The Tables Turned by WIlliam Woodsworth

There are a vast amount of poems written by many known authors, but the one that matters the most to me is:“The Tables Turned”, by WIlliam Woodsworth. At first any reader will not see much correlation between an inquiring friend telling the other one to not read so much for the sake of going outside and not being sedentary. But once delving more into the roots of this poem we see many correlations that overlap with each other and express a deeper message that the reader needs to acknowledge for themselves and their well being.

This poem both expresses heavy themes relating to the beauty of mother nature, desires vs. responsibilities, and the self-realisation of oneself through nature. Throughout this essay I will be discussing, analysing, articulating with reasons, and dismantling the hidden meanings of this poem. We shouldn’t drown ourselves in our physical selves and responsibilities. It is also important for us to reconnect and gain a better relationship with our minds, bodies, and soul through the use of nature.

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“The Tables Turned”, by WIlliam Woodsworth compares nature to books but the natural teachings and significance that nature can give vastly overpowers that which books do. Pages are nothing more than mere human objects with empty devices that distracts us. It cannot compare to the wisdom and principles the creation of the natural world can offer.

“ Enough of Science and of Art

Close up those barren leaves;

Come forth, and bring with you a heart (31)

That watches and receives.

This poem is spoken through a first person narration, which is actually Wordsworth speaking to his friend, Matthew. Wordsworth in the 29th sentence, is asking his friend to leave the world of which his philosophies and mind come from. Life and nature is a far better teacher that gives form to experiences and feelings of the heart rather than “those barren leaves” he describes. Compared to its original master which books come from, they are a mere flimsy copies that cannot express or give what the outside does. In the 31st sentence he mentions to his friend that he should bring forth his heart. His friend is a man of science and of the mind, so he does not have the leisure to experience the outdoors for personal pleasure, but Wordsworth insists to his friend that it is good to take a break and come forth with an open heart rather than thinking all of the time. The beauty of nature is that you needn’t let yourself be tied down to earthly matters. It is there for humans to breathe in the freshness and liveliness of the leaves, the delicate swiftness of the branches on trees, and the animals scurrying to and fro all around. It does not require a scientist, a philosopher or an astronomer to be out and explore the Earth, no, in fact this is a gift available to anyone and anything of any color, species, race, and gender. Mother nature is simple and all that she requires is not a person that overthinks her, but basks in her beauty and her existence instead. All she asks of people is to “watch and receive”.

The self-realization and potential of nature can always be in any bodys grasp. We are what we make of it. Nature can be there to help us reach our true potential through letting our physical forms go and let our souls grow and learn through the heart of the soil which we come from and eventually return to. We humans have many responsibilities that are tethered to our construction of society, and that is not a bad thing. But we must also realize that too much of something is bad for our essence. That is why we need to stop being so sedentary with our lives all of the time and we must give in to our healthy earthly desires such as relaxing, taking a vacation, and surrounding ourselves within the trees that will listen to our whispers and absorb our troubles.

In this poem William Wordsworth was easily able to compare and contrast humans and the two sides we have within ourselves. The first half belongs to the buildings we work in, the essays we need to complete, the books we read for our knowledge, and the jobs we go to. So he tries to call upon us urgently, as seen through the exclamation points, to get up and leave our books and such.

“Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;

Or surely you'll grow double: (2)

Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; (3)

Why all this toil and trouble?

He tells us to quit our books in line 1 because they are not our proper source of where we must gain our knowledge from. In line 2 he exclaims that we will grow double by losing sense of our originality and our sense of time and reality. He continues emphasizing this point by telling us to clear our looks, which means that the way we see our perspectives from should change from mindless workers to mindful people. But things are not so easy for his friend (and us) because the second half we have is the one we hardly connect to. He takes the role of the person who tries to make us, the reader, try to see that by pushing the narrative of making us open our hearts and not our minds to try to encourage us to leave our normal ways. He is trying to tell us to get up, listen with our hearts, and go enjoy the simple pleasures we began with since the beginning of time to heal our souls and essence. Nature is there for us so it’s time for us to listen to it and give it our attention and care back.

The way this poem articulates itself is very constructive and it did help me see the images of nature he was portraying. He used a lot of exclamation points which expressed a lively and positive outlook to what he was saying and teaching us. It made me think of the ways that we should communicate with our surroundings and community by being a part of it and not deliberately isolating ourselves from it. So many things constantly separate us from the outside, and personally that is something I struggle with as well since I am a sedentary person that only goes to school, then work, and straight home, I do not make time to make myself a part of the outside. Wordsworth was making the effort to try to make us see his message but ultimately it is up to the reader to put down our phones, books, TV controllers, video games, etc and become more active and be a part of the wilderness.

Nature and humanity for him is seen as something that needs to connect with each other once again and rekindle that old reliance we used to have with the earth. He used books as an example that simply divided our attention from it. In my opinion things such as books or phones are not bad for us, but many of us seem to use an overabundance of them which only further distracts us from our desires and nature. It did challenge my thoughts, because this poem seemed as if it were directly talking to me and addressing the issues that I need to face, change, and overcome. I got his message and ultimately it will be up to me whether to take his advice and change for the better. I know I need to be more active, and I need to stop worrying about work, school, and responsibilities all of the time. It can be stressful, but if I do manage to go outside for 30 minutes and take a stroll around my neighborhood or go on a hike trail it will help me see the meaning and message that Willaim Wordsworth was telling us. We needn’t always block ourselves from the beauty of daylight and the ground beneath us. We humans need to take a break and stop thinking with our minds all the time about stuff such as science, art, math, and anything that makes sense through our minds. Most of the time what is most important is what we feel with our hearts and our five senses when we step outside our comfort zones and explore the world around us.  

Works cited

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5. Housman, A. E. (2012). The Classical Papers of A. E. Housman: Volume 2, 1897-1914. Cambridge University Press.
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