The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Iii Part 39

[Footnote Z: He went to Hawkshead School in 1778.--Ed.]

[Footnote a: About mid October the autumn crocus in the garden "snaps"

in that district.--Ed.]

[Footnote b: Possibly in the Claife and Colthouse heights to the east of Esthwaite Water; but more probably the round-headed gra.s.sy hills that lead up and on to the moor between Hawkshead and Coniston, where the turf is always green and smooth.--Ed.]

[Footnote c: Yewdale: see next note. "Cultured Vale" exactly describes the little oat-growing valley of Yewdale.--Ed.]

[Footnote d: As there are no "naked crags" with "half-inch fissures in the slippery rocks" in the "cultured vale" of Esthwaite, the locality referred to is probably the Hohne Fells above Yewdale, to the north of Coniston, and only a few miles from Hawkshead, where a crag, now named Raven's Crag, divides Tilberthwaite from Yewdale. In his 'Epistle to Sir George Beaumont', Wordsworth speaks of Yewdale as a plain

'spread Under a rock too steep for man to tread, Where sheltered from the north and bleak north-west Aloft the Raven hangs a visible nest, Fearless of all a.s.saults that would her brood molest.'

Ed.]

[Footnote e: Dr. Cradock suggested the reading "rocky cove." Rocky cave is tautological, and Wordsworth would hardly apply the epithet to an ordinary boat-house.--Ed.]

[Footnote f: The "craggy steep till then the horizon's bound," is probably the ridge of Ironkeld, reaching from high Arnside to the Tom Heights above Tarn Hows; while the "huge peak, black and huge, as if with voluntary power instinct," may he either the summit of Wetherlam, or of Pike o'Blisco. Mr. Rawnsley, however, is of opinion that if Wordsworth rowed off from the west bank of Fasthwaite, he might see beyond the craggy ridge of Loughrigg the ma.s.s of Nab-Scar, and Rydal Head would rise up "black and huge." If he rowed from the east side, then Pike o'Stickle, or Harrison Stickle, might rise above Ironkeld, over Borwick Ground.--Ed.]

[Footnote g: Compare S. T. Coleridge.

"When very many are skating together, the sounds and the noises give an impulse to the icy trees, and the woods all round the lake _tinkle_."

'The Friend', vol. ii. p. 325 (edition 1818).--Ed.]

[Footnote h: The two preceding paragraphs were published in 'The Friend', December 28, 1809, under the t.i.tle of the 'Growth of Genius from the Influences of Natural Objects on the Imagination, in Boyhood and Early Youth', and were afterwards inserted in all the collective editions of Wordsworth's poems, from 1815 onwards. For the changes of the text in these editions, see vol. ii. pp. 66-69.--Ed.]

[Footnote i: The becks amongst the Furness Fells, in Yewdale, and elsewhere.--Ed.]

[Footnote j: Possibly from the top of some of the rounded moraine hills on the western side of the Hawkshead Valley.--Ed.]

[Footnote k: The pupils in the Hawkshead school, in Wordsworth's time, boarded in the houses of village dames. Wordsworth lived with one Anne Tyson, for whom he ever afterwards cherished the warmest regard, and whose simple character he has immortalised. (See especially in the fourth book of 'The Prelude', p. 187, etc.) Wordsworth lived in her cottage at Hawkshead during nine eventful years. It still remains externally unaltered, and little, if at all, changed in the interior. It may be reached through a picturesque archway, near the princ.i.p.al inn of the village (The Lion); and is on the right of a small open yard, which is entered through this archway. To the left, a lane leads westwards to the open country. It is a humble dwelling of two storeys. The floor of the bas.e.m.e.nt flat-paved with the blue flags of Coniston slate--is not likely to have been changed since Wordsworth's time. The present door with its "latch" (see book ii. l. 339), is probably the same as that referred to in the poem, as in use in 1776, and onwards. For further details see notes to book iv.--Ed.]

[Footnote l: Compare Pope's 'Rape of the Lock', canto iii. l. 54:

'Gained but one trump, and one plebeian card.'

Ed.]

[Footnote m: Compare Walton's 'Compleat Angler', part i. 4:

'I was for that time lifted above earth, And possess'd joys not promised in my birth.'

Ed.]

[Footnote n: The notes to this edition are explanatory rather than critical; but as this image has been objected to--as inaccurate, and out of all a.n.a.logy with Wordsworth's use and wont--it may be mentioned that the noise of the breaking up of the ice, after a severe winter in these lakes, when it cracks and splits in all directions, is exactly as here described. It is not of course, in any sense peculiar to the English lakes; but there are probably few districts where the peculiar noise referred to can be heard so easily or frequently. Compare Coleridge's account of the Lake of Ratzeburg in winter, in 'The Friend', vol. ii. p.

323 (edition of 1818), and his reference to "the thunders and 'howlings'

of the breaking ice."--Ed.]

[Footnote o: I here insert a very remarkable MS. variation of the text, or rather (I think) one of these experiments in dealing with his theme, which were common with Wordsworth. I found it in a copy of the Poems belonging to the poet's son:

I tread the mazes of this argument, and paint How nature by collateral interest And by extrinsic pa.s.sion peopled first My mind with beauteous objects: may I well Forget what might demand a loftier song, For oft the Eternal Spirit, He that has His Life in unimaginable things, And he who painting what He is in all The visible imagery of all the World Is yet apparent chiefly as the Soul Of our first sympathies--O bounteous power In Childhood, in rememberable days How often did thy love renew for me Those naked feelings which, when thou would'st form A living thing, thou sendest like a breeze Into its infant being! Soul of things How often did thy love renew for me Those hallowed and pure motions of the sense Which seem in their simplicity to own An intellectual charm: That calm delight Which, if I err not, surely must belong To those first-born affinities which fit Our new existence to existing things, And, in our dawn of being, const.i.tute The bond of union betwixt life and joy.

Yes, I remember, when the changeful youth And twice five seasons on my mind had stamped The faces of the moving year, even then A child, I held unconscious intercourse With the eternal beauty, drinking in A pure organic pleasure from the lines Of curling mist, or from the smooth expanse Of waters coloured by the clouds of Heaven.

Ed.]

[Footnote p: Snowdrops still grow abundantly in many an orchard and meadow by the road which skirts the western side of Esthwaite Lake.--Ed.]

[Footnote q: Compare the 'Ode, Intimations of Immortality', stanza ix.--Ed.]

BOOK SECOND

SCHOOL-TIME--continued ...

Thus far, O Friend! have we, though leaving much Unvisited, endeavoured to retrace The simple ways in which my childhood walked; Those chiefly that first led me to the love Of rivers, woods, and fields. The pa.s.sion yet 5 Was in its birth, sustained as might befal By nourishment that came unsought; for still From week to week, from month to month, we lived A round of tumult. Duly were our games Prolonged in summer till the day-light failed: 10 No chair remained before the doors; the bench And threshold steps were empty; fast asleep The labourer, and the old man who had sate A later lingerer; yet the revelry Continued and the loud uproar: at last, 15 When all the ground was dark, and twinkling stars Edged the black clouds, home and to bed we went, Feverish with weary joints and beating minds.

Ah! is there one who ever has been young, Nor needs a warning voice to tame the pride 20 Of intellect and virtue's self-esteem?

One is there, though the wisest and the best Of all mankind, who covets not at times Union that cannot be;--who would not give, If so he might, to duty and to truth 25 The eagerness of infantine desire?

A tranquillising spirit presses now On my corporeal frame, so wide appears The vacancy between me and those days Which yet have such self-presence in my mind, 30 That, musing on them, often do I seem Two consciousnesses, conscious of myself And of some other Being. A rude ma.s.s Of native rock, left midway in the square Of our small market village, was the goal 35 Or centre of these sports; [A] and when, returned After long absence, thither I repaired, Gone was the old grey stone, and in its place A smart a.s.sembly-room usurped the ground That had been ours. There let the fiddle scream, 40 And be ye happy! Yet, my Friends! I know That more than one of you will think with me Of those soft starry nights, and that old Dame From whom the stone was named, who there had sate, And watched her table with its huckster's wares 45 a.s.siduous, through the length of sixty years.

We ran a boisterous course; the year span round With giddy motion. But the time approached That brought with it a regular desire For calmer pleasures, when the winning forms 50 Of Nature were collaterally attached To every scheme of holiday delight And every boyish sport, less grateful else And languidly pursued.