Wordsworth to Wu-Tang: Romanticism, Rap, and Nature (Lecture)

William Wordsworth writes about the power of nature to heal our minds and hearts. It’s not only experiencing the natural world that’s healing, but also remembering the experience and writing (as well as reading) about it. Over 200 years later, hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar would also draw on the images of Nature for their therapeutic effect on him and his listeners. He looked to the butterfly as the metaphor to chart his transformation through trauma. Similarly, Wu-Tang Clan member RZA’s classical score for his recent Ballet through Mud is inspired by the lotus blossom as metaphor. Although hip hop is associated with urban spaces, natural imagery abounds, such as Tupac’s “Rose That Grew from Concrete.” In this talk, we’ll map organic metaphors that will lead us—from L.E.L to Lauryn Hill, Keats to Kendrick, and Wheatley and Wordsworth to Wu-Tang—to the crossroads of romanticisms and rap.