108-128. Dr Stopford Brooke, Theology in the English Poets, Lecture XIII. remarks on this passage, "The...passage is not Platonism, and indeed, as expressed, it runs close to nonsense. We can only catch the main idea among expressions of the child as the best Philosopher, the Eye among the blind, that deaf and silent reads the eternal deep, and is haunted for ever by the eternal mind, the mighty Prophet, the Seer blest-over whom his Immortality broods like the Day, a master o'er a slave-expressions which taken separately have scarcely any recognisable meaning. By taking them all together, we feel, rather than see, that Wordsworth intended to say, that the child, having lately come from a perfect existence, in which he saw truth directly, and was at home with God, retains, unknown to us, that vision-and because he does, is the best philosopher, since he sees at once that which we through philosophy are endeavouring to reach; is the mighty prophet because in his actions and speech, he tells unconsciously the truths he sees, but the sight of which we have lost; is more closely haunted by God, more near to the immortal Life, more purely and brightly free, because he half shares in the pre-existent life and glory out of which he has come." Thou...immensity. The external appearance of the child, i.e. his small stature, does not correspond with the greatness of his soul. 108, 109. 111. Thy heritage. The memories of heaven which the child has brought with him. 121-124. To whom the grave...lie. After 1820, these four lines were omitted, by the advice of Coleridge. They illustrate however the experience recorded by Wordsworth in his note on this poem, that it was impossible for him as a child to realise death-an experience which forms the theme of We Are Seven. 125, 126. Thou little child...height. The child is as yet unhampered by the shades of the prison house-the customs and habits of the world. 127-129. Why with...strife? Why dost thou (by imitating the actions of men) invite the years to bring the burden which in any case cannot be avoided; thus blindly warring with thine own happiness? 130. freight, burden. 133-171. The poet rejoices that in our ashes there still exists some spark of heavenly flame, that we still remember the experiences of childhood. When he meditates on his past years he is blest, not because of the happiness of youth, but because he remembers the moments in which he was conscious of the existence of spiritual things. For the vision of these spiritual things is the master light of our life, and helps us to realise that the years spent on earth are only moments in the vast space of Eternity. And when these truths have once been presented to us, neither idleness, nor the preoccupation with material care, nor anything which is apt to interfere with spiritual peace, can utterly destroy their influence. So at moments of reflection, we are like men standing on a hillside, far inland, from which they can perceive the ocean on which they travelled thither. 133. embers, ashes. Cf. Gray's Elegy, 1. 92: 136. 140. "E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires." so fugitive. So fleeting or transitory. the simple creed. The simple faith or belief. 145. But for those obstinate questionings. These lines express the sense of the unreality of material things which Wordsworth records in his note to this poem. Cf. also Reminiscences of the Rev. R. P. Graves, Grosart, III. p. 467: "I remember Mr Wordsworth saying that, at a particular stage of his mental progress, he used to be frequently so rapt into an unreal transcendental world of ideas, that the external world seemed no longer to exist in relation to him, and he had to reconvince himself of its existence by clasping a tree, or something that happened to be near him. I could not help connecting this fact with that obscure passage in his great Ode in which he speaks of 'Those obstinate questionings,' etc." 147. Fallings from us, vanishings. The material things, such as trees, on which Wordsworth relied, seemed to fall away from him, and vanish into unreality. Cf. The Prelude, Book 1. ll. 395–397. 150, 151. High instincts...surprised. Cf. Nutting, and the passages in The Prelude, Book 1., which tell of Wordsworth's boyish escapades on the hills and lake. 150. mortal Nature. Our nature subject to sin and therefore to death. 153. shadowy recollections. Recollections which are vague and impalpable, like shadows. 165-168. Hence in a season... .hither. Wordsworth was perhaps thinking of times when from the hills in the Lake District he had seen the sea shining in the distance. Cf. Guide to the Lakes, ed. Grosart, vol. II. pp. 303, 304. 167. immortal sea. Immortal here means eternal. 172-190. Then sing...mind. In the first stanzas the poet regretted that he was not entirely in sympathy with the jubilation of other created things; in this stanza he reflects that though his joy is tempered by a knowledge of man's suffering, it is as genuine as theirs. It is in fact of a higher quality, since it is accompanied by the peace which is derived from a true knowledge of the facts of existence. Cf. On a Picture of Peele Castle in a Storm, 11. 55-60. 172-176. Then sing...play. With these lines may be compared Sir Philip Sidney's description of Arcadia: "Meadows enamelled with all sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; thickets, which being lined with most pleasant shade were witnessed so too, by the cheerful disposition of many well tuned birds; each pasture stored with sheep, feeding with sober security, while the pretty lambs with bleating oratory craved the dam's comfort: here a shepherd's boy piping as though he should never be old....' (Arcadia, Book 1.) 185. primal sympathy. The early sympathy felt in childhood, which having once been experienced can never die away. 187, 188. In the soothing...suffering. Cf. Samson Agonistes, 11. 1755-1758: His servants he with new acquist Of true experience from this great event The suffering that Wordsworth had especially in mind was the sorrow caused by the death of his brother John, which took place between the composition of the first four, and the remaining stanzas of the poem. 191-207. Far from loving the objects of Nature less, the poet still feels their power over his heart; he has only relinquished one delight, i.e. the "glory and the dream" of boyhood, in order to live in more constant communion with her. Brooks, and dawn, and sunset are as beautiful as ever; and indeed the less striking manifestations of Nature, "the meanest flower that blows," have power to move his soul to its depths. 193. Yet, still. 194. one delight. The emphasis is on one; the loss has its compensation. Cf. Tintern Abbey, 11. 83-88: "That time is past, And all its aching joys are now no more, 196. fret. The meaning of fret here is to eat away (cf. fret carving). Keats has "In a drear-nighted December Too happy, happy brook, Thy bubblings ne'er remember But with a sweet forgetting They stay their crystal fretting..." 200-202. The Clouds...mortality. The clouds that accompany the sunset, though so bright and gorgeous, are tinged with sadness to one who has realised that, like the sun, man must at last vanish below the horizon. Wordsworth was perhaps comparing his intense realisation of the fact of death, caused by his recent bereavement, with his childish inability to understand such a state. See preliminary note. 204. Another race...won. The phraseology of this line is probably suggested by 1 Cor. ix. 24: "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?" The meaning seems to be that the poet has now gone through another experience, difficult and strenuous as the old Olympian games, and that thereby he has won a different reward, namely, the calm and strength which come from sorrow bravely borne. The passage is, however, very obscure, and admits various interpretations. 206. the meanest flower. Cf. Gray, Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude, 11. 49-52: "The meanest flow'ret of the vale, The simplest note that swells the gale, The common Sun, the air, the skies, To him are opening Paradise." 207. Wither in his poem Fair Virtue has the line, "Thoughts too deep to be expressed." THE PRELUDE (BOOK I. 11. 301-475). The Prelude, which was composed between 1799 and 1805, but not published till 1850, after Wordsworth's death, was thus named by his wife because it was intended as an introduction to his great philosophical poem The Recluse. The Recluse, if completed would have consisted of three parts. Of these the second part alone, viz. The Excursion, was finished, and given to the world by the author. In the preface to The Excursion, Wordsworth speaks thus of The Prelude: "The preparatory poem is biographical and conducts the history of the author's mind to the point when he was emboldened to hope that his faculties were sufficiently matured for entering upon the arduous labour which he had proposed to himself; and the two works (i.e. The Prelude and The Recluse) have the same kind of relation to each other, if he may so express himself, as the ante-chapel has to the body of a Gothic church." In the extract here given Wordsworth describes his boyhood at Hawkshead. 302. Fostered...fear. Wordsworth compares the beauty and awe of the Lake District to a foster mother who nourishes the child of another; cf. Intimations of Immortality, 1. 82, where the child is spoken of as the foster-child of the earth. 303. my birthplace. Cockermouth in Cumberland. 304. that beloved Vale. In his ninth year Wordsworth was sent to school at Hawkshead. See Introduction. 305, 306. there were...range. Out of school the boys at Hawkshead were allowed much liberty, and were free to range as they would over the surrounding country. 306. told is here used in the sense of counted. 310. springes, snares. 313, 314. I plied that anxious visitation. I went anxiously from snare to snare, to see if anything had been caught. 316, 317. the peace... them. Cf. Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle, 11. 161-165: "Love had he found in huts where poor men lie, His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills." 317-325. Sometimes he was tempted to take the bird from a snare set by some one else, and then his conscience called up avenging powers, which seemed to take shape and breath and move noiselessly after him. 326. cultured Vale. The valley of Esthwaite, in which Hawkshead is situated. It is called cultured in contrast with the barren hillside. 327-330. Moved we as plunderers...ignoble. Professor Knight says of this passage: "The scene of these exploits cannot have been |