In William Wordsworth's poem "Tintern Abbey" the nature of a poet's being and the poet's being in relation to Nature are used to express the internal connection of the poet to the external world. The poem does not focus on Wordsworth's visit through the Wye Valley to Tintern Abbey in 1798, but rather the memory of his visit in 1793 with respect to the passing of time and the poet's changing perspective to the role of Nature in "humanity". Wordsworth's memories of his visit in 1793 compared and contrasted to his visit in 1798 allows him to interpret the different states of his being as well as unify his connection to the "sublime", using the medium of Nature, through the various phases of his life. Through deep contemplation Wordsworth identifies between the spontaneous "aching joys" and "dizzy rapture" of the "sublime" affect of Nature during his youth and his more "secluded", yet enlightened state of reason being five years the senior. .
Phases such as, "with the length" "Of five long winter!" and the use of the word "again" three times in the first ten lines implies Wordsworth had a sense of great longing during his five year absence from the Abbey. Perhaps Wordsworth longed for the simplicity of his "thoughtless" youth, however by re-visiting Tintern Abbey Wordsworth does not reclaim "the language of his former heart". Instead he experiences "thoughts of more deep seclusion" as "the picture of the mind revive again". Wordsworth's description of nature in the present personifies his mental/emotional states of being, by .
which nature's attributes become metaphors for the expression of his inner "perplexity". The "soft in land murmur" and the "quiet of the sky" not only describe the external state of the natural word, but the internal ability for Wordsworth to repose in contemplation. .
Wordsworth attributes much of the change in his perspective of Nature to his experience in urbanized society:.