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Description
Romantic writers, Wordsworth included, held very firm beliefs about the power and nobility of the countryside, nature, and conversely of the corrupting influences of urban living.  This philosophy underpins and informs a great deal of their writing, and is extremely evident in the long pastoral poem, ‘Michael’, which tells of the fall of a simple shepherd’s family when the son goes to seek his fortune in the city.

The evidence for the Romantic’s belief in the strength of the countryside is found throughout the poem, from the opening where the mountains welcome, and the valley is described in such a way to suggest a welcoming  hug for those visiting or returning, the countryside is a protective force for good.  Later, Wordsworth describes how the shepherd Michael is at one with rural life, following in the tradition of his family going back through generations, and emphasising the simplicity and happiness of pastoral life.

This utopian vision is ended when Luke, the son, leaves the hills to earn money in an urban environment.  After an initial period where all is fine, soon Luke becomes lazy and dissolute, finding temptation and ultimately ruin in the lifeless and corrupting city.  Eventually he runs away, and in so doing leaves his roots, and by the end of the poem Michael is dead, the cottage lived in for generations and the way of life are all in ruins.  Wordsworth ends the poem, in mentioning the continued evidence of the tumbled stones of the cottage, and the oak under which Michael’s family used to shear sheep, in showing that the rural way of life continues beyond human civilisation.

An adherent to the Romantic viewpoint would contend that modern day ills such as depression, knife crime, crime generally, drug taking and so forth are direct results of our disconnection from nature, and the sinful, corrosive temptations of the devil’s handy-work, the city.  Not for nothing did Blake refer to “dark Satanic mills.”

There’s undoubtedly an attraction to such a point of view, although it’s difficult to divide town from country now, as with modern media and transportation, even country dwellers are by proxy a part of the urban environment.  It’s clear that there’s greater satisfaction gained from creating and engaging with activities actively, something urban living doesn’t often provide for – most pursuits are passive, whether relaxing in a coffee shop, pub, club, going shopping, watching television or desiring some new gadget.  Urban living is infused with the decay of envy.  Whether the pastoral vision of the purity of rural agricultural life is so valid though is something of a moot point, Wordsworth and his peers surely over romanticised the innocence, purity and power of such a life.  That they have an exceedingly valid point about the ills and human degradations of our passive urban existence, is though, without doubt, true.

Description
Romantic writers, Wordsworth included, held very firm beliefs about the power and nobility of the countryside, nature, and conversely of the corrupting influences of urban living.  This philosophy underpins and informs a great deal of their writing, and is extremely evident in the long pastoral poem, ‘Michael’, which tells of the fall of a simple shepherd’s family when the son goes to seek his fortune in the city.

The evidence for the Romantic’s belief in the strength of the countryside is found throughout the poem, from the opening where the mountains welcome, and the valley is described in such a way to suggest a welcoming  hug for those visiting or returning, the countryside is a protective force for good.  Later, Wordsworth describes how the shepherd Michael is at one with rural life, following in the tradition of his family going back through generations, and emphasising the simplicity and happiness of pastoral life.

This utopian vision is ended when Luke, the son, leaves the hills to earn money in an urban environment.  After an initial period where all is fine, soon Luke becomes lazy and dissolute, finding temptation and ultimately ruin in the lifeless and corrupting city.  Eventually he runs away, and in so doing leaves his roots, and by the end of the poem Michael is dead, the cottage lived in for generations and the way of life are all in ruins.  Wordsworth ends the poem, in mentioning the continued evidence of the tumbled stones of the cottage, and the oak under which Michael’s family used to shear sheep, in showing that the rural way of life continues beyond human civilisation.

An adherent to the Romantic viewpoint would contend that modern day ills such as depression, knife crime, crime generally, drug taking and so forth are direct results of our disconnection from nature, and the sinful, corrosive temptations of the devil’s handy-work, the city.  Not for nothing did Blake refer to “dark Satanic mills.”

There’s undoubtedly an attraction to such a point of view, although it’s difficult to divide town from country now, as with modern media and transportation, even country dwellers are by proxy a part of the urban environment.  It’s clear that there’s greater satisfaction gained from creating and engaging with activities actively, something urban living doesn’t often provide for – most pursuits are passive, whether relaxing in a coffee shop, pub, club, going shopping, watching television or desiring some new gadget.  Urban living is infused with the decay of envy.  Whether the pastoral vision of the purity of rural agricultural life is so valid though is something of a moot point, Wordsworth and his peers surely over romanticised the innocence, purity and power of such a life.  That they have an exceedingly valid point about the ills and human degradations of our passive urban existence, is though, without doubt, true.