over which a careless reader may slip half-consciously, swept on by the torrent of furious mirth. Read closely lines 53-78, and study the comparisons and phrasings. Point out personifications and metaphors. Consider the effect secured in lines 73-78 by using the words rattling, blast, speedy gleams, swallowed, and the entire verse Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellowed. Commit the entire passage to memory. What seem to be the characteristic qualities of the poems To a Mouse and To a Mountain Daisy? Point out the elements that impress you most and tell why they impress you. Give considerable attention to Burns's songs, especially to Is There for Honest Poverty, John Anderson, Duncan Gray, Flow Gently, Sweet Afton, Highland Mary, To Mary in Heaven, I Love My Jean, O Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast, A Red, Red Rose, Bonnie Doon, and Scots Wha Hae wi' Wallace Bled. It is easy to feel the lyric quality in these poems; but try also to appreciate the lightness of the touch and the perfect naturalness of the expression. Read the Address to the Unco' Guid, and weigh the sentiment as well as its application in the poet's own experience. Carlyle's Essay on Burns, and appropriate sections of Heroes and Hero Worship, should be read. J. C. Shairp's Aspects of Poetry and On Poetic Interpretation of Nature (Houghton, Mifflin and Company) may be consulted. The biography of Burns in the English Men of Letters Series is also by Shairp. That in the Great Writers Series is by Blackie. Burns's Poems are published complete in the Riverside Classics and (edited by W. E. Henley) in the Cambridge Edition. CHAPTER VI THE NINETEENTH CENTURY FROM WORDSWORTH TO TENNYSON I. The New Poetry: Wordsworth, Coleridge. IV. Romanticism in English Prose: Lamb, De Quincey. VII. The Victorian Poets: Browning, Tennyson. William worth, Samuel Taylor I. THE NEW POETRY: WORDSWORTH, COLERIDGE. As the new century began its course, the romantic tendencies, which had developed with increasing strength in the verse of Thomson, Gray, Cowper, and Burns, reached their culmination in the new poetry of the modern school. Wordsworth and Coleridge, intimately associated by a friendship 1770-1850. significantly influential upon both, are closely associated also in their relation to the romanColeridge, tic movement. It is interesting and also 1772-1834. important to note that while contributing equally to the impetus and largeness of that movement, their contributions represent two distinct and even contrasted phases of romantic literature. Simplicity and naturalness found extreme expression in the poetry of Wordsworth; the mystical and weird attracted Coleridge. The imagination of the latter wandered among the fantastic creations of a dream world, mysterious, INFLUENCES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 317 splendid; Wordsworth, on the other hand, was profoundly responsive to the romantic element in the world of common life. Among English poets he is nature's great interpreter, contemplative, calm, yet prophet-like in the voicing of his message to men. Youth. William Wordsworth was born at Cockermouth, in Cumberland, the northernmost shire of Eng- Wordsland. Here lies the heart of the English worth's Lake Country, proverbial for the beauty and impressiveness of its scenery. Its hills and lakes were around him in his youth; the Derwent, "fairest of all rivers," flowed near the homestead, blending its murmurs with his nurse's song. Wordsworth's school days were spent at Hawkeshead, where he learned to appreciate the homely comforts and simple manners of the cottagers with whom he dwelt, and where he came in closest touch with nature in her wildest and loveliest forms. He roamed the woods alone, climbed the crags, in summer and winter indulged his athletic tastes in all the outdoor sports suited to the season. Even in childhood the poet spirit of the boy was fascinated, awed, by the solitude of forest and mountain, hearing a Voice and feeling a Presence in the mysterious environment of nature's secluded haunts.1 of the The years 1787-91 were passed by Wordsworth at the University of Cambridge. The period was Influences marked by little of significance in the poet's French life other than his eager response to the im- Revolution. mediate inspiration of the hour. With whole-souled enthusiasm he welcomed the promptings and appeals of the Revolution. Cowper and Burns among English poets had voiced the sentiments of liberty, equality, and universal brotherhood. Southey and Coleridge were 1 Read the account of the poet's childhood and school times in The Prelude, Book i. prompt to express their sympathy with the cause, and among all the younger men there was none more ardent in his championship than Wordsworth. When a few years later he came to describe, in The Prelude, the sensations and emotions of that time, he wrote: "Bliss was it in that Dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven." When his university course was finished, the young graduate spent some few months in London, looking on at the multiform life of the capital; but France lured him forth, and in 1792 Wordsworth went to Paris. He viewed the rubbish ruin of the Bastile, then left the disordered city to travel in quieter districts of France. In October of the same year, following the September massacres, cheered by the proclamation of the Republic, he returned to "the fierce metropolis " and ranged the city with new ardor. But the horror of recent events was too great, and the poet was hardly able to throw off the spell. He was inclined to make common cause with the Girondists, but friends at home prevailed upon him to return. Depressed by the failures of the Revolution, melancholy over its crimes, the young enthusiast came again to England, disheartened and doubting. For a time he lost faith and hope; then by the affectionate leading of his only sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, and by Nature's self, the poet was guided into "those sweet counsels between head and heart, Whence grew that genuine knowledge, fraught with peace."1 Wordsworth and his sister made a home in the south Back to Na- of England, in Dorset and Somersetshire, ture. until 1798. The quiet of the country, long rambles across the downs, and the charm of rural life 1 Read the account of the poet's residence in France, and its influence, in The Prelude, Book x. |