Presentation on the Picturesque as a Rhetocial Device in...

Picturesque as Rhetorical Mode in Tintern Abbey Presentation Outline: I. Brief definition and discussion of the picturesque II. Discussion of Wordsworths repudiation of the picturesque III. Pinpointing elements of the picturesque in Tintern Abbey IV. Discussion of Wordsworths use of the picturesque as a rhetorical device I. Define and Discuss Picturesque The concept of the picturesque came out of a need for a label for that gray area between the sublime (founded on pain and terror) and the beautiful (founded on feelings of pleasure). The only common definition of the term is, as Gilpin writes, that kind of beauty which would look well in a picture (Watson 11). As†¦show more content†¦All of these divisions are to be described individually, but with an eye to the effect of the whole. According to Gilpin, nature is intrinsically whole, but is of such a vast scale, our mere human experience of the parts cannot comprehend this inherent harmony. This lack gives the artist license to modify the real scene in order to express wholeness according to his or her rules of composition (Watson 44). Thus, although it is based on real stations with real views, the search for the picturesque becomes a quest for an ideal, generic landscape -- the landscape of the painted postcards from the grand tour. II. Discuss Wordsworths repudiation of the picturesque As is argued by David Miall, Nicola Trott, WJB Owen, and J. Watson, Wordsworth repeatedly repudiates the concept of the picturesque. Within Tintern Abbey specifically, he equates it with his own immaturity in relation to nature. He writes that in 1793, when he first visited Tintern: I came among these hills, when like a roe I bounded oer the mountains by the sides Of the deep rivers and the lonely streams Wherever nature led, more like a man Flying from something that he dreads than one Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then (The courser pleasures of my boyish days And their glad animal movements all gone by) To me was all in all. I cannot paint What then I was. The sounding