A THESIS
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The S1 Degree Majoring Literature in English Department
Faculty of Humanities Diponegoro University
Submitted by:
TAOFIQ A2B009048
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY
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PRONOUNCEMENT
The writer confirms on compiling this thesis entitled “An Analysis of Love in
William Wordsworth’s A Complaint“ by himself without taking any result of
other researches in any major of any universities. Furthermore, the writer assures
of not quoting or taking any material from other publications or papers except
those that are mentioned in the references.
Semarang, July 2013
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—Anonymous—
“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.”
—Bill Gates—
“Be not afraid of greatness.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”
—William Shakespeare—
“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”
—Albert Einstein—
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APPROVAL
Approved by, Thesis Advisor
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Approved by
Strata 1 Thesis Examination Committee Faculty of Humanities Diponegoro University
on 6 September 2013
Chair Person
Drs. Siswo Harsono, M.Hum. NIP. 19640418 199001 1 001
First Member Second Member
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Praise be to God Almighty, who has given bounty of strength and true spirit so
this thesis on “An Analysis of Love in William Wordsworth’sA Complaint” came
to a completion. Here, the writer would like to thank all those people who have
helped and played a part to the completion of this thesis.
The deepest gratefulness and appreciation are extended to the writer beloved
advisor, Dra. Christina Resnitriwati, M.Hum, who has given continuous support,
helpful correction and suggestion, without which it is unlikely that this thesis
could came into completion.
The writer’s sincere gratitude also goes to the following:
1. Dr. Agus Maladi Irianto, M.A. as the Dean of Faculty of Humanities,
Diponegoro University.
2. Sukarni Suryanigsih, S.S, M.Hum. as the Head of English Department,
Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University.
3. Drs. Siswo Harsono, M.Hum. as the Head of Literature Section, English
Department, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University.
4. All lecturers and academic officers in the Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro
University.
5. The writer’s parent and family for their unlimited kind encouragement and
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7. Herdiana Indah Cahyani, for her bright and cheerful support.
8. Former and current warriors of Gita Bahana Arisatya.
9. All friends and acquaintances in English Department and in the Faculty of
Humanities.
Above and beyond, the writer looking for generous apology for all mistakes to
anyone that possibly offended on the process of completing this study. The writer
also realizes that this thesis is not perfect. Thus, the writer would be glad to
receive any constructive criticism and recommendation to help him to make better
writing in the future. At last, the writer expects that this thesis will be useful for
the readers.
Semarang, July 2013
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CHAPTER III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 10
3.1 Intrinsic Aspects ... 10
CHAPTER IV INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC ANALYSIS OFA COMPLAINT. 17 4.1 Intrinsic Analysis ... 17
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4.2 Extrinsic Analysis ... 32
4.2.1 The Definition of the Speaker’s Love ... 32
4.2.2 The Speaker’s Brotherly Love... 35
4.2.3 Love effects to the Speaker ... 37
4.2.4 The Speaker’s Love Problem ... 38
4.2.5 Facing the Love Problem ... 40
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION... 42
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ABSTRACT
This paper is a study about love. The writer discusses a love poem of William Wordsworth entitled “A Complaint”. The purpose of the study is to understand the poem through analyzing the meaning of the speaker’s love. In order to understand the meaning of love in the poem, the writer analyzes the intrinsic and the extrinsic aspects of the poem. The intrinsic analysis covers two main objectives, which are the diction and the imagery. The extrinsic analysis discussed the love of the speaker by using the art of loving theory by Erich Fromm. The results of this study show the meaning of love as a holy, joyful, and eternal feeling to the speaker. The writer also finds the type of the speaker’s love, which is brotherly love. Brotherly love is love between equal based on the sense of care, respect, and responsibility.
1 1.1 Background of the Study
Literature is the written version of human life. Literature does not only being
the written expression of the writer, but it also records history and future thought
of life. From many kinds of literature, poem is one of the most popular. Poem is
the literary work of words and phrases that are arranged in a particular way, which
is beautiful. Poem is popular for its simplicity but deep meaning inside. The
simplicity is that poem can be created even by using kids’ words. Simple words
and sentences can build a great poem when it’s arranged well. As Cleanth Brooks
and Robert Warren noted in the Understanding Poetry that a poem is created by
language, literary convention, and ideas (1952: 516). Then the most important part
of a poem is its meaning. Whatever beautiful the language and the arrangement of
a poem, it’s nothing but the meaning to be understood. The meaning that comes
out from the poet’s ideas and intention is passing a deep thinking before it’s
expressed in words. Thus, since a poem is the expression of the poet, then no one
can blame it wrong.
The most popular poem today is love poem. Why it is so popular is that people
assume the poetic diction in poem is romantic and they are excited on making
love poem for their beloved. While, the romanticism period in English has started
between 1798 when William Wordsworth and Coleridge began compiling and
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filled with the love of nature since the poets in that era were mostly writing about
nature. Romanticism poems are based on the poets’ experience of nature, whether
it is of a landscape-view or of a person impression experience. The one that differ
the romanticism poem from the other poem is that it focuses on a particular and
individual subject as Martin Steinmann and Gerald Willen mention in the
Literature for Writing the Second Edition, “the romantics tend to be interested in
the particular rather than the general; in the exotic, the idiosyncratic, the odd, the
abnormal, rather than the typical and the normal; in the individual rather than the
species” (1967: 555).
One of the most popular poets in the romanticism period is William
Wordsworth. He is the author ofWe are Seven,Daffodils,I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud, andThe World is Too Much With Us. As the romanticism poet, his poems
came truly from his impression of the nature. Here the writer is going to analyze
one of Wordsworth’s poems entitled A Complaint. This poem is on the
Wordsworth’s Prelude and is one of his famous works. A Complaint is a love
poem. The writer found it very interesting because it is not only told about love
but more about love and how it affects people. A Complaint tells about a
complaint expressed by the poet on a change of his beloved. That there is a
change o his beloved made him sad. The writer will analyze the meaning of love
in the poem and how it affects the poet.
1.2 Research Problem
A Complaintis a love poem that is not only tells about love itself but also about
problems to be studied. That A Complaint is a love poem, the writer finds the he
has to analyze the meaning of love as expressed in the poem. Then the writer
needs to examine what kind of love the speaker has in the poem. Another problem
found in the poem is that there is a problem caused by love that affects to the
speaker, so the writer needs to analyze how love can affects the speaker, what the
problem is, and how the speaker face the problem.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to understand and to appreciate the A
Complaint poem by William Wordsworth. In order to understand and to
appreciate the poem, the writer makes five points that answer the questions in the
research problem, the points are:
1. To find the definitions of love.
2. To find what kind of love the speaker has.
3. To find how love can affect the speaker.
4. To find out what love problems faced by the speaker.
5. To analyze how the speaker face his love problem.
1.4 Method of the Study
The writer conducts the study using the expressive orientation. Abrams, in The
Mirror and the Lamp, describes expressive orientation as:
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The expressive orientation focuses on studying the object by taking references
in the author’s real life. The object of this study is a poem entitledA Complaint by
William Wordsworth. In studying the poem, the writer uses the library research
method. The library research method is held through studying books and
references related to the study. As Wellek and Warren described about library
research, “the knowledge of most important libraries and familiarity with
catalogues as well as other reference books is undoubtedly an important
equipment of almost every student of literature” (1948: 58).
1.5 Organization of the Paper
This paper is built in five sections, which are:
1. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of five different points. First is the background of the
study, it gives the brief description on the reason and the object of the study.
Second, the research problem that consists of all the questions found by the writer
in this study. The third is the objectives of the study that contain the purposes of
the study. The method of the study describes how the writer conducting the study.
And the last is the organization of the paper that describes the structure of this
paper.
2. CHAPTER II: AUTHOR AND HIS WORK
This chapter is talking about the object of the study. There are two points in
this chapter, that are the biography of the author and the poem that is the object of
3. CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Within this chapter is the literature review of the theories used by the writer in
conducting the study. There are two main points, that is the intrinsic and the
extrinsic aspects. The first point consists of the theories used in analyzing the
intrinsic aspects of the study that is the Diction. Then, the second point describes
the theories used in analyzing the extrinsic aspects of the study, which are the
Love and the psychoanalytic theory.
4. CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
This chapter contains the writer’s analysis on the object of the study. The
analysis is separated in two points, that is the intrinsic and the extrinsic aspects.
The intrinsic analysis contains the paraphrase and the analysis on diction. The
extrinsic analysis contains the discussion on the meaning of love, the type of
speaker’s love, how it affects the speaker, the problem appeared and how it is
solved using the psychoanalytic approach.
5. CONCLUSION
The conclusion describes the result of the writer’s study in which the
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CHAPTER II
AUTHOR AND HIS WORK
2.1 William Wordsworth’s Biography
According toThe Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 2, William
Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake
District. The 8-year-old William Wordsworth was sent to school at Hawkshead
after his mother death. There he met the headmaster William Taylor who lent him
some books and encouraged his inclination in poetry.
His father, John Wordsworth, died suddenly when Wordsworth was 13. John
Wordsworth’s children were left in difficulties of continuing life. Nevertheless,
Wordsworth was able to go to St. John’s College at Cambridge in 1787.
In 1790, during the summer vacation of his third year in Cambridge, he went
on a tour with his friend, Robert Jones, to France and the Alps. He seemed to be
interested with France that after completing his course in Cambridge he went back
to France alone to master the language and qualify as a traveling tutor. A year in
France, 1971-1972, he fell in love with a young French woman, Annette Vallon,
an impetuous and warm-hearted daughter of a French surgeon. They were planned
to marry. However, the lack of fund forced Wordsworth to left Annette to
England only after their daughter, Caroline, was born. The war of England and
France then prevented Wordsworth to meet Annette anymore.
Under the desperation of love and lack of fund, one of Wordsworth friend,
live better. He then lived with his sister, Dorothy, in a rent-free cottage at
Racedown, Dorseshire, in 1975. At the same time, he met Samuel Taylor
Coleridge that gave him support and advises on writing poems. Two years later,
Wordsworth moved to Alfoxden to be near to where Coleridge was. There,
Wordsworth and Coleridge were discussing of poems almost everyday. They then
published the Lyrical Ballad in 1798. Wordsworth’s new style of poetry made
him famous soon. He was able to improve his life and then brought his sister
Dorothy to move permanently at Grasmere. In 1802, they finally got their father’s
legacy that made their life much better. Wordsworth was then married Mary
Hutchinson, a friend of his childhood. He fathered five children from Mary
Hutchinson.
Wordsworth gained prosperity and reputation of his great poems. He
published the Poems in Two Volumes in 1807 in which most of his great poems
were. He continued writings though it was not as great as before. Because of his
great influences in literature in that time, he was awarded honorary degrees, and in
1843 he was appointed as thepoet laureate. He died in 1850 at the age of 80, only
then his executors published his masterpiece of the autobiographical poems which
he had begun in 1798,The Prelude, where the A Complaint is in.
The A Complaint according to Romanticism in InfoRefuge.com is the poem
that Wordsworth wrote for his best friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The
complaint is due the changed Coleridge. Coleridge got addicted to drink and
opium that slowly broke his mind and changed his behavior. Wordsworth feels
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2.2 The Poem
This poem is taken from Classic Poetry Series: William Wordsworth –
Poems(2004: 20).
A Complaint
There is a change—and I am poor;
Your love hath been, nor long ago,
A fountain at my fond heart’s door,
Whose only business was to flow;
And flow it did; not taking heed
Of its own bounty, or my need.
What happy moments did I count!
Blest was I then all bliss above!
Now, for that consecrated fount
Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,
What have I? Shall I dare to tell?
A comfortless and hidden well.
A well of love—it may be deep—
I trust it is, —and never dry:
What matter? If the waters sleep
In silence and obscurity.
—Such change, and at the very door
2.3 The Translation of the Poem Sebuah Keluhan
Ada yang telah berubah, yang membuatku merana
Cintamu, yang dulu pernah menjadi
Air mancur di pintu hatiku tercinta
Yang hanya kutahu mengalir terus
Dan benar-benar mengalir saja, tanpa perduli
Atas apa yang dia berikan, atau apa yang aku butuhkan
Betapa indah saat-saat yang telah kulalui!
Aku telah diberkahi segala keindahan itu
Namun kini, untuk sumber air nan suci
Atas cinta yang hidup, menyala-nyala, lagi lirih itu
Apa yan telah aku dapatkan? Sanggupkah aku menyampaikan?
Aliran cinta itu menuju sumur tersembunyi yang gelap
Sebuah sumur cinta yang mungkin dalam
Aku percaya bahwa sumur itu tak akan kering
Namun bagaimana? Jika air cintapun terperangkap
Dalam sumur gelap dan galau
Perubahan seperti itu, tepat di pintu
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CHAPTER III
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Intrinsic Aspects
The intrinsic aspects of poem build its meaning as well as the beauty. There
are many intrinsic aspects build up the unity of a poem. Here, the writer will only
use two kinds of poem’s intrinsic aspects in this study, there are diction and
imagery.
3.1.1 Diction
Since poems are created of words, the word choice is indeed really important.
The word choice or the diction is one of critical parts to be concerned in creating
the poem. The poet has to precisely choose the words that can cast the meaning of
his poem. It is because the words in the poem are not only used to deliver the
information but also more to express feelings and to bring imagination to the
readers. To pick the most meaningful words are more important than to choose the
noble-sounding words. The right choice and the right arrangement of words in a
poem are enough to increase both the beauty and the emotion.
The meaning of the words used in a poem determines the meaning of the
poem itself. Therefore, the poet has to, once again, be careful on selecting the
right word so that the reader can get the right meaning expressed by the poet.
There are two basic meaning of words that commonly used in poems, which are
denotation and connotation. Denotation, based on Laurence Perrine in the
the word” (1969: 38). The dictionary meaning or the daily-life meaning of words
comes from common words that are used for its simplicity. The simplicity of
common words with its common meaning is used as so the reader can imagine the
poet’s purpose easily. However, poets are more likely to use the connotation
meaning of words in their poem. Perrine describes connotation as
what it suggests beyond what is expresses: its overtones of meaning... Connotation is very important to the poet, for it is one of the means by which he can concentrate or enrich his meaning—say more in fewer words. (1969: 38-39)
Connotation has wider coverage of meanings that can strengthen the poem.
Connotation does not show merely the image emerged from a word, but more of
the feeling and emotion of the word.
The example of denotation and connotation can be taken form the word
“rose”. The dictionary meaning of “rose” in Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionaryis a sweet-smelling flower that grows on a bush and usually has thorns
on its stems (1995: 1022). While the connotation meaning of “rose” usually, like
one used in the first line of William Blake’s The Sick Rose“O rose, thou art sick!”
(adapted from Brooks and Warren, 1952: 360), refers to a woman.
3.1.2 Imagery
Imagery, from Oxford dictionary, is “imaginative language that produces
pictures in the mind of people reading or listening” (1995: 592). When reading a
poem, such images will emerge in the readers mind. The seen images coming
from the experience that is recalled by the words will guide the readers to arrange
the setting and atmosphere provided in the poem. Imagery in the poem is not only
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written by Brooks and Warren in Understanding Poetry, “The images do much
more than merely provide a setting or stimulate the imagination or furnish pictures
pleasing in themselves. …images are the important devices for interpretation”
(1952:269).
The images, as the devices for interpretation, play a big role in delivering the
speaker intention to the readers. The images suggest idea and emotion that are
needed by the readers to rebuild and to feel the experience as felt by the speaker.
In reading poem, there is not only the image of visual appearance that will
come to the mind of the reader. Perrine stated that imagery is “the representation
to the imagination of sense experience” (1969: 54). The sense experience refers to
all of the sense that can be accepted and felt by the readers. Though the mind will
mostly give a visual appearance at first, but it can give more images that represent
other senses experience, as Perrine said:
But an image may also represent a sound; a smell; a taste; a tactile experience, such as hardness, wetness, or cold; an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, or nausea; or movement or tension in the muscles or joints. (1969: 54)
The five senses of human body are the basic receptors used in the imagery;
they are visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory. The two others are
included in bodily process and feels, they are organic and kinesthetic.
In this study, the writer will only use the following imagery:
3.1.2.1 Visual imagery
This imagery is based on what we can see, imaginatively, from what
expressed in the poem. The example of this kind of imagery can be taken from
The gray see and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and low
Those two stanzas in the beginning of the poem draw us the setting of the
poem with the image of the gray see, the long black land, the yellow half-moon.
Those stanzas give us not only the setting of the poem but more clearly mentioned
the color of the sea, the land, and the moon that bring us to feel the atmosphere in
the poem.
3.1.2.2 Organic imagery
The organic imagery brings internal sensations to the readers. The internal
sensations are such as hunger, thirsty, nausea, fear, pain, and sad. The Meeting at
Nightgives a good example of this kind of imagery
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
The organic imagery is on the joys and fears. The feelings of joys and fears
are felt by our heart that can lead to happiness and anxieties, they are organic
imagery.
3.1.2.3 Kinesthetic imagery
The kinesthetic imagery defines movements of anything in the poem to the
readers. An example of kinesthetic imagery can be taken from Robert Browning’s
Meeting at Night
And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
Each of those two stanzas is all contains kinesthetic imagery. The startled
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3.1.2.4 Auditory imagery
The auditory imagery brings imaginative sounds from the poem to be heard by
our hearing sense. The Meeting at Nightalso gives us a good example of this kind
of imagery
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match,
Those stanzas produce clear imaginative sounds for the readers. The sound of
the tap at the pane and the quick sharp scratch of the lighted match come
gorgeously to the readers hearing.
3.2 Extrinsic Aspects
Love is very important in human’s life. Love is given by God for all living
being. For human, love is shared to one another to dissolve their separateness and
loneliness, to achieve oneness with the other. Love is often really hard to
understand. We can look at the dictionary to find a definition of love, which is “a
strong feeling of deep affection for somebody or something” (1995: 699).
Nevertheless, it has a general meaning as feeling of affection, whether it is
passionate or not. Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving gives another definition of
love, which is “the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we
love” (1995: 72).
That love is an active concern means that love needs most of our care and
concern for that we love, practically. To love is an activity of giving. This giving
activity is based on the basic elements of love mentioned by Erich Fromm; they
on this, that is “if a woman told us that she loved flowers, and we saw that she
forgot to water them, we would not believe in her “love” for flowers” (1995: 72).
As showed in the example, to love flowers is to care them and to water them in
responsibility as her respect and knowledge that flowers need it to live and grow.
Here, the giving activity is practiced in joyous since she will be happy if the
flowers grow well and unfold beauty colors.
Love transforms and gives different feeling and effects based on its objects.
Fromm divides love based on its objects into five different types, which are
Brotherly Love, Motherly Love, Erotic Love, Self-Love, and Love of God. Here,
the writer will only use the Brotherly love to analyze the poem. Brotherly love is
love between equal based on the sense of responsibility, care, respect, knowledge
of the other and the wish of further his life (1995: 120). Brotherly love is love for
our brother, all of our brothers. The very characteristic of brotherly love is its lack
of exclusiveness. In brotherly love, we love our brothers and all other human with
the same capacity. We just love them all the same, no need particular
characteristic or qualities to be loved. We love them and we care of anything
happened to them. We love the helpless brothers and they do so when we are
helpless. This kind of love is based on the human solidarity and human
at-onement, that we all are one.
Though it is divided in different types, it has the same meaning for people
that love is important. The importance of love is showed by the fact that, Fromm
mentioned, love is the answer to the problem of human existence. Love does not
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nature of love that is soft and calm can lead to a peaceful condition. Love is the
only one that calms down the war and is the one that unite the people. While,
17 4.1 Intrinsic Analysis
The diction and imagery discussion in the intrinsic analysis is unwrapping
the meaning inside of the A Complaint. The diction analysis covers the denotation
and connotation of words used in the poem. While the imagery analysis covers the
visual, organic, kinesthetic, and auditory imagery discussions of the poem.
4.1.1 Diction
The poem was written with meaningful words. The words in the poem are
selected to support the purpose of the poem itself. To understand the poem, it is
needed to understand the meaning of the words used in it. Here is analysis of the
diction in the poem.
The title of the poem, A Complaint, clearly stated what the purpose of the
poem, which is to complain.Complaintmeans not only the action of complaining,
but it also includes the reason for not being satisfied (1995: 233). There must be a
problem or even problems, of dissatisfaction, that led the speaker to complain.
The problem may be found by understanding the poem. In order to understand the
poem, as mentioned above, it is needed to understand the words of the poem. This
can be done by analyzing the diction in every single line below:
First Stanza
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Begin from the very first line of the poem, the using of change brings the
dictionary meaning of the word that is a variation in one’s routine, occupation,
surroundings, etc (1995: 185). The change here is, more accurately, a different
occurred on something of the speaker’s concern leading the speaker to a poor
condition. The poorhere may refer to a feeling of disappointed by something that
is in contrast with what is usual or expected (1995: 896). The speaker is
disappointed by the dissatisfaction of the change happened.
Your love hath been, nor long ago,
In the second line of the first stanza, there is one keyword of the poem,love,
for the poem itself is a love poem. Love is a strong feeling of deep affection for
somebody or something (1995: 699). Love actually has wider meaning than its
dictionary meaning, it’s not merely affection. To love is to respect, to understand,
and to care of the one beloved.
A fountain at my fond heart’s door,
A fountain is an ornament structure or statue, often in a pool or lake, from
which one or more jets of water are pumped out into the air (1995: 467). The
fountain in this poem is the delineation of love decorating the speaker’s heart’s
door. The beauty of the statue in the center of the pool, the clean water, and the
attractive spouted water illustrate the beauty of love. Love is not only live in his
heart, it beautifies and cheers him.
Whose only business was to flow;
The above line describes the business of the fountain. The business
freely and continuously, to circulate in the fountain, but more to be produced
smoothly, continuously and naturally (1995: 451). It affirms that the speaker’s
fountain is not only a decoration in his heart, but this is also a fountain in which
love is coming from and flowing in.
And flow it did; not taking heed
Did, is the past form of do, it means that the fountain is not flowing love
anymore, whether it is stopped or is gone. This maybe the change mentioned by
the speaker in the first line that made himpoor. Moreover, love is not even taking
any heed when it was flowing. Heed means careful attention (1995: 555). The
using of heed shows how the speaker carefully chose a meaningful word that
perfectly expresses his feeling. By the using of heed, it is clear that the speaker
expect something that is unfortunately ignored by love. He expected that love will
give him not just attention, but a careful attention, which tender and patient.
Of its own bounty, or my need.
Thebountymeans what love gave to the speaker, generously. The pleasure of
being loved is the gift from love. However, it seems that love did not give him all
what he want, that the speaker said love did not taking heed of his need.
The first stanza of the poem openly states the speaker’s feeling in clear words
and expressions. In the introduction of the poem, the very first line, the speaker
straightly blows what problem he faced, that there is a change that made him
poor. The change refers to her beloved’s love, which has been a fountain of his
heart, which suddenly stopped flowing. The reason why love is not flowing
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Second Stanza
What happy moments did I count!
Begin the second stanza, the word what here refers to an exclamation. The
speaker realizes of happy moments he got from love. The word happy in the
dictionary means feeling or expressing pleasure, contentment (1995: 541). This
shows how love gave him its bounty to the speaker. The word happy is also the
acronym of poor in the first line, that happy is a feeling of satisfaction
(contentment) and poor is a feeling of dissatisfaction. This exclamation proves
that love has given him happiness before the change happened and the poorness
takes the place. While the word count means to calculate the total of something
(1995: 264). The purpose of this line is to show how many happy moments given
by love.
Blest was I then all bliss above!
The using ofblestconfirms the religiosity of the speaker. Blest is the passive
form of bless that means to ask for God’s favour and protection (1995: 113). Only
God can bless people since no one has the power to give people miracle and such
bliss. Bliss is perfect happiness, great joy (1995: 114). It used to emphasize the
meaning of happyin the previous line since the quantity of happiness in the bliss
is massive and perfect. The meaning of this line is nearly the same as the previous
line, which is to show that love is a blessing that brought the speaker happy
Now, for that consecrated fount
This next line also brings the religiosity of the speaker. Consecrated comes
from the word consecrate means to bring something in religious use or admit
somebody into a religious office(s) by a special ceremony (1995: 244). So, here
the meaning of consecratedis holy or purified. While, fount is a source or origin
of something (1995:467). The fount may refer to the fountain in the third line of
the poem. The consecrated fountis the holy fountain where love is coming from
and flowing in.
Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,
Here, the speaker uses three different words to describe love he felt. Love
described as murmuring, sparkling, and living. Murmuring means making a low
continues sound. Sparkling means shining with flashes of light. While living
means currently alive or is being used. Those three words have their own meaning
that is supporting each other in describing love for the speaker. The speaker feels
the love as a feeling lives in and brightens his heart whispering him the songs of
love.
What have I? Shall I dare to tell?
Dareis not simply to be to be brave to do something, there is a lot of courage
to be fearless of the consequences. There is also challenge in thedare to perform
the quest that is not only enclosed consequences but also rewards. The speaker is
wondering if he dares to speak the truth that must be not good. He is considering
of what he has, of what he got from love, before deciding to be dare enough to tell
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A comfortless and hidden well.
The line above is describing about a well in the speaker’s heart. A well is a
deep hole in the ground, usually lined with brick or stone, for obtaining water
from under the ground (1995: 1354). The well in someone’s heart wouldn’t be
physical well containing water. It is described as comfortless and hidden.
Comfortless means without comfort or is not comfort. Comfort is the state of
being free from suffering, pain or worry; feeling at ease (1995: 226). The
comfortless well here can be interpreted as a gloomy well where there are both
dark and uneasy to live in. Whilehiddenmeans out of sight whether it is unknown
or is veiled. The hidden well is somewhere unknown in the speaker’s heart, a
mysterious place.
Those lines in the second stanza are telling the flowing stream of love. It was
told in the first stanza that love was coming from thefountain. The flowing stream
of love brings happiness and even bliss to the speaker. Then love is flowing to a
well, a gloomy and mysterious well somewhere in the speaker’s heart. This
condition leads the speaker to an anxiety that something terrible is about to
happen.
Third Stanza
A well of love—it may be deep—
The last stanza begin with more description of the well spoken in the
preceding stanza, it is a well of love. It may be said that this well is where love
anymore in the fountain, love is all stored in the well. Furthermore, the well of
love isdeep. Deep means far down or in (1995: 304). Thedeepof a well of love is
not just its depth in measure, that it has a huge capacity. Besides, it was told that
the well is comfortless and hidden. So, the deep in this line may have additional
function to emphasize the gloominess and the mysteriousness of the well. A deep,
gloomy, and mysterious well is truly uneasy to live in, even for the sparkling love.
I trust it is, —and never dry:
The speaker trusts the well. To trust is not just to depend or to rely on
somebody or something, it is more to believe with hope and faith. That the
speaker trusts the well will neverdry means he believes that the well able to keep
love still, though the speaker himself does not know where is the exact place of
the well and that it is genuinely dark in there. However, thedryhere is not merely
the lost of water like in the ordinary well. Since the well is a well of love,drymay
refer to emptiness, dull, boring, or feeling of no emotion. If a well of love is dry, it
means that love has gone, there won’t be any sparkling lights anymore from love,
this that lead to the feeling of no emotion.
What matter? If the waters sleep
The previous line told about how the speaker trusts the well. Conversely, the
next line shows how he does not completely trust it, since he is afraid that the
waters will sleepthere. The waters refer to love, since the well is a well of love,
so the water inside is indeed love. When love sleeps in the well, it does not plainly
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being afraid of. He is afraid if the living love will not be able to survive, that it
will sleep in the gloominess to die.
In silence and obscurity.
This line brings more explanation on the sleepof love. The speaker is afraid
if his love sleeps in silenceand obscurity.Silence is the condition of being quiet
or silent, the absence of sound (1995: 1101). While obscurity means darkness;
poor light (1995: 798). If love sleeps in silence, love would stop murmuring the
songs of love to the speaker. He does not want that to happen. He is also afraid
that thesparklinglove will get lost in the darkness of the well.
—Such change, and at the very door
The underlined words above have a purpose in referring to the preceding
statement. Thechange mentioned in the first line of the poem is explained in the
preceding statement. The change is that love flows to a well and sleeps there.
Of my fond heart, hath made me poor.
This last line of the poem point out the speaker’s feeling as spoken in the
beginning of the poem, poor. The poorness of the speaker is due to change
mentioned in the previous line. The change flings to sadness and dissatisfaction.
He is disappointed by the fact that love is not flowing anymore as he want.
The last stanza of the poem obviously answers the question from the first
stanza of what kind of change happened leading the speaker to poorness. This
stanza explains that love is flowing from the fountain to the mysterious well. Love
is then trapped in the gloomy well. The speaker says that love sleeps within the
does not flowing anymore in the fountain of his heart have made him sad. The
sadness, the feeling of disappointed leading to dissatisfaction of love, is the main
reason why the speaker has to complain.
The whole poem of theA Complaintis made of beautiful words. Most of the
words are having their dictionary meaning making easy for the readers to
understand the meaning of the poem. The words are selected both to communicate
the purpose of the poem and to beautify it by creating rhymes. From the diction
analysis above, it can be apparently understand what the message in the poem is.
The poem is a complaint of the speaker due to the different happened to the love
he has. Love is not flowing in his heart anymore and it seems lost in a mysterious
well hidden in his heart. That kind of change grieved him to poorness.
4.1.2 Imagery
Imagery, as described in the previous chapter, is responsible in building
setting, emotion and atmosphere for the readers. Imagery is one device to drive
the readers to the world of the poem. When the readers is successfully get in the
world of the poem, they will be able to feel and to understand the poem smoothly.
In order to get a deeper understanding ofA Complaint, below is the analysis on its
imagery:
4.1.2.1 Visual imagery
Visual imagery gives the readers images of a sight. Visual imagery is all
images of things, views or else that can be received by the eyesight,
imaginatively. Here are some lines in the poem containing visual imagery:
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There are two words that draw visual images while reading the line above,
they are fountainanddoor. Reading the line will emerge an image of a pool with
clear water watched by a door, which is the heart’s gate. In the center of the pool
stands a statue where water is spouted over and fall within the pool. This image
illustrates a gorgeous scene where the fountain is not just a decoration placed by
the heart’s gate. The fountain is the main object to be noticed in the scene. The
importance of the fountain is that the speaker makes it as a delineation of love.
Love, to the speaker, is of course not just a decoration to beautify his heart, it is
flowing wisely inside. This line is the opening scene of the poem. By seeing that
scene, the readers will be tortured on how to feel what is the speaker going to tell
about.
And flow it did; not taking heed
This line illuminates preceding scene presented. By the flow, the image of the
fountain becomes livelier. Though the image of flowing water presents in the first
scene, but it is only the flow that the water is spouted over from the statue. The
flow of this line spells out that the water is also flowing within the fountain. The
water is coming from within the fountain, is spouted over and is flowing farther.
The image of the flowing water overflows the readers’ imagination as the water
spills over the fountain. To where the water flowing is whereabouts to be find.
Now, for that consecrated fount
When reading the consecrated fount, the image of the fountain from the third
line of the poem will once again come into view. The fount, as mentioned in the
only different is that this fountain may be brighter than the first one seen. This is
the effect of the consecrated that bring the aura of sanctity to the fountain. The
readers are dragged to feel the holiness of love that is a blessing from God.
Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,
The sparkling love is the most attractive visual image comes from the line
above. As love is delineated into a fountain, the waters must be carrying love.
Thus, the sparklinglove comes into sight as the flashes of light on the surface of
the stream. This kind of image is like the view of a beautiful river in the night,
where the shining stars and the moonlights are reflected on the surface.
Nonetheless, as love itself is sparkling, the image coming from this line is sure
brighter and more beautiful than the lovely view of a river in the night. This
beauty is what the speaker feels about his love and what is set to be seen and to be
felt by the readers.
A comfortless and hidden well.
This line brings an image of a well. The well is hidden, mysterious. The only
image comes out is that there is a well in the center of a huge space of darkness.
The well is also as gloomy as where it is. Seeing such image will lead the readers
to anxiety, the anxiety that is also felt by the speaker. The speaker is worry about
love that is flowing toward the gloomy and mysterious well.
A well of love—it may be deep—
The well is mentioned one more time in this line, but this line brings more
specific illustration of the well, it is deep. The readers are brought closer to the
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deep well brings more anxiety to the readers as if they were pulled down and fall
to a never ending ground hole. However, the true anxiety is not to fall down in the
well, the speaker’s anxiety is what if love flows there and cannot survive. By this
line also the readers can imagine the stream of love flowing down to the well and
vanishes in the darkness.
—Such change, and at the very door
This line brings the readers back to the first scene given where the gate and
the fountain were set, but there is a significant changeon the image. The change
spoken by the speaker is that love has lost in the gloomy and mysterious well.
Therefore, the fountain is not flowing love anymore. The attractive stream of the
sparkling love isn’t there anymore. The scene that once looks so beautiful and
cheerful becomes dull and quiet.
4.1.2.2 Organic imagery
The organic imagery brings internal sensations to the readers. Below are
discussions of organic imagery in some lines of the poem:
There is a change—and I am poor;
The organic imagery is found even in the very beginning of the poem as the
speaker stated his poorness in the first line. Although the readers could not yet get
the idea of what causing thepoor, but the idea of poorness will immediately come
to sense. The readers’ experience of this kind of feeling will drive them to a sad
atmosphere. To hear of the speaker’s poorness triggers the readers to show their
sympathy. This sympathy is then followed by curiosity of what kind of change
Your love hath been, nor long ago,
The organic imagery of this line comes from the word love. Love delivers
colorful feeling to the sense even by reading it as word. Everyone must have been
experienced love, so this kind of feeling will be effortless to imagine and to feel.
Imagining love heaves the readers to vivid paradise garden full of colorful
blooms. The brilliance, peacefulness and cheerfulness are what to be the very first
impression of love. Thus, reading the word love recalls peacefulness and
happiness of the readers.
And flow it did; not taking heed
Heed in this line is used to show that the speaker feels there are not enough
kind attention and care given by love. The speaker expected tender and patient
attention that in some way is ignored by love. By this line, again, the readers are
demanded to show their sympathy to the speaker.
What happy moments did I count!
This line is used by the speaker to share his happy experiences that is given by
love. Knowing that the speaker is given some happy moments lessens the readers’
sympathy for the poor speaker. By this line also the readers are brought to their
own happy moments with love. This line indeed affects on alleviating the
sympathy of the readers for the speaker, it cheers them up somehow.
A comfortless and hidden well.
The visual imagery of a gloomy well in above line affects the feeling of the
readers. The comfortless of the well comes to the sense as a condition that isn’t
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anxiety, the anxiety that is mentioned in the previous discussion of this line. The
anxiety rises by the fact that the well is hidden, that no one will not be able to find
the well nor what is in it.
I trust it is,—and never dry:
The wordtrustdoes not only show that the speaker does believe to and depend
on the well. That the speaker trusts the well relieves him. The feelings of safe and
secure soothe the anxiety that is felt earlier. The readers’ sympathy and anxiety
are also allayed by the speaker’strustto the well.
Of my fond heart, hath made me poor.
Poor is once again spoken by the speaker in the very end of the poem.
Nevertheless, the poor of this line has richer meaning than one on the first line.
This poorcontains the reason and the message of the poem. The readers will feel
their sympathy is now reasonable since they know what actually happened to the
speaker is. This may lead to a deeper sympathy for the speaker.
4.1.2.3 Kinesthetic imagery
The kinesthetic imagery defines movements of anything in the poem to the
readers. Here are some lines of the poem containing kinesthetic imagery:
And flow it did; not taking heed
The line is visibly defines a kinesthetic imagery, theflow. The flow of this line
refers to the stream of love in the fountain. The stream of love flowing wisely in
the fountain does not only display the beauty of love’s mild motion but also brings
life for the love and the speaker.
Any living being produces motion, even plants produce motion by growing.
Thus, as love is described as livingin this line, love must be producing motion as
well. The motion produced by love is, as discussed before, the flow. However, the
flow is not the only motion produced by love. The living love is also responsible
in raising the pulse of heartbeat. The heartbeat of someone that is in love is sure
faster than the ordinary heartbeat, especially when he meets his beloved.
4.1.2.4 Auditory imagery
Auditory imagery brings imaginative sounds produced by the poem to be
heard by the readers. Here are some lines in the poem that produces auditory
imagery:
And flow it did; not taking heed
The flowof this line does not only present visual and kinesthetic imagery but
also an auditory imagery. Imagining the flowing water will bring the sound of the
stream as well as the scene and the motion. The sound produced by the
flow-stream of love is not alike any sound that is produced by the flow-stream of water. The
sound produced by love must be softer, calmer and more attractive than any other
sound, it is more musical. It is like a gentle instrumental song.
Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,
The speaker tells that love is murmuring. Reading this line produces low
sound of love. Themurmuringmay be the sound of the stream that is like a gentle
instrumental song. Moreover, surely, the stream is not just like an instrumental
song in the speaker’s heart. The gentle instrumental song is somehow whispering
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That romantic lyric is what encouraging the speaker to love his beloved. Listening
to the sound of murmuring love brings calm and peace since heed and quietness is
also needed to be able hear the murmuring sound.
The above discussion of the poem’s imagery greatly helps in further
understanding of the poem. The images of the lines successfully develop the
setting and the atmosphere of the poem. Those lines also elevate the emotion of
the readers flawlessly. Each of the imagery in the poem shares the idea of the
poem so that the readers are able to feel and to understand the poem smoothly.
4.2 Extrinsic Aspects
The purpose of this study is mainly to understand the message of the poem.
The beginning of this chapter had discussed on the diction and imagery of the
poem. Those discussions importantly help on understanding the message of the
poem. Nevertheless, to get deeper understanding on the message of the poem, it
needs sharper analysis that is more significant, the extrinsic analysis.
The A Complaint is a love poem. The two previous discussions tell it all
together. Understanding the speaker’s love is needed to be able to understand the
poem. To understand love is not plainly to define its definition, to know what kind
of love is and all the problems inside are also important. In this section, the writer
divides the discussion in five points in order to understand the speaker’s love.
4.2.1. The definition of the speaker’s love
In theA Complaint, the speaker tells us merely about love. Love, which is a
beautiful and important feeling for everyone. Erich Fromm mentioned that love is
a concern of whatever happened to one we love (1995: 72). According to the
speaker, love is like “A fountain at my fond heart’s door, / Whose only business
was to flow;” Love is such a decoration in the speaker’s heart. It is just not like an
ordinary decoration, it is the main object to be noticed as stated in the visual
imagery discussion. The importance of the fountain is not just to beautify the
speaker’s heart. The fountain is where the water of love is coming from as it is the
fountof love. And that love is flowing in the fountain brings aliveness to the love.
The aliveness of love is clearly stated in the tenth line of the poem, “Of
murmuring, love stealthily commands the speaker to share his love to the beloved.
To share is to give, generously. The action of giving is a practice of love that
proves its aliveness. Erich Fromm described the action of giving as expression of
aliveness.
Giving is the highest expression of potency. In the very act of giving, I experience my strength, my wealth, my power. This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy. I experienced myself as overflowing, spending, alive, hence as joyous. Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving lies the expression of my aliveness. (1995: 62)
Giving brings joy. This mean sharing love will brings joy as well. This is what
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loving. Love sparkles brighter as it is practiced and shared. Love does not
brighten the heart literally, love fills it with cheerfulness and peacefulness.
Love cannot be separated from the holy blessing of God. God is the true of
pure love. God loves people without begging it back. The using of wordsblestand
consecrated in the poem show the unbreakable relation of love and the Holy
Being. Only God can bless human being. Here, the speaker is blest with some
happy momentsof love. The speaker also tells that thesparklinglove comes from
a consecrated fount meaning holy or purified source. A holy source will only
produce holy and beautiful thing, as love that sparkling. Those two beautiful
words confirm the purity and generosity of the speaker’s love.
In the last stanza of the poem, the speaker tells that there is a well of love. In
the well is where love will be stored. The depth of the well represents how much
the quantity of the speaker’s love, as if it were measureable. However, he does not
know clearly how deep it is. He only says it may be deep. It shows that the
speaker himself though does not know the exact value, but he trusts and hopes
that the well is deep enough for his love. This covertly states that he loves his
beloved a lot. Moreover, the speaker trusts that his well of love wouldnever dry.
Love may be an eternal thing which is a blest of God given for the speaker and all
the human being to be shared all over the universe.
By the above discussion, it is clear that the definition of love for the speaker
is expressed in the language of his poem. Love, for the speaker, is an everlasting
4.2.2. The speaker’s Brotherly Love
Love is a universal feeling that everyone has and shares. Generally, love is
the same all around the world. The purpose of loving is to share and to care. Love
can be divided in several types based on its subject. Erich Fromm divides love
based on its objects in five types, which are Brotherly Love, Motherly Love,
Erotic Love, Self-Love, and Love of God.
The speaker’s love object is not stated clearly whether it is man, woman,
friend, girlfriend, or wife. The speaker only tells that love is like a fountainin his
heart. The fountain, as delineation of his love, explains how the speaker
appreciates his beloved love. As discussed before, when thefountain is spoken, a
beautiful image of a fountain emerged, this is the main function of the fountain in
the speaker’s heart, to be a decoration, to beautify.
According to the words that are expressed by the speaker, there is a lack of
exclusiveness where there are no words that vividly show sexual passion of the
love. Thus, the object of the speaker’s love may be one of his friends. And that the
speaker seems having a big gratitude to the love he felt, the object of his love
must be his best friend. The speaker’s best friend refers to Samuel Taylor
Coleridge since theIin the poem is the author himself, William Wordsworth.
The lack of exclusiveness is the characteristic of a brotherly love. Brotherly
love, according to Erich Fromm, is love between equal based on the sense of
responsibility, care, respect, knowledge of the other and the wish of further his life
(1995: 120). The object of brotherly love is fellow man, all human being, that
36
In brotherly love there is the experience of union with all men, of human solidarity, of human at-onement. Brotherly love is based on the
not just to help, it is beautiful and bold. He appreciates the love as a fountain of
his heart as to present his respect to his beloved. This is how Wordsworth shows
gratitude to his beloved companion, Coleridge. Victoria Best in Wordsworth and
Coleridge I stated that “He [Coleridge] was one of the few people who could
make Wordsworth laugh, and he readily and generously shared his deep
philosophical knowledge and theoretical insight” (2010).
Wordsworth and Coleridge’s relationship is brotherly love based on their
obsessive love of nature and their obsession to bring poem back to its proper
shape. Coleridge found Wordsworth as poet that can build his dream of making
long idealistic poem, while Wordsworth found Coleridge as friend inspiring him
with great thoughts and ideas. The relationship of these two men is basically a
mutual symbiosis relationship of a poet and an editor, as mentioned by Duncan
Wu in his review of The Friendship, “Coleridge's ambition for Wordsworth as a
poet and Wordsworth's addiction to Coleridge as his reader” (2006). Their love,
their friendship, comes from their compatibility making them possible to achieve
the unity of friendship that brings them to collaboration in writing Lyrical
When a change happened to his love, it made him poor. It confirms the
speaker’s knowledge of the beloved that he knows every single pieces of his
beloved, and when a change happened he can simply found it out. He does not
only delineate it as a fountain but also call love as the water of a well that would
never dry. That he believes on the eternality of his love, the friendship, shows his
seriousness that he will keep on loving whatever happened to one or both of them.
This proves his care and responsibility and wish of further life on his beloved.
4.2.3. Love effects to the speaker
As mentioned above, the knowledge of the other is one characteristic of
brotherly love. The knowledge here means understanding and caring of the
beloved, as Erich Fromm stated that love is a concern of whatever happened to
one we love (1995: 72). Understanding every detail of the beloved is a must since
to love is to understand. When it is understood, then the essence of love can be
felt and kept.
In the poem, the speaker understands love as the fountain at his heart. The
speaker tells that love flows and brings happy moments that are bliss for him.
Thosehappy momentscome from the joy feeling of loving. The joy feeling comes
by getting along with everything he knew and understood of the beloved. That is
how love brings happiness. However, love does not always bring happiness. Since
love is a full concern for the beloved, a very small different in it will be found
easily and clearly by the lover. Hardly any change that is found from what had
been understood and had been known will lead to a very different situation. The
38
his heart. He states, ”There is a change—and I am poor”. Love that once brought
him happiness is now throws him to a gloomy valley. That are how love gives
great influence to the owner.
4.2.4. The speaker’s love problem
This love poem does not only describing the meaning of love for the speaker,
but more about the dissatisfaction of his love. In the poem, the case is that there is
a change in the speaker love, the change in Coleridge of addiction to drink and
opium, Coleridge becomes friendly with drink and opium as the result of
dejection in his life, as John Spencer Hill noted in theA Coleridge Companion,
Isolation, a sense of personal inadequacy, hopeless love, marital discord, physical illness, and opium: all these were factors in Coleridge's dejection-crisis; and there were other, less tangible, less conscious factors, too, such as Coleridge's repressed envy of Wordsworth's happiness and poetic productivity. (1983: 185)
Coleridge marital tension, hopeless love with Sarah Hutchinson who is
Wordsworth’s sister-in-law and his envy to Wordsworth’s productivity and
success are some of the triggers on his addiction to drink and opium, beside of his
physic illness that needs the opium as the remedy. The friendship, the brotherly
love, of Wordsworth and Coleridge could not even help Coleridge suffer from
dejection. Coleridge decided to go abroad for years. He comes back with the
change that grieves Wordsworth, “There is a change—and I am poor”. The A
Complaint explicitly illustrates Wordsworth’s anxiety and disappointment toward
Coleridge.
As discussed in the preceding point, a single different in love may lead to a
Complaint, the speaker wants to complain on the change happened to his love.
Since love is about caring and understanding, it is very sensitive. Very few
changes on it will lead to a blind complaint. The complaint rises against the
change happened, the dissatisfaction and disappointment of love of the speaker.
The change that is intended by the speaker is the love that was once flooding
the fountain of his heart is now flowing toward a mysterious well, “A comfortless
and hidden well”. This troubled the speaker by the fact that the well is hidden and
even comfortless that must be uneasy to survive down in there. The troubled
speaker bares his anxiety by saying, “Shall I dare to tell?” He himself is even
terrified to admit that situation.
The problem is leading to a worse state that the speaker tells, “What matter?
If the waters sleep / In silence and obscurity”. The waters, the love, that derived
from the fountain of his heart is flowing down and is trapped in that gloomy and
mysterious well. That love will sleep in silence and darkness terrified the speaker.
He is afraid if love does not able to survive in the well, lost and died down there
in gloominess.
The problem, the change, causing the different is threatening the speaker. His
anxiety of losing his love leads him to complain. The other reasons of the
complaint are the speaker’s dissatisfaction and disappointment of love. He expects
that love could understand him deeply, but love does not even taking heed of his
need. The speaker also believes that love will whisper him its song forever, but
love flows to a mysterious well and sleeps there instead. This is how Wordsworth
40
their friendship like when they completing Lyrical Ballads. However, Coleridge
addiction to drink and opium drives him to a bad behavior. Wordsworth is
unhappy of it and calls Coleridge, as mentioned in Romanticism, ‘a rotten
drunkard’ (Romanticism, 448, in InfoRefuge.com). The change on Coleridge
grieves Wordsworth. Wordsworth becomes anxious of the change deteriorating
their friendship.
Love is a great feeling, yet there are many intrigues in love. Love is fragile.
There many even small things that can easily transform the beauty of loving to a
grieved poorness. The complaint of the speaker for his dissatisfaction and
disappointment is a common problem in love, as Erich Fromm stated inThe Art of
Loving, “There is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such
tremendous hopes and expectations, and yet, which fail so regularly, as love”
(1995: 22).
4.2.5. Facing the love problem
The change of the beloved is a big problem for the speaker. The speaker is
unable to go on with the difference. He complains. The complaint of the speaker
is a common response for such change in love. The complaint is used to show the
disappointment or dissatisfaction of the change. He does complain, but in the
other hand, he admitted that love has gave him a lot of happiness, “What happy
moments did I count! / blest was I then all bliss above!” Love gave him happiness
and even bliss. Moreover, he believes in his love. He is afraid of the change
happened and of losing his love, but he believes that his love will never end, “A
raises the complaint in such hesitancy, “What have I? Shall I dare to tell?” He is
afraid of the change happened, but he cannot toughly admit it and frontally shout
the complaint.
Wordsworth is indeed that kind of man as noted by Richard Eder inColeridge
was Wordsworth’s Albatross, “Wordsworth’s more equable, sustained, and
internal” (2007). Though he is disappointed and is upset of Coleridge change, he
cannot frontally complain it, rather he writes them down in a magnificent poem.
This is also because love has blest him happy moments and he trusts that his well
