Narration and the Question of Isolation in 'Their Lonely Betters' and 'Resolution and Independence' Anonymous 12th Grade

Both ‘Their Lonely Betters’ and ‘Resolution and Independence’ convey the feelings of how, along with how great the gift of speech is in allowing us to be unique and communicate with one another, we should appreciate nature for what it is, for revealing to us the finer details in life. Yet, particularly in Wordsworth’s poem, he emphasises the danger of becoming too reliant on nature as guidance. However, most importantly, I have chosen these poems to compare, as they make vivid how pleasurable the interaction between others can be, and however solitary human existence becomes, there is the interaction with nature to allow a peaceful reminder that you are not alone.

Auden's and Wordsworth's poems are written and narrated in the first person, and so we immediately get a certain intimacy which we enjoy between the interactions these narrators are having. When describing “the rustling flowers” in Auden’s or the “courteous speech” in Wordsworth’s, through a certain free indirect discourse, we receive an emotional insight into the narrators, gaining intimations of his true feeling through the way they describe their interactions. The poems start almost in media res, as if things had been events prior to this. “As I listened from a...