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Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798 Transformation Quotes
The poem is 159 lines long, so we just cite by line number.
| these orchard-tufts, |
The "unripe fruits" of Line 12 will, eventually, and in Nature's good time, transform into ripe fruit. Perhaps they're supposed to represent the kind of mind that the speaker used to possess, the kind of mind that could appreciate nature, but couldn't "see into the life of things" (49).
| I have […] felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; |
The memory of the "beauteous forms" (22) actually causes a physical change in the speaker. He feels it "in the blood" and "along the heart." It's the healing power of nature.
| While here I stand, not only with the sense |
As the speaker is standing on the banks of the Wye, soaking up the beauty he sees there, he imagines that in "future years" he'll be able to turn to these memories with "pleasure." He imagines that he'll continue to change and evolve as a result of his relationship with Nature.
| And so I dare to hope, |
The speaker recognizes that he has "changed" since his first visit, although he might not have recognized the transformation as it was taking place.
| — I cannot paint |
The speaker is now so far removed from his past self that he has trouble describing it. Or perhaps he just has trouble putting it into words.
| That time is past, |
The speaker realizes that his innocent, unreflecting enjoyment of Nature is over. He has become conscious of the "presence" in nature, and he can't go back to the way he was.
