'Pectus enim est quod
disertos
facit, et vis mentis.
William Wordsworth
finished his poem to-day.
"'
It is impossible to say with certainty that the entry under Dec. 9
refers to 'Michael', but if it does, it is evident that Wordsworth
wrought continuously at this poem for nearly two months.
On April 9, 1801, Wordsworth wrote to Thomas Poole:
"In writing it" ('Michael'), "I had your character often before my
eyes; and sometimes thought that I was delineating such a man as you
yourself would have been, under the same circumstances. "
The following is part of a letter written by Wordsworth to Charles James
Fox in 1802, and sent with a copy of "Lyrical Ballads":
"In the two poems, 'The Brothers' and 'Michael', I have attempted to
draw a picture of the domestic affections, as I know they exist
amongst a class of men who are now almost confined to the north of
England. They are small independent 'proprietors' of land, here called
'statesmen,' men of respectable education, who daily labour on their
own little properties. The domestic affections will always be strong
amongst men who live in a country not crowded with population; if
these men are placed above poverty. But, if they are proprietors of
small estates which have descended to them from their ancestors, the
power which these affections will acquire amongst such men, is
inconceivable by those who have only had an opportunity of observing
hired labourers, farmers, and the manufacturing poor. Their little
tract of land serves as a kind of permanent rallying point for their
domestic feelings, as a tablet on which they are written, which makes
them objects of memory in a thousand instances, when they would
otherwise be forgotten. It is a fountain fitted to the nature of
social man, from which supplies of affection as pure as his heart was
intended for, are daily drawn. This class of men is rapidly
disappearing. . . . The two poems that I have mentioned were written with
a view to show that men who do not wear fine clothes can feel deeply.
'Pectus enim est quod disertos facit, et vis mentis. Ideoque imperitis
quoque, si modo sint aliquo affectu concitati, verba non desunt. ' The
poems are faithful copies from nature; and I hope whatever effect they
may have upon you, you will at least be able to perceive that they may
excite profitable sympathies in many kind and good hearts; and may in
some small degree enlarge our feelings of reverence for our species,
and our knowledge of human nature, by showing that our best qualities
are possessed by men whom we are too apt to consider, not with
reference to the points in which they resemble us, but to those in
which they manifestly differ from us. " (See 'Correspondence of Sir
Thomas Hanmer', by Sir Henry Burnbury, p. 436. )
A number of fragments, originally meant to be parts of 'Michael',--or at
least written with such a possibility in view,--will be found in the
Appendix to the eighth volume of this edition. --Ed.
* * * * *
1801
'The Sparrow's Nest', and the sonnet on Skiddaw, along with some
translations from Chaucer, belong to the year 1801. During this year,
however, 'The Excursion' was in progress. In its earlier stages, and
before the plan of 'The Recluse' was matured, the introductory part was
familiarly known, and talked of in the Wordsworth household, by the name
of "The Pedlar. " The following extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's
Journal of 1801 will show the progress that was being made with it:
"Dec. 21. --Wm. sate beside me, and wrote 'The Pedlar. ' 22nd. --W.
It is impossible to say with certainty that the entry under Dec. 9
refers to 'Michael', but if it does, it is evident that Wordsworth
wrought continuously at this poem for nearly two months.
On April 9, 1801, Wordsworth wrote to Thomas Poole:
"In writing it" ('Michael'), "I had your character often before my
eyes; and sometimes thought that I was delineating such a man as you
yourself would have been, under the same circumstances. "
The following is part of a letter written by Wordsworth to Charles James
Fox in 1802, and sent with a copy of "Lyrical Ballads":
"In the two poems, 'The Brothers' and 'Michael', I have attempted to
draw a picture of the domestic affections, as I know they exist
amongst a class of men who are now almost confined to the north of
England. They are small independent 'proprietors' of land, here called
'statesmen,' men of respectable education, who daily labour on their
own little properties. The domestic affections will always be strong
amongst men who live in a country not crowded with population; if
these men are placed above poverty. But, if they are proprietors of
small estates which have descended to them from their ancestors, the
power which these affections will acquire amongst such men, is
inconceivable by those who have only had an opportunity of observing
hired labourers, farmers, and the manufacturing poor. Their little
tract of land serves as a kind of permanent rallying point for their
domestic feelings, as a tablet on which they are written, which makes
them objects of memory in a thousand instances, when they would
otherwise be forgotten. It is a fountain fitted to the nature of
social man, from which supplies of affection as pure as his heart was
intended for, are daily drawn. This class of men is rapidly
disappearing. . . . The two poems that I have mentioned were written with
a view to show that men who do not wear fine clothes can feel deeply.
'Pectus enim est quod disertos facit, et vis mentis. Ideoque imperitis
quoque, si modo sint aliquo affectu concitati, verba non desunt. ' The
poems are faithful copies from nature; and I hope whatever effect they
may have upon you, you will at least be able to perceive that they may
excite profitable sympathies in many kind and good hearts; and may in
some small degree enlarge our feelings of reverence for our species,
and our knowledge of human nature, by showing that our best qualities
are possessed by men whom we are too apt to consider, not with
reference to the points in which they resemble us, but to those in
which they manifestly differ from us. " (See 'Correspondence of Sir
Thomas Hanmer', by Sir Henry Burnbury, p. 436. )
A number of fragments, originally meant to be parts of 'Michael',--or at
least written with such a possibility in view,--will be found in the
Appendix to the eighth volume of this edition. --Ed.
* * * * *
1801
'The Sparrow's Nest', and the sonnet on Skiddaw, along with some
translations from Chaucer, belong to the year 1801. During this year,
however, 'The Excursion' was in progress. In its earlier stages, and
before the plan of 'The Recluse' was matured, the introductory part was
familiarly known, and talked of in the Wordsworth household, by the name
of "The Pedlar. " The following extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's
Journal of 1801 will show the progress that was being made with it:
"Dec. 21. --Wm. sate beside me, and wrote 'The Pedlar. ' 22nd. --W.
