"Lines Written in Early Spring"

The first verse of William Wordsworth's "Lines Written in Early Spring" goes as follows:

"I heard a thousand blended notes
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind."

While I enjoy the entire poem, this first verse, on it's own, is very powerful to me.

At first, the phrase, "thousand blended notes" made me think of music. Music is common and occasionally central in poetry and also in nature. Sometimes people refer to music that they hear in the trees, the flowers, the animals and the plants. Ironically (or coincidentally), there is a poeticism and musicality that is applied to nature. This musicality is the first thought that crossed my mind regarding this phrase. This feeling changed after I read the entire verse.

I'll come back to that but first I want to explore the second line. This line provides evidence that the speaker is, in fact, in nature while hearing those sounds. The statement makes the author seem as though they're relaxed, on a sunny hill just listening to the sounds and reflecting. It's a serene picture in many ways. However, the final two lines depict a much darker scene.

The last lines offer a twist to the sedated beginning we saw. The feeling that the author captures though is something I believe many have experienced. I know that I can be happy as a clam, thinking happy thoughts, and slowly more melancholy thoughts begin to enter my head. It seems to me that it is a product of being in a relaxed state. We sit and think about good and grand ideas, and gradually we drift into sadder places, maybe thinking of what could be or how something could go wrong. I think that people find reasons to be depressed or upset somethings and that creates this conflict within them. This conflict is what I feel the author is trying to portray in this poem.

While using that thought as a basis, I'd like to return to the first line about a "thousand blended notes." After reading the entire verse, I came to a conclusion that the "notes" aren't music per se, but rather a cacophony of sound, thought and feeling trapped in the speaker's head. It wasn't until the speaker arrived on the grove and let his mind wander that experienced this feeling and had time to dissect what it meant.

The incident depicted here is very relatable. It seems a person can be flooded with thought only upon letting their guard down, which makes me curious about what has happened to this person. The power I refer to in the beginning regards the idea that this sequence of events happens to anyone and everyone, and while the verse may seem confusing or convoluted in the beginning, it is really a simple and extreme emotion that many experience.