In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

·.-·. THE WATE~ SYMBOL IN THE PRELUDE (1805-6) IN vVordsworth's The Pre!ude1 we- are continually seeing take, brook, · fo~n tain, water-fall or sea--,-"waters running, f~tling, or asleep." Water imagery, we· come to feel,_ is -dearly dominant in this P,Oem, which ..tells the story of. the growth of the poet's soul. In- the first part of this essay I should like, somewhat in the idiom o£ th.e poem, ~o 'follow through this story with an eye to the persistent water images. The story begins eve~ •as ~he poet deplnres his failure to hav~ seized and developed one of the many themes, chiefly .political, which he had considered for a major work.· ·\Vas it for this: That one, the fairest of all Riv_ers, lov'd To blend his murmurs with my Nurse's song, And from .his alder shades and rocky falls, And from his fords and shallows, sent a voice· That flow'd along my dreams? For this, didst Thou, 0 Derwent! travelling over. the green· Plains , Near my 1 sweet Birthplace,' didst thou, beauteous Stream, Make ceaseless music through the night and day \Vhich 'with its steady cadence, tempering ~ Our human waywardness, compos'd my thoughts To more than infant softness, ·giving me, _ . Among the fretful dwellings.of,mankind, .A foretaste, a dim earnest, of the calm' That Nature breathes among'the hills arid groves. When, having left his lVIountains, to the Towers ' -Of Cocke-rmouth that, beauteous River came,, Behind my Father's House he pass'd, close by, Nong the margit:t' o(:our Terrace Walle He was a Playmate whom we dearly lov,d. Oh! many a time have I;_ a five years' Child, A naked Boy, in one delightful Rill, A little Mill-race sever'd from his stream, Made one long bathing of a summer's day, Bask' d in the sun, and plunged, and bask'd a:gain Alternate all 'a sum'mer's day.. :. (I, 271 ff.) The story of TJze Prelude thus begins at ~ river's side, by 'the Derwent, with ,memories of swimming m this river, and of'running naked m the fields besi~e this stream·, ' as if I had been born On Indian Plains, and from my Mother's hut Had run abroad in wantonness, to sport, A naked Savage, in the thunder shower. '(1, 301 ff), Early memory takes us somewhat later in the boy's life to_ alake, when Wo.rdsw-orth recalls how one moonlight night he stole a ~hepherd's boat. from a rocky cave on the shores of Patterdale;. 1 1 l Edited by Ernest de Selincourt (Oxford Uni versi ty Press, London, 1926, reprinted. 1929). While my studyo is li rni ted to the origin a.! text of the poem, I have qtlOted three short passages from the later revisions. See notes. 2, 3, 'and 4. 372 , / TH'E WATER SYMBOL IN THE PRELUDE The moon was up, the Lake was shining clear· Among the hoary mountains; from the Shot~ I push'd, and struck the oars and st.nick again In cadence, and my little Boat 'mov'd on ' · Even like a Man who walks with stately step · Though bent on speed. It was an· act of.stealth And troubled pleasure; not without the voice Of mountain-echoes did my Boat move on," Lea:ving behind her still on either side Small circles glittering·idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track . Of sparkling light. (I, 383 ff.) 373 As·the boat pulled away from the shore, t~e inevitable perspective developed:· a· dark mountain-head, not seen close by shore, began to loom over the boy, in fact seemed to stride after him, frightening him so much that with t~embling hands he; quickly turned the skiff ~nd stole hi~ ~ay. back through the silent water to the rocky cave. Terror was _ a frequent experience in his chiidhood. A somewhat 'less personai recollection from this period .of his 1ife is the ·poet's memory of that boy who at evening, beneath the trees or beside the glimmeri~g lake, s.tood blowing "mimic hootings to...

pdf

Share