By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room’ is the title often given to the sonnet by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) which has this as its opening line. The poem is an argument about the usefulness of the sonnet as a means of poetic expression, and a rejection of the idea that the sonnet’s formal restrictions place undesirable limitations upon what the poet can do with the sonnet form. Here is ‘Nuns Fret Not’ (as we will refer to it) along with some notes towards an analysis of it.
Nuns fret not at their Convent’s narrow room;
And Hermits are contented with their Cells;
And Students with their pensive Citadels;
Maids at the Wheel, the Weaver at his Loom,
Sit blithe and happy; Bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest Peak of Furness-Fells,
Will murmur by the hour in Foxglove bells: