"primitive people" – who are considered to live in a way more accordant to "nature" because they are isolated from civilization – are preferable to the way of life, activities, and products of people living in a highly developed society, especially cities. (Abrams, 1981 p.41).
The countryside was therefore the easily accessible setting in which the Romantics could pursue their own "primitive" lifestyles. Similarly, the typical Romantic childhood embodied such values, where children were allowed to roam free in the countryside and to feel at one, or united, with nature and the natural elements. Wordsworth, in his autobiographical The Prelude (1805), promotes the Romantic ideology when he describes his own childhood:.
Fair seed-time had my soul, and I grew up.
Foster'd alike by beauty and by fear;.
Much favor'd in my birth-place, and no less.
In that beloved Vale to which, erelong, .
I was transplanted. Well I call to mind.
('Twas at an early age, ere I had seen .
Nine summers) when upon the mountain slope.
The frost, and breath of frosty wind had snapp'd .
The last autumnal crocus, 'twas my joy.
To wander half the night among the Cliffs.
And the smooth Hollows, where the woodcocks ran.
Along the open turf. (Wordsworth, 2003, I, 306-317).
The elevation of the rural is demonstrated here as Wordsworth recalls his "beloved Vale" and his "joy" of exploring his surroundings. The seemingly unimportant detail, such as the winter wind that had "snapp'd/The last autumnal crocus", has specific poetic purposes, making the poem much more vivid and resonant whilst conforming to the Romantic ideal of nature. The idea of the child as roaming, or wandering free in the countryside is an idea explored in "Laughing Song", where Blake brings nature and children together to enjoy a sublimely idyllic scene of rural happiness and tranquillity.
