"Expostulation and Reply"
William Wordsworth
Wordsworth counters the Enlightenment's obsession with active inquiry and relentless study with a call for receptivity. His "wise passiveness" suggests that understanding can arise without constant effort, through quiet openness to the world around us. This was radical in 1798, when rationalism dominated. Wordsworth, instead, champions a type of learning that happens when we allow nature to speak to us directly.