The Prelude (1805), Book XI – William Wordsworth

Book XI of William Wordsworth’s Prelude talks about the imagination, and is split up into two parts, how it’s “impaired” and how it’s “restored.” Throughout this passage, Wordsworth explains the things that pollute and abuse our creative minds, and the remedies to these ailments, at least for Wordsworth himself.
One of the things that Wordsworth claims is detrimental to the imagination is filling it up with negative attitudes and letting “human sufferings...and inaptitude of the mind” infiltrate it. The prime culprit he points to is being judgmental. When being judgmental in a contemplative way toward nature and one’s deeper, inner emotions, it is acceptable, but to harvest it within oneself in a critical manner is a “degradation” of the mind.
Another thing he says can affect your imagination is using it in ways other than for the appreciation of Nature. There is really no need to dream of things that are “more grand, more fair, (or) more exquisitely framed” than that of the sights and sounds of Nature, and when in the presence of Nature, one can ultimately become “a sensitive, and a creative soul.” Nature is the only thing that can truly arouse the imagination and help aid in its growth and development, and Wordsworth makes this point by stating in lines 143-145 that he “roamed from hill to hill, from rock to rock, still craving combinations of new forms, new pleasure, wider empire for the sight…”
In order to properly “restore” imagination to its respectable state of being, one must utilize all their senses to their utmost ability, and not neglect one in favor of the others. Wordsworth says in lines 144-145 that “all eye…and…all ear…ever with the heart” and in lines 270-273 that “we (humans) have had deepest feeling that the mind is lord and master, and that outward sense is but the obedient servant of her will.” Allowing ourselves to use our outer senses, which are connected to our inner being, to get absorbed in Nature’s presence gives us a rich cognitive experience and helps to strengthen us. The perfect example of what Wordsworth is trying to express exists between lines 199-222 in his story about the young maid he knew. He explains in this long excerpt that “she was Nature’s inmate.” She didn’t allow “intermeddling subtleties perplex her mind,” and by doing this, she achieved the “delight” of God and a blessed life.
As far as formal features within this passage, I particular enjoyed Wordsworth’s two analogies in lines 76 and 80 when he talked about the “war against himself.” The two examples he used were “like a monk who hath forsworn the world” and “…by simple waving of the wand, the wizard instantaneously dissolves palace or grove.” These sentences both provoke vivid images in my head and I think were intended to be used a little comically.