Death of a Savior

             William Wordsworth's sonnet "Mutability" is his own depiction of the death of Jesus Christ (the Christian Messiah). This sonnet was included with a group of others entitled the Ecclesiastical Sonnets, which dealt with the Church of England. Wordsworth uses creative sensibility in order to describe his version and thoughts on the death of the Christian Messiah.
             The title itself means prone to change. During his lifetime, Christ changed the way people thought about life and God. He taught of heaven and hell and changed the way people thought about death. After his crucifixion, thoughts continued to evolve and change. Some religions evolved based on the life of Christ. Others developed from his teachings alone. Christ has effected and changed life for thousands of years.
             "From low to high doth dissolution climb,.
             And sink from high to low, along a scale.
             Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail;".
             In the first two and a half lines of the sonnet, Wordsworth compares death ("dissolution") to a musical scale of awful or out of tune notes. Christians are taught of the "stations of the cross," a representation of the 15 stages in Christ's journey to Calvary where he would be crucified. There are 8 notes in a musical scale; the C scale, as an example, contains the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and repeats C again an octave higher. When playing a full scale, you"d play up and down the scale without repeating the top note (again, using the C scale as an example: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, B, A, G, F, E, D ,C), for a total of 15 notes. The "awful notes" that Wordsworth writes of are the 15 events that Christ suffered on his way to be crucified. But, there is a purpose to the death of Jesus. Christian's believe that Christ died to save the world from their sins. Wordsworth shows this in the words "whose concord shall not fail;" (line 3) meaning, basically, "whose harmonies will not be unsuccessful.