[402] 1837.
[403] Compare The White Doe of Rylstone, canto i. ll. 118, 119 (vol. iv. p. 110)—
This was doubtless Carnarvon Castle, which Wordsworth visited in September 1824, at the close of his three weeks' ramble in North Wales, of which he wrote to Sir George Beaumont, "We employed several hours in exploring the interior of the noble castle, and looking at it from different points of view in the neighbourhood."—Ed.
(ADDRESSED TO SIR G.H.B. UPON THE DEATH OF HIS SISTER-IN-LAW)
1824[404]
Composed 1824.—Published 1827
[On Mrs. Fermor. This lady had been a widow long before I knew her. Her husband was of the family of the lady celebrated in the Rape of the Lock, and was, I believe, a Roman Catholic. The sorrow which his death caused her was fearful in its character as described in this poem, but was subdued in course of time by the strength of her religious faith. I have been for many weeks at a time, an inmate with her at Coleorton Hall, as were also Mrs. Wordsworth and my sister. The truth in the sketch of her character here given was acknowledged with gratitude by her nearest relatives. She was eloquent in conversation, energetic upon public matters, open in respect to those, but slow to communicate her personal feelings; upon these she never touched in her intercourse with me, so that I could not regard myself as her confidential friend, and was accordingly surprised when I learnt she had left me a legacy of £100, as a token of her esteem. See in further illustration the second stanza inscribed upon her cenotaph in Coleorton church.—I.F.]
One of the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces." In 1827 the title was simply, Elegiac Stanzas, 1824, and the title of the group was then, and in 1832, "Epitaphs and Elegiac Poems."—Ed.
In a letter from Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont, dated "Rydal Mount, Feb. 25, 1825," she says:—
"We are all much moved by the manner in which Miss Willes has received the verses,—particularly Wm., who feels himself more than rewarded for the labour I cannot call it of the composition—for the tribute was poured forth with a deep stream of fervour that was something beyond labour, and it has required very little correction. In one instance a single word in the 'Address to Sir George' is changed since we sent the copy, viz.: 'graciously' for 'courteously,' as being a word of more dignity."
The following inscription was "copied from the Churchyard of Claines, Sept. 14, 1826," by Dorothy Wordsworth, in a MS. book, containing numerous epitaphs on tombstones, and inscriptions on rural monuments in Cathedrals and Churches, in various parts of the country.
[404] 1837.
Elegiac Stanzas, 1824. 1827.
[405] 1845.
[406] 1837.
[409] 1840.
In affectionate remembrance of Frances Fermor, whose remains are deposited in the church of Claines, near Worcester, this stone is erected by her sister, Dame Margaret, wife of Sir George Beaumont, Bart., who, feeling not less than the love of a brother for the deceased, commends this memorial to the care of his heirs and successors in the possession of this place.
Composed 1824.—Published 1842
[See "Elegiac Stanzas. (Addressed to Sir G.H.B., upon the death of his sister-in-law.)"—I.F.]
One of the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."—Ed.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
In the letter to Lady Beaumont, referred to in the notes, the title of this poem is "Inscription in the Church of Coleorton," and a footnote is added, "Say, to the left of the vista, within the thicket, below the churchyard wall.—M. W."
Mrs. Wordsworth also says, "To fit the lines, intended for an urn, for a Monument, W. has altered the closing stanza, which (though they are not what he would have produced had he first cast them with a view to the Church) he hopes you will not disapprove."—Ed.
[410] 1842.
MS. Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.
MS. Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont.
Three Poems were written in 1825, The Pillar of Trajan, The Contrast: The Parrot and the Wren, and the lines To a Skylark.—Ed.
Composed 1825.—Published 1827
[These verses perhaps had better be transferred to the class of "Italian Poems." I had observed in the newspaper, that the Pillar of Trajan was given as a subject for a prize-poem in English verse. I had a wish perhaps that my son, who was then an undergraduate at Oxford, should try his fortune, and I told him so; but he, not having been accustomed to write verse, wisely declined to enter on the task; whereupon I showed him these lines as a proof of what might, without difficulty, be done on such a subject.—I.F.]
From 1827 to 1842 one of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection"; in 1845 one of the "Memorials of a Tour in Italy."—Ed.
Trajan's Column was set up by the Senate and people of Rome, in honour of the Emperor, about A.D. 114. It is one of the most remarkable pillars in the world; and still stands, little injured by time, in the centre of the Forum Trajanum (now a ruin); its height—132 feet—marking the height of the earth removed when the Forum was made. On the pedestal bas-reliefs were carved in series showing the arms and armour of the Romans; and round the shaft of the column similar reliefs, exhibiting pictorially the whole story of the Decian campaign of the Emperor. These are of great value as illustrating the history of the period, the costume of the Roman soldiers and the barbarians. A colossal statue of Trajan crowned the column; and, when it fell, Pope Sixtus V. replaced it by a figure of St. Peter. It is referred to by Pausanias (v. 12. 6), and by all the ancient topographers. See a minute account of it, with excellent illustrations, in Hertzberg's Geschichte des Römischen Kaiserreiches, pp. 330-345 (Berlin: 1880); also Müller's Denkmäler der alten Kunst, p. 51. The book, however, from which Wordsworth gained his information of this pillar was evidently Joseph Forsyth's Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in 1802-3 (London: 1813). It is thus that Dean Merivale speaks of it:—
"Amid this profusion of splendour" (i.e. in the Forum Trajanum) "the great object to which the eye was principally directed was the column, which rose majestically in the centre of the forum to the height of 126 feet, sculptured from the base of the shaft to the summit with the story of the Decian wars, shining in every volute and moulding, with gold and pigments, and crowned with the colossal effigy of the august conqueror.... The proportions of the Trajan column are peculiarly graceful; the compact masses of stone, nineteen in number, of which the whole shaft is composed, may lead us to admire the skill employed in its construction; but the most interesting feature of this historic monument is the spiral band of figures which throughout enriches it. To the subjects of Trajan himself, this record of his exploits in bold relief must have given a vivid and sufficient idea of the people, the places, and the actions indicated; even to us, after so many centuries, they furnish a correct type of the arms, the arts, and the costume both of the Romans and barbarians which we should vainly seek for elsewhere. The Trajan column forms a notable chapter in the pictorial history of Rome." (History of the Romans under the Empire, vol. viii. pp. 46, 47.)
In the Fenwick note, Wordsworth mentions that, what gave rise to this poem was, his observing in the newspapers that "the Pillar of Trajan" was prescribed as a subject for a prize poem at Oxford. This determines the date of composition. The Pillar of Trajan was the Newdigate prize poem, won by W. W. Tireman, Wadham Coll., in 1826. We may therefore assume that the subject was proposed about the summer of 1825.—Ed.
[411] As Wordsworth says, in his note of 1827, "See Forsyth," it may be interesting to add Forsyth's account of the Pillar, in footnotes. "Trajan's Column, considered as a long historical record to be read round and round a long convex surface, made perspective impossible. Every perspective has one fixed point of view, but here are ten thousand. The eye, like the relievos of the column, must describe a spiral round them, widening over the whole piazza. Hence, to be legible the figures must be lengthened as they rise. This licence is necessary here; but in architecture it may be contested against Vitruvius himself." (Forsyth's Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in 1802-3, pp. 250, 251.)—Ed.
[412] "In detailing the two wars, this column sets each nation in contrast: here the Moorish horse, all naked and unharnessed" (Forsyth's Remarks, etc., p. 251.)—Ed.
[413] See Forsyth.—W. W. 1827.
"There the Taranatians, in complete mail down to the fingers and the hoofs. It exhibits without embellishment all the tactics of that age, and forms grand commentary on Vegetius and Frontinus." (Remarks, etc., p. 252.)—Ed.
[414] "How unlike the modern relievos, where dress appears in all its distinctions, and prostration in all its angles! none kneel here but priests and captives; no Roman appears in a fallen state: none are wounded or slain but the foe.
"No monument gives the complete and real costume of its kind so correctly as this column.... On this column we can see parts of the subarmalia; we can see real drawers falling down to the officers' legs; and some figures have focalia, like invalids, round the neck." (Remarks, etc., p. 251-2.)—Ed.
[415] "This column is an immense field of antiquities, where the emperor appears in a hundred different points, as sovereign, as general, as priest." (Remarks, etc., p. 251.)—Ed.
[416] "His dignity he derives from himself or his duties; not from the trappings of power, for he is dressed like any of his officers, not from the debasement of others, for the Romans stand bold and erect before him." (Remarks, etc., p. 251.)—Ed.
Composed 1825.—Published 1827
[The Parrot belonged to Mrs. Luff while living at Fox-Ghyll. The Wren was one that haunted for many years the summerhouse between the two terraces at Rydal Mount.—I. F.]
One of the "Poems of the Fancy."—Ed.
I
II
The "moss-lined shed, green, soft, and dry," still remains at Rydal Mount, as it was in the poet's time.—Ed.
Composed 1825.—Published 1827
[Written at Rydal Mount, where there are no skylarks, but the Poet is everywhere.—I. F.]
One of the "Poems of the Imagination."—Ed.
Compare this with the earlier poem To a Skylark, written in 1805, and both poems with Shelley's still finer lyric to the same bird, written in 1820. See also the Morning Exercise (1828), stanzas v.-x. The eighth stanza of that poem was, from 1827 to 1842, the second stanza of this one. The poem was published in the Poetical Album, for 1829, edited by Alaric Watts, vol. ii. p. 30.—Ed.
[419] 1827.
[420] The following second stanza occurs only in the editions 1827-43—
[421] 1827.
[422] 1832.
The poems composed in 1826 were six. They include two referring to the month of May, and two descriptive of places near Rydal Mount.—Ed.
Composed 1826.—Published 1827
[Written at Rydal Mount. Suggested by the condition of a friend.—I. F.]
One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."—Ed.
Composed 1826.—Published 1835
[This and the following poem originated in the lines, "How delicate the leafy veil," etc. My daughter and I left Rydal Mount upon a tour through our mountains, with Mr. and Mrs. Carr,[423] in the month of May, 1826, and as we were going up the Vale of Newlands I was struck with the appearance of the little chapel gleaming through the veil of half-opened leaves; and the feeling which was then conveyed to my mind was expressed in the stanza referred to above. As in the case of Liberty and Humanity, my first intention was to write only one poem, but subsequently I broke it into two, making additions to each part so as to produce a consistent and appropriate whole.—I. F.]
In 1835, included in the Poems on Yarrow Revisited, etc. In 1837, one of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."—Ed.