ENGLAND'S WORDSWORTH

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21506, 22 June 1935, Page 17

ENGLAND'S WORDSWORTH

HIS PLACE IN LITERATURE {ui'Bam.Y wanTM roa tub n<E3.«r.) ;l!y C. K. ,UJ.!::.N'J jsrjiwpeare ai:d Wordsworth. Cizc'z >-o names designate something tiMjre than men. They are symbols. Between Shakespeare and Wordsworth there lies the glacial period of the Augustans. Hemck and Herbert blossomed in Caroline days it is true, but the dominating Same* are those of Dryden and pope Mr A. E. Housman in a ecture delivered some time ago had the courage to say what many must have thought, that the thraldom which Pope and Dryden e::emsed over' English letters for so many years resulted in a kind of atrophy .',: the true English spirit in letters. The heroic couplet held such a B way in that period, that it is difficult in our own day for a poet to eJopt that measure without in some degree corning under the shadow oi Pope.

To Pastures New One used to be taught that the first essay in revolt against this universal regime—and how universal St was we do not perhaps realise—came from a woman, Lady Winchelsea. How far this statement is supported to-day I cannot say, though Lady Winchelsea's poetry must be little read. Still, we were taught to hear in her verse premonitions of tne Lyrical Ballads. . . . Gray's Elegy is in the Augustan tradition as far as form is concerned, but the matter vt this great poem has more in common with the age of Wordswortn. The same might be said of "The Deserted Village." Goldsmith was a romantic at heart. One may even find traces of revolt in Covvper's •Task." Wordsworth's greatness consists not so much in what he wrote as in the place he happens to occupy. He stands, as it were, at the gateway of a new era. It is perilous to indulge in similes, but w« might compare him with one of his own Cumberland shepherds directing the pent flocks, so long subjected to the Arcadian artificiallities of the Augustan age, to newer and freer pastures. No doubt he was absurdly solemn over his vocation, but a vocation it was in *very sense of the word. There are certain authors who seem to transcend the limits we place upon others. Thus Sir James Barrie may be as sentimental as he chooses, and no one says him nay. In the same way Wordsworth is allowed to be political to a degree that would not be tolerated in any other pott. Why? Because ho i*■"something more than a man. He j- *teymboi. He stands for an age <jf "release. Wordsworth himself thought that release was coming to tne French people in the Revolution. It was his overwhelming disappointment at the turn which the Revolution took which drove him to his native hills, there to find strength in the contemplation of nature.

The Priest of Poetry The famous Tintern Abbey lines have been so often quoted that one retrains from quoting them here. Not so well known, perhaps, and vet equally illuminating are these lines from "The Prelude." The circumstances of their inditing are these. Wordsworth, by reason of a legacy from a young invalid called Raisiey Calvert, finds himself with a competence. He is tree to dedicate himself to poetry. He seta out upon A walking tour, being bound by few considerations of time. It is almost as if he were on a pilgrimage to some shrine, but the shrine is nowhere and everywhere.

Whither ahaj! I turn }ly rosd or pathway, or through trackless

a«id. VphiU Mr down, or shall some floating: thin* T>>n ttui river point mo out my courue.) imitr Liberty! Yet what would it avail Hut for a gift that ronneerafesi th« joy. for I, nurthoueht. while the sweet hrauth ol

heaven \V«* b!owias on my body, felt within A -■orrfipondiii* breezo that ireiitly inoveu With q'liriceiiini; virtue, but is now become A tcmuciti, a redundant tinuriry, VVxinif its own creation. Thanks to bot.i And their congenial powers, that, wlnlo they

join In breaking up a lons continued frost 3Jrl;i(f with them vernal promises, tlio hops Of «u:tiv« (iays urjfed on by flying hours, 0»y» of awed leisure, taxed with uationl

thought . JiUtrui", nor wanting punctual service nijrn, ifatlng'and vesper* of harmonious verne.

Wordsworth's self-dedication involved him in prolixity. The priest, at the altar repeats the formulary. One may Suppose that the intensity of his devotion varies with his mood. The dedicated poet offers his matins and vespers of verse continuously, and it is in the order of nature that these offerings should not be universally harmonious. Wordsworth was well aware of the fluctuations of hw genius. Elsewhere in "The Prelude" he writes:

But O, dear friend, Thfl poet, jtentli" urenturo a» he is, H»th like the Lover his unruly time*, Hath fits when he is neither sick nor well. Though no distrwi bo near him but his own l'nmana«tMbl« thoughts; hi* mind beav vl»a»ed , Whl!« nhd an dutioua a* tho mother dov» Biti brooding. Discovery There is a strong case to be made for an abbreviated Wordsworth. Most of us, I suopose, would agree upon much. Still the fact remains that we do not know our Wordsworth till we have read h:m in toto. We may not find ourze'.ves in accord with the famous litterateur w|»» declared that he could read every word of Wordsworth, including the Ecclesiastical Sonnets. Still, we would probably iind ourselves Pleading for the inclusion of certain comparatively obscure passages from "The Prelude." There is. for instance, that hauntingly vivid description of the arrival of the coacn bearing the news of the death of Robespierre, to be found towards the end of Book Ten .... To eacrof us there come seasons of discovery. These seasons are our on« Private and particular possession. Wordsworth was imperturbable in the face of savage criticism Jeffrey of the "Edinburgh Review" gave the Lyn- «■! Ballads short shrift. "Trouble Bot yourself," wrote Wordsworth, "about their present reception. I Jxdieve that their destiny will be *o console the afflicted, to add sunto daylight by making the »«]PPy happier, and to teach the J«n>* and gracious of every age to jWak. to see, and te feel, and therefore to be more actively and se2>?eiy virtuous." How fay his confwnce In the destiny of hi* poetrv •Jl Been justified it is f or tfr&mMh*fil pilgrims to the Cumberland | ■*»•&> say. i