Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni

There are two specific points in Shelley’s poem where the speaker labels nature as a teacher. The first instance occurs in Section 3, where the “wilderness” (Line 76) uses its “mysterious tongue” (Line 76) as it “teaches awful doubt, or faith so mild” (Line 77). The second instance occurs in the Section 4, where the speaker acknowledges how the “primeval mountains / [t]each the adverting mind” (Lines 99-100). In the human quest for knowledge, it is often what remains unknown that acts as the driving force for human understanding and education. Even in Shelley’s time, academics felt the pressing need to delve into the secrets of the universe to explain as much of existence as possible. However, nature teaches by withholding information. The “mysterious tongue” (Line 76) is one that does not easily release details or secrets. Nature instructs the human mind by teaching it that there are some things that can and will never be understood. Humans can either accept this fact and live in “awful doubt” (Line 77) or they can accept this fact and move forward with “faith so mild” (Line 77). They can simply acknowledge that things will turn out the way they are supposed to be. By accepting that nature is incomprehensible and can never be truly and fully dissected, mankind can be by “such faith, with Nature reconcil’d” (Line 79). If an individual wants to live in harmony with nature, then they must listen and take its lessons to heart. However, “faith” implies trust, and completely trusting such a great, destructive force is easier said than done. At the very end of the poem, Shelley encourages the reader to reconsider their relationship with nature by urging them to consider what nature would look like if everything were just “vacancy” (Line 144). In that case, there would be no opportunity for mental exercise whatsoever.