ABSTRACT
The relation of person to place is a recurrent theme in William Wordsworth's poetry. The idea that human identity is somehow tied to location is not, of course, peculiar to Wordsworth, nor even to romantic nature poetry. Even if expressed in very different ways in different cultures and traditions, the basic notion of a tie between place and human identity is both widespread and explicit in indigenous cultures from Australia to the Americas. An important source in English-speaking philosophy for ideas linking mind and self to the environing world is to be found in a line of thinking that derives largely from Immanuel Kant. Kant's own use of geographical and spatial ideas and images reinforce the idea that the Kantian philosophy is indeed topographical or topological in character. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
