The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume I Part 5

[Footnote 5: See the 'Life of Sir W. Rowan Hamilton', vol. ii. pp, 132, 135.]

[Footnote 6: See the Preface to the American edition of 1837.]

[Footnote 7: It need hardly be explained that, in the case of a modern poet, these various readings are not like the conjectural guesses of critics and commentators as to what the original text was (as in the case of the Greek Poets, or of Dante, or even of Shakespeare). They are the actual alterations, introduced deliberately as improvements, by the hand of the poet himself.]

[Footnote 8: The collection in the British Museum, and those in all the University Libraries of the country, are incomplete.]

[Footnote 9: The publication of this edition was superintended by Mr.

Carter, who acted as Wordsworth's secretary for thirty-seven years, and was appointed one of his literary executors.]

[Footnote 10: Let the indiscriminate admirer of "first editions" turn to this quarto, and perhaps even he may wonder why it has been rescued from oblivion. I am only aware of the existence of five copies of the edition of 1793; and although it has a certain autobiographic value, I do not think that many who read it once will return to it again, except as a literary curiosity. Here--and not in "Lyrical Ballads" or 'The Excursion'--was the quarry where Jeffrey or Gifford might have found abundant material for criticism.]

[Footnote 11: It is unfortunate that the 'Memoirs' do not tell us to what poem the remark applies, or to whom the letter containing it was addressed.]

[Footnote 12: It is important to note that the printed text in several of the editions is occasionally cancelled in the list of 'errata', at the beginning or the end of the volume: also that many copies of the early editions (notably those of 1800), were bound up without the full 'errata' list. In this edition there were two such lists, one of them very brief. But the cancelled words in these 'errata' lists, must be taken into account, in determining the text of each edition.]

[Footnote 13: I. F. note. See vol. i. p. 5.]

[Footnote 14: I. F. note. See vol. i. p. 32.]

[Footnote 15: Advertis.e.m.e.nt. See vol. i. p. 78.]

[Footnote 16: How much of this poem was Wordsworth's own has not been definitely ascertained. I am of opinion that very little, if any of it, was his. It has been said that his nephew, the late Bishop of Lincoln, wrote most of it; but more recent evidence tends to show that it was the work of his son-in-law, Edward Quillinan.]

[Footnote 17: In a letter to the writer in 1882.]

[Footnote 18: 'The Poetry of Byron, chosen and arranged by Matthew Arnold'. London: Macmillan and Co.]

[Footnote 19: It may not be too trivial a fact to mention that Wordsworth numbered the lines of his earliest publication, 'An Evening Walk, in 1793.--Ed.]

[Footnote 20: Another fact, not too trivial to mention, is that in the original MS. of the 'Lines composed at Grasmere', etc., Wordsworth sent it to the printer "Lines written," but changed it in proof to "Lines composed."--Ed.]

EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTIc.i.p.aTION OF LEAVING SCHOOL

Composed 1786.--Published 1815

This poem was placed by Wordsworth among his "Juvenile Pieces." The following note was prefixed to that Series, from 1820 to 1832:

"Of the Poems in this cla.s.s, "THE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES" were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some unimportant alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their publication. It would have been easy to amend them, in many pa.s.sages, both as to sentiment and expression, and I have not been altogether able to resist the temptation: but attempts of this kind are made at the risk of injuring those characteristic features, which, after all, will be regarded as the princ.i.p.al recommendation of juvenile poems."

In 1836 "unimportant" was erased before "alterations"; and after "temptation" the following was added, "as will be obvious to the attentive reader, in some instances: these are few, for I am aware that attempts of this kind," etc.

"The above, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the Poem, 'Descriptive Sketches', as it now stands. The corrections, though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining with propriety a place in the cla.s.s of 'Juvenile Pieces.'"

In the editions of 1845 and 1849, Wordsworth called his "Juvenile Pieces," "Poems written in Youth."--Ed.

["Dear native regions," etc., 1786, Hawkshead. The beautiful image with which this poem concludes suggested itself to me while I was resting in a boat along with my companions under the shade of a magnificent row of sycamores, which then extended their branches from the sh.o.r.e of the promontory upon which stands the ancient, and at that time the more picturesque, Hall of Coniston, the Seat of the Le Flemings from very early times. The Poem of which it was the conclusion, was of many hundred lines, and contained thoughts and images, most of which have been dispersed through my other writings.--I. F.]

In the editions 1815 to 1832, the t.i.tle given to this poem was 'Extract from the conclusion of a Poem, composed upon leaving School'. The row of sycamores at Hawkshead, referred to in the Fenwick note, no longer exists.

In the "Autobiographical Memoranda," dictated by Wordsworth at Rydal Mount in November 1847, he says, " .... I wrote, while yet a schoolboy, a long poem running upon my own adventures, and the scenery of the county in which I was brought up. The only part of that poem which has been preserved is the conclusion of it, which stands at the beginning of my collected Poems." [A]

In the eighth book of 'The Prelude', (lines 468-475), this fragment is introduced, and there Wordsworth tells us that once, when boating on Coniston Lake (Thurston-mere) in his boyhood, he entered under a grove of trees on its "western marge," and glided "along the line of low-roofed water," "as in a cloister." He adds,

while, in that shade Loitering, I watched the golden beams of light Flung from the setting sun, as they reposed In silent beauty on the naked ridge Of a high eastern hill--thus flowed my thoughts In a pure stream of words fresh from the heart:

Ed.

THE POEM

Dear native regions, [B] I foretell, From what I feel at this farewell, That, wheresoe'er my steps may [1] tend, And whensoe'er my course shall end,

If in that hour a single tie [2] 5 Survive of local sympathy, My soul will cast the backward view, The longing look alone on you.

Thus, while the Sun sinks down to rest Far in the regions of the west, 10 Though to the vale no parting beam Be given, not one memorial gleam, [3]

A lingering light he fondly throws [4]

On the dear hills [5] where first he rose.