Modern Language Association

Wordsworth's Descriptive Sketches and the Prelude, Book VIAuthor(s): Janette HarringtonSource: PMLA, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Dec., 1929), pp. 1144-1158Published by: Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/457715Accessed: 20/11/2009 07:34

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mla.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Modern Language Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to PMLA.

http://www.jstor.org

LIII

WORDSWORTH'S DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES AND THE PRELUDE, BOOK VI

IN THE summer of 1790 William Wordsworth and his friend, Robert Jones, spent their summer vacation in France and Swit-

zerland. The record of this memorable journey has been left to us in two of Wordsworth's poems: Descriptive Sketches written in 1792 and The Prelude, Book VI, written probably in 1804. The

journey described in each is, of course, the same, yet variations in the accounts are quite marked. The immediate reaction as to the causes of the differences, no doubt, is that Wordsworth had

forgotten many of the details of the journey. Yet this explanation cannot be true, as a careful analysis shows. Garrod,1 in his para- graph concerning Wordsworth's poetical theory that poetry "takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity," hints at the real reason for the discrepancies: The question [he says] is interesting, not only in connection with De- scriptive Sketches, but also as affecting the problem of the essential. truth- fulness of large parts of The Prelude.

Then in speaking of Descriptive Sketches and The Prelude, Part VI, he

says:

I have not space here .... to institute a detailed comparison of the two pieces. It will, however, be relevant to .... show, as it can be shown, the essential untruthfulness of Descriptive Sketches. Wordsworth was two years distant from his object; but he did not yet understand, I would sup- pose, the conditions of his art. I will try and show how this was so; and when I have done so, I will point a contrast by calling attention to por- tions of the sixth book of The Prelude which exhibit, as I think, a remark- able truth to impressions fourteen years old.

It is evident that Garrod, judging between the two accounts as

given in Descriptive Sketches and in The Prelude inclines to the latter as essentially the nearer to the truth.

It is my purpose in this paper to analyze the two records of this

journey a little more fully than Mr. Garrod has done, in order to

show, first, the variations in relating the itinerary itself; secondly, the changes in Wordsworth's attitude towards certain subjects treated in both of the poems. My conclusions, I may say frankly at the outset, do not agree in all respects with Mr. Garrod's.

When the two boys arrived in France they were a singular look-

ing pair, according to Wordsworth's description: H. G. Garrod, Wordsworth, p. 46.

1144

Janette Harrington

Our coats, which we had made light on purpose for the journey, are of the same piece:-our manner of carrying our bundles, which is upon our heads, with each an oak stick in our hands, contributes not a little to that general curiosity which we seem to excite.2

Unburdened with luggage, they walked over a great portion of France, the Alps, and even into Italy between July thirteenth and September twenty-ninth. They landed at Calais, July 14, 1790, went through Ardres, Soissons, Chateau Thierry, Bar-le-Duc, Nuits, Charlons, Lyons, Condrieu, Moreau, Voreppe, and into Chartreuse by August third. Up to this point the Descriptive Sketches says nothing of the tour, while The Prelude has mentioned only Calais, the Soane, and the Rhone River.

But with Chartreuse, one begins to find changes in the course of the journey as related in the poems. In Descriptive Sketches one is told "Of Como Bosom'd deep in chestnut groves"3 and of fair Lo- carno almost immediately after Chartreuse, whereas in The Prelude Wordsworth speaks of proceeding to Locarno's lake and of Como just before the close of the journey.

Again in the Descriptive Sketches Wordsworth mentions in line 243

Now, passing Urseren's open vale serene

while in The Prelude it is not until lines 500-550 that he speaks of the enticing valleys of Urseren greeting them. In Descriptive Sketches the account of Urseren comes directly after they had cross- ed Simplon Pass, whereas in The Prelude the Pass is described in lines 562-590, some sixty lines before the description of the Lake Still again, in the Descriptive Sketches, line 690, the view of Mont Blanc is given directly after the description of Chamouny, line 680;while in The Prelude one reads of "the summit of Mont Blanc"4 immediately before "the wondrous vale of Chamouny"5 is men- tioned.

On September 6, 1790, at Keswill, Wordsworth started a letter to his sister Dorothy in which he outlines his itinerary, and which one may expect to find a reliable source of information. Those places which were mentioned in different orders in the Descriptive Sketches and The Prelude are given in the letter in the

2 Prose Works of William Wordsworth, III, 230. 3 Descriptive Sketches, lines 81, 82. 4 Prelude, VI, 525. 5 Prelude, VI, 528.

1145

Wordsueorth's "Descriptive Sketches"

following order: Chartreuse, Chamouny, Simplon Pass, Lake Locarno, Lake Como, Gravedona, Urseren, and Einsiedlen.6 From a comparison of this journey with the other two, one discovers that no one of the three coincides with the other two. Since a per- sonal letter of this kind written during the progress of a journey is likely to be reliable, the course of events as given in the poems is evidently wrong.

Harper, in commenting on the journey says,

The poet makes no attempt, in The Prelude, to narrate in order the principal details of this momentous journey. He concentrates attention on its inward results. Events, places, and times, are blurred-it would almost seem purposely-for it cannot be that, after the lapse of only about fifteen years, his memory would have confused Blois and Orleans.7

Was it not, perhaps, a habit of Wordsworth's to blur purposely events if so doing were advantageous to the final effect of his poem? A few illustrations will show that such was the case. In the prefato- ry note to Hart-Leap Well Wordsworth writes, "Hart-Leap Well is a small spring of water, about five miles from Richmond in York- shire."8 In his note at the conclusion of the poem Knight quotes from Mr. John R. Tutin of Hull:

Visited Hart-Leap Well, the subject of Wordsworth's poem. It is situated on the roadside leading from Richmond to Askrigg, at a distance of not more than three and a half miles from Richmond, and not five miles as stated in the prefatory note.9

Here is found a discrepancy as to distance. In line 153 of the poem Wordsworth speaks of the "flowering thorn." In Mr. Knight's concluding notes is found this statement taken from a letter written by the Reverend Thomas Hutchinson of Kimbolton, "The tree is not a Thorn, but a Lime."'10-This time it is nature herself which is not accurately described. After Wordsworth had related the story of the well he stood lost in thought when one

who was in shepherd's garb attired Came up the Hollow.1'

6 As traced in the Keswill letter, in Wordsworth's Prose Works, III, 222, 226-7 7 Harper, William Wordsworth, I, 139. 8 Poems of William Wordszworth, ed. Knight, III, 128. 9bid., II, 137.

10 Ibid., II, 137. ' Descriptive Sketches, line 118.

1146

Janette Harrington1

Of this the Reverend Mr. Hutchinson says, "The ascent from the well is a gentle one, not 'sheer,' nor does there appear to be any hollow by which the shepherd could ascend."12

The Brothers, another of Wordsworth's poems, shows the same method in regard to the inexact and untruthful use of details. Mr. Knight's note once again goes to prove that Wordsworth sacrificed truth for effect whenever he so desired.

You see yon precipice; .... called, The Pillar.

Upon its aery summit crowned with heath, The loiterer, not unnoticed by his comrades, Lay stretched at ease.

So says the poem. The editor makes the following comment:

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 com- panions, 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.l3

Upon examining still another poem, Michael, one finds in Words- worth's own words the recording of the combination of facts gather- ed from various sources into one whole:

The character and circumstances of Luke were taken from a family to whom had belonged, many years before, the house we lived in at Town-end, along with some fields and woodlands on the eastern shore of Grasmere. The name of the Evening Star was not in fact given to his house, but to another on the same side of the valley, more to the north.-I. F.14

The late Bishop of Lincoln in his Memoirs of Wordsworth makes a different statement as to the source of the poem. He says: Michael was founded on the son of an old couple having become dissolute, and run away from his parents; and on an old shephered having been seven years in building up a sheep-fold in a solitary valley.15

Since in various poems Wordsworth has combined various facts to make one story; since he has paid no attention to exact detail; and since he has elsewhere been deliberately inaccurate, it seems that the variation of the itinerary in Descriptive Sketches and in

12 Knight, Op. cit., vol. II, p. 137. 13 Ibid., II, 203. 14 Knight, Poems of William Wordsworth, II, 215. 15 Ibid., p. 233.

1147

Wordsworth's "Descriptive Sketches"

The Prelude from the true itinerary as recorded by himself in his letter at the time of the journey was not the result of accident, but of purpose, or rather, of two purposes at the respective dates of the composition of the two poems. It will be the task of the re- maining part of this paper to show what those two purposes were and why, therefore, the two subsequent accounts of the journey differ from each other and from that of the letter. This I may per- haps best accomplish by pointing out briefly the changes which oc- curred in Wordsworth's attitudes towards (a) the French Revolu- tion, (b) Nature, (c) Religion; and, finally, by showing also (d) the differences due to the development of the "conditions of Words- worth's art".16

The French had declared their independence in 1789; by the summer of 1790 the very air of France was permeated with Revo- lutionary doctrines. One would expect Wordsworth, the young Cambridge student, to be keenly interested in French politics, and to have his interest reflected in the poems which tell of his summer spent on the continent. One does indeed find references to the Revolution in both Descriptive Sketches and The Prelude, but whereas the references in Descriptive Sketches are charged with the intense feeling of one who is experiencing the struggle itself, in The Prelude they are introduced in a far more detached manner.

Only two passages in The Prelude, Part VI, deal directly with the Revolution but these are highly significant. The travellers on coming to Chartreuse had seen there a group of Revolution- ists who had come probably to destroy the place. Wordsworth comments upon the incident thus:

our eyes had seen, As toward the sacred mansion we advanced, Arms flashing, and a military glare Of riotous men commissioned to expel The blameless inmates, and belike subvert That frame of social being.17

Here is no exclamation of an ardent enthusiast ready to fight for a cause, but rather a mere statement of one who is almost out of sympathy with the undertaking. Turning to Descriptive Sketches one finds the comment far more zealous and more personal.

Even now I sigh at hoary Chartreuse' doom Weeping beneath his chill of mountain gloom

16 Garrod, Wordsworth, p. 46. 17 Prelude, VI, 423-428.

1148

Janette Harrington

Where now is fled that Power whose frown severe Fam'd 'Sober Reason' till she crouch'd in fear?18

Thus he writes in the 1793 edition. Reason (the slogan of the Rev- olutionists) has overpowered religion and in the lines there seems to be a certain satisfaction because this is true. No such attitude is found in the incident as related in The Prelude, nor was this attitude manifested in future editions of the Descriptive Sketches. The various editions read as follows:

1815 I sigh at hoary Chartreuse' doom Where now is fled that Power whose frown severe Fam'd 'Sober Reason' till she crouched in fear?

1820 Even now emerging from the forest's gloom I heave a sigh at hoary Chartreuse' doom Where now is fled that Power whose frown severe Fam'd 'Sober Reason' till she crouched in fear?

Finally, in the 1845 edition, one finds the passage far less vehe- ment than it was in the original.

And now emerging from the forest's gloom I greet thee Chartreuse while I mourn thy doom Whither is fled that Power whose frown severe Awed sober Reason till she crouched in fear?

The second Revolutionary passage in "The Prelude gives what Wordsworth says was his reaction toward the political affairs in 1790, thus:

When shortening fast Our pilgrimage, nor distant far from home, We crossed the Brabant armies on the fret For battle in the cause of Liberty. A stripling, scarcely of the household then Of social life, I looked upon these things As from a distance; heard, and saw, and felt, Was touched, but with no intimate concern.l9

Immediately one questions the two attitudes, and wonders which was the true one. If Wordsworth were so vitally concerned with the Revolution as the 1793 edition of Descriptive Sketches seems to indicate, why did he alter it so as "to take the very heart out of pages pulsing with ardent enthusiasm for liberty?"20

18 Poems of Wordsworth, ed. Knight, I, 312, lines 53-56. 19 Prelude, VI, 762-769. 20 Harper, op. cit., I, 96.

1149

1Wordse,orth's "Descriptive Sketches"

Since only the 1793 edition shows the passionate support of the Revolution, does not this edition give Wordsworth's attitude toward these events in 1793 and not the attitude of 1790 (when the journey was made) nor the attitude of 1804 when The Prelude was written? Without a doubt, in 1792 and 1793, Wordsworth was a patriot in every sense of the word, but what was his attitude in 1790?

One's interest usually causes one to talk about the things con- cerned, and if possible to visit the seat of events. Did Words- worth in his letters written while on his journey discuss politics, or other phases of life? Did he spend his time in the center of the political world or in the rural communities where the strife was not so poignant?

In the Keswill letter already referred to we find over four pages devoted to the description of the places visited; much of it an ex- cellent account of the Alpine and Italian scenery. But the Revo- lution, which from Descriptive Sketches one might expect to con- sume a large part of Wordsworth's thinking, is thus disposed of:

But I must remind you that we crossed at the time when the whole nation was mad with joy in consequence of the Revolution. It was a most in- teresting period to be in France; and we had many delightful scenes, where the interest of the picture was owing solely to this cause.

Here indeed one finds no undercurrent of deep emotion which would inspire the writing of such sentiments as

Yet, yet rejoice, though Pride's perverted ire Rouze Hell's own aid, and warp thy hills in fire. Lo! from the innocuous flames a lovely birth! With its own Virtues springs another earth21

which, as Harper says, is "the French Revolution with a vengeance," and which it is small wonder that the author softened in later edi- tions.

As has been stated, Wordsworth, had he been especially con- cerned with politics in 1790, would have spent some time in the large political centers. This was not true; for Paris was not visited at all, though the boys passed within fifty miles of it. At one time the travellers did turn aside from the direct route, not to see war cen- ters, but to visit the Grande Chartreuse, noted for its great natural beauty. Here he spent something over a day admiring its beauty-

21 Descriptive Sketches, lines 775-785.

1150

Janette Harrizgton

later he spent two days at beautiful Lake Como and three whole days at the Lake of Morat; places which are described at length in the Keswill letter.

It would seem, then, that in 1790, Wordsworth's real attitude was that of a boy who passed through these affairs, yet scarcely sensed them, as it is related in The Prelude; and that the attitude toward the French Revolution as found in Descriptive Sketches is highly colored by events of 1792 and 1973 which were occupying such a large place in his thoughts at the time of composition of the poem that he could not eliminate them from a narration of experiences which occurred two years previously.

As has been hinted, Wordsworth's chief interest in 1790 was not in politics but in nature. The first few books of The Prelude are concerned with the growth of his interest in and love for nature; a development which, though gradual, was strong. Though the great outburst of feeling was to show itself in poetry later, in the Keswill letter there is found the true spirit of nature worship ex- perienced during his first tour of France. In this account of the journey he writes:

I am a perfect enthusiast in my admiration of nature in all her various forms, and I have looked upon, and, as it were, conversed with the objects which this country has presented to my view so long and with such in- creasing pleasure, that the idea of parting from them oppresses me with a sadness similar to what I have always felt in quitting a beloved friend.22

It was Wordsworth's intention at first to give "to these sketches the title of Picturesque: but the Alps are insulted in applying to them that term. Whoever, in attempting to describe their sublime features, should confine himself to the cold rules of painting would give his reader but a very imperfect idea of those emotions which they have the irresistible power of communicating to the most im- passive imaginations" ;23 and in the reason for changing the name is found a love for nature vastly superior to that found within the poem itself.

Both the Keswill letter and the quotation in regard to the title of Descriptive Sketches show Wordsworth's love of nature: which evidently was his real feeling both in 1790 and 1792. Why, then, does he not infuse more of his feelings into Descriptive Sket- ches? For this, it would seem, there are two distinct reasons.

First, Wordsworth was only a college youth still under the 22 Prose Works, III, 225. 23 Legouis, Youth of William Wordsworth, p. 152.

1151

W/ordsworth's "Descriptive Sketches"

influence of all that the classic school held most dear. One should not be surprised, therefore, when the fledgeling poet uses verse forms and methods of the age, and discusses nature in a stilted form through the use of many personifications and metaphors. The traditions of the age influenced Wordsworth to such an ex- tent that few nature passages in Descriptive Sketches are sponta- neous and powerful.

But there was still another reason why he wrote about nature as he did. The explanation is to be found in the manner in which Wordsworth reacted toward nature (1) immediately, and (2) ultimately. Undoubtedly, the passages in the two poems de- scribing the crossing of the Alps illustrate these attitudes better than any others.

This was the time in Wordsworth's life when nature was to him a source of sensuous pleasure only with no deeper signifi- cance, as he tells us in Tintern Abbey.

The sounding cataract Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, The mountain and the deep and gloomy wood, Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite; a feeling and a love That had no need of a remoter charm, By thought supplied, nor any interest Unborrowed from the eye.24

Realizing, then, that at the time that Wordsworth crossed the Alps, nature was the source only of immediate pleasure through the senses, it is not surprising that in Descriptive Sketches "this central and supreme memory is wholly lost."25

In The Prelude, Wordsworth admits that many incidents which were without special significance to him at the time of their oc- currence led to

tender thoughts by means Less often instantaneous in effect; Led .... to these by paths that, in the main Were more circuitous, but not less sure Duly to reach the point marked out by Heaven.26

Such, indeed, was the crossing of the Alps, which in The Prelude becomes the supreme memory of the entire tour. In it Wordsworth says that at the time that he crossed the Alps he felt as if he saw

24 Tintern Abbey, lines 75-83. 26 Prelude, VI, 748-'53. 25 Garrod, op. cit., p. 52.

1152

Janette Harrington

their beauties, yet as one estranged and dazed thereby-"halted without an effort to break through."27 Imagination, to him the "awful Power," seemed an

unfathered vapour that enwraps At once some lonely traveller.28

By 1804-and the time of the writing of The Prelude Words- worth had realized the full significance of the experience and knew that often one's senses are temporarily extinguished by emotion and that only later

With an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy We see into the life of things.29

So it was that at the time of the crossing of the Alps Words- worth felt his faculties shrouded in a mist, while years later he realized that this was the beginning of his deeper understanding of nature; and that

To my conscious soul I now can say 'I recognize thy glory.'30

The third and perhaps most important reason for Wordsworth's treating nature in Descriptive Sketches as he does is due to the fact that the poem was written in 1792 and not 1790. The poem was written on the banks of the Loire river, in the midst, therefore, of the Revolutionary scenes in which Wordsworth was so highly interested at the date of composition, 1792. Here again, as was noted before, interest caused him to talk about things in which he was vitally concerned. In the descriptions of the mountains he "mingles many varying moods and many references to Swiss history,"31 but it is in the descriptions of the French scenery that one finds the influence of political conditions.

The vale of Chamouny was a beautiful spot, from the higher part of which Mont Blanc was visible. One would expect Words- worth to describe the place in some detail; but not so, for his chief interest in the scene seemed to be drawn to the half-starved peas- ants found there. This sight led to a sympathetic passage on the place as a "slave of slaves,-doom'd to pine"32 and to a panegyric on freedom, in which nature is described as it would be when tyr- anny and oppression are no longer in the land.

27 Ibid., line 597. 30 Prelude, VI, 598-'99. 28 Prelude, VI, 595-6. 31 Harper, op. cit., I, 97. 29 Tintern Abbey, lines 46-48. 32 Descriptive Sketches, line 706.

1153

Wordswvorth's "Descriptive Sketches"

Wordsworth sums up his attitude toward nature in 1792 at the close of his apostrophe to France when he says

Yet, hast thou found that Freedom spreads her pow'r Beyond the cottage hearth, the cottage door: All nature smiles,33

and again

Yes, as I roam'd where Loiret's waters glide

Methought from every cot the watchful bird Crowed with ear-piercing power till then unheard; Each clacking mill, that broke the murmuring streams, Rock'd the charm'd thought in more delightful dreams; Chasing those long, long dreams the falling leaf Awoke a fainter pang of moral grief; The measured echo of the distant flail Winded in sweeter cadence down the vale.34

The nature passages in The Prelude show a vastly different atti- tude from that in Descriptive Sketches. In contrast with the stereo-

typed description of Chamouny found in the latter poem, in The Prelude it becomes a real place.

The wondrous vale Of Chamouny stretched far below, and soon With its dumb cataracts and streams of ice, A motionless array of mighty waves, Five rivers broad and vast, made rich amends, And reconciled us to realities.35

Even superior to this description are the lines in praise of Lake Como in which he speaks of

thy chestnut woods, and garden plots Of Indian corn tended by dark-eyed maids; Thy lofty steeps, and pathways roofed with vines, Winding from house to house, from town to town, Sole link that bands them to each other.36

The description of the restless night at Gravedona is so vivid that the experience becomes real to the reader.

33 Ibid., lines 756-'58. 3 Prelude, VI, 528-'33. 34 Ibid., Lines 760-771. 36 Prelude, VI, 663-7.

1154

Janette Harrington

An open place it was, and overlooked, From high, the sullen water far beneath, On which a dull red image of the moon Lay bedded, changing oftentimes its form Like an uneasy snake. From hour to hour We sate and sate, wondering, as if the night Had been ensnared by witchcraft .....

[We] could not sleep, tormented by the stings Of insects, which, with noise like that of noon, Filled all the woods.37

During the years immediately following Wordsworth's summer in France, nature more and more became a source not only of

inspiration, but even of divine inspiration and eventually a Divini-

ty in itself. The Descriptive Sketches and The Prelude show Words- worth's religious attitudes at variance and in these attitudes one

may trace the essential doctrines of Wordsworth's religious beliefs. The passage telling of the soldier's visit to Grand Chartreuse

has already been quoted to show Wordsworth's attitude toward the French Revolution, but it may well be referred to again as

showing Wordsworth's religious feelings at the time. Says Garrod:

In Dcscriptive Sketches the incident is viewed in a manner, obviously de- tached and skeptical. Though he talks of 'Blasphemy within the shudder- ing fane' yet it is not difficult to see that, upon the whole he derives some satisfaction from the fact that 'the power whose frown severe' used to tame reason till she crouched in fear' (i.e. the power of religious supersti- tion) is now obliged to crouch before the revolutionary arms of 'Reason.'38

Even more pronounced skepticism is shown in the passage in which he compares his melancholy with the faith of the Swiss and wishes their delusions were his own. He says that,

Without one hope her written griefs to blot, Save in the land where all things are forgot, My heart, alive to transports long unknown Half wishes your delusion were it's own.39

This passage was eventually suppressed, so that in the later editions the lines dealing with the Swiss have no personal note whatever and read merely:

37 Ibid., VI, 703-713. 38 Garrod, Wordsworth, page 51. 39 Descriptive Sketches, lines 676-679.

1155

Wordsworth's "Descriptive Sketches"

In that glad moment will for you a sigh Be heaved, of charitable sympathy.

Here we have the doubting, skeptical youth who was so filled with the Revolutionary theories that he was willing to allow Reason to be the supreme power, and yet who felt a slight yearning for the simple faith of the Swiss peasants. This was the Wordsworth of 1793, but not the Wordsworth of 1790 as the Keswill letter again proves. "Among the more awful scenes of the Alps," he writes, "I had not a thought of man, or a single created being; my whole soul was turned to Him who produced the terrible maj- esty before me."40 The Wordsworth of that day was one who be- lieved in God the Creator of Nature and not in Nature as God; nor in Reason as God.

What were Wordsworth's religious beliefs in 1804, the date at which The Prelude presumably was written? Here one finds various mentions of God Himself, which was a new development, for it is only in poems written after 1804 that God seems to be a person- ality to Wordsworth other than the Supreme Power mentioned in Tintern Abbey. Wordsworth's greatest nature poetry had been written; and with the decay of his interest in Nature there came a deepening interest in personal Christianity, so that one is not surprised to hear God characterized as "the giver of all joy" who "is thanked religiously, in silent blessedness."4'

Quite different, too, is Wordsworth's attitude in The Prelude toward the convent of Chartreuse and the soldiers who came there. Instead of any feeling of joy as was found in the 1793 attitude there is found a deeply religious prayer for the place. He asks that they "Spare these courts of mystery," realizing that the penitential tears of the suppliants result in an equality in "God's pure sight of monarch and peasant." No devotee of religion could be more reverent and sincere than Wordsworth appears in these lines, and such, in general, was his attitude throughout The Prelude.

Even a casual reader of the two poems must notice the difference in the tone. The early poem is infused with a spirit of melancholy and gloom, while The Prelude is permeated with the joy any per- son would naturally expect to feel on such a trip.

Oh, most belove'd Friend! a glorious time, And happy time that was42

and 40 Prose Works, III, 226. 41 Prelude, VI, 685.

42 Prelude, VI, 663-7.

1156

Janette Harrington1

I wanted not that joy, I did not need Such help; the ever-living universe Turn where I might, was opening out its glories, And the independent spirit of pure youth Called forth, at every season, new delights, Spread round my steps like sunshine o'er green fields.43

This spirit is the same as that described in his letter to Dorothy. Here he says,

I assure you that I am in excellent health and spirits, and have had no rea- son to complain of the contrary during our whole tour. My spirits have been kept in a perpetual hurry of delight, by the almost uninterrupted succession of sublime and beautiful objects which have passed before my eyes during the course of the last month.44

To understand the full significance then of such lines as the

following, in Descriptive Sketches,-

Me, lur'd by hope her sorrows to remove A heart, that could not much itself approve (45-46)

But doubly pitying Nature loves to show'r Soft on his wounded heart her healing pow'r (13-14)

No sad vacuities his heart annoy (17)

Alas! in every clime a flying ray Is all we have to chear our wintry way, Condemn'd, in mists and tempests ever rife, To pant slow up the endless Alp of life (590-593)

one must again examine conditions of the time. Once more, one must remember that Wordsworth had not yet thrown off the poet- ical conventions of his day. He, no doubt, had read the works of the Graveyard Poets in which melancholy was an outstanding quality. Indeed, if one may rely on the veracity of The Prelude, such was the case, for in it Wordsworth says,

How sweet at such a time, with such delight On every side, in prime of youthful strength, To feed a Poet's tender melancholy And fond conceit of sadness.45

But surely convention alone would not cause the deeply melan- choly note which predominates in the poem. In 1792, when De- scriptive Sketches was written, mingled with the joy which the poet

43 Ibid., 773-778. 45 Prelude, VI, 364-367. 44 Prose Works, III, 230.

1157

W1Vordsworth's "Descriptive Sketches"

felt over the French Revolution, there certainly was a sense of sadness. He believed with all his soul that the cause was right, and yet he must have felt a deep sense of gloom over the affairs of the day. This unrest of his senses and feelings made it impossible in treating the events of an earlier period to avoid imparting to them something of the sombre colors of contemporary events.

There was still another reason, far more personal for the gloom which he discloses. Sometime in the year 1791 (probably) Words- worth had met Annette Vallon and had loved her. In 1792 she had borne him a child, Caroline, and, although Wordsworth seem- ingly loved her and intended to marry her, conditions made this marriage impossible. Wordsworth undoubtedly grieved to think he must leave Annette and Caroline in France while he returned to England. Hence, there was a real personal question in the lines

When the poor heart has all its joys resigned Why does their sad remembrances cleave behind?

which is not found in The Prelude, for the experience was a thing of the past in 1804 when the latter poem was written. Legouis it was who asked:

Is it The Prelude that errs in representing the Swiss tour as a triumphal march, or the Descriptive Sketches which, instead of describing the young man as he was, presents us with the picture of an imaginary hero of the melancholy type then in fashion?47

The preceding analysis of the Descriptive Sketches and The Pre- lude, Book VI, and of the Keswill letter, justifies, it seems to me, the following conclusions:

First; that the poems differ from each other and from the Keswill letter;

Second; that in poetic composition, Wordsworth used his ma- terial not with literal accuracy but with a view to produce a de- sired effect;

Third; that the poems reflect accurately, therefore, not the original journey which inspired them, but the respective mood at the time of the composition of each;

Fourth; that the question as to which is the more accurate, is, therefore, meaningless.

JANETTE HARRINGTON

University of Arkansas 46 Descriptive Sketches, lines 622-23. 47 Legouis, Early Life of William Wordsworth, p. 157.

1158