DOI: 10.9744/kata.17.1.17-25 17 ISSN 1411-2639 (Print), ISSN 2302-6294 (Online) OPEN ACCESS http://kata.petra.ac.id Ecocritical Reunion of Man and Nature in The Ruined Cottage Bazregarzadeh, E. Graduate Student of English Language and Literature, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, IRAN. Email: eli.b1988@gmail.com ABSTRACT While the previous researches on Romanticism, especially Wordsworth (1770-1850), and Ecocriticism are quite far-ranging, the inherent ecocritical echoes of Wordsworth‘s oeuvre are yet to be surveyed. This study is an endeavor to examine the ecocritical aspects of William Wordsworth‘s The Ruined Cottage (1797-ca.1799) with the aim of bringing into focus the inner link between Nature and Ecocriticism in the above-mentioned poem. With that issue in mind, the researcher intends to take the viewpoints of the Yale School critics, the New Historicists, and those of the ecologists into consideration to prove the previous critics‘ inability in rendering a th orough reading of The Ruined Cottage and will examine the poem through the lens of Ecocriticism by focusing on the correspondence between the gradual withering of Nature and the gradual demise of Margaret‘s soul in order to reach a comprehensive examination of the poem in the end. Keywords: The Ruined Cottage; Margaret; Soul; Nature; William Wordsworth. INTRODUCTION As a poet of Nature, William Wordsworth (1770- 1850) valued physical Nature as a source of inno- cence, majesty, tranquility, dignity, and power that could relieve human psyche in all walks of life.To him, Nature was the mother and teacher of all mankind; the source of energy and emotions that was part and parcel of every human being‘s life. To Wordsworth, modernity and Industrial Revolution were synonymous with the destruction of the inno- cence and simplicity of the rural lifestyle. Previous critics of Wordsworth and his poetry have focused on the dichotomous nature of Wordsworth‘s poems resulting from their anti-Enlightenment tones and themes. As a result, they have failed to direct their attention to the environmental and ecological con- cepts embodied within the fabric of his poetry. Since 19 th century, industrialization and scientific revolution have brought much improvement and convenience to the life of the individuals; they have also created a deteriorating atmosphere that is endangering the environment and the welfare of the creatures today. As Worster (1993) puts it, ―We are facing a global crisis today, not because of how ecosystems function but rather because of how our ethical systems function‖ (p. 27). He furthermore declares: Getting through the crisis requires understanding our impact on nature as precisely as possible, but even more, it requires understanding those ethical systems and using that understanding to reform them. Historians, along with literary scholars, anthropologists, and philosophers, can- not do the reforming, of course, but they can help with the understanding. (Worster, 1993, p. 27) Therefore, it‘s time to improve the existing environ- mental problems through literature or other possible ways. In fact, the role of literature in environmental studies has gained much significance along with the advent of Ecocriticism. Glotfelty (1996), as the eminent scholar and founder of Ecocriticism in U.S., rejects the framework of the existing critical appro- aches in the following terms, ―If your knowledge of the outside world were limited to what you could infer from the major publications of the literary profession, you would quickly discern that race, class, and gender were the hot topics of the late twentieth century‖(p. xvi). In the same manner, when it comes to the examination of other branches such as ―history, philosophy, law, sociology, and religion,‖Glotfelty (1996) argues that such trends and branches ―have been ―greening‖ since the 1970s,‖ while ―literary studies have apparently remained untinted by environ- mental conce rns‖ (p. xvi). Though Ecocriticism emerged in the early 1990s, scholars of literature have been ―developing ecologically informed criticism and theory since the seventies‖ (Glotfelty, 1996, p.xvi). Ultimately, the works of individual critics and