Tintern Abbey: Key Poetic Devices

Apostrophe

Apostrophe (uh-PAW-struh-fee) is a rhetorical device that occurs whenever a speaker makes a direct address, typically to a person who is absent, or else to an object or abstract entity. Wordsworth uses apostrophe early in the poem, when the speaker calls out, “O sylvan Wye! though wanderer thro’ the woods” (line 56). However, the more significant example of apostrophe comes near the poem’s end. Here, though, it consists of a direct address not to an absent person but to the speaker’s traveling companion: his beloved sister. This instance of apostrophe is striking for the way it comes as a surprise. Through the first four verse paragraphs, the speaker seems to be by himself, indulging in a contemplative moment of solitude. Only in the fifth paragraph does he indicate that he isn’t alone (lines 114–15):

For thou art with me here upon the banks
Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend

The speaker’s closing address to his “dear, dear Sister” (line 121) serves an important purpose in the poem overall. As the speaker turns his mind to the future, he uses his sister as an intermediary through which to speculate about how the present moment will survive through future recollection (lines 139–46):

when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
And these my exhortations!

It is through his address to his sister that the speaker can imagine his own future.

Assonance and Consonance

Assonance and consonance are sibling concepts, in that they both refer to the repetition of certain sounds in adjacent or nearby words. Assonance specifically refers to the repetition of vowel sounds, whereas consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds. Wordsworth uses both techniques liberally, which brings a sumptuous and self-consciously “literary” quality to the language that might initially seem lacking, given the poet’s avoidance of end rhyme. Indeed, assonance and consonance appear everywhere in the poem, often in subtle ways. As an example, consider a passage from early in the poem (lines 5–8):

Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.

Upon first reading, it’s easy to notice the frequent repetition of both long and short versions of E and O sounds since they each appear several times in most of the lines. A second reading of these same lives reveals a similar profusion of C, L, and S sounds:

Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.

Taken together, these numerous examples of assonance and consonance might be said to mimic what the speaker describes, in line 4, as the Wye Valley’s “soft inland murmur.” Here, as elsewhere in the poem, the effect is subtle but powerful.

Enjambment and Caesura

Enjambment (en-JAM-ment) refers to the technique in which one poetic line flows continuously to the next without stopping. Many of the lines in “Tintern Abbey” are enjambed, allowing one line to cascade into the next. Yet the frequency of enjambment doesn’t mean that the poem’s language flows freely throughout. Indeed, Wordsworth frequently regulates the flow and pace of the language with midline punctuation, which creates strong pauses and, occasionally, full stops. This type of strong pause within an individual line is known as caesura (say-ZHOO-rah). Taken together, Wordsworth’s combined use of enjambment and caesura generates a subtly modulated rhythm that sometimes approximates prose. For example, consider how these techniques shape the poem’s opening lines, in which the speaker reflects with evident wonder on the time that’s passed since he last visited the Wye Valley (lines 1–8):

Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.

All but two lines in this passage are enjambed, which allows for a free flow of thought that is constrained only by the punctuation that falls within individual lines. Significantly, Wordsworth uses five different types of punctuation within the space of these eight lines, each of which implies a slightly different length of pause. The shortest pause comes with the comma in line 2, whereas the longest comes in line 4, with the double use of a period and a long dash. Taken together with the use of enjambment, the subtle differences in the lengths of midline pauses brings complex texture to the language. Indeed, though generally iambic in rhythm, this passage mimics the more naturalistic cadence of prose.

Simile and Metaphor

The imagery of “Tintern Abbey” is largely confined to the natural world in which the speaker moves. However, there are several moments when he introduces figurative language to describe his shifting relation to the natural world. For example, when reflecting on his youthful attitude, the speaker uses the device known as simile (SIH-muh-lee) to liken himself to a leaping dear: “when like a roe / I bounded o’er the mountains” (lines 68–69). He uses this same device again later, when he imagines how in old age the memory will serve as a comfortable “dwelling-place” (lines 137–42):

in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies

A careful reader will notice that, in addition to using a simile in these lines, the speaker also employs the device known as metaphor (MEH-tuh-for). Whereas a simile works by explicitly comparing two unlike things, a metaphor works through implicit comparison. The speaker does make an explicit comparison when he says, “Thy memory be as a dwelling-place.” However, prior to saying this, he introduces the comparison in a subtler way, stating: “when thy mind / Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms.” This latter assertion of likeness is an example of a metaphor. In addition to this architectural metaphor, the speaker also introduces nautical, therapeutic, and spiritual metaphors to describe his relation to the natural world (lines 107–111):

pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.

Nature, he declares, is at once an anchor for his thoughts, a nurse for his heart, and a guide for his soul.

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