In Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth's faith in nature is mirrored by his faith in--and hope for--future generations, emblematized by his younger sister Dorothy. Though he may speak of his own youth with a tone of slight condescension, he revels in his revisitation of it and its passions and fires as he walks through Wye with her. Furthermore, he knows that he must die and lives vicariously through his sister and the possibilities of her young life and budding love of nature and he makes a "prayer" on her behalf. This prayer--one in which he relays his hope that she will one day come to worship and understand nature with the fervor he has--is wrapped up in his own desire to inspire her and influence her. Not only does he wish that her relationship to nature imitate his own, but he wishes that her experiences with HIM will most decisively define her love of nature and serve as "healing" memories. He romanticizes his position as her older brother and idealizes its significance in her life.
Wordsworth associates a youthful perspective on nature with anguish in desire, anxiety, and unconsummated love, whereas his view of a matured and more resolved bond with nature is one of peace; a quiet and enlightened recognition. It means an appreciation for the small moments in life and simple pleasures of living, such as "life and food" and at that "for future years" to come. He claims that there is comfort in the continuum of life--in the fact that even after we "are laid to sleep," another generation will sprout up and continue to feel and enjoy the impression of nature upon them.
The link between his connection with nature and with his sister is a very interesting one. Is she "natural" because she's young? female? morally innocent? "unreflecting"?
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