Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson Part 3

To cut across the image. 1809. To cross the bright reflection. 1820.

54-60. The effect of rapid motion is admirably described. The spinning effect which Wordsworth evidently has in mind we have all noticed in the fields which seem to revolve when viewed from a swiftly moving: train.

However, a skater from the low level of a stream would see only the fringe of trees sweep past him. The darkness and the height of the banks would not permit him to see the relatively motionless objects in the distance in either hand.

57-58. This method of stopping short upon one's heels might prove disastrous.

58-60. The effect of motion persists after the motion has ceased.

62 63. The apparent motion of the cliffs grows feebler by degrees until "all was tranquil as a summer sea." In _The_ [Transcriber's note: the rest of this footnote is missing from the original book because of a printing error.]

TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH

(WITH THE SONNETS TO THE RIVER DUDDON, AND OTHER POEMS IN THIS COLLECTION, 1820).

The minstrels played their Christmas tune To-night beneath my cottage-eaves; While, smitten by a lofty moon, The encircling laurels, thick with leaves, Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen, 5 That overpowered their natural green.

Through hill and valley every breeze Had sunk to rest with folded wings; Keen was the air, but could not freeze, Nor check, the music of the strings; 10 So stout and hardy were the band That sc.r.a.ped the chords with strenuous hand:

And who but listened?--till was paid Respect to every Inmate's claim: The greeting given, the music played, 15 In honor of each household name, Duly p.r.o.nounced with l.u.s.ty call, And "Merry Christmas" wished to all!

O Brother! I revere the choice That took thee from thy native hills; 20 And it is given thee to rejoice: Though public care full often tills (Heaven only witness of the toil) A barren and ungrateful soil.

Yet, would that Thou, with me and mine, 25 Hadst heard this never-failing rite; And seen on other faces shine A true revival of the light Which Nature and these rustic Powers, In simple childhood, spread through ours! 30

For pleasure hath not ceased to wait On these expected annual rounds; Whether the rich man's sumptuous gate Call forth the unelaborate sounds, Or they are offered at the door 35 That guards the lowliest of the poor.

How touching, when, at midnight, sweep Snow-m.u.f.fled winds, and all is dark To hear--and sink again-to sleep Or, at an earlier call, to mark, 40 By blazing fire, the still suspense Of self-complacent innocence;

The mutual nod,--the grave disguise Of hearts with gladness br.i.m.m.i.n.g o'er; And some unbidden tears that rise 45 For names once heard, and heard no more; Tears brightened by the serenade For infant in the cradle laid.

Ah! not for emerald fields alone, With ambient streams more pure and bright 50 Than fabled Cytherea's zone Glittering before the Thunderer's sight, Is to my heart of hearts endeared The ground where we were born and reared!

Hail, ancient Manners! sure defence, 55 Where they survive, of wholesome laws; Remnants of love whose modest sense Thus into narrow room withdraws; Hail, Usages of pristine mould, And ye that guard them, Mountains old! 60

Bear with me, Brother! quench the thought That slights this pa.s.sion, or condemns; If thee fond Fancy ever brought From the proud margin of the Thames, And Lambeth's venerable towers, 65 To humbler streams, and greener bowers.

Yes, they can make, who fail to fill Short leisure even in busiest days; Moments, to cast a look behind, And profit by those kindly rays 70 That through the clouds do sometimes steal, And all the far-off past reveal.

Hence, while the imperial City's din Beats frequent on thy satiate ear, A pleased attention I may win 75 To agitations less severe, That neither overwhelm nor cloy, But fill the hollow vale with joy!

Christopher Wordsworth was born at c.o.c.kermouth in c.u.mberland on June 9th, 1774. He received his early education at Hawkshead Grammar School and in 1792 entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a pensioner. He graduated in 1796 with high honours in mathematics, and in 1798 was elected a fellow of his college. He took his M.A. degree in 1799 and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1810. While at Cambridge Christopher had been tutor to Viscount Canterbury, who introduced him to his father, at that time Bishop of Norwich. Through the good offices of the Bishop he was appointed to the rectory of Ashby, Norfolk, and thus, with prospects settled, he was enabled to marry. On the appointment of the Bishop of Norwich to the Archbishopric of Canterbury he was appointed domestic chaplain to the Archbishop. Subsequently in 1816 he was appointed rector of St. Mary's, Lambeth, the living he held at the time the poem in the text was written.

In 1820 Christopher was made Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, a position he held until his resignation in 1841. He died at Buxted on February 2nd, 1846. "He was an earnest and deeply religious man; in some respects a high churchman of the old school, but with sympathy for whatever was good and n.o.ble in others. In politics he was a staunch Conservative."

15. THE GREETING GIVEN, THE MUSIC PLAYED. Till the greeting had been given and the music played.

17. Attributive to "name" (l. 16.)

18. Explain the construction of "wished."

50. AMBIENT=_winding_.

51. CYTHEREA'S ZONE. The G.o.ddess Venus was named Cytherea because she was supposed to have been born of the foam of the sea near Cythera, an island off the coast of the Peloponnesus. Venus was the G.o.ddess of love, and her power over the heart was strengthened by the marvellous zone or girdle she wore.

52. THE THUNDERER. The reference is to Jupiter, who is generally represented as seated upon a golden or ivory throne holding in one hand the thunderbolts, and in the other a sceptre of cypress.

55-60. Suggest how this stanza is characteristic of Wordsworth.

65. LAMBETH'S VENERABLE TOWERS. Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is on the Thames. Wordsworth's brother Christopher, afterwards Master of Trinity College, was then (1820) Rector of Lambeth.

ELEGIAC STANZAS

SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE OF PEELE CASTLE, IN A STORM, PAINTED BY SIR GEORGE BEAUMONT.

I was thy neighbor once, thou rugged Pile!

Four summer weeks I dwelt in sight of thee: I saw thee every day; and all the while Thy Form was sleeping on a gla.s.sy sea.

So pure the sky, so quiet was the air! 5 So like, so very like, was day to day!

Whene'er I looked, thy Image still was there; It trembled, but it never pa.s.sed away.

How perfect was the calm! it seemed no sleep; No mood, which season takes away, or brings: 10 I could have fancied that the mighty Deep Was even the gentlest, of all gentle Things.

Ah! THEN, if mine had been the Painter's hand, To express what then I saw; and add the gleam, The light that never was. On sea or land, 15 The consecration, and the Poet's dream;

I would have planted thee, thou h.o.a.ry Pile, Amid a world how different from this!

Beside a sea that could not cease to smile; On tranquil land, beneath a sky of bliss. 20

Thou shouldst have seemed a treasure-house divine Of peaceful years; a chronicle of heaven;-- Of all the sunbeams that did ever shine The very sweetest had to thee been given.

A Picture had it been of lasting ease, 25 Elysian quiet, without toil or strife; No motion but the moving tide, a breeze, Or merely silent Nature's breathing life.

Such, in the fond illusion of my heart, Such Picture would I at that time have made: 30 And seen the soul of truth in every part, A steadfast peace that might not be betrayed.

So once it would have been,--'tis so no more; I have submitted to a new control: A power is gone, which nothing can restore; 35 A deep distress hath humanized my Soul.

Not for a moment could I now behold A smiling sea, and be what I have been: The feeling of my loss will ne'er be old; This, which I know, I speak with mind serene. 40

Then, Beaumont, Friend! who would have been the Friend, If he had lived, of Him whom I deplore, This work of thine I blame not, but commend; This sea in anger, and that dismal sh.o.r.e.

O 'tis a pa.s.sionate Work!--yet wise and well, 45 Well chosen is the spirit that is here; That Hulk which labors in the deadly swell, This rueful sky, this pageantry of fear!

And this huge Castle, standing here sublime, I love to see the look with which it braves, 50 Cased in the unfeeling armor of old time, The lightning, the fierce wind, and trampling waves.