The Recreation of Nature in Humanity:A Study of Wordsworth’s Garden Aesthetics
Zhang Yan
Abstract:In the 18th century, British horticulture developed greatly, and its concepts of garden design laid emphasis on the imitation and improvement of nature to endow gardens with idealistic beauty. As a representative poet of English Romanticism, Wordsworth holds his own views of gardening which have some similarities with the aesthetics of the natural and picturesque garden at that time, but they are different in essence. Wordsworth advocates that gardening should follow the trend of natural spirit, and opposes the so-called idealistic improvement of nature, as his view of gardening focuses on the integration of gardens and the natural spirit, the democratic consciousness of gardening and the empathy between gardens and ordinary people. With his poetic ideas which emphasizes the humanity cultivated by nature, Wordsworth’s aesthetics of garden breaks through the concepts of garden in the18th century, and becomes the quintessence of the Romantic Garden leading humanity to nature in the Romantic period.
Key words:Wordsworth; garden; nature; democracy; humanity
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