Milton Wilson notices how similar the descriptions of the island and the house are in lines 483-507: "In this description the island and the house are indistinguishable. Indeed, the house seems almost to have grown out of the mountains from a seed stored up 'in the heart / Of Earth.' The architecture of man and the architecture of Nature seem to form two sides of the same thing, and it is absurd to consider whether the art of Nature mimics the art of man or vice versa" (123).
Wilson's observations remind me of John Gilpin's theory of the picturesque, which involves ruins and country houses that are inconspicuous and appear to belong in their natural surroundings. Consider the following quote from Gilpin's "On Picturesque Beauty": "But among all the objects of art, the picturesque eye is perhaps most inquisitive after the elegant relics of ancient architecture; the ruined tower, the Gothic arch, the remains of castles, and abbeys. These are the richest legacies of art. They are consecrated by time; and almost deserve the veneration we pay to the works of nature itself" (par. 10).
And now I am thinking about Dewey's Art as Experience. I think it relates very well to Gilpin's theory. Consider the following passage:
Natural and objective conditions must be used in any case to carry through to completion the expression of the values that belong to an integrated experience in its immediate quality. But naturalism in art means something more than the necessity all arts are under of employing natural and sensuous media. It means that all which can be expressed is some aspect of the relation of man and his environment, and that this subject-matter attains its most perfect wedding with form when the basic rhythms that characterize the interaction of the two are depended upon and trusted with abandon. 'Naturalism' is often alleged to signify disregard of all values that cannot be reduced to the physical and animal. But so to conceive nature is to isolate environing conditions as the whole of nature and to exclude man from the scheme of things. The very existence of art as an objective phenomenon using natural materials and media is proof that nature signifies nothing less than the whole complex of the results of the interaction of man, with his memories and hopes, understanding and desire, with that world to which one-sided philosophy confines 'nature.' The true antithesis of nature is not art but arbitrary conceit, fantasy, and stereotyped convention (151-52).
In this complicated passage, Dewey is basically saying that the art object is one that emotes a genuine ideology, one that is interrelated with "memories and hopes, understanding and desire" rather than contrivances. For instance, Wordsworth claims poetry should be the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling" rather than a didactic, preconceived expression. Sure, the tenor of a work of art may be affected by ideological preconceptions, but there is also the embedded tension caused by the negotiation between the subject and the object. The "give and take" between the the subject, object prior to artistic production and during it (within a particular artistic medium) is what for Dewey constitutes an aesthetic experience. Gilpin finds the picturesque in the "elegant relics of architecture" because such human-made architecture is more natural and irregular than when new.
Dewey, John. Art as Experience. New York: Perigee, 1934.
Wilson, Milton Thomas. Shelley's Later Poetry. New York: Columbia UP, 1957.