The attitude of simple receptiveness assumed by Wordsworth in this poem is the direct outcome of his reaction from the revolutionary deification of the reason and of his personal experience of the healing power of Nature after he had "yielded up moral questions in despair." The poem implies his theory of the divine and beneficent life in Nature, source of the best impulses and highest inspiration of man, to be entered into not by effort but by attuning the spirit to receive its influence. The subject is an unusual one with Wordsworth, who commonly confines his atten- tion to the real scenes and persons of his own experience, but the moral idea of the poem is characteristic of the poet's thought in his more mature years. Laodamia is condemned because she gives way to impulse and passion. She is unable to rise to sympathy with the lofty ideal of duty which led Protesilaus to sacrifice his life. The return to a beautiful scene not visited since the crisis in his life brought about by the French Revolution gives Wordsworth the occasion to compare his present Turning now to his sister he sees in her the image of what once he was, an un- Ode: Intimations of Immortality (1803-6)..... In this poem Wordsworth deals, more philosophically, with a theme similar to that in Tintern Abbey. Confronted by the phenomenon of a change in his power of respond- In making this noble appeal to the principle of morality for guidance and support Wordsworth in a measure recants from his earlier faith in the spontaneous and un- This sonnet was composed by the seaside near Calais during the short pause in hos- tilities following the peace of Amiens. On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic (1802)... The city-republic of Venice was conquered by Napoleon in 1797 and turned over to Austria. The first two lines refer to the greatness of Venice as a trading nation and a The invasion of Switzerland by the armies of Revolutionary France under Napoleon in 1797 convinced Wordsworth that they were no longer champions of liberty but op- pressors. The mighty sea-voice of Liberty is, of course, England's. Wordsworth sees his whole poetical activity during the years of the Napoleonic wars as a defense of morality and self-restraint combined with national independence. Praise of Russian national heroism is rare in English literature and appears to have been confined to the two periods in history when Russia and England were allies in war. The Mountain Echo (1806).. In his earlier nature poems Wordsworth does not distinguish so sharply between .390-391 In the earlier part of this document (not given here) Wordsworth propounds the famous theory that the language of poetry is that of real men, and is not essentially different from that of prose. He also advocates the use of subjects from simple life, rendered significant and universal by the meditation of the poet. The more permanent contribution of the Preface is the idea of the function of the poet as an interpreter of life, quickening with thought and feeling the common experience of men. Wordsworth's serious view of poetry did much to restore it to the position which it had lost as an essential element in the deepest human culture. Compare the preface to this volume The selection is from that part of Wordsworth's spiritual autobiography which deals with the great crisis in his life brought about by his contact with the French Revo- lution. Like other young English idealists of his time he watched the great experiment in France with eager joy and hope. The tragic disappointment he also shared with many of his contemporaries, and his return to the point of view of Burke is symptomatic of the great reaction which came to restore spiritual values which had been lost sight of and to temper the revolutionary principles as they were passed on to the succeeding It is characteristic of Wordsworth that he does not, like Shelley, see even the sky- lark as a symbol of wholly untrammelled freedom. INDEX OF AUTHORS, TITLES, AND FIRST LINES In the following Index, the names of authors and titles are printed in capital letters; the APPEAL, AN, 452 APPEAL FOR UNITY, AN, 174 ARISTOCRACY AND JUSTICE, From, 620 ASSOCIATED PEOPLES OF THE WORLD, THE, 630 At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time, At the sunrise in 1848, 453 AUTHOR'S REFLECTIONS, THE, 558 Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, 160 Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things, 236 BACON, FRANCIS, 13, 50, 101 BALLAD OF AGINCOURT, 34 Because you have thrown off your Prelate Lord, BEHIND THE VEIL, 113 CIGLOW PAPERS, THE, From, 569, 570 Lob Southey! You're a poet, 410 BOKE OF THE GOVERNOUR, THE, From, 42, 46 "BRAVE COURTIER, THE," 49 Brave infant of Saguntum, clear, 106 BRITAIN THE HOME OF TRUE LIBERTY, 154 BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS, THE, 623 BROWNING, ROBERT, 444 CRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN, 539 BUILDING OF THE SHIP, THE, From, 572 BUNKER HILL ORATION, From the, 561, 563 BURKE, (Wordsworth), 305 BURKE, CHARACTER OF, (John Morley), 305 BURNS, ROBERT, 253 Bury the Great Duke, 447 BUTLER, SAMUEL, 177 By Moscow self-devoted to a blaze, 380 By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 294 CABINET GOVERNMENT UNDER GEORGE III, 272 CAREER OF CONQUEST, THE, 218 CARLYLE, THOMAS, 268, 299, 304, 463, 516 CAUSE, THE, 352 CENTENNIAL ORATION ON WASHINGTON, From, 560 521 CHALLENGE OF SCIENCE, THE, 524 CHALLENGE TO THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLE, A, 597 CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH, THE, 25 CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE, THE, 105 CHARACTER OF BURKE, THE, 305 CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY WARRIOR, 393 CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, From, 366, 407 |