131-132) Wordsworth's notion of solitude is not a depressing one. It is in truth an utter solitude ' 4 The feeling of solitude is brought to a peek when the shepherd’s home is described as a ' cottage on a plot of rising ground' which stands 'single, with large prospect, north and south,'. 'No habitation can be seen but they/ Who journey thither find themselves alone/. Wordsworth implements the feeling of being alone in his poem as well and does it thoroughly. The feeling of solitude is vitally important for the presentations of the pastoral at hand. 3 The narrator's sensibility and empathy towards the mouse and its living conditions alongside the lack of humane social interaction in the poem emphasises the notion of solitude. The narrator does not make reference to human beings aside from himself except when he apologizes to the mouse that 'man's dominion/ Has broken Nature's social union'. The very nature of the poem is shown by the narrator who is concerned with assumed emotion and problems of a mouse melancholy and solitude. 'To a Mouse' addresses the suffering of hunger and cold in the form of a monologue which is directed to a mouse. Subsequently a translation of the quotations used in the consequent analysis shall be included to the footnotes in an attempt to debilitate this disadvantage, if necessary. Robert Burns 'To a mouse' from 1785 is written in Scots which makes it hard for non-native speakers to understand and analyze the poem. According to Goodridge great caution needs to 'be exercised in extrapolating social history from literature, especially from the most mystifying of literary forms, poetry.' 2 Subsequently, the notion of the pastoral, thus the presentation of rural life differs vastly amongst poets which raises the need for close examination of the topic. However, the descriptions of poetry and the actual living conditions in rural ambiance must not be confused. Moreover, pastoral writing has defined the scope of living in town and living in the countryside. 79) Although it may be argued that 'self-consciously' can easily be misunderstood in that the poet overestimates his own importance, it also highlights the poet’s role as the presenter of critical thought and initiator of discourse. According to Fairer 'the poet is self-consciously listening to his own bland rhetoric before the final rueful comment emerges – conclusive, yet almost in parenthesis, as if he is turning away from the scene.' (p. Wordsworth role as a narrator and perceivable character corresponds with Fairer's assessment of the poet’s role in pastoral poems. Wordsworth's poem serves as a remarkable example of such irony and due to the greater length of ‘Michael: A Pastoral Poem' the focus will naturally be put there yet both shall be dealt with in sufficient length. 79) Thanks to said malleability the pastoral, although its ideals have to a certain extend been deflated by the use of extensive irony and satire, could persist and be formed anew. While ultimately many poets have written poetry of pastoral nature it was treated rather as a mode than as a genre and allowed for considerable playfulness and ingenuity. The poet engages in ideas about innocence and 'the incidentals of pastoral become the guardians of his soul' 1 in a most interesting way. The pastoral poem in general concerns with a shepherd’s lifestyle with special focus to the natural surroundings and their ascendancy for the individual's attitude towards life. During the close examination of the poems at hand it will be considered whether Burns actually wrote a Pastoral since Burns monologue towards a mouse is sensible and melancholic but does not explicitly meet the definition of a pastoral. In the following essay the presentation of the rural life in William Wordsworth's 'Michael: A Pastoral Poem' and in Robert Burns' 'To a mouse' shall be analyzed and compared.
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