The Role Of Context In Understanding A Text

 The term context in literary terms, describes the biographical and societal circumstances surrounding a piece of literature as well as the time period in which it was written, as Jacques Derrida describes context as ‘the entire real-history-of-the-world’. Understanding the concept of context is an important part of reading, critiquing and interpreting literary works and the audience they were intended to influence. In reference to a collection of William Wordsworth’s poetry I will be exploring the different types of contextual evidence that effect the interpretation of a text, how the understanding of his works have developed as social norms and mind-sets have evolved and how the lack of sufficient and accurate contextual evidence can lead to the misinterpretation of texts.

There are five main types of context that aid in providing a background to the understanding of literature; these include socio-historical context, authorial context, critical context, literary context and philosophical context. Within these subcategories lies the foundation to which a solid and accurate interpretation can be made. Socio-historical context describes the how the piece of literature associates with the society in which they are written. Most literary works are written as a response to the political leadership of a society, whether that is in criticism or praise. Thus, understanding the societal issues faced in the period that the piece is written in leads to a greater understanding of the message the author may be trying to convey.

Authorial context covers the biographical history of the author, from their childhood to the experiences they may have encountered and the circumstances in which their work was created. An appreciation of the personal history of the author can provide the reader with a path into the authors mind and the deeper relation to the characters portrayed in the narrative. Philosophical context opens up the moral and ethical questions faced by humanity and the discusses the complex relation between fate and free will as well as questioning the purpose of human existence, the futility of morality and the undeniable reality of our uncontrollable nature and behaviours.

Literary context discusses the particular period a piece of literature is born into. In the case of Wordsworth’s literary works, they were described as aids that launched the Romantic Movement into action. Therefore knowledge of the literature of that period and its influence of Wordsworth’s literature offers a clear vision of its place in the evolution of poetry through the ages. Critical context can describe both criticism received and administered by the author. All pieces of literature undergo criticism and a clear insight of that allows the reader to make an informed opinion about the quality of the literature and have an understanding of the authors own preferences of genre and how that might’ve influenced their works.

Being a poet in nineteenth-century England, Wordsworth exploits the pressures of the industrial revolution and the societal issues of gender inequality and classicism through his poetry. Marlon B. Ross states that Wordsworth “subtly and quietly reasserts and solidifies the priority of male needs and desires” and that the “male’s need for self-identity is repeatedly re-enacted in these poems and the female always serves that need as an object of that desire”. Thus suggesting that the superficial ideologies of the lack of female autonomy in this era has not only been exploited but also perpetually encouraged by the writings of Wordsworth. However, Wordsworth still opposes against this notion as he allows himself to be mesmerised by the all encompassing beauty and nature of a woman, describing them as mythical creatures and unreal beings, for example the blazon style description of the female character in the poem ‘Perfect Woman’ as he lists the desirability of her features in a sycophantic manner, “her eyes as stars of twilight fair; like twilight’s, too, her dusky hair”. Signifying that although compelled to adhere to the misogynistic expectations of a patriarchal society, Wordsworth is compelled to ignore that notion and develops an appreciation for the female, separate to that of a mans desire and need.

Wordsworth experienced quite a troubled childhood with his mother dying at his tender age of eight years old. The result of this was a very close relationship with his younger sister who not only became a close companion and inspiration but also an integral part of his literary career. After the privileged experience of attending Cambridge University, Wordsworth embarks on an excursion where he meets the mother of his first child in France, Annette Vallon. But soon abandons Vallon and his unborn child, Caroline, prior to the war in France. Described as Wordsworth’s “first great love”, Vallon becomes the muse for many of Wordsworth’s ballads and becomes the spark, which lights the fuse for much of his passionate and illustrious love poems. A popular poem that embodies the intensity of Wordsworth’s relationship with his sister, Dororthy, is ‘Daffodils’ born from the excerpt from her Grasmere Journal, where she describes in detail a walk she takes with her brother and the nature surrounding them. The poem reads, “I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats o’er wales and hills… and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils. ” At this point in the writing of the poem, Wordsworth is to marry and thus having to reduce the amount of intimacy he has with Dororthy. The realisation of this mental and emotional separation they are about to undergo is reflected in Wordsworth’s emphasis of solitude in the poem. Although Wordsworth removes Dorothy’s presence from the memory and fixates on the magnificence of the daffodils and the nature surrounding them, there is particular significance in the purity of the memory and the underlying intensity of their connection.

As one of the founding fathers of the Romantic Movement, many of Wordsworth’s poems went against the rational and scientific concepts of the period of ‘The Enlightenment’ and followed a path of passion and emotion. The topics addressed in his literary works, therefore had collative theme, exploration and admiration. Wordsworth, however, did not only focus on the physical interactions between other humans and the sensual relations involved, but also the spiritual connection with nature and the beauty of the natural world, as he described poetry to be “a spontaneous overflow of emotion… recollected in tranquillity”. Another Romantic poet who greatly influenced Wordsworth’s writings and also became a close companion of his was Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Although a heavy opioid user and a sufferer of several mental disturbances, Coleridge’s literary works mirrored that of Wordsworth’s with the influence of nature and the exposure of conversational poetry, which became the foundation of many Romantic narratives. Coleridge stated in his ‘Bibliographia Literaria’ that “the best part of human language, properly so called, is derived from the reflection on the acts of the mind itself. It is formed by a voluntary appropriation of fixed symbol to internal acts, to thought processes and results of imagination, the greater part of which have no place in the consciousness of uneducated man…” Thus expressing that true understanding and evolution of poetry can only derive from passion, spiritual connection with the world and the spontaneity of life experiences, rather than the rational, orderly ideals of ‘The Enlightenment’ era, a notion that he shared with Wordsworth.

Coleridge also presented himself as an in-house critic of Wordsworth’s, allowing him to receive appropriate criticism, before releasing his works to the public. Furthermore, there were critics of Wordsworth’s work who later took inspiration from his literature, for example George Eliot whose works were so influenced by Wordsworth, that her novel ‘Silas Marner’ features an epigraph from Wordsworth himself.

However, Wordsworth’s poetry wasn’t always as well received as it is today. When Wordsworth first debuted as a poet, he was very much at the bitter end of mockery and ridicule. Early readers of his work suggested that it lacked depth and found his poetic style too complex for the trivial subject matter. Wordsworth’s main critics were William Hazlitt, a nineteenth-century critic and philosopher and Francis Jeffrey, a literary critic and judge. These critics initially dismissed Wordsworth’s literary works on the basis that they were compiled with unnecessary emotion and overtly explored the philosophical questions about morality and the purpose of human existence as well as the complex relation between the reality of a higher power and the nature of free will, without explicitly answering or rather solving them.

The argument, however, against the usefulness of context however, is its accuracy. Jacques Derrida states, “The reconstruction of a context can never be perfect and irreproachable”, suggesting that although there is significant reliance on contextual evidence to decipher the meaning and purpose of a text, it is difficult to build an irrefutable foundation to which the text can be understood. On the other hand, Derrida also states that “[context] is a regulative ideal in the ethics of reading, of interpretation or of discussion” thus concluding that without it, there can be no true appreciation of a text and the ethical implications of critiquing or analysing a piece of literature without understanding the context in which it was written would be morally wrong.