The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Ii Part 74

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: This Poem was intended to be the concluding poem of a series of pastorals, the scene of which was laid among the mountains of c.u.mberland and Westmoreland. I mention this to apologise for the abruptness with which the poem begins.--W. W. 1800.]

[Footnote B: In Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal the following entry occurs:

"Friday, 6th August (1800).--In the morning I copied 'The Brothers'."

Ed.]

[Footnote C: This description of the Calenture is sketched from an imperfect recollection of an admirable one in prose, by Mr. Gilbert, Author of 'The Hurricane'.--W. W. 1800.

Compare another reference to 'The Hurricane; a Theosophical and Western Eclogue' etc., by William Gilbert, in one of the notes to 'The Excursion', book iii. l. 931.--Ed.]

[Footnote D: The impressive circ.u.mstance here described, actually took place some years ago in this country, upon an eminence called Kidstow Pike, one of the highest of the mountains that surround Hawes-water. The summit of the pike was stricken by lightning; and every trace of one of the fountains disappeared, while the other continued to flow as before.--W. W. 1800.]

[Footnote E: There is not any thing more worthy of remark in the manners of the inhabitants of these mountains, than the tranquillity, I might say indifference, with which they think and talk upon the subject of death. Some of the country church-yards, as here described, do not contain a single tomb-stone, and most of them have a very small number.--W. W. 1800.]

[Footnote F: The name in the original MS. was "Wilfred Evans."--Ed.]

[Footnote G: The great Gavel, so called I imagine, from its resemblance to the Gable end of a house, is one of the highest of the c.u.mberland mountains. It stands at the head of the several vales of Ennerdale, Wastdale, and Borrowdale.

The Leeza is a River which flows into the Lake of Ennerdale: on issuing from the Lake, it changes its name, and is called the End, Eyne, or Enna. It falls into the sea a little below Egremont--W. W. 1800.]

[Footnote H: See Coleridge's criticism of these lines in a note to chapter xviii. of 'Biographia Literaria' (vol. ii. p. 83 of the edition of 1817).--Ed.]

This poem ill.u.s.trates the way in which Wordsworth's imagination worked upon a minimum of fact, idealizing a simple story, and adding

'the gleam, The light that never was, on sea or land, The consecration, and the Poet's dream.'

It is the only poem of his referring to Ennerdale; but perhaps the chief a.s.sociation with that dale, to those who visit it after becoming acquainted with this poem, will be the fact that the brothers Ewbank were supposed to have spent their youth under the shadow of the Pillar, and Leonard to have had this conversation, on his return from sea, with the venerable priest of Ennerdale. The district is described with all that local accuracy which Wordsworth invariably showed in idealization.

The height whence James Ewbank is supposed to have fallen is not the Pillar-Rock--a crag somewhat difficult to ascend, except by practised climbers, and which has only been accessible since mountaineering became an art and a pa.s.sion to Englishmen. But, if we suppose the conversation with the priest of Ennerdale to have taken place at the Bridge, below the Lake--as that is the only place where there is both a hamlet and "a churchyard"--the "precipice" will refer to the Pillar "Mountain." Both are alluded to in the poem. The lines,

'You see yon precipice;--it wears the shape Of a vast building made of many crags; And in the midst is one particular rock That rises like a column from the vale, Whence by our shepherds it is called, _The Pillar_,'

are definite enough. The great ma.s.s of the Pillar Mountain is first referred to, and then the Rock which is a characteristic spur, halfway up the mountain on its northern side. The "aery summit crowned with heath," however, on which "the loiterer" "lay stretched at ease," could neither be the top of this "rock" nor the summit of the "mountain": not the former, because there is no heath on it, and it would be impossible for a weary man, loitering behind his companions, to ascend it to rest; not the latter, because no one resting on the summit of the mountain could be "not unnoticed by his comrades," and they would not pa.s.s that way over the top of the mountain "on their return" to Ennerdale. This is an instance, therefore, in which precise localization is impossible.

Probably Wordsworth did not know either that the pillar "rock" was bare on the summit, or that it had never been ascended in 1800; and he idealised it to suit his imaginative purpose. In connection with this poem, a remark he made to the Hon. Mr. Justice Coleridge may be recalled.

"He said there was some foundation in fact, however slight, for every poem he had written of a narrative kind; ... 'The Brothers' was founded on a young shepherd, in his sleep, having fallen down a crag, his staff remaining suspended mid-way."

(See the 'Memoirs of Wordsworth', by the late Bishop of Lincoln, vol.

ii. p. 305.) It should be added that the character of Leonard Ewbank was drawn in large part from that of the poet's brother John--Ed.

THE SEVEN SISTERS; OR, THE SOLITUDE OF BINNORIE [A]

Composed 1800. [B]--Published 1807

The Story of this Poem is from the German of Frederica Brun. [C]--W. W.

1807.

One of the "Poems of the Fancy."--Ed.

I Seven Daughters had Lord Archibald, All children of one mother: You could [1] not say in one short day What love they bore each other.

A garland, of seven lilies, wrought! 5 Seven Sisters that together dwell; But he, bold Knight as ever fought, Their Father, took of them no thought, He loved the wars so well.

Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully, 10 The solitude of Binnorie!

II Fresh blows the wind, a western wind, And from the sh.o.r.es of Erin, Across the wave, a Rover brave To Binnorie is steering: 15 Right onward to the Scottish strand The gallant s.h.i.+p is borne; The warriors leap upon the land, And hark! the Leader of the band Hath blown his bugle horn. 20 Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully, The solitude of Binnorie.

III Beside a grotto of their own, With boughs above them closing, The Seven are laid, and in the shade 25 They lie like fawns reposing.

But now, upstarting with affright At noise of man and steed, Away they fly to left, to right-- Of your fair household, Father-knight, 30 Methinks you take small heed!

Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully, The solitude of Binnorie.

IV Away the seven fair Campbells fly, And, over hill and hollow, 35 With menace proud, and insult loud, The youthful Rovers [2] follow.

Cried they, "Your Father loves to roam: Enough for him to find The empty house when he comes home; 40 For us your yellow ringlets comb, For us be fair and kind!"

Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully, The solitude of Binnorie.

V Some close behind, some side by side, 45 Like clouds in stormy weather; They run, and cry, "Nay, let us die, And let us die together."

A lake was near; the sh.o.r.e was steep; There never foot had been; 50 They ran, and with a desperate leap Together plunged into the deep, [3]

Nor ever more were seen.

Sing, mournfully, oh! mournfully, The solitude of Binnorie. 55