Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes and the Neoclassic Picturesque Tradition:Similarities and Differences

This paper argues in what ways and to what extent Wordsworth’s viewpoints on natural scenery in his Guide to the Lakes are similar to or different from the neoclassic picturesque tradition. Wordsworth’s Guide is a multifaceted work that contains both traditional and revolutionary elements in dealing with nature. In its description of nature ― with its scientific interest in nature, its associating beauty with utility, and its emphasis on compositional unity ― his Guide affirms and employs the theories and practices of the neoclassic picturesque tradition. However, in its attitude toward nature, the Guide shows a drastic change from that of its neoclassic predecessors ― from treating nature as man’s subject to treating man as nature’s subject. Wordsworth’s Guide , thus showing a new view on the relationship between man and nature while preserving the criteria and methods of the neoclassic picturesque tradition, is an epochal link between the Neoclassic Period and the Romantic Period in the history of English literature.