Name: Dominic Foo

Matric No: U061589W

I, Foo RongHan Dominic, have read and understood the university's regulations concerning plagiarism and affirm that this work is free from it.

The Inherent Romantic Contradiction between Immediacy and Mediation

Introduction to the Philosophical Ideas and the thesis

“Immediacy” as the term suggests are phenomena which occur without mediation or directly to a

subject. The Hegelian philosophical term also suggest the idea that all things are what they are

simply as it naturally is, without artificiality or construction, again the idea that the true nature of

things is to be found without the cumbersome mediation of developed symbols, institutions or

reasoning.

This concept of “immediacy” can be found in Wordsworth's preface to the Lyrical Ballads

where Wordsworth extols the virtues of the natural and “rustic life”, simplicity and elementary

forms, whilst criticising those poets who arbitarily invent artificial expressions which are divorced

from the sympathies of the simple natural life.

Humble and rustic life was generally chosen, because, in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language; because in that condition of life our elementary feelings coexist in a state of greater simplicity, and, consequently, may be more accurately contemplated, and more forcibly communicated; because the manners of rural life germinate from those elementary feelings, and, from the necessary character of rural occupations, are more easily comprehended, and are more durable; and, lastly, because in that condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature. The language, too, of these men has been adopted (purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects, from all lasting and rational causes of dislike or disgust) because such men hourly communicate with the best objects from which the best part of language is originally derived; and because, from their rank in society and the sameness and narrow circle of their intercourse, being less under the influence of social vanity, they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaborated expressions. Accordingly, such a language, arising out of repeated experience and regular feelings, is a more permanent, and a far more philosophical language, than that which is frequently substituted for it by Poets, who think that they are conferring honour upon themselves and their art, in proportion as they separate themselves from the sympathies of men, and indulge in arbitrary and capricious habits of expression, in order to furnish food for fickle tastes, and fickle appetites,

of their own creation... 1

“Mediation” on the other hand refers to the idea that phenomena can only be comprehended

through mediatories like refined symbols or developed or sophisticated conceptual reasoning. It also

suggests that the true nature of things, especially people, is to be found within a wider system of

institutions, social narratives or religious rituals which reveal the true being of reality. Strangely

enough, this concept of “mediation” can also be found right after the passage just quoted from

Wordsworth's preface,

From such verses the Poems in these volumes will be found distinguished at least by one mark of difference, that each of them has a worthy purpose. Not that I always began to write with a distinct purpose formerly conceived; but habits of meditation have, I trust, so prompted and regulated my feelings, that my descriptions of such objects as strongly excite those feelings, will be found to carry along with them a purpose. If this opinion be erroneous, I can have little right to the name of a Poet. For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: and though this be true, Poems to which any value can be attached were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a man who, being possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, had also thought long and deeply. For our continued influxes of feeling are modified and directed by our thoughts, which are indeed the representatives of all our past feelings; and, as by contemplating the relation of these general representatives to each other, we discover what is really important to men, so, by the repetition and continuance of this act, our feelings will be connected with important subjects, till at length, if we be originally possessed of much sensibility, such habits of mind will be produced, that, by obeying blindly and mechanically the impulses of those habits, we shall describe objects, and utter sentiments, of such a nature, and in such connexion with each other, that the understanding of the Reader must necessarily be in some degree enlightened, and his affections strengthened and purified...2

Wordsworth here speaks of “habits of meditation” which have “regulated” his feelings, and

despite previously speaking approvingly of the simple man's ability to “convey their feelings and

notions in simple and unelaborated expressions”, seems to contradict himself by arguing that poems

1 William Wordsworth. "Preface to Lyrical Ballads. William Wordsworth (1800). 1909-14. Famous Prefaces. The Harvard Classics.." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More.. . 5th November 2010. http://www.bartleby.com/39/36.html

2 Ibid.

of value can only be produced by “a man who... had also thought long and deeply.” He continues to

speak of the need for feelings to be “modified and directed by our thoughts” and for affections to be

“strengthened and purified” by these that they might be connected with “important subjects”.

It seems here that we can discern the seeds of a self-contradictory time bomb within

Romanticism. On the one hand, the Wordsworth exalt and praise the value of immediacy, the natural

state and subjectivity as being closer to the true nature of things in contrast to artificial refined

constructs of pretentious social men whose art is alienated and distanced from the natural state and

sympathies of the simple man. On the other hand, those poems of value, subjects of importance or

in general, what is significant or meaningful are necessarily developed through mediatory and

refined reflections and meditation and even the need to regulate feelings which are supposed to be

natural.

This point can be generalised further to state the thesis of this paper: the contradiction of

Romanticism is that whilst it values and exalts the natural and unmediated state, valuation,

significance and depth of meaning can only be found through the engagement represented by

mediatory states or acts. To put it another way, the very act of creating Romantic art or artifice of

significance is in and of itself an artificial work, and it is only Romantic poets divorced from the

natural state who bother to reflect long and hard to write literary works, while the true 'natural' man

wouldn't bother nor have the sophistication to do so!

This paper will examine how the dialectic between the immediacy and mediacy can be

found throughout the works of the Romantics before finding its resolution at the end of the

Victorian period in the works of Thomas Hardy.

Flip-Flop and Turnabout in Wordsworth and Coleridge

The classic expression for Wordsworth's polemic against the sophistry of learning and

worship of nature can be most clearly seen in his “The Tables Turned” which can be summarised by

the these stanzas of the poem,

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!He, too, is no mean preacher:Come forth into the light of things,Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,Our minds and hearts to bless--Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,Truth breathed by cheerfulness...

...Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;Our meddling intellectMis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:--We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heartThat watches and receives.3

Thus, in this poem Wordsworth rubbishes books, toil, learning, the “meddling intellect” while

praising Nature and arguing that she can teach directly (immediacy) through “spontaneous wisdom”

and empirical observation (“...watches and receives.”) without the need for so much cumbersome

reflection or bookish art.

3 Wordsworth, William. "Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww134.html>. ll. 13-20, 25-32

However the contradiction in Wordsworth's poem is quite evident in that despite this poem's

injunction to “close up those barren leaves” “of Science and of Art”, one cannot help but note that

this poem itself is a work of art. Are we then to close up this poem and ignore its wisdom?

Despite all the enthusing about Nature's ability to teach and bless while condemning bookish

art and artifice, Wordsworth seems to have changed his tune completely in the poem 'Nuns Fret Not

at Their Convent's Narrow Room'.

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room; And hermits are contented with their cells; And students with their pensive citadels; Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom, Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom, High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells, Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells: In truth the prison, unto which we doom Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me, In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground; Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be) Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, Should find brief solace there, as I have found.4

Here Wordsworth invokes the figures normally associated with artificiality and governed by rules

and constructs to convey his argument, nuns, hermits, students and maids, all persons not close to

nature but govern by rules and associated with tasks which have little or nothing to do with the

senses but with meditation and learning.

In contrast to the previous poem's invocation of mountains, woodlands and fields, the

4 Wordsworth, William. "533. Sonnet I. William Wordsworth. The Oxford Book of English Verse." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/533.html>.

dominant imagery found here is a convent, cells and citadels; buildings and by definition, constructs

made of brick and stones. He then argues that just as nuns and monks do not find their convents or

cells oppressive, so neither does he find the form of the sonnet oppressive and in fact has found

“solace” there. Thus, instead of asking us to throw away our books on poetry and poetic forms, he

now recommends a literary form as something to be valued and to take solace in.

A speculative inference about the souls “who have felt the weight of too much liberty” can

perhaps be deduced from Wordsworth's preface to the Lyrical Ballads where he argues that raw and

unregulated feelings are not fit for the purpose of good poetry and art and the need for thought and

reflection to connect them to subjects of importance. Thus, too much liberty in feelings, far from

liberating can in fact be oppressive especially when not directed towards what is significant and

meaningful.

A like change of heart can also be found in the poems of Coleridge. In 'The Suicide's

Argument' is a poem about an exchange between the persona and Nature.

Ere the birth of my life, if I wished it or noNo question was asked me--it could not be so!If the life was the question, a thing sent to tryAnd to live on be YES; what can NO be? to die.

NATURE'S ANSWER

Is't returned, as 'twas sent? Is't no worse for the wear?Think first, what you ARE! Call to mind what you WERE!I gave you innocence, I gave you hope,Gave health, and genius, and an ample scope,Return you me guilt, lethargy, despair?Make out the invent'ry; inspect, compare!Then die—if die you dare! 5

5 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "The Suicide's Argument by Samuel Taylor Coleridge at Old

The persona considers the question of refusing life, namely, to die and Nature answers by telling the

persona through introspection to discover the persona's own being and argues that Nature has given

the persona innocence and hope, health, genius, etc., which make up persona's being. Here we can

once more see immediacy and praise of the natural state at work, namely the idea that Nature gives

all the good things of life, that one's being is made up “natural” things, and that these good things

which makes up one's life can be discovered through introspection (immediacy).

Of course again the very existence of this poem itself suggests its own subversion. If truly

the persona was so innocent, hopeful, healthy and clever, how come it pondered its own death?

Why need effort of reflection and thought to discover what is already naturally immediate to one's

being? From this poem we can see the seeds of a scepticism of the infallibility of nature and that far

from being the true state of things, in fact is alienating and requires the mediation of thought to be

reconciled to itself.

We can see the course of this dialectic come to an end in Coleridges' Know Thyself. In

contrast to the unity of nature and one's life, whereby the goodness of the former leads to the

goodness of the latter, Coleridge here denounces that there is anything in Man that can be known,

What is there in thee, Man that can be know?-

Dark fluxion, all unfixable by thought,

A phantom dim of past and future wrought,

Vain sister of the worm, - life, death, soul, clod-

Poetry." Oldpoetry - Classical Poetry Discussion. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/477-Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge-The-Suicide-s-Argument>.

Ignore thyself, and strive to know thy God!6

Here we can see a judgement on the natural state of Man that it is a chaos of flux. And furthermore

from the verse “What hast thou, Man, that thou dar'st call thine own?” which seems to be a

rhetorical question to which answer is that what one is is of and from God, the inference is that

therefore knowing oneself does not take place through immediate introspection since the chaos

within is “unfixable by thought” by is necessarily mediated through God, giving rise to the

injunction that one should ignore oneself and strive to know God instead.

In both Wordsworth and Coleridge, we can see the pattern of, firstly, praise of the natural

state, and the recommendation of the methods of immediacy (senses or introspection) to partake of

the goodness which Nature has to give, but then the subversion of this line of thought as, firstly, the

very existence of this praise being embodied in a poem and mediated through thought already

brings tension to the message of the poem, and then the realisation that nature does not have

sufficient substance to maintain its own integrity, which then requires mediation to intervene, from

either literary forms or God.

Natural and Mediated Spiritual Life in Villette

The immediacy-mediation dialectic can also be seen in Charlotte Brontë's Villette, as seen

through the theme of Lucy's approach to the Christian religion.

6 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, and William Keach. "Know Thyself." The Complete Poems. London: Penguin, 1997. 415-16. Print. ll.6-10

Lucy's Protestantism corresponds to the natural-immediacy pole of Romanticism because of

Protestantism aversion to ritualised forms of worship and practice of the Christian faith, and its

general denial of the need for clerical mediation for the worship of God since Christ is the only

mediator. While Catholicism on the other hand represents the epitome of the idea of mediation in

the Christian religion, with its emphasis on its sacramental rituals as the centre of the Christian faith

and with its army of clerics who act as mediators of God's grace and forgiveness.

At the start of the book, Lucy's Protestantism and preference for a more “natural” religion

shows itself in her mentioning to her student that she, “considered the falsehood worse than an

occasional lapse in church-attendence.” clearly privileging the “natural” virtues of honesty over the

mediated meanings of the Mass so essential to the Catholic religion. She also critiques the priest's

unconcern with the natural virtues of honesty, absolving every lie and dishonesty unshock and

unreluctant, but when it came to missing a dead and formal ritual like Mass, the priest considered

these to be a serious offence which leads unfailingly to the imposition of rebuke and penance.7

But when later Lucy is feeling keenly a deep depression and emotional pressure within her,

she wanders into a Roman Catholic church and even enters the confessional and poured out her

experience to the priest, where the priest then says to her,

Were you of our faith I should know what to say--a mind so tossed can find repose but in the bosom of retreat, and the punctual practice of piety. The world, it is well known, has no satisfaction for that class of natures. Holy men have bidden penitents like you to hasten their path upward by penance, self-denial, and difficult good works. Tears are given them here for meat and drink--bread of affliction and waters of affliction--their recompence comes hereafter. It is my own conviction that these impressions under which you are smarting are messengers from God to bring you back to the true Church. You were made for our faith: depend upon it our faith alone could heal and help you--Protestantism is altogether too dry,

7 Brontë, Charlotte, and Helen Cooper. "CHAPTER IX ISIDORE." Villette. London [u.a.: Penguin, 2004. 90-92. Print.

cold, prosaic for you. The further I look into this matter, the more plainly I see it is entirely out of the common order of things.8

Thus the priest is arguing that the depth and deep significance and meaning of her experience can

only given a just development through the highly ritualised and developed forms of Catholic

devotion and piety (penance, self-denial, difficult goods works) and that Protestantism (the religion

of immediacy and without the rituals of mediation), is “too dry, cold and prosaic” for her, since it

does not have the deep significance and meaning which comes from developed mediated forms of

religion or ritual.

It is true that towards the end of the novel Lucy would once more criticise the ostentatious

rituals of the Roman Catholic faith and remained faithful to Protestantism. However, it can be

argued that the key point is that whatever Lucy individual religious loyalties, she did not choose

Protestantism for its significance or depth of engagement, but for rather quite the opposite reason.

While though she did eventually reject Roman Catholicism, but it is does not deny the potential

narrative resources which Roman Catholicism provides for the development of the depth of

significance and meaning.

Therefore we can see the Romantic contradiction between the exaltation of immediacy and

the need for mediation in the Villette's approach to the Christian faith transposed onto the

Protestant-Catholic contrast.

Resolution of Dialectic in Thomas Hardy

8 Bronte, Charlotte, and Helen Cooper. "CHAPTER XV THE LONG VACATION." Villette. London [u.a.: Penguin, 2004. 179. Print.

The two threads of thought within the Romantic tradition, the immediacy-mediacy dialectic

can be said not to find any resolution within the Romantic tradition itself as it passes into the

Victorian era. However it can be said that towards the end of the Victorian era, the two threads of

thought would survive beyond the Romantic tradition to find its resolution in Thomas Hardy which

often contains stories of the lives of the “natural” and simple folk, in particular the farmers.

Hardy resolves the immediacy-mediation dialectic in two steps. First, he affirms the value of

fellow-feeling, natural sympathy and the simple-mindedness of the “natural” folk. But secondly, he

grounds these “natural” values within the broader framework of mediated symbolism, institution

and even ritual, especially in the form of the established Church of England, which is the source of

value for natural state and works in unity with it. The Anglican Church especially encapsulates the

ideal of a close unity between religion as an foundation and framework for the natural ground

sentiment.

We can see an example of this in Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge where the symbolic

function of the church and its building aids in the repentance of Michael Henchard by elevating the

solemnity of his oath, “…But first he resolved to register an oath, a greater oath than he had ever

sworn before: and to do it properly he required a fit place and imagery…” and when later he found

a church, he went to the communion table and lay his head on the book on it swearing his oath and

kissed it.”9 This example serves to demonstrate clearly manner in which mediated symbols and

institutions aid in the construction of meaning of the lives of ordinary people. Thus on the one hand,

the natural state is affirmed, i.e. the simple-minded idea that swearing on a holy book gives weight

to an oath, but on the other hand, the mediation of the institution of the church is also affirmed as it

9 Hardy, Thomas. "The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy - Full Text Free Book (Part 1/8)." FullBooks.com - Thousands of Full-Text Free Books. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Mayor-of-Casterbridge-by-Thomas-Hardy1.html>.

is gives the depth of symbolic meaning required for Michael to repent and as enabling such simple-

minded piety.

Another example can be seen in Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd where a couple of

farmers are discussing amongst themselves the difference between “chapel-going” and

“churchmen” or loyal members of the Church of England,

…"But I've never changed a single doctrine: I've stuck like a plaster to the old faith I was born in. Yes; there's this to be said for the Church, a man can belong to the Church and bide in his cheerful old inn, and never trouble or worry his mind about doctrines at all. But to be a meetinger, you must go to chapel in all winds and weathers, and make yerself as frantic as a skit. Not but that chapel members be clever chaps enough in their way. They can lift up beautiful prayers out of their own heads, all about their families and shipwracks in the newspaper."

"They can -- they can," said Mark Clark, with corroborative feeling; "but we Churchmen, you see, must have it all printed aforehand, or, dang it all, we should no more know what to say to a great gaffer like the Lord than babes unborn,"

"Chapelfolk be more hand-in-glove with them above than we," said Joseph, thoughtfully.

"Yes," said Coggan. `We know very well that if anybody do go to heaven, they will. They've worked hard for it, and they deserve to have it, such as 'tis. I bain't such a fool as to pretend that we who stick to the Church have the same chance as they, because we know we have not. But I hate a feller who'll change his old ancient doctrines for the sake of getting to heaven. I'd as soon turn king's-evidence for the few pounds you get. Why, neighbours, when every one of my taties were frosted, our Parson Thirdly were the man who gave me a sack for seed, though he hardly had one for his own use, and no money to buy 'em. If it hadn't been for him, I shouldn't hae had a tatie to put in my garden. D'ye think I'd turn after that? No, I'll stick to my side; and if we be in the wrong, so be it: I'll fall with the fallen!"

"Well said -- very well said," observed Joseph…10

Here there is again the affirmation of the mediation provided by the Anglican Church in giving the

simple folk a set form of religion (i.e. the prayer book culture) through which they can participate in

and be united together in a community without needing the spontaneous Romantic spirit or ability

10 Hardy, Thomas. "Far from the Madding Crowd." University of Virginia Library. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HarMadd.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public∂=all>

to “lift up beautiful prayers out of their own heads” , and with the established Church as the

foundation of the community is natural fellow-feeling as seen in the charity of the Parson as the

religious mediator of the community, affirmed giving due value to the “natural” state.

Conclusion

It seems that in the immediacy-mediation dialectic throughout Romanticism, it is finally the

“mediation” pole which has won out as it is recognised in Hardy that mediated symbolism, ritual

and religion is the necessary base for the “natural” state so extolled by the Romantics.

Bibliography

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Wordsworth, William. "Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww134.html>.

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Hardy, Thomas. "Far from the Madding Crowd." University of Virginia Library. Web. 05 Nov. 2010. <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HarMadd.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public∂=all>.