When I wrote many of these verses I was much younger than I am now, and the "sweetest eyes in the world" would brighten over them, through the reader's love for me. I dedicate them to her memory —the memory of MY MOTHER.
Contents
WHAT MAKES THE SUMMER? THE BROTHERS A RICH MAN'S REVERIE GLORIA THE TRUE THE DEACON'S DAUGHTER SONGS OF THE SWALLOW THE COQUETTE LITTLE NELL THE FISHER'S WIFE THE LAND OF LONG AGO LEMOINE SLEEP THE LADY MAUD THE HAUNTED CASTLE THE STORY OF GLADYS FAREWELL THE KNIGHT OF NORMANDY SOMETIME MOTIVES NIGHTFALL HIS PLACE A DREAM OF SPRING WAITING A SONG FOR TWILIGHT THE FLIGHT COMFORT JENNY ALLEN THE UNSEEN CITY THE WAGES OF SIN ISABELLE AND I GOOD-BY THE SEA-CAPTAIN'S WOOING IONE SUMMER DAYS THE LADY CECILE HOME STEPS WE CLIMB SQUIRE PERCY'S PRIDE ROSES OF JUNE MAGDALENA MY ANGEL GRIEF WILD OATS AUTUMN THE FAIREST LAND THE MESSENGER SLEEP THE SONG OF THE SIREN EIGHTEEN SIXTY-TWO AWEARY TOO LOW AT LAST TWILIGHT THE SEWING-GIRL HARRY THE FIRST THE CRIMINAL'S BETROTHED GONE BEFORE A WOMAN'S HEART WARNING GENIEVE TO HER LOVER THE WILD ROSE OUR BIRD THE TIME THAT IS TO BE
;such as those of Mr. Hawes Turner, and Mr. A. J. Symington,—every one must feel that the editor should have informed his readers
when the title was Wordsworth's, and
when it was his own coinage. In the case of a much greater man—and one of Wordsworth's most illustrious successors in the great hierarchy of English poesy, Matthew Arnold—it may be asked why should he have put
Margaret, or the Ruined Cottage, as the title of a poem written in 1795-7, when Wordsworth never once published it under that name? It was an extract from the first book of
The Excursion—written, it is true, in these early years,—but only issued as part of the latter poem, first published in 1814.
The question of the number, the character, and the length of the Notes, which a wise editor should append to the works of a great poet, (or to any classic), is perhaps still
sub judice. My own opinion is that, in all editorial work, the notes should be illustrative rather than critical; and that they should only bring out those points, which the ordinary reader of the text would not readily understand, if the poems were not annotated. For this reason, topographical, historical, and antiquarian notes are almost essential. The Notes which Wordsworth himself wrote to his Poems, are of unequal length and merit. It was perhaps necessary for him to write—at all events it is easy to understand, and to sympathise with, his writing—the long note on the revered parson of the Duddon Valley, the Rev. Robert Walker, who will be remembered for many generations as the "Wonderful Walker." The Poet's editors have also been occasionally led to add digressive notes, to clear up points which had been left by himself either dubious, or obscure. I must plead guilty to the charge of doing so: e.g. the identification of "The Muccawiss" (see
The Excursion, book iii. l. 953) with the Whip-poor-Will involved a great deal of laborious correspondence years ago. It was a question of real difficulty; and, although the result reached could now be put into two or three lines, I have thought it desirable that the opinions of those who wrote about it, and helped toward the solution, should be recorded. What I print is only a small part of the correspondence that took place.
On the other hand, it would be quite out of place, in a note to the famous passage in the 4th book of
The Excursion, beginning
... I have seen
A curious child applying to his ear
to enter on a discussion as to the extent of Wordsworth's debt—if any—to the author of Gebir. It is quite sufficient to print the relative passage from Landor's poem at the foot of the page.
All the Notes written by Wordsworth himself in his numerous editions will be found in this one, with the date of their first appearance added. Slight textual changes, however, or casual addenda, are not indicated, unless they are sufficiently important. Changes in the text of notes have not the same importance to posterity, as changes in the text of poems. In the preface to the Prose Works, reference will be made to Wordsworth's alterations of his text. At present I refer only to his own notes to his Poems. When they were written as footnotes to the page, they remain footnotes still. When they were placed by him as prefaces to his Poems, they retain that place in this edition; but when they were appendix notes—as e.g. in the early editions of "Lyrical Ballads"—they are now made footnotes to the Poems they illustrate. In such a case, however, as the elaborate note to The Excursion, containing a reprint of the Essay upon Epitaphs—originally contributed to "The Friend"—it is transferred to the Prose Works, to which it belongs by priority of date; and, as it would be inexpedient to print it twice over, it is omitted from the notes to The Excursion.
As to the place which Notes to a poet's works should occupy, there is no doubt that numerous and lengthy ones—however valuable, or even necessary, by way of illustration,—disfigure the printed page; and some prefer that they should be thrown all together at the end of each volume, or at the close of a series; such as—in Wordsworth's case—"The River Duddon," "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," The Prelude, The White Doe of Rylstone, etc. I do not think, however, that many care to turn repeatedly to the close of a series of poems, or the end of a volume, to find an explanatory note, helped only by an index number, and when perhaps even that does not meet his eye at the foot of the page. I do not find that even ardent Wordsworth students like to search for notes in "appendices"; and perhaps the more ardent they are the less desirable is it for them thus "to hunt the waterfalls."
I have the greatest admiration for the work which Professor Dowden has done in his edition of Wordsworth; but the plan which he has followed, in his Aldine edition, of giving not only the Fenwick Notes, but all the changes of text introduced by Wordsworth into his successive editions, in additional editorial notes at the end of each volume—to understand which the reader must turn the pages repeatedly, from text to note and note to text, forwards and backwards, at times distractingly—is for practical purposes almost unworkable. The reader who examines Notes critically is ever "one among a thousand," even if they are printed at the foot of the page, and meet the eye readily. If they are consigned to the realm of addenda they will be read by very few, and studied by fewer.
To those who object to Notes being "thrust into view" (as it must be admitted that they are in this edition)—because it disturbs the pleasure of the reader who cares for the poetry of Wordsworth, and for the poetry alone—I may ask how many persons have read the Fenwick Notes, given together in a series, and mixed up heterogeneously with Wordsworth's own Notes to his poems, in comparison with those who have read and enjoyed them in the editions of 1857 and 1863? Professor Dowden justifies his plan of relegating the Fenwick and other notes to the end of each volume of his edition, on the ground that students of the Poet must take the trouble of hunting to and fro for such things. I greatly doubt if many who have read and profited—for they could not but profit—by a perusal of Professor Dowden's work, have taken that trouble, or that future readers of the Aldine edition will take it.
To refer, somewhat more in detail, to the features of this edition.
A detail, perhaps not too trivial to mention, is that, in this edition—at the suggestion of several friends —I have followed the example of Professor Dowden in his Aldine edition, and numbered the lines of almost all the poems—even the sonnets. When I have not done so, the reason will be obvious; viz. either the structure, or the brevity, of the poem.19
In giving the date of each poem, I have used the word "composed," rather than "written," very much because Wordsworth himself,—and his sister, in her Journals—almost invariably use the word "composed"; although he criticised the term as applied to the creation of a poem, as if it were a manufactured article. In his Chronological Table, Mr. Dowden adopts the word "composed"; but, in his edition of the Poems, he has made use of the term" written."20
No notice (or almost none) of misprints in Wordsworth's own text is taken, in the notes to this edition. Sometimes an error occurred, and was carried on through more than one edition, and corrected in the next: e.g., in 'The Childless Father', the editions of 1827, 1832, and 1836 have the line:
Fresh springs of green boxwood, not six months before.
In the 'errata' of the edition of 1836 this is corrected to "fresh sprigs." There are other 'errata', which remained in the edition of 1849-50, e.g., in 'Rob Roy's Grave', "Vools" for "Veols," and mistakes in quotations from other poets, such as "invention" for "instruction," in Wither's poem on the Daisy. These are corrected without mention.
I should perhaps add that, while I have included, amongst the illustrative notes, extracts from Henry Crabb Robinson's 'Diary', etc., many of them are now published for the first time. These voluminous MSS. of Robinson's have been re-examined with care; and the reader who compares the three volumes of the 'Diary', etc.—edited by Dr. Sadler—with the extracts now printed from the original MS., will see where sentences omitted by the original editor have been included.
As this edition proceeds, my debt to many—who have been so kind as to put their Wordsworth MSS. and memoranda at my disposal—will be apparent.
It is difficult to acknowledge duly my obligation to collectors of autograph Letters—Mr. Morrison, the late Mr. Locker Lampson, the late Mr. Mackay, of the Grange, Trowbridge, and a score of others— but, I may say in general, that the kindness of those who possess Wordsworth MSS. in allowing me to examine them, has been a very genuine evidence of their interest in the Poet, and his work.
My special thanks are due to Mr. Gordon Wordsworth, who has, in the kindest manner and for many years, placed everything at my disposal, which could further my labour on his grandfather's Works.
Finally, I wish to express the great debt I owe to the late Mr. J. Dykes Campbell, for many suggestions, and for his unwearied interest in this work,— which I think was second only to his interest in Coleridge—and also to Mr. W. B. Kinghorn for his valuable assistance in the revision of proof sheets.
If there are any desiderata, in reference to Wordsworth —in addition to a new Life, a critical Essay, and such a Bibliography of Criticism as will be adequate for posterity—a 'Concordance' to his works is one of them. A correspondent once offered to prepare this for me, if I found a publisher: and another has undertaken to compile a volume of 'parallel passages' from the earlier poets of England, and of the world. A Concordance might very well form part of a volume of 'Wordsworthiana', and be a real service to future students of the poet.
William Knight.
Footnote 1: In addition to my own detection of errors in the text and notes to the editions 1882-9, I acknowledge special obligation to the late Vice-Chancellor of the Victoria University, Principal Greenwood, who went over every volume with laborious care, and sent me the result. To the late Mr. J. Dykes Campbell, to Mr. J. R. Tutin, to the Rev. Thomas Hutchinson of Kimbolton, and to many others, I am similarly indebted.
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Footnote 2: See Memoirs of William Wordsworth, ii. pp. 113, 114.
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Footnote 3: It is however different with the fragments which were published in all the editions issued in the poet's lifetime, and afterwards in The Prelude, such as the lines on "the immortal boy" of Windermere. These are printed in their chronological place, and also in the posthumous poem.
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Footnote 4: Poems of Wordsworth selected and arranged by Matthew Arnold. London: Macmillan and Co.
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Footnote 5: See the Life of Sir W. Rowan Hamilton, vol. ii. pp, 132, 135.
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Footnote 6: See the Preface to the American edition of 1837.
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Footnote 7: It need hardly be explained that, in the case of a modern poet, these various readings are not like the conjectural guesses of critics and commentators as to what the original text was (as in the case of the Greek Poets, or of Dante, or even of Shakespeare). They are the actual alterations, introduced deliberately as improvements, by the hand of the poet himself.
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Footnote 8: The collection in the British Museum, and those in all the University Libraries of the country, are incomplete.
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Footnote 9: The publication of this edition was superintended by Mr. Carter, who acted as Wordsworth's secretary for thirty-seven years, and was appointed one of his literary executors.
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Footnote 10: Let the indiscriminate admirer of "first editions" turn to this quarto, and perhaps even he may wonder why it has been rescued from oblivion. I am only aware of the existence of five copies of the edition of 1793; and although it has a certain autobiographic value, I do not think that many who read it once will return to it again, except as a literary curiosity. Here—and not in "Lyrical Ballads" or The Excursion—was the quarry where Jeffrey or Gifford might have found abundant material for criticism.
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Footnote 11: It is unfortunate that the Memoirs do not tell us to what poem the remark applies, or to whom the letter containing it was addressed.
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Footnote 12: It is important to note that the printed text in several of the editions is occasionally cancelled in the list of errata, at the beginning or the end of the volume: also that many copies of the early editions (notably those of 1800), were bound up without the full errata list. In this edition there were two such lists, one of them very brief. But the cancelled words in these errata lists, must be taken into account, in determining the text of each edition.
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Footnote 13: I. F. note. See vol. i. p. 5.
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Footnote 14: I. F. note. See vol. i. p. 32.
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Footnote 15: Advertisement. See vol. i. p. 78.
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Footnote 16: How much of this poem was Wordsworth's own has not been definitely ascertained. I am of opinion that very little, if any of it, was his. It has been said that his nephew, the late Bishop of Lincoln, wrote most of it; but more recent evidence tends to show that it was the work of his son-in-law, Edward Quillinan.
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Footnote 17: In a letter to the writer in 1882.
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Footnote 18: The Poetry of Byron, chosen and arranged by Matthew Arnold. London: Macmillan and Co.
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Footnote 19: It may not be too trivial a fact to mention that Wordsworth numbered the lines of his earliest publication, 'An Evening Walk, in l793.—Ed.
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Footnote 20: Another fact, not too trivial to mention, is that in the original MS. of the 'Lines composed at Grasmere', etc., Wordsworth sent it to the printer "Lines written," but changed it in proof to "Lines composed."—Ed.
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Contents
