Wordsworth: Let Nature Teach

In such a connected world, we often don't realize how we know something or that the idea may not have come from us! "Nothing's new under the sun," I suppose. Enjoy William Wordsworth's poem below, which includes encouragement to "Let Nature Teach!"

The Tables Turned

By William Wordsworth
 

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;

Or surely you'll grow double:

Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;

Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun above the mountain's head,

A freshening lustre mellow

Through all the long green fields has spread,

His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:

Come, hear the woodland linnet,

How sweet his music! on my life,

There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!

He, too, is no mean preacher:

Come forth into the light of things,

Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,

Our minds and hearts to bless—

Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,

Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man,

Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;

Our meddling intellect

Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—

We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;

Close up those barren leaves;

Come forth, and bring with you a heart

That watches and receives.

Today's Nature Lesson

Through nature we connect to that deep, wordless wisdom of the universe. I find the interaction between human culture and nature fascinating, but Wordsworth reminds us here that whatever we think we know, nature (as a part of the divine and the universe) can always open our eyes and hearts to much more.