" At other times, the entry of the year of
publication
is
inaccurate; for example, the 'Inscription for the spot where the
Hermitage stood on St.
inaccurate; for example, the 'Inscription for the spot where the
Hermitage stood on St.
William Wordsworth
" Now, he went to Racedown in the autumn of 1795,
when he was twenty-five years old; and to Alfoxden, in the autumn of
1797, when twenty-seven. Again, the poem 'Rural Architecture' is put
down in the Fenwick note as "written at Townend in 1801"; but it had
been published in 1800, in the second edition of "Lyrical Ballads. "
Similarly Wordsworth gave the dates "1801 or 1802" for 'The Reverie of
Poor Susan', which had also appeared in "Lyrical Ballads," 1800.
Wordsworth's memory was not always to be trusted even when he was
speaking of a group of his own Poems. For example, in the edition of
1807, there is a short series described thus, "Poems, composed during a
tour, chiefly on foot. " They are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now, one would
naturally suppose that all the poems, in this set of five, were composed
during the same pedestrian tour, and that they all referred to the same
time. But the series contains 'Alice Fell' (1802), 'Beggars' (1802), 'To
a Sky-Lark' (1805), and 'Resolution and Independence' (1802).
Much more valuable than the Fenwick notes--for a certain portion of
Wordsworth's life--is his sister Dorothy's Journal. The mistakes in the
former can frequently be corrected from the minutely kept diary of those
early years, when the brother and sister lived together at Grasmere. The
whole of that Journal, so far as it is desirable to print it for
posterity, will be given in a subsequent volume.
Long before the publication of the Fenwick notes, Wordsworth himself
supplied some data for a chronological arrangement of his Works. In the
table of contents, prefixed to the first collected edition of 1815, in
two volumes,--and also to the second collected edition of 1820, in four
volumes,--there are two parallel columns: one giving the date of
composition, and the other that of publication. There are numerous
blanks in the former column, which was the only important one; as the
year of publication could be ascertained from the editions themselves.
Sometimes the date is given vaguely; as in the case of the "Sonnets
dedicated to Liberty," where the note runs, "from the year 1807 to
1813.
" At other times, the entry of the year of publication is
inaccurate; for example, the 'Inscription for the spot where the
Hermitage stood on St. Herbert's Island, Derwentwater', is put down as
belonging to the year 1807; but this poem does not occur in the volumes
of 1807, but in the second volume of "Lyrical Ballads" (1800). It will
thus be seen that it is only by comparing Wordsworth's own lists of the
years to which his Poems belong, with the contents of the several
editions of his Works, with the Fenwick Notes, and with his sister's
Journal, that we can approximately reconstruct the true chronology. To
these sources of information must be added the internal evidence of the
Poems themselves, incidental references in letters to friends, and stray
hints gathered from various quarters.
Many new sources of information as to the date of the composition of the
Poems became known to me during the publication of my previous edition,
and after its issue; the most important being the Journals of Dorothy
Wordsworth. These discoveries showed that my chronological table of
1882--although then, relatively, "up to date"--was incomplete. The
tables constructed by Mr. Tutin and by Professor Dowden are both more
accurate than it was. It is impossible to attain to finality in such a
matter; and several facts, afterwards discovered, and mentioned in the
later volumes of my previous edition, have been used against the
conclusions come to in the earlier ones. I have thus supplied the
feathers for a few subsequent critical arrows. The shots have not been
unkindly ones; and I am glad of the result, viz. that our knowledge of
the dates--both as to the composition and first publication of the poems
--is now much more exact than before. When a conjectural one is given in
this edition, the fact is always mentioned.
This chronological method of arrangement, however, has its limits. It is
not possible always to adopt it: nor is it invariably 'necessary', even
in order to obtain a true view of the growth of Wordsworth's mind. In
this--as in so many other things--wisdom lies in the avoidance of
extremes; the extreme of rigid fidelity to the order of time on the one
hand, and the extreme of an irrational departure from it on the other.
when he was twenty-five years old; and to Alfoxden, in the autumn of
1797, when twenty-seven. Again, the poem 'Rural Architecture' is put
down in the Fenwick note as "written at Townend in 1801"; but it had
been published in 1800, in the second edition of "Lyrical Ballads. "
Similarly Wordsworth gave the dates "1801 or 1802" for 'The Reverie of
Poor Susan', which had also appeared in "Lyrical Ballads," 1800.
Wordsworth's memory was not always to be trusted even when he was
speaking of a group of his own Poems. For example, in the edition of
1807, there is a short series described thus, "Poems, composed during a
tour, chiefly on foot. " They are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now, one would
naturally suppose that all the poems, in this set of five, were composed
during the same pedestrian tour, and that they all referred to the same
time. But the series contains 'Alice Fell' (1802), 'Beggars' (1802), 'To
a Sky-Lark' (1805), and 'Resolution and Independence' (1802).
Much more valuable than the Fenwick notes--for a certain portion of
Wordsworth's life--is his sister Dorothy's Journal. The mistakes in the
former can frequently be corrected from the minutely kept diary of those
early years, when the brother and sister lived together at Grasmere. The
whole of that Journal, so far as it is desirable to print it for
posterity, will be given in a subsequent volume.
Long before the publication of the Fenwick notes, Wordsworth himself
supplied some data for a chronological arrangement of his Works. In the
table of contents, prefixed to the first collected edition of 1815, in
two volumes,--and also to the second collected edition of 1820, in four
volumes,--there are two parallel columns: one giving the date of
composition, and the other that of publication. There are numerous
blanks in the former column, which was the only important one; as the
year of publication could be ascertained from the editions themselves.
Sometimes the date is given vaguely; as in the case of the "Sonnets
dedicated to Liberty," where the note runs, "from the year 1807 to
1813.
" At other times, the entry of the year of publication is
inaccurate; for example, the 'Inscription for the spot where the
Hermitage stood on St. Herbert's Island, Derwentwater', is put down as
belonging to the year 1807; but this poem does not occur in the volumes
of 1807, but in the second volume of "Lyrical Ballads" (1800). It will
thus be seen that it is only by comparing Wordsworth's own lists of the
years to which his Poems belong, with the contents of the several
editions of his Works, with the Fenwick Notes, and with his sister's
Journal, that we can approximately reconstruct the true chronology. To
these sources of information must be added the internal evidence of the
Poems themselves, incidental references in letters to friends, and stray
hints gathered from various quarters.
Many new sources of information as to the date of the composition of the
Poems became known to me during the publication of my previous edition,
and after its issue; the most important being the Journals of Dorothy
Wordsworth. These discoveries showed that my chronological table of
1882--although then, relatively, "up to date"--was incomplete. The
tables constructed by Mr. Tutin and by Professor Dowden are both more
accurate than it was. It is impossible to attain to finality in such a
matter; and several facts, afterwards discovered, and mentioned in the
later volumes of my previous edition, have been used against the
conclusions come to in the earlier ones. I have thus supplied the
feathers for a few subsequent critical arrows. The shots have not been
unkindly ones; and I am glad of the result, viz. that our knowledge of
the dates--both as to the composition and first publication of the poems
--is now much more exact than before. When a conjectural one is given in
this edition, the fact is always mentioned.
This chronological method of arrangement, however, has its limits. It is
not possible always to adopt it: nor is it invariably 'necessary', even
in order to obtain a true view of the growth of Wordsworth's mind. In
this--as in so many other things--wisdom lies in the avoidance of
extremes; the extreme of rigid fidelity to the order of time on the one
hand, and the extreme of an irrational departure from it on the other.
