Ode on intimations of immortality. A critical study

Abstract

"Now the interest and importance of the matter were here of the highest, his insight was at its very deepest." This comment by Gerard Manley Hopkins on Wordworth's Ode on intimations of immortality is an extreme instance of what seems to have been a frequent critical attitude and provides a useful starting-point for a fresh consideration. The poem has received much adulation, some questioning, but little close critical analysis. One of Wordworth's most impressive poems, it occupies a crucial position in his work, but it is questionable whether it is depth of insight that gives it its power.