As a society from an early age we are taught the idea that freedom allows us to make our own decisions, which in effect causes us to be happy. We are raised to understand that freedom is an extremely powerful thing, it builds civilizations and cultivates the people in them. In certain cases, some people decide that it is a difficult decision to have to choose between a life of simplicity or a life of complexity. Many people turn to alternative lifestyles to find happiness in places most people do not. The sonnet Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Rooms was written by William Wordsworth with a series of metaphors, use of rhythm, and a content tone to introduce the acceptance of different ideas on aspirations and more simplistic lifestyles.   

Wordsworth’s use of metaphor is very powerful, and paints an interesting picture of self-understanding and acceptance of one’s life and occupation. His words, “In truth the prison, unto which we doom Ourselves, no prison is”, is a metaphor (Wordsworth, 8, 9). The “prison” mentioned above is determined to be no prison at all by Wordsworth. In fact, the “prison” is actually someone’s livelihood or passion that is viewed poorly by others because of the restrictions that livelihood puts upon one’s life. Wordsworth words attempt to explain that simplistic lifestyles are not prisons, because those people find comfort in their jobs. Wordsworth gives examples of this in the beginning of his poem. Wordsworth entitles his poem and begins with, “Nuns fret not at their convents narrow room; And hermits are contented with their cells;” (Wordsworth, 1, 2). The preceding quote introduces the idea that nuns are not concerned with material things, whereas many people would scoff at the idea of life as a nun. Their lives are ones of solitude and almost no freedom of choice, so people aren’t receptive to the vocation. He also incorporates the life of a hermit, saying they are content with their “cells”. The “cells” that some would consider shanty and destitute, are a hermit’s home and they find happiness there. The metaphors about the nuns and hermits above convey the message of another person’s aspirations, and the simplicity of their living that Wordsworth was trying to lay out for the reader.

In addition, to further prove his point, Wordsworth uses rhythm. He writes this poem in the Sonnet form as stated in line 11 of his text. There is a smoothness to the rhythm in the words, “convents narrow room”, “weaver at his loom”, and “bees that soar for bloom” (Wordsworth, 1, 4, 5). The rhyme scheme draws emphasis to these words, because they are each important to his message. Each of these contribute to his message in a different way. Wordsworth uses the Petrarchan Sonnet which is shown through his rhyme scheme, which means there is a split in the middle of the poem. The first half of his poem’s rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA, because all the ending words are places where jobs are performed, creating a correlation between all of them. Due to this the first half of the sonnet is very broad in its inclusion of people and their simplistic lives. Wordsworth speaks on the behalf of those people who lead those kinds of lives. But in the second half of the poem, with the rhyme scheme CDDCCD Wordsworth describes himself having a life of simplicity through writing. Wordsworth found great comfort in writing sonnets, it “‘twas pastime to be bound” for him as something he did often in his life (Wordsworth, 10). Wordsworth showed that he too was content with a simplistic life, one in which he writes for a living. The Petrarchan Sonnet is a like the narrow room in a convent, there is not much deviation, because it is a restrictive style. Although it was restrictive Wordsworth used the sonnet style to his advantage, incorporating his points into the rhyme scheme, and they drive home Wordsworth’s messages that happiness is in the eye of the beholder.

Furthermore, to continue his message Wordsworth incorporates a content tone into his sonnet. He speaks of those “Who have felt the weight of too much liberty”, because the complexity of lifestyles can weigh down an individual and can create a yearning feeling for a more simplistic life (Wordsworth, 13). The people who have felt that pressure of complexity are the people who moved on to a more constructed regime of living. Those people like the nuns, maids, and weavers chose a life of simplicity. They became content with the choice to take a new path towards a more structured life. Even Wordsworth does the same when he says, “Should find brief solace there, as I have found.” (Wordsworth, 14). He too chose a more structured life, only his was devoted to writing. The act of writing is a very structured, it does not account for very much freedom, because writing is like nun’s convent room, narrow. Even though writing is structured, Wordsworth was content with his lifestyle and found “solace” in the lines he put to paper. Some people would frown at the idea of being constricted to a tightly planned lifestyle, but it is not for them to judge the lives of others. Instead they should be accepting to the aspirations and life choices of others, and that happiness should be decided by the individual and no one else.  

Finally, the poem suggests that society has learned freedom of choice and the acceptance of various lifestyles. The freedom expressed in the sonnet walked hand in hand with an excellent example of the acceptance of more simple lifestyle and life choices. Wordsworth combined the use of metaphors, rhythm, and a strong content tone perfectly together. This created a feeling of empathy throughout the whole poem, and caused the reader to understand various life aspirations and lifestyles. It was a glimpse into the way other people think and an attempt to follow their ways of thought. Overall this poem’s message was to encourage open-mindedness and an acceptance of other people’s life choices. There is no entitled right in deciding what makes other people happy, all we have control over is our own lives. 
