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The Language of Paradoxes

Brooks argues that Wordsworth uses paradoxes in his poetry to create tensions and seeming contradictions. He cites Wordsworth's poem "It is a lovely evening, calm and free" as an example where the speaker appears more filled with worship than his female companion, but the paradox is that she is actually more devoted to nature. Brooks also discusses Wordsworth's poem "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" and how the speaker sees London not as an artificial landscape but as entirely natural, creating a paradox since it is a man-made city. According to Brooks, Wordsworth intentionally used paradoxes in his works to present ordinary things and life in a new light.

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234 views

The Language of Paradoxes

Brooks argues that Wordsworth uses paradoxes in his poetry to create tensions and seeming contradictions. He cites Wordsworth's poem "It is a lovely evening, calm and free" as an example where the speaker appears more filled with worship than his female companion, but the paradox is that she is actually more devoted to nature. Brooks also discusses Wordsworth's poem "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" and how the speaker sees London not as an artificial landscape but as entirely natural, creating a paradox since it is a man-made city. According to Brooks, Wordsworth intentionally used paradoxes in his works to present ordinary things and life in a new light.

Uploaded by

Diksha Jha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Q2. How does Wordsworth explore paradoxes according to Brooks?

A paradox in poetry means that surface tensions in poetry can lead to seeming contradictions and
hypocrisy. The influential essay, The Language of Paradox, presents Brooks' argument for the
centrality of paradox by demonstrating that paradox is "a proper and inevitable language for
poetry."

Brooks cites William Wordsworth's poem, "It is a lovely evening, calm and free," as an example. He
begins by sketching out the outline The speaker is filled with worship, while his female companion
does not appear to be. This is the initial and surface-level conflict. The girl is more full of worship
than the speaker precisely because she is always consumed with continuous everlasting sympathy or
empathy for nature, as opposed to the speaker, who becomes in tune with nature sporadically and
temporarily, only while immersed in it. The girl is in communion with Nature “all the year.” Her
devotion is continual whereas the poet's is sporadic and momentary. But the paradox is not finished.
It ‘informs’ the poem. The calm of the evening parallels the trappings of the nun, visible to everyone,
suggesting ‘Pharisaic holiness’ with which the girl’s careless innocence, a symbol of her continual
secret worship’, stands in contrast.

According to Brooks, who closely examined Wordsworth's poetry "Composed upon Westminster
Bridge," the paradox in the poem lies not in its specifics but rather in the setting the speaker creates.
The speaker does not see London as a mechanical and artificial landscape, but rather as a place
made up entirely of nature, even though it is a man-made marvel and in many ways in contradiction
to nature. London belongs to nature since it was made by humans, and humans are a part of nature.
The speaker can comment on London's beauty as he would a natural phenomenon for this reason,
and as Brooks points out, he can refer to the houses as "sleeping" rather than "dead" because they
too are gifted with natural beauty.

Preface to Lyrical Ballads" emphasizes Wordsworth's preoccupation with paradox to reveal the
familiar world in a new light. ," Wordsworth stated that his general goal was "to choose incidents
and situations from common life," but "ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an
unusual aspect." This brings us to the collision of wonder and irony as it resonates with the reader.
On discovering the layers, we stumble upon the fact that to enlighten the common life Wordsworth
ended up using paradoxes. As the poet went on building up the language of the poem he did end up
with paradoxes, intentionally or unintentionally, resulting in to form of a poem as a unity.

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