfully with, almost erotically, in order to return to the state of innocence temporarily and write poetry. I however, am far from a Romantic specialist, so feel free to disregard what I said.


The poem however, from what I understand, is generally seen to be full of sexual imagery and undertones, despite what your teacher may say to you. There is clearly an erotic element, and clearly also a sense of defilement, and regret attached to it. The act of nutting is clearly sexual in its implication, despite what your teacher may say. Nature is accepting the embrace of Wordsworth, by offering itself to him, and he ravishes it by taking away the nut, symbolic of taking away virginity. With it comes the realization of his action, and perhaps a loss of innocence on both their parts, but also a connection between the two, because of the momentary completeness within each other.

[kelby_lake]

That's what I thought. I'm outraged that our teacher didn't tell us this.
It sort of sounds like him likening his destruction of the forest to one of a woman- like looking back on the past with the knowledge of the present, or recent past.

Possible rape? I really wish our teacher could have gone into this aspect more.

[JBI]

Not rape, but change. Nature at this point in his life is complete, and a part of him. He is in a state that exists before the "fall" (the fall, in romantic and post-romantic literature is generally interpreted as an event that occurs in everyone's life when they age). He is in a completely naive state of existence, and not really aware of what is going on.

The way I see this poem, is that it marks a sort of transition between physical and naive impulse, to sexual and aware impulses. The poet disturbs nature, but at first does not realize this. After the taking of the nut though, he does, and notices the "intruding sky" perhaps symbolic of a sense of vague religious anger (I.E. God addressing Adam), or in my sense, a loss of innocence.

We must recall, of course, the notion of the sky and the earth from Tintern Abbey. There, the Sky and the Earth are one, whereas at the end of this poem, they are separate. I think that marks the loss of Eden in the poem's speaker, with the pain of experience. However, the entrance of Lucy marks his shift to the mature Wordsworth of reflection of the woods, from being an aspect of the woods. He becomes separate from them but the muse lives within them.

I hesitate to use the term Rape, because a) it is nature, an abstract image, and b) it seems to give forth the nut. There is a sense of defilement, which can be likened to a form of rape, but there is no real rapist mentality. He is just innocent, and does not know what disturbance he is causing to the woods. He doesn't, at this point, to keep with the biblical motifs, realize he is naked.

Rule of thumb though, English teachers aren't English professors. In Canada at least, they don't even need to get many credits beyond the beginner level. For all you know, your teachers were C students in a few English courses, and went on to teach literature. Hardly authority.

In contrast though, many English teachers are great. One of mine wrote a Masters on Whitman and knew loads about American literature. She wasn't a very generous marker, but I will say, she did know how to read poetry.

[kelby_lake]

Oh, yes, I see it! Because she did say that he did it regularly. Then I guess something in him clicked and he lost his innocence- like a sort of awakening as to pleasure and the implications of his actions to get it. No longer childlike amusement but accidental destruction, and I guess he likens it to a pure woman to get emotional impact from the reader. With the nuts on the trees it sort of provides a shelter, but now light is cast on his destruction.

Thank you so much! But what if I write about the sexual aspects? I don't want her to think I'm immature because I picked up on the word erect or something. :(

[kelby_lake]

Yay! Followed my instinct on the sexual connotations and got 118/120 in my A-Level exam!

[JBI]

Yay! Followed my instinct on the sexual connotations and got 118/120 in my A-Level exam!

Congrats, well earned. Never doubt instinct I think when reading verse - read carefully but also on a personal level I think.