NOTES: MAINLY HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL NO. 4 Most copies of Cowper's poems contain an account of these hares, written in the exquisite prose of which he was master. 9 The poetry which Blake, an artist of very high and rare powers, wrote during his youth, shows the same qualities as his art; simple yet often majestic imagination, spiritual insight, profound feeling for grace and colour. Like his art also, his verse is narrow in its range, and at times eccentric to the neighbourhood of madness. But, whatever he writes, his eye is always straight upon his subject. So many beautiful pieces in prose and verse have been written in the Scots or North Country language that a great source of pleasure is lost by readers who will not take the small pains required to master the peculiarities of spelling and vocabulary: it is hoped that the very numerous notes added here will tempt children to give themselves this pleasure. 12 17 The original ballads by unknown poets appear generally to have taken their present form within the two hundred years before 1700. 16 Casabianga was son to a French Admiral commanding the flag-ship L'Orient at the battle of the Nile, 1798. The Birkenhead, steam troop-ship, struck near Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, 25th of February, 1852. Four hundred and thirty-eight officers, soldiers, and seamen, were lost including the military commander, Colonel Seton of the 74th. For some alterations which make this fine poem more intelligible to children, readers are indebted to the author's kindness. 20 19 These gallant lines are almost worthy of Campbell. 21 23 Burns justly named this 'one of the most beautiful songs in the Scots or any other language.' 'I never saw anything like this funeral dirge,' says Charles Lamb, 'except the ditty which reminds Ferdinand of his drowned father in the Tempest. As that is of the water, watery; so this is of the earth, earthy. 'Both have that intenseness of feeling, which seems to resolve itself into the element which it contemplates.' 24 Alexander Selkirk's life of four years in the desolat PAGE 48 49 689 78 82 86 89 NO. island, Juan Fernandez, may have been in De Foe's mind when he wrote 'Robinson Crusoe.' 28 Line 66, Cockrood, unexplained, so far as the Editor can 29 A justly famous specimen of the allegorical style pre- 47 This spirited poem, which blazes throughout with the Line 10, Pinta; the Editor can find no Spanish vessel recorded under this name; nor does the word, in Spanish, bear any sense applicable to a ship. Medina Sidonia, who commanded the Armada, sailed in the Saint Martin. Line 23, At Cressy, in Picardy, the king of Bohemia, and a body of Genoese soldiers, fought in the army of Philip. Cæsar's eagle shield appears to be an allusion to some German troops who also served. The eagle is the ancient bearing of the empire. Line 42, Mines of lead and zinc exist in the Mendip Hills. Line 43, Longleat, Cranbourne; houses in Wilts and Dorset belonging to Lords Bath and Salisbury. Line 71, Belvoir, house of the Duke of Rutland near Grantham. Line 73, Gaunt's embattled pile, Lancaster Castle, built by John of Gaunt about 1363. 48 This battle was fought December 2, 1800, between the 51 Belisarius, a Thracian peasant, became general of the The writer of this rough, but truly noble and original poem, died soon after 1800. The version here given (from Plumtre's Songs,' 1806) differs from that published by Collins in his very rare little book, Scripscrapologia,' 1804. ་ 53 Lines 22, 24, These places are in the S. W. promontory of PAGE NO. Donegal, Ireland. Slieveleague is a mountain; Columbkill a glen between Slieveleague and the Rosses islands. 96 56 The poet professed that these fine, wildly musical lines came to him in his sleep, and that all he did on waking was to write them down. Coleridge, in his magic world, is the most imaginative and romantic of all our poets, Shakespeare (always exceptional) excepted. Seeing how little he wrote in this class, we must regret that he did not dream oftener. 100 102 105 112 118 119 59 In this one poem the Editor has ventured to make some changes, in order to simplify the language, which (in the original) does not appear to him to do full justice to the admirable simplicity and pathos of the picture presented. 60 During the last three centuries, the poetry written in the North Country or Scots form of English has been so much more important than that written in other forms, as to obscure the peculiar merits which each of them possesses. But the series of poems from which this piece and the next are taken proves the pathos and picturesqueness which the Dorset dialect has when handled by a gifted countryman. 62 The death of a young man wandering on Helvellyn in the Lake country, in 1805, supplied Scott with his subject. In this poem the thoughts are much simpler than the language a rare fault with Scott, or, indeed, with any really great poet. 70 An admirable specimen of the Allegorical style which, under the first two Stuart kings, took the place of the pastoral Elizabethan allegory represented by No. 29. Few poets, in C. Lamb's language, are more matterful' than Herbert, or express their thoughts with fewer words, introduced only for ornament or metre's sake. Remarkable for its close and scientific enumeration of natural phenomena. 72 73 120 74 121 An extract from the long poem said to have been written by poor Smart when confined as a madman. It is full of glorious wildness and intense imagination. Many of its strange phrases (as line 10 here) might probably be traced to, if not explained by, the writings of the mystical' theologians. It is remarkable how much Addison here anticipates the exquisite suavity and elegance of Cowper's style in similar pieces. 75 Wordsworth has left no more consummate specimen of the singular art by which he presents us with a thought which strikes the mind as, at once, perfectly original, and yet, perfectly familiar. The Cuckoo (No. 78), on the other hand, paints a fervour of imaginative delight which would be felt only by a highly poetical nature. 128 81 Arethusa, with the two poems which follow it, will probably be found difficult at first reading, and may give older children a glimpse into that world of poetry in general to which this book is meant as an introduction. Shelley has here put into verse, so brilliant that we easily forgive its occasional commonplace and carelessness of phrase, a Greek mythical legend. Divine Alpheus, who by secret sluice Stole under seas to meet his Arethuse, -a river rising near Mount Erymanthus in Arcadia, PAGE NO. 131 132 135 137 138 139 141 the ancient central province of Southern Greece, 82 L'Allegro and II Penseroso. It is a striking proof of on this subject. Line 132, The sock was the low shoe worn by actors in the ancient comedies; the buskin (line 102 of the Penseroso, No. 83) the high shoe worn in tragedies, to give the figure a more commanding air. Line 133, Fancy: probably used for what we speak of as Imagination. Milton is here alluding to Shakespeare through the mouth of the Cheerful Man;' he hence refers to Shakespeare's lighter qualities. Line 145, Orpheus in Greek story was a divine musician who redeemed his wife Eurydice from death (Pluto) by song; but lost her when on the boundary line of life by turning back to look on her before she had passed it. See also Penseroso, No. 83, line 105. 83 Line 46, Spare Fast: Milton elsewhere has expressed his belief that the mind is made clear and fit for high and divine thoughts by fasting. Line 87, The Great Bear, in English latitudes being always above the horizon, is here used for Night. Line 98, Sceptred pall: Ancient tragedies turned generally on the fortunes of heroic persons, kings, and gods; hence the actors appeared robed and with sceptres. Thebes, &c. are names referring to the great Athenian tragedies. Line 110, Cambuscan, &c., these names occur in Chaucer's unfinished 'Squire's Tale.' Line 116, Great bards; referring to such poets as the Italian Ariosto and Tasso, and to our own Spenser. 84 This fine poem, recently printed from manuscript, has been ascribed to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. It does not appear whether the first of that name (beheaded 1600) or his son (with whom the peerage ended in 1646) be intended. The lines, at any rate, belong to the Elizabethan' period or a few years later. |