
In the captivating, and intriguing sonnet,” Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room,” written by William Wordsworth, the poem captures the audience’s attention through the repetition of inversions. Wordsworth uses elaborate phrases to connect the repetition of inversions with his audience. For instance, Wordsworth uses words like convent’s, citadels, and hermits to captivate his audience, getting them interested in finding out the meanings and connecting them with the message he is trying to portray throughout the poem. Wordsworth chooses these specific occupations to demonstrate that although these people have common lives and jobs, they still manage to find their own happiness and contentment with the way they live. 

 The purpose of inverting phrases throughout the rigid sonnet demonstrates the characters seeking freedom and happiness within the constriction of how the sonnet portrays their lives. Wordsworth’s opening lines incorporate the inversion, “Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room; And hermits are contented with their cells;” (1), this literary device captures the audience’s attention, making the readers wonder how these two professions that give up all their freedom are content with the way they are living. Nuns devote their entire lives to following the restrictions laid out by Roman Catholicism. Hermits spend their days locked away, never venturing into the outside world. Their futures are paved out for them, never changing or finding any excitement. Wordsworth is trying to get the readers to see that you can find happiness in any aspect of life. The reasoning behind the opening lines were to set the tone getting his audience to read this poem in depth. The inversion switching those two lines around emphasized the importance of the meaning. Wordsworth formatted this text to get his audience to question what he is highlighting as his motive.  

Wordsworth used very descriptive words to keep his hidden meaning through the repetition of inversions, punctuation, and wording. The wording in this sonnet is apparent, because of its historic date brings out the depth of the message Wordsworth is trying to portray to his audience. Whether it is a descriptive word like, “pensive” (3), or even a, “hermit” (2), these striking words create a puzzle for the audience throughout the sonnet. Wordsworth’s challenging his audience to put together the words, and inversions to provide his audience with an intricate, and convoluted message. Wordsworth doesn’t use the typical language we all speak today. This makes it difficult to understand his wording from just reading the text. It requires more carefully looking at the 

The style of the sonnet elaborates his message using inversions to execute its hidden meaning, including another, “piece of the puzzle,” Wordsworth implements by using irregular punctuation. Wordsworth uses freedom within his inversions in punctuation by using semicolons. This brings a new structure to the poem and helps set up the overall theme in contrast with the insertion of inversions throughout the poem. The punctuation was meant to be a bizarre tactic in connecting the poet to his audience to show that he has the freedom to make his sonnet deviating from the norm.

Wordsworth uses inversions to communicate between the lines with his audience getting them to stop and recollect what he is disseminating to them. The poet uses this device showing two different contradictions throughout the poem in the final couplet, “Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, should find brief solace there, as I have found.” (14,15) Wordsworth’s final couplet, however, uses the device to communicate his message directly to the audience by showing the contrast, from being weighed down to being lifted and full of liberty. Wordsworth used the sonnet form of poetry to balance out freedom, while keeping the atmosphere calm, for him to express his thoughts and feelings. The incorporation of the inversion in the final couplet sparked the meaning Wordsworth was trying to project to his readers. 

The poet grips his audience by connecting inversions to the meaning, for example, “who have felt the weight of too much liberty” (14), makes the audience find the freedom within the constriction of the sonnet. The line is an inversion because it changes the order of its wording to express the freedom within a confined space. Liberty or freedom is typically not associated with weight, because being liberated often is a feeling of weight being removed from one’s shoulders. However, Wordsworth connects these in a way that illustrates how freedom may not always be beneficial. 

The literary device inputted throughout the poem impacted the audience’s thoughts and feelings as they concluded the poem. Wordsworth used inversions to make the audience use context clues to conclude to the poet’s message. Wordsworth exemplified the use of freedom throughout the poem with punctuation, inversions, and use of phrases. Although the meaning is not obvious in each line, he is conveying a deeper meaning through his various literary devices. 