Wordsworths Theory of Poetic Diction

210 Pages·2017·8.91 MB·English

YALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH
ALBERT S. COOK EDITO R
,
LVIL
’
WORDSWORTH S THEORY OF
POETIC DICTION
A STUDY OF THE HISTORICAL AND PERSONAL
BACKGROUND OF THE LYRICAL BALLADS
MARJORIE LATTA BARSTOW
INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH IN CONNECTICUT COLLEGE
NEW HAVEN : YALE UNIVERSITY P RESS
LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD
OX FORD UNIVERSITY P RESS
MDCCC XVH
Q
YALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH
W
ALBERT s. COOK EDITOR
,
LVII
’
WORDSWORTH S THEORY OF
POETIC DICTION
K
A STUDY OF THE H ISTORICAL AND P ERSONAL
BACKGROUND OF THE LYRICAL BALLADS
\BY
“
’
i nfi/
MARJORIE LATTA BARSTOW i
i
INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH IN CONNECTICUT COLLEGE
A Dissertat l on presented to the Facult of the Graduate Schoo l
y
of Yale Universit in Candidacy for the Degree o f
y,
”
"
§ r
Do ctd? of P hfiOSO h
p y
NEW HAVEN : YALE UNIVERSITY P RESS
-
LONDON : HUMP HREY MILFORD
OX FORD UNIVERSITY P RESS
MDCCC X VII
C
PREFACE
The following study was undertaken as a doctoral dis
ser tation under the direction of P ro fessor Albert 5. Cook
of Yale University. To P rofessor Cook I em especially
indebted not only for stimulating guidance in the field of
,
the English language in general but for a most m inute and
,
painstaking critic ism of the proof . To P rofessor Lane
Cooper of Cornel l Univefsit I owe a debt less easy of
y
definition. Although he has not read the manuscript of
this book and is not responsible for particular statements
,
herein the inspiration and the direction that I received
,
from him in m reading of Wordsworth as an under
,
y
graduate at Cornell has been the most Vital elem ent in my
study of the poet i f there is anything good in this work
;
of m ine it is ultimately derived from him . I also wish to
,
m ake grateful acknowledgm ent to P rofessor Charlton M .
Lewis for criticism received from him in his course on
-
nineteenth century poets in the Graduate School of Yale
University.
M indebtedness to books I have tried to indicate in
y
the footnotes . But l ike m any other students of Words
,
worth I wish to record my especial appreciation of the
,
Earl Life o William Wowdsww th by P rofessor Em ile
y f
Le ouis . Although in many instances I have been forced
g , ,
to disagree With the conclusions of M . Le ouis I feel that
g ,
Without the stim ulating example o f his beauti ful work
,
this study would have been im ossible. In acknowledging
p
m special indebtedness to books I wish to make grateful
y ,
m ention of the beauti ful collection of Wordsworthiana in
the possession of Mrs . Cynthia Morgan St. John of Ithaca
,
New York Which she generously placed at my disposal .
,
’
iv WORDSWORTH S THEORY OF POETIC DICTION
In citing quotations from the prose of Coleridge and the
poetry of Wordsworth I have tried to retain the original
,
punctuation and spell ing because they represent the usage
,
of the authors themselves . In most other cases it has seemed
best to standardize the spell ing and punctuation for the sake
of greater clearness and smoothness of reading.
INTRODUCTION
Tothose who read the poetry of Wordsworth in the light
’
of Matthew Arnold s criticism with the enthusiasm of all
,
good Wordsworthians the poet i s prim arily a teacher a
, ,
philosopher a pure soul with a message of heal ing for a
,
‘
feverish world. So indeed he regarded himsel f . I wish
, ,
’
1
either to be considered as a teacher or as nothing he
, ,
writes and his wish has been fulfilled. But too often he
is so considered to the exclusion of a proper interest in
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his merits as a . st list as a great and pecul iarly sel f con
y ,
‘
sciou s artist in a kind absolutely unborrowed and his
’
own.
’
To the two most finel gi fted critic s of his own genera
y
tion he presented himsel f in a quite different l ight. It was
’ ’
not Wordsworth s philosophy that primarily interested
Coleridge and Lamb it was his st e. To his philosophy
; yl
they were both more or le ss antagonisti c . Coleridge
‘
obj ected to the misty rather than mysti c confusion of
, ,
'
’
2
God with the world in poem s l ike Tintern Abbey though
,
at the same time he believed Wordsworth capable of writ
ing the first genuine philosophical poem in English . Lamb
’
was inclined to make merry over Wordsworth s devotion
to stocks and stones and other inanimate obj ects and to
, ,
3
ce lebrate the superior attractions of the London streets .
But both immediately gave full recognition and hom age
’
to Wordsworth s unique gi ft of imaginative expression
‘
the original gi ft of spreading the tone the atm ospher e
, ,
and with it the depth and height of th
e ideal world around
form s incidents and situations of which for the common
, , , ,
view custom had bedimmed all the lustre had dried up
,
,
’
4
the sparkle and the dew drops .
L. W. F . 1 . 1 .
3 3
’
Bio
graphia Epis tolams 2. 195.
3
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Letter s o Char les Lam b I . 1 0 1 1 .
f 9 9
4
B. L. 1 . .
59