William Wordsworth ~* Michael : a pastoral poem*~

William Wordswoth's life started off rough with the early absence of his parents. I was quite impressed that he was a highly respected writer by many. Also, it was interesting to find that his sister Dorthy had the same aspirations of writing, and that he collaborated with famous writer and companion Coleridge.
William Wordsworth fits well with the Romantics by focusing on the importance of nature in life. In Michael, he describes the life a shepherd, Michael, and his wife and only child. Early in the story he describes the scenery of the nature scene;
"for around that boisterous Brook
The mountains have all open'd out themselves,
And made a hidden valley of their own.
No habitation can be seen; but such
As journey thither find themselves alone
With a few sheep, with rocks and stones, and kites
That overhead are sailing in the sky (218).
Wordsworth describes Michael as a man that understands the importance of nature, "while I was yet a boy careless of books, yet having felt the power of nature, by the gentle agency of natural objects"(218). He was well of without the knowledge of books because he had a sense of nature.
The description seems as if they have an isolated little paradise hidden away from the corrupt city. The family seems to resemble a perfect family. The head of the household was "an old man, stout of heart, and strong of limb. His bodily frame had been from youth to age of an unusual strength; his mind was keen intense and frugal, apt for all affairs"(218). The wife was described as taking care of the house and performing her duties as if her " heart was in her house"(219). The son follows after his father duties of a shepherd, worked at his father's side everyday at a young age. Wordsworth seems to emphasize youth perhaps relating it to innocence when he mentions Luke's young age while following his father's footsteps, and Michael and Isabel appearing to have youth in their appearance and living longer than most do at their age.
Michael has a debt to pay, and can either sell his land or let Luke work it off in the city. At the age of eighteen he goes off into the corrupt city. The parents hope he will acquire prosperity in the city rather than become corrupted in which the "city gave himself to evil courses"(227). After being in the city, he no longer communicates with his parents, and this causes poor health to Michael. He no longer will keep the estate and the Evening Star was then sold and "strangers" would then replace the perfect family. Wordsworth emphasizes that the peaceful surroundings of their farm and nature setting creates innocence, while the city corrupts. I like how he shows the difference by comparing the closeness of the family of three while living together in the country, yet how Luke seems to slowly separates himself from the family and forgets to write and think about his parents while living in the city.