In the poem, The Education of Nature, William Wordsworth, tells about the influence of Nature on the making of an innocent girl Lucy to a perfect woman. Nature decided to take Lucy, the loveliest of flowers as her child, and make Lucy a lady of her own. She thought of entrusting Lucy with the power ‘to kindle or to restrain’. Lucy should learn the secret of balancing law and impulse perfectly from Nature.
Lucy would learn to be as joyous and playful as a fawn that enjoys the bliss of sheer existence springing over meadows and mountains. At the same time, she would learn to appreciate the ‘silence and calm’ of the inanimate manifestations of Nature.
Her movements shall be as graceful as that of a drifting cloud. The willow would bend down charmingly to greet her. She would also develop an ability to discover the grace that lies hidden in the fearful movement of the storm. Nature would mould Lucy’s form with delights and strength compassionately. Lucy would learn to love the stars of the midnight sky and shall eagerly listen to the soft and tender music that rivulets’ sing as they dance ‘wayward round’. Her face would look radiant as she would be enjoying and appreciating all those beauties of Nature. A feeling of spontaneous joy shall be felt in her appearance as she would be matured.
Lucy would acquire under the influence of Nature’s physical and moral or intellectual development. The proper development of a person always depends upon a balanced growth of the physique as well as moral and intellectual development. Physically Lucy would surely mature, her agility and suppleness of her limbs would reflect a feeling of vital delight. In all her movements, in all her gestures, there shall be a natural grace. But at the same time, she would be enjoying and appreciating the beauteous forms and aspects of Nature which surely reflects her intellectual maturity. Her attainment of moral maturity also becomes evident as we find her discovering grace in the movement of the violent and fearful storm.
Thus the qualities of Nature are composed of physical, moral, and intellectual qualities. In fact, Wordsworth did believe that as Nature imbibes a feeling of vital and spontaneous joy that makes one spring-like a fawn, so she makes one feel and reflect and thus developing perpetually both the moral and intellectual faculties.