[531] An article on Wordsworth’s sonnets on Capital Punishment, in an article on “The English Sonnet.” Judge Henry Reed found this to have been written by his father, Professor Henry Reed.
C. M. St. John.
[532] An appreciative criticism of eight pages.
C. M. St. John.
[533] Entitled “Wordsworth and his Poetry.” A review of the 1824 edition and of Yarrow Revisited, Boston, 1835. An estimate of Wordsworth’s claims as a poet, and as a man. A more comprehensive, stronger, more inviting criticism (in appealing to those to whom the poetry is unknown) has not been written. It ranks, in my opinion, among the best criticisms on Wordsworth written in America.
C. M. St. John.
[534] H. Tuckerman wrote an article on Wordsworth for his magazine. This may be the article.
C. M. St. John.
[535] The number for 7th March contains a notice of Wordsworth, in a review of Reed’s Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth (1837).
C. M. St. John.
[536] Another mention of Reed’s edition, and of the discovery that “a fellow-townsman,” Dr. T. C. James, anticipated the fact of Wordsworth’s popularity. A quotation from “Memoirs of Historical Society of Pennsylvania” to prove Dr. James’ prophecy.
C. M. St. John.
[537] Writer unknown.
C. M. St. John.
[538] To class this review with others of an early date, I have placed it among Periodical Reviews. It appeared in The North American Review, 1844; and again, in 1850, in Essays and Reviews.
C. M. St. John.
[539] A review of Reed’s 1837 edition of “Wordsworth’s Poetical Works.” Professor Henry Reed’s son—Judge Henry Reed of Philadelphia—informs me that it was written by his father.
C. M. St. John.
[540] This article is entitled “Modern English Poetry—Byron, Shelley, and Wordsworth.”
C. M. St. John.
[541] By an unknown author.
C. M. St. John.
Arranged as far as possible according to merit. It is difficult to distinguish between the first twelve or fifteen. After them I have placed the articles in the Literary World. Most of them have not been noted in other lists, and are especially interesting, as being additional tributes of Wordsworth’s intimate friend, Henry Reed. I am indebted to Judge Henry Reed of Philadelphia, for more carefully examining his father’s papers, and to the Literary World for ascertaining, as far as possible, all that his father wrote on Wordsworth. The criticisms that immediately follow are not without interest. The last half dozen are given, for the most part, because they appear in Poole’s Index, or in other lists. I have omitted two or three which are of no value whatever.
C. M. St. John.
1844. Whipple, E. P. North American Review.[542] Vol. lix. pp. 352-384.
1857. Haven, Gilbert. Methodist Quarterly Review. Vol. xxxix. p. 362.[543]
1851. Passmore, J. C. The Church Review. Vol. iv. pp. 169-188.[544]
1866. Alger, W. R. Monthly Religious Magazine. Vol. xxxvi. p. 294.
1850. Muzzey, A. B. The Christian Examiner. Vol. xlix. p. 100. (The title of this article is “Wordsworth, the Christian Poet.”)
1851. Goodwin, H. M. The New Englander. Vol. xlvii. p. 309. (Title, “Wordsworth as a Spiritual Teacher.”)
1851. North American Review. Vol. lxxiii. p. 473.[545]
1851. Mountford, W. The Christian Examiner. Vol. li. p. 275.[546]
1851. Porter, Noah. The New Englander Magazine. Vol. ix. p. 583.[547]
1851. Wight, Orlando Williams. American Whig Review. Vol. xiv. pp. 68-81.[548]
1851. Wight, Orlando Williams. American Whig Review. Vol. xiii. pp. 448-458.[549]
1854. Presbyterian Quarterly Review. Vol. ii. pp. 643-663.[550] Article 1.
1854. Presbyterian Quarterly Review. Vol. iii. pp. 69-88.[551] Article 2.
1841. Tuckerman, H. Southern Literary Messenger. Vol. vii. p. 105.
1850. Literary World. Vol. vi. p. 485. “William Wordsworth.”[552]
1850. Reed, Henry. Literary World. Vol. vi. pp. 581, 582. On Wordsworth.
1850. Reed, Henry. Literary World. Vol. vii. pp. 205, 206. A second short article.
1850. Literary World. “The Prelude.” Vol. vii. p. 167.[553]
1850. Literary World. “Visit to Wordsworth’s Grave.” Vol. vii. p. 225.[554]
1850. Spencer, J. A. Literary World. “Visit to Wordsworth.” November 23.[555]
1851. Literary World. Vols. viii. ix. (May 24, June 14, July 12, August 2.)[556] Reviews of Christopher Wordsworth’s Memoirs of his uncle.
1853. Reed, Henry. Literary World. Vol. xii. June 25.[557]
1850. Southern Quarterly Review. Vol. xviii. p. 1. Review of the Poetical Works of Wordsworth. London: Moxon, 1845.
1856. United States Democratic Review. Vol. vi. pp. 281-295. (New Series.) Article 1. “Of Wordsworth’s life, beginning at Bristol.”
1856. United States Democratic Review. Vol. vi. p. 363. (New Series.) Article 2.
1850. Graham Magazine. Vol. i. pp. 105-116. Supposed to be written by Charles J. Peterson. (Signed P.) Review of the life and poetry of Wordsworth, written by one who confessed to an admiration for Wordsworth’s genius bordering on veneration.
C. M. St. John.
1878. American Journal of Education. Wordsworth and Cambridge. Vol. xxviii. p. 426.[558]
1843. United States Democratic Review. Vol. xii. p. 158.[559]
1836-63. Christian Review. Vol. xvi. p. 434. “Wordsworth as a Religious Poet.”
1844. Cuyler, T. L. Godey’s Lady’s Book. Vol. xxviii. (January). “On the English Lakes and Wordsworth.”
1850. International Magazine. Vol. i. p. 271. “A Review of The Prelude, from The Examiner.”
1855. Brownson’s Quarterly Review. Vol. xii. p. 525. “Wordsworth’s Poetical Works.”
1850. Graham Magazine. Vol. i. pp. 322, 323.[560]
1842. United States Democratic Review. Vol. x. pp. 272-288. (New Series.)[561]
1865. North American Review. Vol. c. p. 508. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
1850. Southern Literary Messenger. Vol. xvi. p. 474.[562]
1851. Harper’s Monthly Magazine. Vol. iii. p. 502.[563]
1845. Bowen, F. North American Review. Vol. lxi. p. 217.[564]
1863. Alger, W. R. North American Review. Vol. xcvi. p. 141.[565]
1850. Southern Literary Messenger. Vol. xvi. p. 637.[566]
1863. Ward, J. H. North American Review. Vol. xcvii. p. 387.
1853. The National Magazine. Vol. iii. No. 7, “An Estimate of Wordsworth.”
1853. The Christian Observer. Vol. 1. pp. 307-381.[567]
1858. “The Genius of Wordsworth,” in the “Editor’s Table” of Russell’s Magazine. Charleston, S.E. Vol. iii. pp. 271-274.
[542] A review of the 1837 edition of Wordsworth’s poems. Perhaps no abler or more comprehensive review of Wordsworth’s life and writings has been written than this, by America’s foremost critic.
C. M. St. John.
[543] One of the best of the early American criticisms.
C. M. St. John.
[544] A review of the 1851 edition. Contains an earnest plea for the study of Wordsworth’s poetry in America. One of the noblest criticisms written.
C. M. St. John.
[545] On the “Life and Poetry of Wordsworth.” A review of The Prelude. Unsigned; but the name is given elsewhere, as T. Chase.
C. M. St. John.
[546] A review of the Memoirs of Wordsworth, by his nephew, the Bishop of Lincoln.
C. M. St. John.
[547] A review of Professor Reed’s edition of the Memoirs of Wordsworth, Boston, 1851.
C. M. St. John.
[548] A review of the Memoirs, signed O. W.W.
C. M. St. John.
[549] A review of The Prelude.
C. M. St. John.
[550] Anonymous. A short review of The Prelude, and, at greater length, of The Life (edited by Reed). An estimate of his work and influence.
C. M. St. John.
[551] Traces the literary life of the poet. Claims for Wordsworth the precedence to Coleridge in the utterance of a spiritual Philosophy.
C. M. St. John.
[552] A notice of Wordsworth’s death, unsigned; but Mr. Wilberforce Eames—of the Lenox Library—informs me, that their library now owns Mr. Evert A. Duyckinck’s copy of the Literary World, and that gentleman’s own initials are appended in pencil to this article. Mr. Duyckinck was editor of the Literary World.
C. M. St. John.
[553] Judge Reed, Professor Henry Reed’s son, does not attribute this article to his father. There is an impression that Professor Reed published an article on The Prelude. His lecture on that poem was never published.
C. M. St. John.
[554] Signed by R. F. Correspondence, London Literary Gazette, August 31.
C. M. St. John.
[555] Possibly the same as in that scarce number of the Southern Literary Messenger. Vol. xvi. p. 474.
C. M. St. John.
[556] These articles, in the opinion of Judge Henry Reed, are not by his father, Professor Henry Reed.
C. M. St. John.
[557] Notice to those who wish to subscribe to the Memorial to Wordsworth, signed.
C. M. St. John.
[558] An article on the University of Cambridge, and an account of Wordsworth’s residence at St. John’s College, 1787-1791.
C. M. St. John.
[559] Six pages on Wordsworth’s Sonnet to Liberty.
C. M. St. John.
[560] A brief review of The Prelude and Excursion, and a comparison between the two poems.
C. M. St. John.
[561] On Wordsworth’s sonnets in favour of Capital Punishment.
C. M. St. John.
[562] On the house at Rydal.
C. M. St. John.
[563] An unsigned, four paged article on Wordsworth, Byron Scott, and Shelley.
C. M. St. John.
[564] In a “Review of Longfellow’s Poets and Poetry of Europe,” a page on Wordsworth’s influence.
C. M. St. John.
[565] In “The Origin and Uses of Poetry,” a few lines on Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[566] A notice, with extracts from The Prelude.
C. M. St. John.
[567] “The Religion of Wordsworth’s Poetry.”
C. M. St. John.
These are not chronologically arranged by Mrs. St. John, but see her note to Section V.—Ed.
1882. Dewitt, Dr. John. Presbyterian Review. Vol. iii. p. 241.[568]
1884. Burroughs, John. The Century Magazine. Vol. v. p. 418. This is entitled “Wordsworth’s Country.”
1880. Cranch, C. P. The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. xlv. p. 241. Entitled “Wordsworth.” A review of the 1880 Poetical Works (Boston). The writer notes what he considers the chief excellency as well as defects of Wordsworth’s poetry.
1888. Murray, J. O. The Homiletic Review. Vol. xvi. pp. 295-304. Title, “The Study of Wordsworth’s Poetry.”
1890. Pattison, T. H. The Baptist Review. Vol. xii. p. 265. “The Religious Influence of Wordsworth.”
1889. Hutton, Lawrence. Harper’s Monthly Magazine. Vol. lxxviii.[569] (in Literary Notes).
1880-1. Conway, Moncure D. Harper’s Monthly Magazine. “The English Lakes and their Genii.” Vol. lxii. pp. 7, 161, 339.
1883. Pedder, H. C. The Manhattan. Vol. ii. pp. 418-433.[570]
1876. Yarnall, Ellis. Lippincott’s Magazine. Vol. xviii. pp. 543-554, 669-683. “Walks and Visits in Wordsworth’s Country.” Written in the summer of 1855 and 1857.
1871. Fields, J. T. The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. xxviii. p. 750. On Wordsworth, in an article entitled “Our Whispering Gallery.” The same article is cut down in Yesterdays with Authors.[571]
1892. Parsons, Eugene. The Examiner. Vol. lxx. p. 1. On “Tennyson and Wordsworth.”
1888. Williams, T. C. Andover Review. Vol. ix. p. 30.
1889. Noble, Fred Perry. The Homiletic Review. Vol. xviii. p. 306. “The Value of Wordsworth to the Preacher.”
1873. Himes, John A. Lutheran Quarterly Review. Vol. iii. p. 252. “The Religious Faith of Wordsworth and Tennyson as shown in their Poems.”
1881. Johnson, E. E. American Church Review. Vol. xxxiii. p. 139. “Influence of Wordsworth’s Poetry.”
1886. Coan, T. M. The New Princeton Review. Vol. i. pp. 297-319. “Wordsworth’s Passion.”
1889. Vedder, H. C. The New York Examiner, August 28. “The Decline of Wordsworth.”[572]
1877. Coan, T. M. The Galaxy. Vol. xxiii. pp. 322-336. “Wordsworth’s Corrections.”[573]
1881. Bowen, F. F. The Dial. Vol. i. p. 21. “A Review of Myers’ Wordsworth.”
1881. Gerhart, R. L. Reformed Quarterly Review. Vol. xxviii. p. 344. “Wordsworth and his Art.”
1887. Woodberry, G. E. The Nation. Vol. xlv. p. 487. “Wordsworth and the Beaumonts.”
1881. Brownell, W. C. The Nation. Vol. xxxii. p. 153. “Myers’ Account of Wordsworth.”
1872. Croffut, W. A. Lakeside Monthly. Vol. viii. pp. 418-425. “Wordsworth.”
1895. Thorpe, F. W. The Philadelphia Call. “The Home of Wordsworth.” Autobiographic and critical.
1879. Appleton’s Journal. Vol. xxii. p. 223. “How to Popularise Wordsworth.”
1874. De-Vere, A. The Catholic World. Vol. xix. p. 795. “Recollections of Wordsworth.”
1875. De-Vere, A. The Catholic World. Vol. xxii. p. 329.
1891. Page, H. A. The Century Magazine. No. 1. pp. 453-864. “Wordsworth and De Quincey. With hitherto unpublished letters.”[574]
1853. The National Magazine. Vol. iii. pp. 36-40.
1853. Brownson’s Quarterly Review. Vol. xii. 525.
1896. Theodore W. Hunt in Bibliotheca Sacra. No. 66. “William Wordsworth.”
1896. J. W. Bray. The Literary Democracy of Wordsworth in “Poet Love.” Vol. iii. No. 6.
[568] On “The Homiletic Value of Wordsworth’s Poetry.” One of the ablest papers ever written on Wordsworth. It contains the best reply to Matthew Arnold’s estimate of his poetry.
C. M. St. John.
[569] This is a review of Rolf’s Wordsworth’s Selected Poems. It contains one of the most appreciative tributes to Wordsworth’s influence which has appeared in America.
C. M. St. John.
[570] On “Wordsworth and the Modern Age.” Illustrated by W. St. J. Harper, and other artists. It deals with the especial need of Wordsworth’s “calming influence in the exacting competition for success,” and gives a comparison between Virgil and Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
[571] Of interest to Americans.
C. M. St. John.
[572] It aims to give some explanation of the lack of interest in Wordsworth’s poetry in later days.
C. M. St. John.
[573] An attempt, the writer says, to point out the corrections, leaving their interpretation to the reader.
C. M. St. John.
[574] Written by an Englishman, but published first in an American magazine.
C. M. St. John.
The following books record visits made by eminent Americans to Wordsworth.
C. M. St. John.
1863. Hawthorne, N. Our Old Home, and English Note-Books. Vol. ii. pp. 24-56, etc.; also,
1883. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. “A Visit to Wordsworth.”
1856. Emerson, R. W. English Traits. Boston: James Munroe and Co. pp. 24-31; also,
1881. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Visit to Wordsworth, in chapter entitled “First Visit to England.”
1876. Ticknor, George. Life, Letters, and Journals. Boston: James R. Osgood and Co. 2 vols. Vol. i. pp. 287, 288, etc. Vol. ii. p. 167, etc.
1836. Dewey, Orville. The Old World and the New. Boston: 2 vols. pp. 89-96.
1884. Bryant, W. C. Prose Works. In a chapter on “Poets and Poetry of the English Language” (New York: D. Appleton and Co.) a few pages deal with Wordsworth.
1846. Wallace, W. Poem on Wordsworth. New York: 12mo.
1850. Field, James T. Graham Magazine (October). “Wordsworth.”
1850. Alexander, W. Graham Magazine (November), p. 221. “Wordsworth. (A Sonnet.)”
1850. H. M. R. Harpers Magazine. “Sonnet on the Death of Wordsworth.” Vol. i. p. 218.
1850. E. A. W. Literary World. “Sonnet on Wordsworth.” Vol. vii. p. 255.
1874. Whittier, J. G. Whittier’s Works. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. “Poem on Wordsworth. Written on a blank leaf of Wordsworth’s Memoirs, 1851.” Vol. iv. p. 66.
1890. Scollard, Clinton (?) Northern Christian Advocate. “The Poet’s Seat. A Sonnet on Wordsworth. Written at Ambleside, 1890.”
1893. “To Wordsworth, after reading his XXX Ecclesiastical Sonnets” in The Echo and the Poet, by William Cushing Bamburgh. N. Y. 1893.
Essays of Special Interest
1892. Corson, Hiram. “The Divine Immanence in Nature, and the relationship of the human spirit thereto, as presented in Wordsworth’s Poetry.”
Winchester, C. T. “The Lake District and Wordsworth.”
Prentiss, George L. “Hurstmonceaux Rectory and Rydal Mount.” (Personal Recollections.)
Hoyt, A. S. “Wordsworth, the Man and the Poet.” (Imperfectly reported in The Houghton Record.)
WORDSWORTH IN FRANCE
By Émile Legouis, Professeur à la Faculté de Lettres, Université de Lyon, France
There is no separate or whole book on Wordsworth that I know of.
Voyage historique et littéraire en Angleterre et en Écosse, par Amédée Pichot (passim). 3 vols. in 8. Paris, 1829.[575] An English translation was published in London in 1825.
Revue Britannique.
Mai 1827. Wordsworth, Crabbe, and Campbell, pp. 61-79, a criticism translated from the New Monthly Magazine.
Février 1835. Poésie domestique de la grande Bretagne, translated from the New Monthly Magazine.
Janvier 1836, p. 190. Compte-rendu de “Yarrow Revisited and other Poems,” translated from the Repository of Knowledge.
Revue des Deux Mondes. 1er Août 1835. William Wordsworth, par A. Fontaney.[576]
Revue Contemporaine. 15 Décembre 1853. Poètes contemporains de l’Angleterre: William Wordsworth et John Wilson, par L. Étienne.
Littérature anglaise de H. Taine.[577] 1864. Vol. iv. pp. 311-324.
Études sur la Littérature contemporaine, par Éd. Schérer.[578]
Revue critique d’histoire et de littérature. 16 Janvier 1882. Article de James Darmesteter sur la Biographie de Wordsworth, par Myers.[579]
Essais de Littérature anglaise, par James Darmesteter. Paris, 1883.[580]
Histoire de la Littérature anglaise, par M. Léon Boucher. Paris, 1890. pp. 355-363.
La Renaissance de la Poésie anglaise, par Gabriel Sarrazin. 1887.
Études et Portraits, par Paul Bourget. Vol. ii. Études anglaises.[581] 1888.
Étude sur la Vie et les Œuvres de Robert Burns, par Auguste Angellier. Paris, 1892. (Passim, et surtout vol. ii. pp. 362-393, Étude sur le sentiment de la nature dans Wordsworth et autres poètes anglais contemporains.)
Le général Michel Beaupuy, par Georges Bussière et Émile Legouis. Paris, 1891.
[575] Vol. ii. pp. 363-394.—Ed.
[576] This was signed Y, which was Fontaney’s pseudonym.—E.L.
[577] Wordsworth et la poésie moderne de l’Angleterre.—Histoire de la Littérature anglaise, par H. Taine.—Ed.
[578] Vol. vi. pp. 127, 128, and vol. vii. pp. 1-59.—Ed.
[579] pp. 227-236.—Ed.
[580] pp. 227-236.—Ed.
[581] Vol. ii. pp. 83; 126-134.—Ed.
Pas de traduction complète, ni de volume spécial de traductions de Wordsworth.
Une traduction par Fontaney annoncée en 1837 comme devant paraître dans le Bibliothèque anglo-française, n’a pas paru.
En dehors des poèmes ou parties de poèmes traduit par les critiques énumérés plus haut, il n’y a guère de traduction en prose de quelque importance.
Madame Amable Tastu. We are Seven.
Sainte-Beuve. Joseph Delorme. 1829.
Consolations. 1830.
Pensées d’Août. Trois sonnets imités de Wordsworth.
Sainte-Beuve cite en outre dans ses Nouveaux Lundis des 21 et 22 Avril 1862, trois sonnets de Wordsworth traduits en vers, par l’Abbé Roussel. Ces traductions assez pauvres de poésie sont celles des sonnets suivants—
Jean Aicard a traduit We are Seven dans La Chanson de l’Enfant.
Paul Bourget (Études et Portraits, vol. ii. op. cit.) a traduit l’un des sonnets au Duddon.
Wordsworth’s influence on French literature was altogether very slight, nor did it make itself felt till about 1830; when, after a very limited period, it silently died away.
Wordsworth was but little known by his contemporary Châteaubriand, who merely names him among other poets in his Essai sur la Littérature anglaise. Byron, Walter Scott, and in a lesser degree Thomas Moore, were the only writers of Great Britain whose works told on our literature at that time. Villemain, in his criticism of Byron, contemptuously dismisses all the so-called lake-poets to fix on his hero. He calls them: “Des métaphysiciens, raisonneurs sans invention, mélancoliques sans passion, qui, dans l’éternelle rêverie d’une vie étroite et peu agitée, n’avaient produit que des singularités sans puissance sur l’imagination des autres hommes. Tel était Woodsworth (sic) et le subtil mais non touchant Coléridge.”
To Byron also, and to him alone (Ossian being excepted) among the poets of England, was Lamartine indebted. I am not sure that he names Wordsworth once; but still the striking analogy between the ideas and imaginative style of both cannot fail to be noticed by the reader. Without insisting on a parallel that might be drawn between many pages of The Excursion and of Jocelyn, I will only point out two short pieces of Lamartine that bear strong resemblance to two poems of Wordsworth, so much so that they almost read like free imitations—
| Lamartine | Wordsworth’s |
|---|---|
| “A Augusta,” Recueillements Poètiques, xx. | Nightingale and Stock-dove. |
| “Le Fontaine du Foyard,” Nouvelles Confidences. | The Fountain. |
Victor Hugo, so far as I know, only names Wordsworth once, in L’Âne—