Wordsworth's 'The Tables Turned'

Wordsworth's following lines from the poem 'The Tables Turned' set me thinking.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Philosophers have since times immemorial loaded us with their meaningful lessons about leading life in a better way. But if we go by these words of Wordsworth, we should leave all the books and experience a first hand encounter. I would like to present a strong argument in his favour here. We all remember our childhood or have seen kids around us. How do they learn? Do they cram all things? How do they learn to sit or eat with a spoon? They learn by doing the thing. Even when are grown-up what we do practically ourselves, we comprehend and remember it easily. This is what the poet here is telling us to do.
He is of the view that the books of the 'sages' cannot give us so much wisdom as we can get from natural experiences after first hand encounters.

In this poem 'The Tables Turned' Wordsworth writes:

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

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.


Note here that Wordsworth is asking the readers to make Nature their teacher. Being too much involved in books is a dull exercise. What is the ideal thing is that we must apply our knowledge to real life situations, then we convert our knowledge into education. And where can we find such a great and practical teacher as Nature? Actually the problem with our education system is that the stress is on theoretical knowledge and not the practical aspect. Our focus should be the pragmatic approach rather than the normative one.

Further in the poem he writes:

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

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-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 heart
That watches and receives.


Actually what happens is that we are so much involved with the material aspects in our life that we often overlook the bounties of nature around us. We ignore the 'impulse from a vernal wood' and remain occupied with Science and Art.