Wordsworth was not the only poet (or artist) for whom Tintern Abbey seems to have served as inspiration. That fact is unsurprising, given the abbey's grandeur and the romantic themes inherent in decay and ruin. These other poems and pieces of art are interesting, nonetheless, for the insight they might give about how the abbey serves as inspiration.
The artist JMW Turner apparently painted the abbey several times. One example is here:
His paintings emphasize the abbey's size and the romantic "wildness" of it, as with the plants growing along the arches in the painting above. Compare to a picture of the abbey in the present day:
While the landscape has certainly changed since the 1700s (the painting was from 1794, the year after Wordsworth's visit), it seems likely that Turner still romanticized the abbey considerably in order to show it as a symbol of the past being literally overgrown in its decay.Two other poets were famously inspired by the abbey: Tennyson and Allen Ginsberg (an interesting pair, to be sure). Tennyson wrote the short poem "Tears, Idle Tears." Similarly to Wordsworth's, Tennyson's poem discusses the past and how we view it. The two poets seem to have been driven by the abbey to write upon the same basic theme.
Ginsberg's experience at the abbey was probably somewhat different; he was reportedly on LSD at the time of his visit; given that, his poem ("Wales Visitation") is remarkably similar, discussing the influence of the past. He shows a special interest in both the pastoral landscape that enchanted Wordsworth and the idea of the "bard" (he references Wordsworth and Blake by name, as a matter of fact).
Through all of these works of art, the influence of the abbey is remarkably consistent in its evocation of the past and the idea of memory.
I didn't know of the Ginsberg poem. He was deeply influenced by the romantics; the further I get from the 60s, the more I see the power of Romanticism in that rebellious and melancholy time.
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