
Sonnets are one form of structured writing. William Wordsworth is the type of author that enjoyed writing simple looking lines that have multiple deep meanings the more you think about them. He pulls you into his writing with his creative writing style and unique usage of symbolism and repetition. The poem, “Nuns fret not at Their Covent’s Narrow Room” is a great example of how his simple lines have extremely deep meanings. He uses repetition of similar feeling word, religious words, and negative and positive connotation to build the feelings of structure in his poem.

The first building block Wordsworth uses is repetition of similar feeling words. He does not repeat his words very often but he does use words that have similar meanings or give similar feelings. Each line, one through five, has the same meaning words that give you a sense of the person being described as being happy and alright with job they are meant to have. These words strengthen the symbolism he is creating through his writing. The words strengthen the symbolism because like structure, they support the idea that when you are where you are supposed to be, everything runs smoothly without problem. Each of these lines gives you a sense of structure since all of the people have their specific jobs. The words content, happy, blithe, and contented are used in the poem to express the meaning that the symbolic meaning of structure can be very positive to a society.

He then moves on to the next building block, religious words. Religion can be seen as a refined and structured idea in society. Wordsworth implements these religious aspects in his writings. The words such as Nuns, citadels, foxglove bells, and Furness-fells (religious area in England) are some of the words that he uses for the religious aspect. During his life, Wordsworth grew fond of Furness fells and grew to have a religious connection to it. This religious connection could have influenced his structured style writing. I believe he implemented the foxglove bells into his writing because it resembles hanging church bells at a chapel or citadel. He states, “murmur by the hour in foxglove bells” (7) to make another connection to religion, because church bells chime every hour to tell the time. Using the word “nuns” in his writing strengthens his work because nuns stick with tradition and are very by the book. 

His final building block is the use of negative and positive connotation. In the lines eight through thirteen of the poem, the connotation of the words changes from positive to negative. The words prison, doom, and scanty all have this negative connotation feeling to them. He describes that the prison we all are going to put ourselves in one day as not being like any other prison. This can be thought as being doomed to a life without structure since most real prisons have rules and a solid structure to them. He then states that the writing is diverse in context even though he describes its plot is scanty. Using the positive word sundry and the negative word scanty to describe the sonnet itself strengthens the meaning behind the poem. Using these words gives you the meaning that with diversity you can find structure in any amount of plot or in life in general, so go and find it. The change back to negative expresses the feeling of having “too much liberty” (13) will sooner or later get by not having structure. He states that these people “should find brief solace there,” (14) and to me that “there means in a peaceful, structured place such as a citadel or the place that he has a religious attachment to, Furness Fells.

William Wordsworth is a very deep thinking writer. He can take you on a trip of any idea he is writing with through the use of symbolism and repetition. He has a very structured style of writing in this sonnet. His use of negative and positive connotation can be clearly seen and understood. Even though Wordsworth was not very religious in the godly tense, he was very passionate about how he expressed his love for the place he grew fond of. Overall, he is very invested in his writing and the way he composes his writing. With all of this said, Wordsworth finally puts all the building blocks together to create the complete sonnet you see today.
