Ii I 11 1 1 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE TIlE POET j 1 ri qt l j v. v a a man man p possessing a capable ni mind nind nd a s Sj sympathetic he heart rf and arid arld tireless tireless- ss perseverance sets out in life with the a liberate deliberate intention of becoming g a poet t t the he is is undoubtedly sure of success And so it was with vV Wordsworth who who possessing all the necessary necessary end endowments had d decided when but buta a boy that boy that his his his' T vocation o Hon was that of poet and not only of poet but but butof of teacher With this this end in view his his' long life of eighty years was spent He had become convinced that the prevailing style in poetry was artificial ial and nd incorrect and that to some some extent it lay in his power to ll reform form the thet t taste taste ste of the public Believing this i h he e wrote his Lyrical Ballads Balla Ballads prefacing refa i g them with remarks remarks' on on his th theory ory that poetry is the natural expression of m man man manin ri t in in ina a state of vivid emotion and that the language of pl prose ose and of metrical composition n is is essentially ly the the same same In these ballads ballad he he writes of of t the the- h hn humblest n b est iri incidents in n simple le m mariner manner asserting ss that in iri r rustic life the passions of the heart have freer play and that uV Verse ers may 1 build a princ princely ly throne e On humble umble truth j 3 r In rInthe Inthe the Prelude he the tells us that three s subjects bj h have ve b been uppermost Fin his mind through all his musings and on these three Man Nature and Human Life ife he proposes to write He believed himself able to better the condition of the lower class classes s and pleasure by the relating of incidents t s. s ti j L i i. i J i Affecting them He was able abl by his by-his his sympathy to perceive the nobility in inman inman man regardless of rank and to enter into his very emotions When surrounded surrounded surrounded sur sur- rounded by the glories of Nature h he learned to h hear ar the still sad music of s' s humanity and so was able to deal with such subjects as Poor Susans Susan's Reverie and Lucy Gray in both of which is shown hown his love and pity for mankind fl His intense love Jove of Nature fills all of his poetry He looked on Nature r. with loving observant eyes seeming seeming- to find in her an old and tried friend who j never did betray the heart that loved her In L' L Lines zes com composed a few miles above Abbey he elaborates on this love maki making g it s seem em worship Of his happy faculty of bringing to l light the hitherto unnoticed beauties and immortalizing im im- im- im immortalizing them one poet has said The violet by its mossy stone t The primrose by bythe the rivers river's brim h l' l The sown chance-sown daffodil have found v I Immortal life him f i k i j f through k 1 11 The sunrise on the breezy lake f I. I 6 inh The rosy tints the sunset brought 3 V World seen are gladdening all the vales 1 F f And mountain peaks of thought 0 One poem alone the great Ode oit Immortality would have made Wordsworth Wordsworth Wordsworth Words Words- worth famous In this he shows his great reat nobility of soul and his power of concentration and expresses ses his grand thoughts in such fitting language that one is f forced to pay him reverence and agree with Emerson that it is the water high-water mark of English thought in the nineteenth century V Wordsworth Wordsworth Words Words- worth was a deep thinker musing much on human destiny In that little r. r poetry poems We are Seven he tries to show a little childs child's idea of d death ath not ret re- re i t g gal garding ding it as death but as a passing away i His Hi longest poem the Excursion is als also a philosophical one in which are aie given the poets poet's sentiments on life death religion on and other abstract t sub- sub re-garding re je ts This poem met with a diversity of opinion among the critics critics some re regarding garding it as a failure others extravagant in its praise declaring it a master master- aster aster- g c pi piece c i However it is a grand poem tl the e work of a wonderful mind whose value 1 we cannot judge but must leave for Time to p pronounce on upon N No man could have written poems so permeated with the beauty of peacefulness and spiritual spirit- spirit r ual joy whose own life was not one in harmony with ith its surroundings Wordsworth's married life was a particularly happy one He married Mary tea Hutchinson whom in his beautiful tl She was wa a Phantom of 0 Delight he characterizes as the e Perfect woman nobly planned ac To warn to comfort and command o With her ler the p poet et p passed his days in quiet happiness and nd perfect love and when his end came to her his last farewell was was was' given iu 1 Another woman woman he justly h honored nored in his verse his only sister D Dorothy rothy who wh by her watchful care caie caie and trust in him helped ed to dispel that gloom of T I rI r- r or I b i 3 despondency which had fallen upon him when the French Revolution resulted so disastrously for his hopes With her of his many travels were taken and shared He comments in pleasures Abbey on their similarity of tastes especially their love of Nature and whenever he speaks of her expresses th the affection Aside from these Wordsworth had few friends the most notable being Coleridge that other original genius genius' of the period whose poetry is so utterly dissimilar to Wordsworth's that one wonders at the strong friendship which existed between them When N Wordsworth first began to write he was regarded by the critics as an inspired idiot Jeffreys who might almost be termed the autocrat of the age passed a scathing criticism on his Excursion and Hazlitt said in regard to his choice of subjects Such is the severe simplicity of Mr Wordsworth's V taste that I doubt whether he would reject a temple or time hal lowed ruin as too m modern dern and artificial for his purpose It must be c confessed nf that the poet partly brought this ridicule on himself by carrying his theory so far as to make his simplicity appear silliness as he did in Peter Bell and The Idiot Boy However as time went on public taste changed and W Wordsworth's rth's poetry began to meet with its deserved popularity and when Southey died Southey-died died he was made Poet Laureate At the present day he is not read read with th the appreciation he might well receive But this is not a poetry reading age age He is not a favorite with young people who are aie apt to regard him as as prosy and unintelligible but should they really study his poetry they will find it to grow upon them and find also that many of their unexpressed emotions are are areso so accurately described d dby by him as to be unmistakable le A taste for tV Wordsworth should be acquired by cultivation if anyone unfortunately lacks it t and this done I 1 think it t will prove piove a well-spring well of refreshing enjoyment that will repay all exertions He has met with so many admirers who have been able to praise so well the peculiar beauties of his poetry that a b better clos closing ng cannot be made than dd t to quote the words of William Watson in his Wo Wordsworth Wordsworth's s 's Grave i t. t J II Poet who by this wandering wave m I i b j j When thou ast wast born what gift birth-gift thou then f J 4 tJ f. f td Jm To thee what wealth was that the Immortals gave f The wealth thou gayest in thy turn to men Mno i wd I iT J Rest the gift gIft- gift he he gave ga and peace it the shade shade r rIle w bi 1 HiO r J 11 He Ile e spread d f for or spin spirits t severe f fevered d WI with th th the e sun cil f i I 1 To him his bounties are come back here laid lad I I nr t dd fi c rt aid Batt r f In rest in peace his labor nobly done 5 J tJ d hI HARDY 1 MAUDE Jr P. 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