Critics tend to associate the speaker of “Tintern Abbey” with Wordsworth himself. Like the speaker, Wordsworth had first visited the Wye Valley in the summer of 1793. Also like the speaker, Wordsworth returned five years later, joined by his beloved sister, Dorothy. It was on this very trip that Wordsworth wrote these lines, which clearly reflect the biographical circumstances of their composition. For these reasons, it’s difficult not to think of the poem’s lyrical “I” as identical with Wordsworth. But regardless of whether we know about the biographical details reflected in the poem, it’s clear that the speaker is a relatively young man. He has matured significantly in the five years since he last stood on the banks of the River Wye. His return to this place provides an opportunity for him to reflect not only on his growth, but also on the nature of time and memory. In his monologue, he meditates on the shifting relationship he has had to the natural world. His experiences in the outdoors have provided ample food for thought during times when he’s been confined to city life. Turning to address his sister at the poem’s end, he speculates that the present moment will provide fodder for future recollection.

The speaker’s optimism at the end of the poem relates to his belief that human memory provides “abundant recompense” (line 88) for experiences that are otherwise lost to time. The speaker seems earnest in his thinking about the power of recollection. And indeed, his reflections on his own past offer proof that the memory can resurrect feelings that originated long ago. In other words, there does appear to be sufficient evidence to justify his optimism. However, it’s also clear that this optimism is always tinged with a sense of loss. The recollection of past experiences and emotions isn’t a matter of pure enjoyment. Rather, it brings up complex feelings of “sad perplexity” (line 60) as well as “aching joys” (84). The act of recollection therefore entails pain as well as pleasure, which helps to explain the melancholy and even elegiac quality of the speaker’s meditation. No matter how much he emphasizes the recuperative power of memory, he also recognizes that recollection cannot fully reconstruct the past. Read in this way, we might interpret his optimism at the end of the poem as an instance of wishful thinking.

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