The
lines
'Down would he sit; and without strength or power
Look at the common grass from hour to hour,'
are aptly illustrated by such passages in his sister's Journal, as the
following, of 29th April 1802:
"We went to John's Grove, sate a while at first; afterwards William
lay, and I lay in the trench, under the fence--he with his eyes
closed, and listening to the waterfalls and the birds.
lines
'Down would he sit; and without strength or power
Look at the common grass from hour to hour,'
are aptly illustrated by such passages in his sister's Journal, as the
following, of 29th April 1802:
"We went to John's Grove, sate a while at first; afterwards William
lay, and I lay in the trench, under the fence--he with his eyes
closed, and listening to the waterfalls and the birds.
William Wordsworth
--I have passed a great many hours to-day with
Wordsworth in his home. I stumbled on him with proof sheets before
him. He read me nearly all the sweet stanzas written in his copy of
the 'Castle of Indolence', describing himself and my uncle; and he and
Mrs. W. both assured me the description of the latter at that time was
perfectly accurate; and he was almost as a great boy in feelings, and
had all the tricks and fancies there described. Mrs. W. seemed to look
back on him, and those times, with the fondest affection. "
I think "the neighbouring height" referred to is the height of White
Moss Common, behind the Fir-Grove, where Wordsworth was often heard
murmuring out his verses," booing" as the country folks said: and the
'driving full in view
At midday when the sun was shining bright,'
aptly describes his habits as recorded in his sister's Journal, and
elsewhere. The "withered flower," the "creature pale and wan," are
significant of those terrible reactions of spirit, which followed his
joyous hours of insight and inspiration. Stanzas IV. to VII. of
'Resolution and Independence' (p. 314), in which Wordsworth undoubtedly
described himself, may be compared with stanza III. of this poem.
The
lines
'Down would he sit; and without strength or power
Look at the common grass from hour to hour,'
are aptly illustrated by such passages in his sister's Journal, as the
following, of 29th April 1802:
"We went to John's Grove, sate a while at first; afterwards William
lay, and I lay in the trench, under the fence--he with his eyes
closed, and listening to the waterfalls and the birds. There was no
one waterfall above another--it was a kind of water in the air--the
voice of the air. We were unseen by one another. "
Again, April 23rd,
"Coleridge and I pushed on before. We left William sitting on the
stones, feasting with silence. "
And this recalls the first verse of 'Expostulation and Reply', written
at Alfoxden in 1798;
'Why, William, on that old grey stone,
Thus for the length of half a day,
Why, William, sit you thus alone,
And dream your time away? '
The retreat where "apple-trees in blossom made a bower," and where he so
often "slept himself away," was evidently the same as that described in
the poem 'The Green Linnet':
'Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed
Their snow white blossoms on my head. '
On the other hand, the "low-hung lip" and "profound" forehead of the
other, the "noticeable Man with large grey eyes," mark him out as S. T.
C. ; "the rapt One, of the god-like forehead," described in the
'Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg'. The description
"Noisy he was, and gamesome as a boy," is verified by what the poet and
his wife said to Mr. Justice Coleridge in 1836. In addition, Mr.
Hutchinson of Kimbolton tells me he "often heard his father say that
Coleridge was uproarious in his mirth. "
Matthew Arnold wrote me an interesting letter some years ago about these
stanzas, from which I make the following extract:
"When one looks uneasily at a poem it is easy to fidget oneself
further, and neither the Wordsworth nor the Coleridge of our common
notions seem to be exactly hit off in the 'Stanzas'; still, I believe
that the first described is Wordsworth and that the second described
is Coleridge.
Wordsworth in his home. I stumbled on him with proof sheets before
him. He read me nearly all the sweet stanzas written in his copy of
the 'Castle of Indolence', describing himself and my uncle; and he and
Mrs. W. both assured me the description of the latter at that time was
perfectly accurate; and he was almost as a great boy in feelings, and
had all the tricks and fancies there described. Mrs. W. seemed to look
back on him, and those times, with the fondest affection. "
I think "the neighbouring height" referred to is the height of White
Moss Common, behind the Fir-Grove, where Wordsworth was often heard
murmuring out his verses," booing" as the country folks said: and the
'driving full in view
At midday when the sun was shining bright,'
aptly describes his habits as recorded in his sister's Journal, and
elsewhere. The "withered flower," the "creature pale and wan," are
significant of those terrible reactions of spirit, which followed his
joyous hours of insight and inspiration. Stanzas IV. to VII. of
'Resolution and Independence' (p. 314), in which Wordsworth undoubtedly
described himself, may be compared with stanza III. of this poem.
The
lines
'Down would he sit; and without strength or power
Look at the common grass from hour to hour,'
are aptly illustrated by such passages in his sister's Journal, as the
following, of 29th April 1802:
"We went to John's Grove, sate a while at first; afterwards William
lay, and I lay in the trench, under the fence--he with his eyes
closed, and listening to the waterfalls and the birds. There was no
one waterfall above another--it was a kind of water in the air--the
voice of the air. We were unseen by one another. "
Again, April 23rd,
"Coleridge and I pushed on before. We left William sitting on the
stones, feasting with silence. "
And this recalls the first verse of 'Expostulation and Reply', written
at Alfoxden in 1798;
'Why, William, on that old grey stone,
Thus for the length of half a day,
Why, William, sit you thus alone,
And dream your time away? '
The retreat where "apple-trees in blossom made a bower," and where he so
often "slept himself away," was evidently the same as that described in
the poem 'The Green Linnet':
'Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed
Their snow white blossoms on my head. '
On the other hand, the "low-hung lip" and "profound" forehead of the
other, the "noticeable Man with large grey eyes," mark him out as S. T.
C. ; "the rapt One, of the god-like forehead," described in the
'Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg'. The description
"Noisy he was, and gamesome as a boy," is verified by what the poet and
his wife said to Mr. Justice Coleridge in 1836. In addition, Mr.
Hutchinson of Kimbolton tells me he "often heard his father say that
Coleridge was uproarious in his mirth. "
Matthew Arnold wrote me an interesting letter some years ago about these
stanzas, from which I make the following extract:
"When one looks uneasily at a poem it is easy to fidget oneself
further, and neither the Wordsworth nor the Coleridge of our common
notions seem to be exactly hit off in the 'Stanzas'; still, I believe
that the first described is Wordsworth and that the second described
is Coleridge.
