No More Learning

See, brother, see! how graciously
She looketh down on him. '

COLERIDGE.


These extracts show how both Wordsworth and Coleridge assimilated past
literary products, and how they glorified them by reproduction. There
was little, however, in the poetic imagery of previous centuries that
Wordsworth reproduced. His imagination worked in a sphere of its own,
free from the trammels of precedent; and he was more original than any
other nineteenth century poet in his use of symbol and metaphor. The
poem 'To Joanna' was probably composed on August 22, 1800, as the
following occurs in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal under that date:

"William was composing all the morning . . . W. read us the poem of
Joanna, beside the Rothay, by the roadside. "

Charles Lamb wrote to Wordsworth in January 1801, of

"these continuous echoes in the story of 'Joanna's laugh,' when the
mountains and all the scenery seem absolutely alive. "

Ed.





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"THERE IS AN EMINENCE,--OF THESE OUR HILLS"


Composed 1800. --Published 1800


[It is not accurate that the Eminence here alluded to could be seen from
our orchard-seat.
It rises above the road by the side of Grasmere Lake
towards Keswick, and its name is Stone-Arthur. --I. F. ]




There is an Eminence,--of these our hills
The last that parleys with the setting sun;
We can behold it from our orchard-seat;
And, when at evening we pursue our walk
Along the public way, this Peak, [1] so high 5
Above us, and so distant in its height,
Is visible; and often seems to send
Its own deep quiet to restore our hearts.
The meteors make of it a favourite haunt:
The star of Jove, so beautiful and large 10
In the mid heavens, is never half so fair
As when he shines above it. 'Tis in truth
The loneliest place we have among the clouds.
And She who dwells with me, whom I have loved
With such communion, that no place on earth 15
Can ever be a solitude to me,
Hath to this lonely Summit given my Name. [2]



* * * * *


VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1840.

. . . this Cliff, . . . 1800. ]


[Variant 2:

1815.