“For this assignment, I would like you to write a more personal essay assignment. I was struck by some of the passages you chose that you thought were particularly moving. It was also interesting that many of you referred to the same passages. It made me think that Wordsworth’s depiction of the natural world is to some degree familiar to us and the we all experience nature in similar ways. In Mountains of the Mind Robert Macfarlane shows us how our emotional connections to nature–that range of responses that extends from the beautiful to the sublime–are culturally constructed. We have, in essence, been taught to experience nature in the same way over the last two hundred years. Using examples from both Wordsworth and Macfarlane find a corresponding experience (or experiences) in your own life that reveals this shared symbolic heritage. Write a 5 page personal essay that links what you have read in Unit Two to an meaningful, even transformative, experience of nature in your own life. This essay must have no grammatical errors, must be well organized, make direct connections between Wordsworth and Macfarlane and personal experience. It must be 5 FULL pages long. Use the following resources: William Wordsworth: The Prelude. Books 1,4,6,8,11-14.
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McFarlane, Robert, Mountains of the Mind, Chapters 1-5″ You may also use the resource that I attached as a supporting resource.
