This current and timeless phrase – with that curious ‘inmate’ alongside the energetic ‘active’ – comes from Wordsworth’s image of himself as an infant, tapping into some greater connectivity than mere wifi systems and smart phones.Â
It reminds me of E.M. Forster’s injunction: ‘Only connect’. During this time of self-isolation, lock downs, distancing and other widespread measures, non-physical forms of connection are more essential than ever. Â
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Along his infant veins are interfused
The gravitation and the filial bond
Of Nature that connect him with the world.
Emphatically such a Being lives,
An inmate of this active universe.Â
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Source: William Wordsworth, ‘The Prelude’, 1805-6, Book II, ll. 262-66 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971), p. 86.
Photo credit: FelixMittermeier at pixabay
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