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Romantic Aesthetics in "The Cuckoo"

Abstract

It appears that “The Cuckoo” was to Wordsworth what “Peacock” was to Darwin. It may be recalled that Darwin presented the theory of evolution and was hell-bent to the denial of God (or a supernatural power behind this Cosmic settings).He was keen to explain the natural phenomenon on the basis of “Chance production”. However when he incidentally saw the multi-colored fascinating tail of the peacock, he felt the presence of a hidden hand in its creation and was almost ready to abandon his whole theory. Wordsworth on the other hand seems to be far more correct and imaginative in his feelings. He felt the presence of God in the manifestations of nature wherein cuckoo was taken as its chief representative. Probably it was for this reason that Allama Iqbal made a unique confession that in his early youth, it was Wordsworth’s naturalism that saved him from an outright atheism

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