ANIMAL TRANQUILLITY AND DECAY. Written and published in 1798. The original title was "Old Man Travelling; Animal Tranquillity and Decay, A Sketch." The only change in the present lines was, l. 10, “hath such” in 1805 replacing "has such," to avoid the clash of sibilants. But at first these lines were succeeded by the following : I asked him whither he was bound, and what The object of his journey; he replied "Sir! I am going many miles to take A last leave of my son, a mariner Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth, And there is dying in an hospital." These lines were slightly altered in 1800, and were omitted in 1815. Poems on the sorrows of the poor caused by war are numerous in Southey and other writers between 1790 and 1800. Here the virtue of the poem lies in its mere presentation of an old man, his tranquillity and decay, and the added piece of narrative rather lessened its imaginative effect. LINES COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY, etc. This poem was written in 1798 and published in the same year, being the last poem of "Lyrical Ballads," a volume which opens with Coleridge's Ancient Mariner." No poem of mine," said Wordsworth (Fenwick note), "was composed under circumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this. I began it upon leaving Tintern, after crossing the Wye, and concluded it just as I was entering Bristol in the evening, after a ramble of four or five days with my sister. Not a line of it was altered, and not any part of it written down till I reached Bristol." Wordsworth had visited the Wye in the summer of 1793, to which fact he refers in the opening lines. 4. Soft inland murmur: before 1845, "sweet inland murmur.” Wordsworth in his earlier poems had used the word "sweet too frequently and indiscriminately, and at a later time he grew perhaps overfastidious as to the word, which disappeared from a large number of passages. 13, 14. The text is of 1845. In 1798–1800: In 1802-43: Among the woods and copses lose themselves, Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves Perhaps Wordsworth thought the earlier reading too analytic in its characterizing of landscape for the mood of mind expressing itself in these lines. The reader of "Lyrical Ballads," 1798, should notice that a line coming between 1. 18 and 1. 19 in that edition, "And the low copses -coming from the trees," is cancelled in the "errata." 22, 23. Before 1827: Though absent long, These forms of beauty. ९९ The absence was that of Wordsworth; in the earlier text the word "absent" might be supposed to belong to forms of beauty." 32. Before 1820, "As may have had no trivial influence." Wordsworth generalizes the reflection, and does not wish to identify his own life with "the good man's life" of 1. 33. 84. Aching joys. In a suppressed stanza of "Ruth" occur the words 106. with delight The heart of Ruth would ache. The words of Young referred to in Wordsworth's footnote occur in "The Complaint," " Night Thoughts," VI, 423-5: At a small inlet, which a grain might close, With respect to the changes which Wordsworth's feeling for nature underwent, this poem may be read in connection with the "Ode: Intimations of Immortality," etc. Here he describes the mere animal enjoyment of nature in boyhood; the later period, when beauty and sublimity, reaching him through the eye and ear, became a passion; later still, the tranquillising, and also the elevating and spiritual influences of nature; and now, a feeling for nature, touched and chastened by humanity, and, at the same time, a deeper communion with the spiritual Presence at work both through nature and in man. We might name these periods that of the blood, that of the senses, that of the imagination, and that of the soul. In the development of feeling something was lost, but more was gained. Wordsworth," writes Myers, "has shown by the subtle intensity of his own emotion how the contemplation of Nature can be made a revealing agency, like Love or Prayer, - an opening, if indeed there be any opening, into the transcendent world." In a note, ed. 1800, Wordworth writes: "I have not ventured to call this Poem an Ode; but it was written with a hope that in the transitions, and the impassioned music of the versification, would be found the principal requisites of that species of composition." THERE WAS A BOY. Written in Germany late in 1798; the receipt of a MS. copy is acknowledged from Ratzeburg, on December 10, by Coleridge, who writes "That uncertain heaven received Into the bosom of the steady lake I should have recognized anywhere; and had I met these lines running wild in the deserts of Arabia, I should have instantly screamed out, 'Wordsworth!" The poem was first published in 1800. When in 1804 Wordsworth was at work on "The Prelude," he made this poem a part of Bk. v (ll. 364-397). The Boy was Wordsworth's schoolfellow, William Raincock of Rayrigg, "a fine, spirited lad.” His elder brother was with Wordsworth at Cambridge. 2. 3. Winander, Windermere or Winandermere in Westmoreland. Before 1815: "At evening, when the stars had just begun Concourse wild, a correction of 1805; previously" a wild scene but while visible scene" of 1. 21 is correct, a "scene of din " misapplies the word. 15. The idea of mockery disturbs the feeling of the lines which follow. 26-34. In 1800 and 1802 the lines corresponding to these were the following: Fair are the woods, and beauteous is the spot, The vale where he was born; the Church-yard hangs Upon a slope above the village school, And there along that bank when I have pass'd At evening, I believe, that near his grave A full half-hour together I have stood, Mute for he died when he was ten years old. In 1805 Wordsworth felt that the last words were a bald addition, informing the reader of the Boy's age and nothing more. He therefore announced the Boy's death as in the present ll. 26, 27, except that he remained of the age of ten" (where now "full twelve❞— 1815 — stands). The passage continued "Fair are," etc., as in 1800, until we reach 1. 32: At evening, I believe, that oftentimes A full half-hour together I have stood Mute looking at the grave in which he lies. (1805.) Lines 28, 29 are of 1845. In 1827 (and in "The Prelude ") Wordsworth substituted for the reading of 1800 : Fair is the spot, most beautiful the vale Where he was born; the grassy church-yard hangs In 1840 the original text was restored; but still dissatisfied, Wordsworth in 1845 wrote 11. 28, 29 as we now have them. Lines 31-33 received their final form in 1836. A long half-hour " was substituted in 1815 for "A full half-hour." Compare "To a Butterfly," 1. 1, where " a short half-hour" was changed to a full half-hour." ee In "The Waggoner" Wordsworth speaks of the Windermere owls : The jolly bird hath learned his cheer On the banks of Windermere ; Where a tribe of them make merry, Mocking the man that keeps the ferry. The poem might have closed without a sense of incompleteness at the line "Into the bosom of the steady lake," but the contrast between the concourse wild of jocund din" and the silence of the grave heightens and deepens the impression which it makes. ९९ "STRANGE FITS OF PASSION HAVE I KNOWN." This poem was written in Germany early in 1799, and was published in 1800. The following variations of text may be noted: Lines 5, 6 replaced in 1836 the earlier When she I loved was strong and gay And like a rose in June, Line 8, "an evening moon" in 1836 replaced "the evening moon "the," following "beneath," produced a disagreeable juxtaposition of the "th" sound. Line 11 in 1836 replaced "My horse trudg'd on, and we drew nigh." The quickening pace corresponds better with a lover's feeling. Lines 15, 16 previous to 1836 were The use of " towards Wordsworth. Line 24. Towards the roof of Lucy's cot The moon descended still. as a dissyllable was at this time condemned by In this line the word "planet," applied to the moon, was altered in 1815 to "bright moon." The Lucy of other poems of this date dies (see "She dwelt among the untrodden ways "), and so the lover's omen was confirmed. Aubrey de Vere questioned Wordsworth as to why he had not written more love-poems. "Had I been a writer of love-poetry," Wordsworth replied, "it would have been natural to me to write it with a degree of warmth which could hardly have been approved by my principles." "SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS." Written in Germany in 1799 and published in 1800. it has stood in all editions except 1802, when 1. 4 was love." The text is as The river Dove rises on the borders of Derby and Stafford, near Buxton and Axedge Hill. It is not known whether any original of Lucy existed, or whether the poems connected with her are wholly of the imagination. |