'Michael' as a Pastoral
Poem:
William Wordsworth Michael is an elongated
poem in blank verse. The Michael of the heading is the poem’s protagonist. The
subtitle, “A Pastoral Poem,” appears to challenge the traditional idea of pastoral poetry as a form for the peaceful
and the pastoral, and to make prepare the reader to accept the “low and rustic
life” as the perfect pastoral.
The poem deals with man's battle in this unfriendly
world to keep up his reputation and values,
through the life of Michael, a forlorn previous. As Bernard Groom comments
about the verse, “Wordsworth’s picture of rural
life in Michael is less idyllic and nearer to historical truth than some
readers may suppose." Michael is a straightforward peaceful poem
however doesn't follow its specific
meaning. The
poem tells the pitiable life story of a helpless shepherd. The setting of the
poem is peaceful as it occurs around the spot in "Greenhead Ghyll."
But, it does not have the aesthetic magnificence and disposition of the
commonplace peaceful poems.