Of the three poems
which were published, the first--'The Prioress' Tale'--was included in
the edition of 1820.
which were published, the first--'The Prioress' Tale'--was included in
the edition of 1820.
William Wordsworth
.
.
1815.
]
[Variant 3:
1827.
His double-fronted head in higher clouds, 1815.
. . . among Atlantic clouds, MS. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: See Spenser's translation of 'Virgil's Gnat', ll. 21-2:
'Or where on Mount Parnasse, the Muses brood.
Doth his broad forehead like two horns divide,
And the sweet waves of sounding Castaly
With liquid foot doth glide down easily. '
Ed. ]
* * * * *
SELECTIONS FROM CHAUCER
MODERNISED
Wordsworth's modernisations of Chaucer were all written in 1801. Two of
them were from the Canterbury Tales, but his version of one of
these--'The Manciple's Tale'--has never been printed.
Of the three poems
which were published, the first--'The Prioress' Tale'--was included in
the edition of 1820. The 'Troilus and Cressida' and 'The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale' were included in the "Poems of Early and Late Years"
(1842); but they had been published the year before, in a small volume
entitled 'The Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer Modernised' (London, 1841), a
volume to which Elizabeth Barrett, Leigh Hunt, R. H. Home, Thomas
Powell, and others contributed. Wordsworth wrote thus of the project to
Mr. Powell, in an unpublished and undated letter, written probably in
1840:
"I am glad that you enter so warmly into the Chaucerian project, and
that Mr. L. Hunt is disposed to give his valuable aid to it. For
myself, I cannot do more than I offered, to place at your disposal
'The Prioress' Tale' already published, 'The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale', 'The Manciple's Tale', and I rather think (but I cannot
just now find it) a small portion of the 'Troilus and Cressida'. You
ask my opinion about that poem. Speaking from a recollection only, of
many years past, I should say it would be found too long and probably
tedious. 'The Knight's Tale' is also very long; but, though Dryden has
executed it, in his own way observe, with great spirit and harmony, he
has suffered so much of the simplicity, and with that of the beauty
and occasional pathos of the original to escape, that I should be
pleased to hear that a new version was to be attempted upon my
principle by some competent person. It would delight me to read every
part of Chaucer over again--for I reverence and admire him above
measure--with a view to your work; but my eyes will not permit me to
do so. Who will undertake the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales? For
your publication that is indispensable, and I fear it will prove very
difficult. It is written, as you know, in the couplet measure; and
therefore I have nothing to say upon its metre, but in respect to the
poems in stanza, neither in 'The Prioress' Tale' nor in 'The Cuckoo
and Nightingale' have I kept to the rule of the original as to the
form, and number, and position of the rhymes; thinking it enough if I
kept the same number of lines in each stanza; and this is, I think,
all that is necessary, and all that can be done without sacrificing
the substance of sense too often to the mere form of sound.
[Variant 3:
1827.
His double-fronted head in higher clouds, 1815.
. . . among Atlantic clouds, MS. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: See Spenser's translation of 'Virgil's Gnat', ll. 21-2:
'Or where on Mount Parnasse, the Muses brood.
Doth his broad forehead like two horns divide,
And the sweet waves of sounding Castaly
With liquid foot doth glide down easily. '
Ed. ]
* * * * *
SELECTIONS FROM CHAUCER
MODERNISED
Wordsworth's modernisations of Chaucer were all written in 1801. Two of
them were from the Canterbury Tales, but his version of one of
these--'The Manciple's Tale'--has never been printed.
Of the three poems
which were published, the first--'The Prioress' Tale'--was included in
the edition of 1820. The 'Troilus and Cressida' and 'The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale' were included in the "Poems of Early and Late Years"
(1842); but they had been published the year before, in a small volume
entitled 'The Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer Modernised' (London, 1841), a
volume to which Elizabeth Barrett, Leigh Hunt, R. H. Home, Thomas
Powell, and others contributed. Wordsworth wrote thus of the project to
Mr. Powell, in an unpublished and undated letter, written probably in
1840:
"I am glad that you enter so warmly into the Chaucerian project, and
that Mr. L. Hunt is disposed to give his valuable aid to it. For
myself, I cannot do more than I offered, to place at your disposal
'The Prioress' Tale' already published, 'The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale', 'The Manciple's Tale', and I rather think (but I cannot
just now find it) a small portion of the 'Troilus and Cressida'. You
ask my opinion about that poem. Speaking from a recollection only, of
many years past, I should say it would be found too long and probably
tedious. 'The Knight's Tale' is also very long; but, though Dryden has
executed it, in his own way observe, with great spirit and harmony, he
has suffered so much of the simplicity, and with that of the beauty
and occasional pathos of the original to escape, that I should be
pleased to hear that a new version was to be attempted upon my
principle by some competent person. It would delight me to read every
part of Chaucer over again--for I reverence and admire him above
measure--with a view to your work; but my eyes will not permit me to
do so. Who will undertake the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales? For
your publication that is indispensable, and I fear it will prove very
difficult. It is written, as you know, in the couplet measure; and
therefore I have nothing to say upon its metre, but in respect to the
poems in stanza, neither in 'The Prioress' Tale' nor in 'The Cuckoo
and Nightingale' have I kept to the rule of the original as to the
form, and number, and position of the rhymes; thinking it enough if I
kept the same number of lines in each stanza; and this is, I think,
all that is necessary, and all that can be done without sacrificing
the substance of sense too often to the mere form of sound.
