Mutability

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Mutability
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William Wordsworth

• He was a master poet who lived between 1770
  1850.
• He wrote poems mostly about the industrial
  revolution and nature.
• English society changed rapidly during this
  period providing and apt background for his poem
  Mutability

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The poem itself

• From low to high doth dissolution climb, And
  sink from high to low, along a scale Of awful
  notes, whose concord shall not fail A musical
  but melancholy chime, Which they can hear who
  meddle not with crime, 5Nor avarice, nor
  over-anxious care. Truth fails not but her
  outward forms that bear The longest date do melt
  like frosty rime, That in the morning whiten'd
  hill and plain And is no more drop like the
  tower sublime 10Of yesterday, which
  royally did wear His crown of weeds, but could
  not even sustain Some casual shout that broke
  the silent air, Or the unimaginable touch of
  Time.

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Mutability A material part of Ecclestial
Sketches

• In 1812 Wordsworth published "Ecclestial
  Sketches.
• A sequence of over a hundred sonnets (one of
  which was "Mutability").
• Ecclestial Sketches was prompted by the
  Catholic Emancipation.

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• The introduction progress and operation of the
  church before and after the reformation was
  reviewed by William Wordsworth in his Ecclestial
  sketches.
• Mutability is among the third part of the
  Ecclestial sketches which deals with the period
  of Catholic Emancipation

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• Some Word Definitions
• Mutability - Capable of or subject to change or
  alteration
• Dissolution (line 1) - Decomposition into
  fragments or parts
• Concord (line 2) - Harmony or agreement of
  interests or feelings
• Melancholy (line 4) - Sadness or depression of
  the spirits
• Meddle (line 5) - To intrude into other people's
  affairs or business
• Avarice (line 6) - Immoderate desire for wealth
• Sublime (line 10) - Characterized by nobility

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Poem form and structure

• Mutability, a traditional sonnet of fourteen
  lines in iambic pentameter.
• Something that is mutable is able to shift,
  alter, and adapt itself
• . Mutability is William Wordsworths speculation
  on change and transformation.
• The poet places his reflections on the
  impermanence of false side by side with the
  permanence of Truth

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Rhyme scheme

• From low to high doth dissolution climb,
  AAnd sink from high to low, along a scale BOf
  awful notes, whose concord shall not fail BA
  musical but melancholy chime, CWhich they can
  hear who meddle not with crime, CNor avarice,
  nor over-anxious care. DTruth fails not but her
  outward forms that bear DThe longest date do
  melt like frosty rime, AThat in the morning
  whiten'd hill and plain EAnd is no more drop
  like the tower sublime AOf yesterday, which
  royally did wear DHis crown of weeds, but could
  not even sustain ESome casual shout that broke
  the silent air, DOr the unimaginable touch of
  Time. AABBCCDDAEADEDA

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Mutability-Outer theme

• The first part is a musical metaphor.
• From low to high doth dissolution climb,
  And sink from high to low, along a scale Of
  awful notes, whose concord shall not fail A
  musical but melancholy chime,
• nor avarice, nor over-anxious care. Truth
  fails not
• William Wordsworth is trying to convey the
  idea of how society has changed because of the
  industrial revolution. He is saying that
  societies morals and values have changed for
  worse as people are living and working in
  terrible conditions.

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• The second part the change in society is
  illustrated in nature. Along with the
  personification of time and a tower.
• but her outward forms that bear The longest
  date do melt like frosty rime, That in the
  morning whiten'd hill and plain And is no more
  drop like the tower sublime 10Of yesterday,
  which royally did wear His crown of weeds, but
  could not even sustain Some casual shout that
  broke the silent air, Or the unimaginable touch
  of Time.
• William Wordsworth uses nature to convey the
  overall theme of change in society from something
  beautiful to something ugly. He portrays frosty
  landscape, white, and blissful which over time
  turn into slush. He is saying that our core
  values are still there but the peripheral is
  deteriorating.

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Mutability-Inner theme

• William Wordsworths poem Mutability makes
  multiple references to the crucifixion of Christ.
  
• The first few lines about climbing dissolution
  seem to reference periods of religious
  controversy.
• In this case, the word awful might mean filled
  with or displaying reverence, instead of the more
  common definition meaning terrible.
• Those who "hear the musical but melancholy
  chime," or are fully aware of these lapses and
  swells in religious fervor, are Christians.
• This is evidenced by the fact that Wordsworth
  says they meddle not with crime, not avarice,
  not over-anxious crime, or in other words they
  are trying to lead lives without sin.

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• The line drop like the tower sublime of
  yesterday compares Jesus Christ, as a sublime
  figure, to a watchtower that guards over a
  kingdom.
• Which royally did wear his crown of weeds
  directly references the crown of thorns that
  Jesus wore when he was crucified.
• The words royally and crown recall images of
  a king with a great land empire and royal
  subjects, drawing parallels to Jesus, the
  Christian empire, and his devoted followers.
• However, the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ
  was impermanent like the dew (rime) on the grassy
  hill.

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• Mutability, the title of the poem, draws
  parallels between the ever-changing nature of the
  world and God changing shape to take on the
  bodily form of Jesus Christ, and then leaving the
  world as quickly as he arrived.
• Wordsworths conclusion seems to be that God,
  although he may change shape or form, is always
  present, and that although Jesus died and there
  is constant questioning of religion, his legacy
  lives on (truth fails not), like that of a
  great ruler.
• On a side note, it was interesting the particular
  words that Wordsworth used because, if the poem
  was being read out loud, many of them could be
  confused for their similar-sounding homonyms.
• Dissolution, meaning breaking into
  fragments, sounds eerily similar to disillusion,
  meaning freeing from false belief or illusions,
  which would also make sense within the context.
  Rime, meaning dew, could easily be confused with
  rhyme, which would follow with the line talking
  about music and a scale and chime. Wordsworth
  seems to be toying with the mutability of the
  words as well.

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Symbolism and Imagery.

• Symbolism- The tower is a symbol for Jesus
  Christ.
• Imagery- which royally did wear/His crown of
  weeds personification tower being Jesus and the
  crown of thorns.

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Feelings and Themes

• Themes
• The powerful leaders all fall some time? (cant
  withstand time) E.g. Saddam Hussein, Hitler, fall
  of empires (Rome, Egypt) but could not even
  sustain the touch of time.
• Change in society shown in nature.

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Poem was shared by other romanticist poets.

• "Mutability" (1816), a poem by Percy Bysshe
  Shelley ("We are as clouds that veil the midnight
  moon").
• "Mutability" (1821), a poem by William
  Wordsworth.

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• Thank You

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The Catholic Emancipation

• The Catholics have been repressed since Queen
  Elizabeth I s time until the middle of the
  eighteenth century in England.
• In return for the recognition of the English
  Royal Family by the Pope certain rights of the
  Catholics were recognized in England.
• This was known as the Catholic Emancipation.
• The Catholic Relief act 1829 was passed by
  the parliament of Great Britain and was the
  culmination of the process of Catholic
  Emancipation

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Mutability by Percy Brysshe Shelley

• We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon
• How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and
  quiver,
• Streaking the darkness radiantly! -yet soon
• Night closes round, and they are lost for
  ever
• Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant
  strings
• Give various response to each varying blast,
• To whose frail frame no second motion brings
• One mood or modulation like the last.
• We rest.A dream has power to poison sleep
• We rise.One wandering thought pollutes the
  day
• We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep
• Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away
• It is the same!For, be it joy or sorrow,
• The path of its departure still is free
• Mans yesterday may neer be like his morrow
• Nought may endure but Mutablilty.