"William
composing
in the evening.
William Wordsworth
203.
On the same occasion
he remarked, in reference to 'Michael':
"'Michael' was founded on the son of an old couple having become
dissolute, and run away from his parents; and on an old shepherd
having been seven years in building up a sheep-fold in a solitary
valley. "
('Memoirs of Wordsworth', by the late Bishop of Lincoln, vol. ii. p.
305. )
The following extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal, show
the carefulness with which the poem 'Michael' was composed, and the
frequent revisions which it underwent:
'Oct. 11 [1800. ] "We walked up Green-head ghyll in search of a
sheepfold. . . . The sheepfold is falling away. It is built nearly in the
form of a heart unequally divided. "
13.
"William composing in the evening. "
15. "W. composed a little. " . . . "W. again composed at the sheepfold
after dinner. "
18. "W. worked all the morning at the sheepfold, but in vain. He lay
down till 7 o'clock, but did not sleep. "
19. "William got to work. "
20.
he remarked, in reference to 'Michael':
"'Michael' was founded on the son of an old couple having become
dissolute, and run away from his parents; and on an old shepherd
having been seven years in building up a sheep-fold in a solitary
valley. "
('Memoirs of Wordsworth', by the late Bishop of Lincoln, vol. ii. p.
305. )
The following extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal, show
the carefulness with which the poem 'Michael' was composed, and the
frequent revisions which it underwent:
'Oct. 11 [1800. ] "We walked up Green-head ghyll in search of a
sheepfold. . . . The sheepfold is falling away. It is built nearly in the
form of a heart unequally divided. "
13.
"William composing in the evening. "
15. "W. composed a little. " . . . "W. again composed at the sheepfold
after dinner. "
18. "W. worked all the morning at the sheepfold, but in vain. He lay
down till 7 o'clock, but did not sleep. "
19. "William got to work. "
20.
