Memoirs of Will. Wordsworth; In Two Volumes (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1851. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXXVI. THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE, OR, THE FATE OF THE NORTONS THANKSGIVING ODE. The "White Doe of Rylstone" was published in 1815, with a dedication by the author to his wife. "The earlier half of this poem," said Mr. Wordsworthl, "was composed at Stockton-upon-Tees, when Mary and I were on a visit to her eldest brother, Mr. Hutchinson, at the close of the year 1807. The country is flat, and the weather was rough. I was accustomed every day to walk to and fro under the shelter of a row of stacks, in a field at a small distance from the town, and there poured forth my verses aloud, as freely as they would come. "When, from the visit just mentioned, we returned to Town-End, Grasmere, I proceeded with the poem." Mr. Wordsworth here mentioned, obiter, that in his walks at this time he received a wound in his foot; "and though," he added, "I desisted from walking, I found that the irritation of the wounded part was kept up by the act of composition, to a degree that made it necessary to give my constitution a holiday. A rapid cure was the consequence. "Poetic excitement, when accompanied by protracted labour in composition, has throughout my life brought on more or less bodily derangement. Nevertheless I am, at the close of my seventy-third year, in 1 MSS. L F. what may be called excellent health. So that intellectual labour is not, necessarily, unfavourable to longevity. But perhaps I ought here to add, that mine has been generally carried on out of doors. "Let me here say a few words of this poem, by way of criticism. The subject being taken from feudal times has led to its being compared to some of Walter Scott's poems that belong to the same age and state of society. The comparison is inconsiderate. Sir Walter pursued the customary and very natural...