Wordsworth's "Nutting"

A Loss of Innocence in Wordsworth's "Nutting" A romantic poet, William Wordsworth examines the relationship between the individual and nature. In the poem "Nutting," Wordsworth focuses on the role that innocence plays in this relationship as he describes a scene that leads to his own coming of age. Unlike many of his other poems, which reveal the ability to experience and access nature in an innocent state, "Nutting" depicts Wordsworth's inability as a young boy to fully appreciate nature, causing him to destroy it. Addressing a young girl, most likely his sister, he writes to poem as a warning of what happens within oneself when one does not fully appreciate nature. In his youth, the speaker is too excited by duty and too tempted by the wealth that nature holds to control his desire to destroy it. His defilement of nature's innocence, however, immediately disturbs him, causing him to question the value of material wealth and to realize the importance of nature, something that the speaker in the present now recognizes and shows in his interjections throughout the poem. Told to collect hazelnuts in the forest by the woman he works for, the young speaker enthusiastically sets out to fulfill his duty. Revealing the child's innocence, the speaker says he leaves his house "in the eagerness of boyish hope… sallying forth" (4-5). The word "eagerness" reveals his excitement for the approaching task, while the phrase "boyish hope" emphasizes his young age and the purity of his "eagerness." "Sallying" adds an element of lightheartedness to the youthful image. Yet the boy does not embark on some random excursion, but leaves "with a huge wallet o'er my shoulder slung, a nutting-crook in hand" (6-7). The youth goes to collect hazelnuts from the forest, not to enjoy nature, but out of greed, suggested by the use of the word "wallet," which implies money and the material wealth that the boy wishes to gain. As he heads into the forest, the speaker describes himself as