]
* * * * *
EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION OF
LEAVING SCHOOL
Composed 1786.
* * * * *
EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION OF
LEAVING SCHOOL
Composed 1786.
William Wordsworth
i.
p.
78.
]
[Footnote 16: How much of this poem was Wordsworth's own has not been
definitely ascertained. I am of opinion that very little, if any of it,
was his. It has been said that his nephew, the late Bishop of Lincoln,
wrote most of it; but more recent evidence tends to show that it was the
work of his son-in-law, Edward Quillinan. ]
[Footnote 17: In a letter to the writer in 1882. ]
[Footnote 18: 'The Poetry of Byron, chosen and arranged by Matthew
Arnold'. London: Macmillan and Co. ]
[Footnote 19: It may not be too trivial a fact to mention that
Wordsworth numbered the lines of his earliest publication, 'An Evening
Walk, in 1793. --Ed. ]
[Footnote 20: Another fact, not too trivial to mention, is that in the
original MS. of the 'Lines composed at Grasmere', etc. , Wordsworth sent
it to the printer "Lines written," but changed it in proof to "Lines
composed. "--Ed.
]
* * * * *
EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION OF
LEAVING SCHOOL
Composed 1786. --Published 1815
This poem was placed by Wordsworth among his "Juvenile Pieces. " The
following note was prefixed to that Series, from 1820 to 1832:
"Of the Poems in this class, "THE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE
SKETCHES" were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some
unimportant alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their
publication. It would have been easy to amend them, in many passages,
both as to sentiment and expression, and I have not been altogether
able to resist the temptation: but attempts of this kind are made at
the risk of injuring those characteristic features, which, after all,
will be regarded as the principal recommendation of juvenile poems. "
In 1836 "unimportant" was erased before "alterations"; and after
"temptation" the following was added, "as will be obvious to the
attentive reader, in some instances: these are few, for I am aware that
attempts of this kind," etc.
"The above, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the
Poem, 'Descriptive Sketches', as it now stands. The corrections,
though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining
with propriety a place in the class of 'Juvenile Pieces. '"
In the editions of 1845 and 1849, Wordsworth called his "Juvenile
Pieces," "Poems written in Youth. "--Ed.
["Dear native regions," etc. , 1786, Hawkshead. The beautiful image
with which this poem concludes suggested itself to me while I was
resting in a boat along with my companions under the shade of a
magnificent row of sycamores, which then extended their branches from
the shore of the promontory upon which stands the ancient, and at that
time the more picturesque, Hall of Coniston, the Seat of the Le
Flemings from very early times. The Poem of which it was the
conclusion, was of many hundred lines, and contained thoughts and
images, most of which have been dispersed through my other
writings. --I. F.
[Footnote 16: How much of this poem was Wordsworth's own has not been
definitely ascertained. I am of opinion that very little, if any of it,
was his. It has been said that his nephew, the late Bishop of Lincoln,
wrote most of it; but more recent evidence tends to show that it was the
work of his son-in-law, Edward Quillinan. ]
[Footnote 17: In a letter to the writer in 1882. ]
[Footnote 18: 'The Poetry of Byron, chosen and arranged by Matthew
Arnold'. London: Macmillan and Co. ]
[Footnote 19: It may not be too trivial a fact to mention that
Wordsworth numbered the lines of his earliest publication, 'An Evening
Walk, in 1793. --Ed. ]
[Footnote 20: Another fact, not too trivial to mention, is that in the
original MS. of the 'Lines composed at Grasmere', etc. , Wordsworth sent
it to the printer "Lines written," but changed it in proof to "Lines
composed. "--Ed.
]
* * * * *
EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION OF
LEAVING SCHOOL
Composed 1786. --Published 1815
This poem was placed by Wordsworth among his "Juvenile Pieces. " The
following note was prefixed to that Series, from 1820 to 1832:
"Of the Poems in this class, "THE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE
SKETCHES" were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some
unimportant alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their
publication. It would have been easy to amend them, in many passages,
both as to sentiment and expression, and I have not been altogether
able to resist the temptation: but attempts of this kind are made at
the risk of injuring those characteristic features, which, after all,
will be regarded as the principal recommendation of juvenile poems. "
In 1836 "unimportant" was erased before "alterations"; and after
"temptation" the following was added, "as will be obvious to the
attentive reader, in some instances: these are few, for I am aware that
attempts of this kind," etc.
"The above, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the
Poem, 'Descriptive Sketches', as it now stands. The corrections,
though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining
with propriety a place in the class of 'Juvenile Pieces. '"
In the editions of 1845 and 1849, Wordsworth called his "Juvenile
Pieces," "Poems written in Youth. "--Ed.
["Dear native regions," etc. , 1786, Hawkshead. The beautiful image
with which this poem concludes suggested itself to me while I was
resting in a boat along with my companions under the shade of a
magnificent row of sycamores, which then extended their branches from
the shore of the promontory upon which stands the ancient, and at that
time the more picturesque, Hall of Coniston, the Seat of the Le
Flemings from very early times. The Poem of which it was the
conclusion, was of many hundred lines, and contained thoughts and
images, most of which have been dispersed through my other
writings. --I. F.
