We in this country, though we are not accustomed to hear the cuckoo, will nevertheless not find it hard to imagine its mysterious, unreal call. NATURE AND THE POET This poem was written shortly after Wordsworth's brother, John, lost his life bravely on a ship he was commanding. This will explain the associations brought to the poet's mind by seeing a picture of a stormy sea. THE INVITATION The invitation is to Mrs. Williams, one of Shelley's circle of friends during his years in Italy. The families were on terms of affectionate intimacy, and it is to the same friend that Shelley addressed the lines entitled To a Lady, with a Guitar. It is to be noted that the next poem, The Recollection, is addressed to the same friend, and takes up the same excursion, or a similar one, in retrospect. THE RECOLLECTION See note to preceding poem, The Invitation. The inscription with which Shelley accompanied the lines said that they were not to be opened unless you are alone or with Williams." 66 TO THE HIGHLAND GIRL OF INVERSNEYDE (Page 252) This was written after an incident of the tour of Scotland that Wordsworth took with his sister in the year 1803. The Journal, kept by his sister Dorothy, has this to say of it: “When beginning to descend the hill toward Loch Lomond we overtook two girls, who told us we could not cross the ferry until evening, for the boat was gone with a number of people to church. One of the girls was exceedingly beauti ful: and the figures of both of them, in gray plaids falling to their feet, their faces only being uncovered, excited our attention before we spoke to them. I think I never heard the English language sound more sweetly than from the mouth of the elder of these girls, as she stood at the gate answering our inquiries, her face flushed with the rain." THE REAPER Another poem that had its origin in the experiences of the tour through Scotland. That Wordsworth does not try to answer the questions that he suggests to our imaginations, or point a lesson from them, indicates fine literary feeling: he leaves us with the strong sense of romantic charm that he himself felt. POEMS OF LOYALTY AND PATRIOTISM YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND In his early manhood Campbell heard an old ballad called Ye Gentlemen of England sung at the house of a friend, in Scotland. A little later, when there was a rumor of a war with Russia, he was roused to take the older ballad as his basis and compose this ringing ode to England's naval prowess. BANNOCKBURN: ROBERT BRUCE'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY (Page 259) Like many songs by Burns, this was composed to fit a familiar air. In a letter accompanying the poem, Burns tells how the old tune-called " Hey tutti taitie ". "has often filled my eyes with tears." He then goes on: "There is a tradition, which I have met with in many places in Scotland-that it was Robert Bruce's March at the battle of Ban nockburn. This thought in my yesternight's evening-walk, warmed me to a pitch of enthusiasm on the theme of Liberty and Independence which I threw into a kind of Scots Ode, fitted to the air, that one might suppose to be the gallant royal Scot's address to his heroic followers on that eventful morning." In the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) Bruce, with about thirty thousand followers, totally defeated the army of Edward II, of about one hundred thousand men, destroying nearly a third of the English army. HOME THOUGHTS FROM THE SEA Browning composed these lines as he was passing Cape Trafalgar and Gibraltar and recalled the victory of Nelson over the combined fleets of Spain and France. THE LOST LEADER (Page 261) The The poem expresses the contemptuous indignation felt by a high-spirited young man when he finds a noble cause forsaken by a distinguished and once cherished leader. growing conservatism of Wordsworth was felt by some of the younger men to be such a defection; and though Browning confesses that the older poet's attitude was a deep disappointment to him, nevertheless he distinctly denies having tried to make this a real picture of the man Wordsworth. CAVALIER TUNES Even reading aloud would hardly bring out the strong sense of accent in these ringing lines: they suggest the lusty shouting of a chorus of men, with perhaps some banging on the table to accentuate the rhythm. These were the riotous adversaries pitted against the earnest Roundheads of Macaulay's The Battle of Naseby. POEMS ON THE PROBLEM OF LIFE A MAN'S A MAN FOR A' THAT (Page 269) This song (for it was sung to a popular air of the day) was written in 1795, at a time when the influence of the French Revolution was strong in England as well as on the Continent. That influence was manifested in English literature in the form of a "revolt" from eighteenth century standards, and one expression of this was the literature of Democracy, of which this lyric is an early example. There is no more ringing declaration of the worth of the individual soul, and so it has become the rallying cry of protest against the artificial claims of social prestige. The words that require explanation are as follows: Birkie: forward fellow Gree: prize Hoddin: coarse woolen cloth Mauna fa': must not attempt TO MARGUERITE (Page 271) This is one of a series of poems grouped under the title Switzerland. It takes up the idea, begun earlier in the series, of human isolation, soul separated from soul, and gives it striking expression in the figure of the island. The last line is a notable instance of concentrated descriptive power. WHERE LIES THE LAND? Wordsworth has a sonnet beginning with the first line of this poem, which probably suggested the idea to Clough. It is characteristic of Clough to turn the natural query about a literal ship into speculation upon the uncertain journey of our mysterious life. Since the second and third stanzas bring out the deeper nature of Clough's question, the repe tition of the first inquiry comes with greatly increased significance. 66 THANATOPSIS It is hard to realize that this poem, perfect expression of a certain view of death," was written by a boy of seventeen. Dana, to whom the editor of the North American Review showed it before publishing it in 1817, declared that the editor must have been deceived,-that no one could write such poems on this side of the Atlantic. It should be noted, however, that the last lines, for which the poem is best known, were added ten years after the first draft of the poem. UP-HILL The serenity of this allegory of the transition from earth to heaven is expressed in the quiet simplicity of its diction. Though the lines are irregular in length, the metrical delicacy of their accent is revealed when they are read aloud. PROSPICE Browning here takes his title from the Latin word meaning "to look forward," and attaches it to a poem which, written soon after Mrs. Browning's death, looks forward to the time when he himself shall “ pay glad life's arrears." The vigor of meter that marks the first part of the poem undergoes, it will be noted, an appropriate change near the end, where the stress of conflict leads to peaceful reunion. REQUIEM These lines were written by Stevenson in anticipation of his own death, and are now carved on the boulder that marks his grave, high on the crest of a Samoan mountain. |