himself in philosophical severity of reasoning, and, while he was led on by his argument far beyond the immediate scope of justifying a few 'experiments' in the poetry of humble and rustic life,' he still was affected and warped in his judgement by the idea that in such a ballad as We are Seven he had given as it were the formula for poetic composition. The other portion of Wordsworth's critical writings, which has become celebrated from the discussion which it raised, is the distinction between Fancy and Imagination which forms the subject of the Preface to the edition of 1815. As a description of the functions of those two faculties in poetic composition, the passage deserves the epithet of 'masterly' which Coleridge bestowed upon it; it is only when the distinction is made the basis of a classification of poems that its usefulness is lost in the clouds of mist which it engenders. Such an intimate friend as Henry Crabb Robinson, who several times recurs to the subject in his diaries, was never able to master this key; and it is said that the poet himself could be teased by being puzzled with the question whether such or such a poem would be found in the one class or in the other. He had himself attempted to 'guard against the possibility of misleading' by pointing out that 'certain poems are placed according to the powers of mind, in the Author's conception, Biog. Lit. (Bohn), p. 44. At p. 138 Coleridge modifies his approval, at the same time promising a more philosophical definition. This, however, was one of the many promised works of Coleridge which had no fulfilment. 1 predominant in the production of them; predominant, which implies the exertion of other faculties in less degree.' But, although a study of the poems from this point of view is interesting, it may be doubted whether the attempt to separate them into two compartments has not on the whole tended to obscure the distinction which Wordsworth so effectively enunciated and illustrated in the Preface. There are many other points of interest in Wordsworth's critical writings, notably many records of the impressions left upon his independent and retentive mind by the poetry of those of his predecessors in whom he took an interest. Many more of these records are contained in the various 'memoirs' and 'reminiscences' in which so much of his conversation is, in substance, preserved. It is easy to catch him tripping in historical detail1, . 1 Prof. Saintsbury (History of Criticism, iii. 202) calls attention to an obvious inaccuracy in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (see below, p. 13), where Wordsworth contrasts the age of Catullus, Terence, and Lucretius' with 'that of Statius or Claudian' [Prof. Saintsbury adds an error by substituting 'and' for 'or'], and the age of Shakespeare and Beaumont and Fletcher' with that of Donne and Cowley, or Dryden, or Pope.' As Professor Saintsbury points out, Donne was the elder of Fletcher probably by six or seven years, of Beaumont by ten or twelve.' Professor Saintsbury's account of Wordsworth's critical writings, though acute and clever in its happygo-lucky way, suffers, as it seems almost inevitable that the work of one who takes all literary knowledge for his province must suffer, from superficiality and the undue prominence given to certain aspects. Of course quot homines, tot sententiae ; but, as a result of many years' study of Wordsworth, I must record my conviction that Professor Saintsbury very much exaggerates the doggedness' and 'pique' which he supposes to have been at the bottom of the poet's critical heresy. and to convict him of partial knowledge and, consequently, of prejudiced views. But on the whole, if we are not content with a cursory inspection of his prose writings, but examine with them the records just mentioned, and if we remember that he neither was, nor pretended to be, a regular man of letters, we shall probably learn to respect not only the sincerity of his judgement, which has never been called in question, but its breadth and essential soundness as well. He often provokes disagreement; but he always stimulates thought. He palms off on you no mere counters of compliment or generality, but coins from his own mint. From the pages of his prose, as from his poetry, breathes the fresh, keen air of a mind, like the mountains of his home, rugged, often more bleak than beautiful, lofty, but not perpetually drenched in empyrean light,' rooted not only in quiet valleys, but also in deep waters, solid, unpretentious, free. Wordsworth had, as Coleridge and others have recorded, a certain doggedness in his strong character: but any one who considers the amount of alterations which he made in his poems in consequence of the criticism of others, will allow that he had his obstinacy under effective control. Wordsworth's letters, further, show that he did not adopt his views of poetic diction out of pique, and that he had too proud a consciousness of his destiny as a poet to be inspired by this motive, which Professor Saintsbury attributes to him for no better reason than that he expressly disclaims it. It is possible to take too cynical a view of human nature. Among recent books, Professor Raleigh's examination of Wordsworth's theories is, to my mind, much more thorough and more just than Professor Saintsbury's. W. PR. ADVERTISEMENT TO LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) It is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind. The evidence of this fact is to be sought, not in the writings of Critics, but in those of Poets themselves. The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure. Readers accustomed to the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers, if they persist in reading this book to its conclusion, will perhaps frequently have to struggle with feelings of strangeness and awkwardness: they will look round for poetry, and will be induced to inquire by what species of courtesy these attempts can be permitted to assume that title. It is desirable that such readers, for their own sakes, should not suffer the solitary word Poetry, a word of very disputed meaning, to stand in the way of their gratification; but that, while they are perusing this book, they should ask themselves if it contains a natural delineation of human passions, human characters, and human incidents; and if the answer be favourable to the author's wishes, that they should consent to be pleased in spite of that most dreadful enemy to our pleasures, our own pre-established codes of decision. |