Nature and the organic sensibility (with special reference to Coleridge, Wordsworth, Baudelaire and D.H. Lawrence)

Abstract

In 'Nature and the Organic Sensibility' I have attempted to consider four themes in relation to four writers. The four themes are as follows: firstly, the relation of man's nature in Nature and the organic connections branching out from this into society and tradition; secondly, the relation of the unconscious to the conscious mind and the way in which this is affected fay the natural and the social setting; thirdly, the relation between will and spontaneity and its bearing on the wholeness of human response; fourthly, the theme of childhood and the link between childhood and adult awareness. From the examination of these four themes there emerges (hence the title of the thesis) the conception of an harmonious 'organic sensibility' which is the aim of a right relation between man and Nature, between unconscious and conscious mind, between will and spontaneity, between childhood and manhood. The discussion of these themes takes the form of four linked chapters, each being given to a consideration of one of the four chosen writers. I have, in order to draw conclusions from and not impose them on the material, tried to deal with complete works or passages of some length from works which seem to me of particular relevance. Chapter One (Coleridge) concentrates largely upon the symbolism of 'Christabel' and 'The Ancient Mariner'; Chapter Two (Wordsworth), upon passages from 'The Prelude' and 'The Excursion' and Wordsworth's conception of Lucy; Chapter Three (Baudelaire) upon passages from his prose works which are of especial importance as background to the attitudes of his poetry; Chapter Pour (Lawrence) upon two works in the main, 'The Rainbow' and 'Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious'.