Woodsworth: Change over Time

I found this poem, 'Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of Wye during a Tour, July 13 1789', To be a very sweet and nastalgic poem. Woodsworth recalls the joyful times he spent in nature as a boy growing up with his Sister. While this poem is about the beauty of nature, it is also about growing up and how one begins to gain new experiences, see new places, and have better knowledge and wisdom about the world. As one grows older idea's and opinions begin to change, one starts to understand things more and as a result their perception of those things will change. Through this change of our cognitive understanding, some things, such as memories from our past or traditions we hold on to, while we may forget other things; people, places, events that might have happened that we no longer hold meaning to. Woodsworth doesn't fail to recognize this aspect of human life. On lines 87-94 he says how he sees nature differently now then he did as a youth when he had first visited Tintern saying, "For I have learned to look nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing often times the still, sad music of humanity, nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power to chasten and subdue." He explains how he no longer looks on nature thoughtlessly as a careless pass time as he once did, but sees now much of the inner beauty of nature. He even subjects a spiritual element to nature that is vital to health and well being. He says "A motion and a spirit, that impels all thinking things..." Finally he closes this paragraph off by saying that though he sees nature differently, he still loves it just as much, if not more than he did as a boy because of his better understanding. "Therefore am I still a lover of meadows and woods..." Time can change a lot of things, but through our memories and past experiences we learn and grow through better understanding.