Introduction: Wordsworth’s love for nature was immeasurable and his knowledge of nature was extraordinary. “Tintern Abbey” is the first clear expression of Wordsworth’s gradual development in his attitude to or treatment of nature. It recognizes nature’s power to quicken a creative mind’s imagination. It gives us an idea of the three different stages in the gradual development of the poet’s attitude to nature. (a) the period of the blood – the animal pleasures of his boyhood, (b) the period of the senses – the enjoyment and apprehension of the sensuous beauty of nature in his youth, and (c) the period of the imagination and the soul – his capability to see nature with a philosophical eye in his maturity.

The period of animal pleasure: In “Tintern Abbey” Wordsworth mentions the first stage of his attitude to nature by saying that it was the period of “The coarser pleasures” of his boyish days. This was the period when he spent most of his time amid the beautiful scenes of nature. His love of nature then was a healthy boy’s love of the open air, sunshine, and freedom of movement in the fields. He loved nature with a passion that was all physical without having any trace of intellectual or philosophical association, He haunted the hills and the vales for sports and bounded over the mountains like a deer.

The period of the senses: The second stage of the poet’s attitude to nature was a period of the senses in his youth. His love for nature was purely physical, sensuous, and emotional. This was characterized by “dizzy raptures” and “aching joys”. The colors and shapes of mountains and woods to him were “an appetite, a feeling, and a love”’. The noisy waterfall haunted him like a passion. The beautiful sights and sounds of nature, the colors and the forms of the objects of nature roused his sweet sensations and made him very passionate.

The period of maturity: In the third stage which is a period of maturity, Wordsworth’s love for nature became ‘spiritual and philosophical. In his youth he did not find any hidden meaning of nature nor had he any philosophy of nature. Now he looks at nature not with a painter’s eye, but as a translator who can explain its hidden meaning. Thus the poet has developed a philosophic mind which helps him understand the miseries and sufferings of mankind by seeing the natural phenomena. This experience of the miseries of the world makes him noble and sympathetic towards the suffering humanity. Now he experiences a kind of spiritual, a sublime state of mind in which he feels within himself a presence of the Divine Spirit that animates mystic thoughts in him. This Divine Spirit is the Soul of the Universe or the Spirit of Nature that puts the mind in motion and makes the body move. It is the source and the guiding force of all creations.

Conclusion: Thus Wordsworth had a gradual development in his attitude to nature. In fact, there were three stages of his growth as a poet of nature, and this was faithfully recorded in “Tintern Abbey”.