Natural Beauty

An idea from Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Second Discourse": "It is not therefore so great a misfortune to these primitive men, nor so great an obstacle to their preservation, that they go naked, have no dwellings and lack all the superfluities which we think so necessary. If their skins are not covered with hair, they have no need of such covering in warm climates; and, in cold countries, they soon learn to appropriate the skins of the beasts they have overcome." (I didn't mean to quote it, but this is a summary of the idea that I am referring to in this blog.)

A poem by William Wordsworth: Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

A common theme I noticed in these two pieces of the natural beauty in scenes, people, and objects when they are naked, literally and figuratively speaking.

In Rousseau's idea, he speaks of "savage" men in the woods and the way they live their lives. They live their lives without clothing and with little to nothing to protect themselves with, and Rosseau points out that these "savages" do well living this way. It is not an unfortunate thing for them and does not get in the way of their "preservation". If I have interpreted what I have read correctly, the "savages" do not need hair to cover their bodies when they live in warmer climates. If they live in a colder climate, they keep warm using the skin of the "beasts they have overcome"- the ones they have killed. This way of survival clearly involves a very natural way of living. It is simple day-to-day living done without electronics, money, or any of the items that, for example, a typical American would need to survive. The "savages" are able to survive in any circumstances, no matter how harsh it may get, in this nude way. They appreciated the world around them.

In Wordsworth's poem, he speaks of the beauty in the "City" in the morning. On line 5, the adjectives "silent" and "bare" are in a list along with the objects that fill line 6, but the line stops after "silent" and "bare" and starts on line 6 with the objects. This shows me that the objects that make us think of typical scenes in a city in the morning are the things that are nude and silent. The city possesses so much beauty that it opens into the fields and into the sky. Wordsworth sees a variety of locations like valley, rock, and hill that he has never seen before and claims they make him feel a deep calm that he has never felt before. It seems so peaceful and serene in the morning in this city, especially since the houses are still fast asleep. All of these things set us up to feel this way. The words "beauty" and "beautiful" are used in this poem, along with the word "bare" that causes me to link the poem with the item I found in Rousseau's "Second Discourse". These two pieces relate to each other through the natural beauty that exists in the various items such as scenes, people, and objects described throughout each.