Second Year: “The Reverie of poor Susan”
In ‘The Reverie of poor Susan” we find Wordsworth a champion of the cause of the destitute and the downtrodden. Elaborate. (P.U. 1999,2000)
The poem, “The Reverie of poor Susan” has undertones of the “urbanisation phase” that London was
passing through in the last years of the 18th century. There is only one character in the poem, Susan, who probably belongs to a small town in England. She belongs to the ‘destitute’ working class.
This is suggested through the line, “….it has sung for three years;
Poor Susan has passed by the spot…” She must be passing the spot daily when she goes to work. The poem has been divided into three portions, each one having 5 lines. The first portion is a sketch of the melancholic atmosphere not only of the scene in London but also of the poem itself. Through Susan’s eyes, Wordsworth is able to see the transition in London (Wood Street). The second portion (line 6-10) establishes the scene of trance that Susan visualises. This trance–like mood though pure imagination, yet has a touch of reality in it as London was before the ‘urbanisation’. While the third and last part of the poem is complete picture of the disappointment, destitution and emotional transformation of Susan.
The basic idea in the poem is urbanization and the effect of industrialization on different individuals. The people who were most effected were the down-trodden people of the society who used to live in the countryside. Instead of financial and domestic concerns that people had in those days, in this poem Wordsworth has managed to etch the aesthetic concerns of one of the many individuals. The landscape that has changed by the changes in civilization has become the setting scene for the poem. Apparently this poem discusses effects of industrial revolution on a rustic mind.
The phrase, “Hangs a Thrush” depicts loneliness of the thrush that is isolated from all the birds. It is alone and is ‘loudly’ singing. Though the bird has been singing for three years, Susan can still feel its isolated “songs”. The moment she hears the song, she goes into the trance–like sequence because the song has a connection with the real landscape of London that is replaced by the industrial revolution. She is transported to the past through the sound of the voice. She sees mountains and trees.
Yet the vapours can be depicting pure dew drops or even the mistiness of her imaginary scene. This moment of ‘Reverie’ has clearly drawn a contrast between the two phases of her home town that Susan has seen. First there was the beautiful countryside filled with the splendours of Nature while the other one is the desolate Thrush singing on the branch of a tree. The gait in which Susan ‘tripped’ in the old days has also transformed for her. After the revolution, Susan instead of happily tripping, merely ‘passed’ from the spot.
Wordsworth captures all the reverie of the downtrodden as well as the transitional phase of civilization in a small town of England. Wordsworth also makes it a point in the poem that the ‘single collage’ left is secluded, quiet and peaceful. Her world after the revolution was restricted to her collage alone. Before the urbanization process, her world was extended out to the landscape and scenic atmosphere all around her. Her private world is now invaded by the rush of urbanization. Her love now is limited to her home and the rest to her is an alien-land where she feels herself out of place.
While the poet makes the readers visualize the scene along with Susan, he also brings both the readers and Susan back into the real life where the picture fades away. Susan is deprived of the privileges. It is only the reverie through which Nature can be kept alive otherwise, the visual perceptions do not allow Susan to feed her eyes on mountains, trees or the river flow.
William Wordsworth, hence in the poem describes the mental and psychological state of the downtrodden in England after the Revolution. The ideas in this poem that make the poet a ‘Champion’ of the cause of such people is a peep into their souls.
It was not only economic or domestic transformation that was troubling the people. It was also the aesthetic conflict as well as a sense of alienated atmosphere that troubled the people. Wordsworth in the poem paints the whole picture, thus eyeing the world from the eyes of a commoner.
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Posted by neoenglishThe Reverie of Poor Susan by WordsworthDecember 12, 2010
Introduction
‘The Reverie of Poor Susan’ is a simple poem about a poor girl, Susan.
Wordsworth says that the idea of the poem was suggested to him by the “affecting” singing of birds in the streets of London. The purpose behind writing of this poem is to show the contrast between the life in the countryside and the life in the city. Wordsworth is able to successfully assert that the blessed sights and sounds in nature that are easily found and enjoyed in the countryside can only be discovered in the city only through imagination.
Poor Susan is an emigrant from the countryside. She passes daily by a spot where a thrush sings loudly at daylight. The thrush has been singing in the same fashion for three years. She is completely enchanted with the song of the bird. Her imagination is stirred, so stirred that she has a vision of a mountain, trees and a flowing river. She sees the green pastures where she used to walk and the cottage she lived in while she was still in the country.
‘Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees
A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;
Bright volumes of vapour through Loth- bury glide.
But as she looks, in the midst of her visionary exaltation, the scenes pass away from her sight. She can no longer see what she had seen.
Critical Appreciation
The poem focuses a poor country girl who has come to London to earn her living. She has been living in the countryside and very much acquainted with the natural scenes and sounds. When she hears the enchanting song of a thrush in the quiet time of morning she falls into a reverie. In her imagination appears her home district with its hills, fog and green meadows. The idea behind the portrayal of these natural scenes is to show the pleasure Susan feels when she imagines these things. Another thing presented in the poem is one’s love for one’s home.
There is an obvious opposition established in this poem between the life in the country and the life in the city. All of the beautiful sights and sounds in nature are so easily found and enjoyed in the countryside. But these can only be discovered in the city through an act of imagination. The setting and character of the village is that of openness and freedom. These qualities give one a sense of belonging and a sense of security. Such gifts are not to be discovered in the city. This sense of belonging and security is so pleasant that it takes the heart of Susan to the heaven:
And a single dwelling on earth that she Loves.
She looks, and her heart is in heaven
Wordsworth, being the highest admirer of nature, has selected as much natural images as possible, in this poem. His image of the flowing river serves his poetic purpose in conveying to the reader the feeling of space and movement. The poem is an apt example of Wordsworth theory of poetry. He speaks for a common girl in a simple language. The subject, technique, imagery and diction: everything is according the theory of Wordsworth. There is nothing ornamental or artificial in the poem.
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