Abstract
This study investigates the ecological consciousness embedded in William Wordsworth’s poetry, moving beyond the aesthetic category of the picturesque to uncover a deeper environmental ethic. Positioned within an ecocritical framework, this research explores how Wordsworth’s representations of nature challenge anthropocentric attitudes and propose a symbiotic relationship between human beings and the natural world. In English literature, writers from different eras, especially those of the Romantic era, have given special focus to mankind’s relationship with nature in their writing. While the picturesque tradition often emphasized nature as an object of visual delight, Wordsworth reconfigures it as a moral, spiritual, and pedagogical force. Through an ecocritical approach, the concentration of this paper will be on William Wordsworth’s belief regarding nature as a possible solution to the current environmental problems and natural calamities. Through close readings of selected poems, this paper analyzes how Wordsworth anticipates modern concerns about ecological crisis, industrialization, and alienation from nature. By bridging literature and environmental ethics, this study argues that Wordsworth’s vision offers a proto-environmentalist blueprint for rethinking humanity’s role within ecological systems, making his work deeply relevant to contemporary debates on climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice.