Ecocritical Reunion of Man and Nature in The Ruined Cottage

While the previous researches on Romanticism, especially Wordsworth (1770-1850), and Ecocriticism are quite farranging,the inherent ecocritical echoes of Wordsworth’s oeuvre are yet to be surveyed. This study is an endeavor toexamine the ecocritical aspects of William Wordsworth’s The Ruined Cottage (1797-ca.1799) with the aim of bringinginto focus the inner link between Nature and Ecocriticism in the above-mentioned poem. With that issue in mind, theresearcher intends to take the viewpoints of the Yale School critics, the New Historicists, and those of the ecologistsinto consideration to prove the previous critics’ inability in rendering a thorough reading of The Ruined Cottage andwill examine the poem through the lens of Ecocriticism by focusing on the correspondence between the gradualwithering of Nature and the gradual demise of Margaret’s soul in order to reach a comprehensive examination of thepoem in the end.

Keywords:

The Ruined Cottage , Margaret , Soul , Nature , William Wordsworth