Scott replied
gratefully
on the 16th March
1805, and said,
".
1805, and said,
".
William Wordsworth
--W.
W.
1807.
]
[Footnote B: In his "Recollections of Wordsworth," Aubrey de Vere
reports a conversation, in which the poet said to him,
"Scott misquoted in one of his novels my lines on 'Yarrow', He makes
me write,
'The swans on sweet St. Mary's Lake
Float double, swans and shadow;'
but I wrote,
'The _swan_ on _still_ St. Mary's Lake. '
Never could I have written 'swans' in the plural. The scene when I saw
it, with its still and dim lake, under the dusky hills, was one of
utter loneliness: there was _one_ swan, and one only, stemming the
water, and the pathetic loneliness of the region gave importance to
the one companion of that swan, its own white image in the water. It
was for that reason that I recorded the Swan and the Shadow. Had there
been many swans and many shadows, they would have implied nothing as
regards the character of the place; and I should have said nothing
about them. "
See his 'Essays, chiefly on Poetry', vol. ii. p. 277.
Wordsworth wrote to his friend, Walter Scott, to thank him for a copy of
'The Lay of the Last Minstrel', and in return sent a copy of these
stanzas, 'Yarrow Unvisited'.
Scott replied gratefully on the 16th March
1805, and said,
". . . I by no means admit your apology, however ingeniously and
artfully stated, for not visiting the bonny holms of Yarrow, and
certainly will not rest till I have prevailed upon you to compare the
ideal with the real stream. "
Wordsworth had asked him if he could suggest any name more true to the
place than Burnmill, in the line, "The sweets of Burn-mill meadow. "
Scott replied:
"We have Broad-meadow upon Yarrow, which with the addition of green or
fair or any other epithet of one syllable, will give truth to the
locality, and supply the place of Burnmill meadow, which we have not.
. . . I like your swan upon St. Mary's Lake. How came you to know that
it is actually frequented by that superb bird? "
(See 'Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott', vol. i. pp. 28, 29.
[Footnote B: In his "Recollections of Wordsworth," Aubrey de Vere
reports a conversation, in which the poet said to him,
"Scott misquoted in one of his novels my lines on 'Yarrow', He makes
me write,
'The swans on sweet St. Mary's Lake
Float double, swans and shadow;'
but I wrote,
'The _swan_ on _still_ St. Mary's Lake. '
Never could I have written 'swans' in the plural. The scene when I saw
it, with its still and dim lake, under the dusky hills, was one of
utter loneliness: there was _one_ swan, and one only, stemming the
water, and the pathetic loneliness of the region gave importance to
the one companion of that swan, its own white image in the water. It
was for that reason that I recorded the Swan and the Shadow. Had there
been many swans and many shadows, they would have implied nothing as
regards the character of the place; and I should have said nothing
about them. "
See his 'Essays, chiefly on Poetry', vol. ii. p. 277.
Wordsworth wrote to his friend, Walter Scott, to thank him for a copy of
'The Lay of the Last Minstrel', and in return sent a copy of these
stanzas, 'Yarrow Unvisited'.
Scott replied gratefully on the 16th March
1805, and said,
". . . I by no means admit your apology, however ingeniously and
artfully stated, for not visiting the bonny holms of Yarrow, and
certainly will not rest till I have prevailed upon you to compare the
ideal with the real stream. "
Wordsworth had asked him if he could suggest any name more true to the
place than Burnmill, in the line, "The sweets of Burn-mill meadow. "
Scott replied:
"We have Broad-meadow upon Yarrow, which with the addition of green or
fair or any other epithet of one syllable, will give truth to the
locality, and supply the place of Burnmill meadow, which we have not.
. . . I like your swan upon St. Mary's Lake. How came you to know that
it is actually frequented by that superb bird? "
(See 'Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott', vol. i. pp. 28, 29.
