ODE: IMITATIONS OF IMMORTALITY
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The poem "Ode: Imitations of immortality is written by a Romantic poet, William Wordsworth. One of the ideas in the poem is how due to our imaginative creativity, the shapes and colours of humanity can be found in nature. Our surroundings can produce thoughts too deep for tears because they can embody the different aspects of human life. For example, a butterfly can induce philosophical thoughts about the fleeting human life and how it needs to be lived to the fullest. Wordsworth believes this is because of human imagination and creativity. Another perspective on his would be that we are so selfish and self-centered that we can make anything and everything about us. We philosophize but it is still all about human life, if not about our personal lives. However, it is also true that our philosophical mind enables us to understand and relate to nature in a deeper way, even if it on more human terms. We have to appreciate human imagination and creativity and its endless possibilities.
Another idea in the poem is that human life on earth is just a shadow of an earlier, purer existence - the abode of the soul. Our life is just a process of forgetting that existence, its just a dream. This is an idea which is also seen in a kannada song "Kaanada kadalige" sung by C.Ashwath. Both of these poems describe a yearning for an unattainable or forgotten destination. This destination is unattainable only in the physical realm and forgotten by the body, but remembered by the soul. These songs were written years apart and come from two different cultures, but the yearning is the same. Are not we all searching for something indescribable, something that we ourselves don't know that we need? Do we fill our lives with material things, relationships and goals to fill a void we don't know we have? I am reminded of a quote by Shakespeare "All the world's a stage, all the men and women merely players". Maybe we are acting out a play, to pass the time until we reach this unattainable, forgotten destination.
