Social Activism Through Poetry

Abstract

William Wordsworth's sonnet "On the Projected Kendal and Windermere Railway" vigorously objects to the proposed construction of a railway connecting two places (Kendal and Windermere) in the Lake District in the north of England. In my paper, I offer an analysis of the political and literary success and failure of Wordsworth’s poem, and consider whether the platform of poetry is a logical choice for Wordsworth. I draw upon the eco-socialist criticism of William Morris, as well as the views of Tobias Menely and Timothy Morton as I examine the poet's arguments. I attempt to answer whether Wordsworth is misguided in asking specific landmarks and forces of nature to answer his battle-cry and join him in his revolution. The conclusion of this paper is strengthened by current environmental concerns regarding the Kinder Morgan Pipeline Project in British Columbia as well as the words of William Morris and Stephen Collis. What becomes evident by the end of the paper is that we have only begun to fathom the nature of poetry, and the poetry of nature.