Beginning of Essay
Tintern Abbey: Seeing into the Life of Things What does Wordsworth see when he “sees into the life of things?” Remember that in the lines leading up to his portrayal of the “blessed mood” that gives him sight, Wordsworth has been pointing ....

Middle of Essay
.... points to what might, at first glance, seem to be impossible: “unremembered pleasures.” How can it make sense to say that we recall “unremembered pleasures”? If they are unremembered, how can we be thinking about them? This strange phrase might point to some vague pleasant experience in the past, one that we cannot clearly name. But it could also mean that we can now remember pleasures that previously not only unremembered but actually unnoticed. The thought of an unnoticed pleasure might seem strange as well. But is it so odd to think that, in memory, our pleasurable experiences take on new meaning and greater substance ....