FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151  
152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   >>   >|  
ordsworth had gone over the poem with Coleridge, and that they had altered some passages "together"; that Coleridge had read a copy of it sent to the Beaumonts, doubtless at Dunmow in Essex; that he had thought of a plan by which the poem could be immensely improved, both by addition and subtraction; but that hearing from Wordsworth, or more probably from his sister Dorothy, that Charles Lamb had also criticised its structure, he gave up his intention of sending to his friend suggestions, which evidently implied a radical alteration of "the incidents and action" of the tale. It would have been extremely interesting to know how the author of _Christabel_ and _The Ancient Mariner_ proposed to recast _The White Doe of Rylstone_. It is, alas! impossible for posterity to know this, although it is not difficult to conjecture the line which the alterations would take. Wordsworth's genius was not great in construction, as in imagination; and he valued a story only as giving him a "point of departure" for a flight of fancy or of idealization. Early in 1808 he wrote to Walter Scott asking him for facts about the Norton family. Scott supplied him with them, and the following was Wordsworth's reply. "GRASMERE, May 14, 1808. "MY DEAR SCOTT--Thank you for the interesting particulars about the Nortons. I like them much for their own sakes; but so far from being serviceable to my poem, they would stand in the way of it, as I have followed (as I was in duty bound to do) the traditionary and common historic account. Therefore I shall say, in this case, a plague upon your industrious antiquarians, that have put my fine story to confusion." From the "advertisement" which Wordsworth prefixed to his edition of 1815, I infer that the larger part of the poem was written at Stockton. In it he says that "the Poem of _The White Doe_ was composed at the close of the year" (1807). This is an illustration of the vague manner in which he was in the habit of assigning dates. The Fenwick note, and the evidence of his sister's letter, is conclusive; although the fact that _The Force of Prayer_--written in 1807--is called in the Fenwick note "an appendage to _The White Doe_," is further confirmation of the belief that the principal part of the latter poem was finished in 1807. All things considered, _The White Doe of Rylstone_ may be most conveniently placed after the poems belonging to the year
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151  
152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Wordsworth

 

sister

 

Coleridge

 
Fenwick
 
interesting
 

Rylstone

 
written
 

antiquarians

 

industrious

 

plague


particulars
 

Nortons

 

traditionary

 

common

 

historic

 
account
 

serviceable

 

Therefore

 

larger

 
confirmation

belief

 
principal
 

appendage

 

called

 

conclusive

 

Prayer

 

finished

 
belonging
 

conveniently

 

things


considered

 

letter

 

evidence

 

Stockton

 

advertisement

 

prefixed

 

edition

 

composed

 

manner

 

assigning


illustration

 

ordsworth

 

confusion

 

Norton

 

evidently

 

implied

 
radical
 

alteration

 

suggestions

 

friend