Esthwaite. No ravens build there, or could build in Wordsworth's time; and there are no ‘naked crags' with 'half inch fissures in the slippery rock' in Esthwaite. The locality must have been the Holme Fells above Yewdale, to the north of Coniston, and only a few miles from Hawkshead, where a Raven's Crag now divides Tilberthwaite from Yewdale" (English Lake District, p. 13). Cf. also Guide to the Lakes, Grosart, II. p. 309: "The waters were agitated; and the iron tone of the raven's voice, which strikes upon the ear at all times as the more dolorous for its regularity, was in fine keeping with the wild scene before us. This carnivorous fowl is a great enemy to the lambs of these solitudes. I recollect frequently seeing, when a boy, bunches of unfledged ravens, suspended from the churchyard gates of H-for which a reward of so much a head was given to the adventurous destroyer.' 340-356. Dust as we...aim. Although our bodies are made of dust, the immortal part of us is built up from various elements, just as different sounds are harmonised together in music. There is a secret, incomprehensible workmanship which welds together even painful experiences, so that they all bear a part in making up our characters. Thus, both those visitations of Nature which caused no fear, and those which were the occasion of some alarm, helped to form me; and at times she may intervene more severely, by more decided means, to effect her purpose. 362. troubled pleasure, pleasure mingled with apprehension, because the deed was done stealthily. 370. the summit of a craggy ridge. This was the ridge between Hawkshead and Coniston Moors (Knight). 373. elfin pinnace, a very small boat. 378. a huge peak, black and huge. The summit of Wetherham (Knight). 379. voluntary power instinct. As if the peak were possessed of will-power, and deliberately rose up before him to accuse him of his underhand act. The same idea occurs in the poem called Nutting, in which the author describes how he dragged the branches of the hazel tree to the earth: "And unless I now Confound my present feelings with the past; The silent trees, and saw the intruding sky..." 390-400. after I had...dreams. After this the poet's brain was perplexed by a vague feeling that there were beings whose existence was unrealised by men; his thoughts were darkened by a sense of remoteness from the everyday world around him; he was scarcely conscious of the fields, trees, sea and sky, but there were always present with him, both night and day, dim and mighty forms which were not like those of living men. Legouis, La Jeunesse de Wordsworth, p. 46, remarks on this passage, "Les hallucinations de Wordsworth enfant sont plus proches peut-être de celles du sauvage superstitieux qui tremble au milieu des formes étranges des choses. Une morale primitive émane de la Nature; une multitude d'êtres effrayants s'y cachent le jour et le soir apparaissent pour punir les méfaits. Les premiers remords enfantins, dans l'enfance de l'humanité comme dans celle de l'homme, s'accompagnent de terreurs physiques, au point de se confondre avec elles." 401-414. Wordsworth recognises that it is the Divine Presence in Nature which gives to her her moral power. And he is thankful that his youth was spent not in towns-among the ". mean and vulgar works of man"—but among the beautiful and enduring things of creation, so that he was brought into close communion with God by means of His works. 417. vapours rolling down the valley. See Reverie of Poor Susan, 1. 7, and note thereon. 420. trembling lake, the water in the lake quivered continually. 425-462. in the frosty season...sleep. This description of skating is very famous. Wordsworth was an expert skater. Cf. Canon Rawnsley's Reminiscences, Wordsworthiana, p. 99: "He was a ter❜ble girt [great] skater, was Wudsworth now; and he would put one hand i' his breast (he wore a frill shirt i' them days), and t'other hand i' his waistband, same as shepherds does to keep their hands warm, and he would stand up straight and sway and swing away grandly." 434, 435. in games confederate. Joining together for the purpose of games. 435-437. imitative...hare. They played hare and hounds on the ice. 439-442. with the din...iron. Notice how the sound of the verse corresponds to the idea conveyed. This is effected by the use of the dental consonants d and t, which have a hard tinkling sound. 443, 444. alien sound of melancholy, the echo, which is always somewhat sad in its effect, was alien to or different from the joy of the skaters. 450. reflex, the reflection. 453. When we...wind. When we were skating with the wind behind us. 454-456. And all...motion. They skated so quickly that it seemed as if it was not they, but the dim banks of the lake that were moving. 464-475. Ye Presences...like a sea? Wordsworth invokes the spiritual forces that are present in sky, earth, hills and plains, and declares that they must have had a special purpose in influencing his boyhood; so that all natural objects seemed to him worthy of fear or love (danger or desire). 467. vulgar, common, ordinary. 468. ministry, service. THE EXCURSION (BOOK I. 11. 77-243). For the relation of The Excursion to The Prelude and The Recluse see p. 129. The Excursion consists largely of conversations "on Man and Nature and on Human life," which are supposed to be carried on by the Author, the Wanderer, the Solitary, and the Pastor. Book 1., from which this extract is taken, gives an account of the early life of the Wanderer, a retired pedlar. Of this character Wordsworth said: "Had I been born in a class which would have deprived me of a liberal education, it is not unlikely, that, being strong in body, I should have taken to a way of life such as that in which my Pedlar passed the greater part of his days. At all events, I am here called upon freely to acknowledge that the character I have represented in his person is chiefly an idea of what I fancied my own character might have become in his circumstances. "Nevertheless much of what he says and does had an external existence, that fell under my own youthful and subsequent observation. "An individual, named Patrick by birth and education a Scotchman, followed this humble occupation for many years, and afterwards settled in the town of Kendal. He married a kinswoman of my wife's, and her sister Sarah was brought up from early childhood under this good man's eyes. My own imaginations I was happy to find clothed in reality, and fresh ones suggested, by what she reported of this man's tenderness of heart, his strong and pure imagination, and his solid attainments, chiefly religious, whether in prose or verse. At Hawkshead also, while I was a schoolboy, there occasionally resided a packman (the name then generally given to this calling) with whom I had frequent conversations upon what had befallen him, and what he had observed during his wandering life...." See also, introductory note to The Fountain. 77-91. Oh!...unthought of. With these lines may be compared the famous stanzas from Gray's Elegy: "Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; But knowledge to their eyes her ample page Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, 79, 80. Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood." The vision...verse. Cf. Not in the Lucid Intervals of Life, 1. 8, where Wordsworth also distinguishes between poetic insight and mechanical skill in versification. 84, 85. Or haply...shame. They were either not susceptible of the gentle influence of books, or, by an over fastidious sense of their own shortcomings, shrank from exposing their ignorance. 86-88. Not having e'er... themselves. The circumstances of their lives had never enabled them to form a proper estimate of their own powers. They had never measured themselves according to their true height or capacity. 90. Husbanding. Keeping hidden, saving. Cf. Macbeth, Act II. scene i.: "There's husbandry in heaven Their candles are all out." 93. this Man, the Wanderer. 100. The feeling pleasures of his loneliness. The deep pleasures he had felt in his solitary walks among the hills. 106. deliberately pleased. Pleased after due reflection, not carried away by a transitory feeling of approval. 108. the hills of Athol. Athol is a district in the Highlands, in the north of Perthshire. Wordsworth put the birthplace of his Wanderer in Scotland because the peasants of that country were famous for their strict piety. See introductory note to Character of the Happy Warrior. 109. hereditary, held by inheritance. 113. Pure livers. Cf. Resolution and Independence, 11. 96-98 : "A stately speech 121. Such as grave livers do in Scotland use, Religious men, who give to God and man their dues." long-continuing winter. In the north of Scotland the winter is, of course, of longer duration than in England. 125. minster clock. A minster was originally a monastery, but the word was gradually applied to cathedrals. Cf. Lucy Gray, 1. 19 : "The minster clock has just struck two." tenement. Something held, a dwelling. Now applied particularly to a house let out in rooms to poor families. 127, 128. saw the hills grow larger in the darkness. Cf. The Prelude, 11. 381, 382: "Growing still in stature, the grim shape Towered up between me and the stars." 132-162. This passage should be compared with 11. 390-400 of The Prelude. 138, 139. whose presence perplexed the bodily sense. Cf. Intimations of Immortality, 11. 145-149: "But for those obstinate questionings...realised." 139-148. He had received...dreams. He had gained a precious gift, for in his later years he compared all his sense impressions with those which he had experienced in childhood, and being unsatisfied if they were not as vivid as those of youth, he brooded on the mental |