romanticism...romanticism an anthologyprofessor of english literature at the universities of glasgow...
TRANSCRIPT
ROMANTICISMA N A N T H O L O G Y F O U R T H E D I T I O N
E D I T E D B Y D U N C A N W U
ISBN 978-1-4051-9075-6
“An outstanding anthology, an excellent choice for advanced undergraduate courses on the Romantic era. This edition’s improvements include illustrations, a detailed chronology, and expanded selections from women poets. I look forward to using this edition of Romanticism for years to come.” Kim Wheatley, College of William and Mary
“This anthology, even more magnificent and indispensable in its Third Edition, is not simply the most useful or the most learned anthology of English Romantic poetry and thought; it is the most exciting.”
Leslie Brisman, Yale University
Duncan Wu’s Romanticism: An Anthology has been appreciated by thousands of literature students and their teachers across the globe since its first appearance in 1994, and is the most widely used teaching text in the field in the UK. Now in its fourth edition, it stands as the essential work on Romanticism. It remains the only such book to contain complete poems and essays edited especially for this volume from manuscript and early printed sources by Wu, along with his explanatory annotations and author headnotes. This new edition carries all texts from the previous edition, adding Keats’s Isabella and Shelley’s Epipsychidion, as well as a new selection from the poems of Sir Walter Scott. All editorial materials, including annotations, author headnotes, and prefatory materials, are revised for this new edition.
Romanticism: An Anthology remains the only textbook of its kind to include complete and uncut texts of:
Cover image: Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1803). Musée National du Château de Malmaison. Rueil-Malmaison, France © White Images / Scala, Florence
Cover design by: Richard Boxall Design Associates
• Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (1798)
• Wordsworth, The Ruined Cottage, The Pedlar, The Two-Part Prelude, Michael, The Brothers and the Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800)
• Charlotte Smith, Elegiac Sonnets (3rd edn, 1786), The Emigrants, Beachy Head
• Felicia Dorothea Hemans, Records of Woman sequence (all 19 poems)
• Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto III and Don Juan Dedication and Cantos I and II
• Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Urizen
• Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, Epipsychidion, The Mask of Anarchy and Adonais
• Keats, Odes, the two Hyperions, Lamia, Isabella and The Eve of St Agnes
• Hannah More, Sensibility and Slavery: A Poem
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Eighteen Hundred and Eleven
• Ann Yearsley, A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade
• Helen Maria Williams, A Farewell, for two years, to England
ED
ITE
D B
Y
DU
NC
AN
WU R
OM
ANTICISM
AN
AN
TH
OL
OG
Y
F
OU
RT
H E
DIT
ION
Praise for the third edition:
As well as generous selections from the works of Mary Robinson, John Thelwall, Dorothy Wordsworth, Robert Southey, Charles Lamb, Thomas De Quincey, William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, John Clare, Letitia Landon and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Visit www.romanticismanthology.com for resources to accompany the anthology, including a dynamic timeline which illustrates key historical and literary events during the Romantic period and features links to usefulmaterials and visual media.
Duncan Wu is Professor of English at Georgetown University, a former Professor of English Literature at the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His publications include A Companion to Romanticism (Blackwell, 1997) and Romantic Women Poets: An Anthology (Blackwell, 1997). He is Vice-Chairman of the Keats–Shelley Memorial Association and The Charles Lamb Society.
Wu_flast.indd lxxxWu_flast.indd lxxx 12/19/2011 12:42:19 PM12/19/2011 12:42:19 PM
Romanticism
Wu_ffirs.indd iWu_ffirs.indd i 12/16/2011 4:19:45 PM12/16/2011 4:19:45 PM
Blackwell Anthologies
Editorial Advisers
Leslie Brisman, Yale University; Kim Wheatley, The College of William and Mary; Paul Douglass, San José State University; David Ayers, University of Kent; Corinna Wagner, Exeter University; Susan Wolfson, Princeton University.
Blackwell Anthologies are a series of extensive and comprehensive volumes designed to address the numerous issues raised by recent debates regarding the literary canon, value, text, context, gender, genre, and period. While providing the reader with key canonical writings in their entirety, the series is also ambitious in its coverage of hith-erto marginalized texts, and flexible in the overall variety of its approaches to periods and movements. Each volume has been thoroughly researched to meet the current needs of teachers and students.
Old and Middle English c.890–c.1450: An Anthology. Third Editionedited by Elaine Treharne
Medieval Drama: An Anthologyedited by Greg Walker
Chaucer to Spenser: An Anthology of English Writing 1375–1575edited by Derek Pearsall
Renaissance Literature: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose. Second Editionedited by John C. Hunter
Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments. Second Editionedited by Arthur F. Kinney
Restoration Drama: An Anthologyedited by David Womersley
British Literature 1640–1789: An Anthology. Third Editionedited by Robert DeMaria, Jr
Romanticism: An Anthology. Fourth Editionedited by Duncan Wu
Irish Literature 1750–1900: An Anthologyedited by Julia Wright
Children’s Literature: An Anthology 1801–1902edited by Peter Hunt
Victorian Women Poets: An Anthologyedited by Angela Leighton and Margaret Reynolds
Modernism: An Anthologyedited by Lawrence Rainey
The Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthologyedited by Susan Castillo and Ivy T. Schweitzer
American Gothic: An Anthology 1787–1916edited by Charles L. Crow
Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: An Anthologyedited by Karen L. Kilcup
Nineteenth-Century American Women Poets: An Anthologyedited by Paula Bernat Bennett
Native American Women’s Writing: An Anthology of Works c.1800–1924edited by Karen L. Kilcup
Wu_ffirs.indd iiWu_ffirs.indd ii 12/16/2011 4:19:45 PM12/16/2011 4:19:45 PM
AN ANTHOLOGY
Fourth Edition
EDITED BY DUNCAN WU
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
Wu_ffirs.indd iiiWu_ffirs.indd iii 12/16/2011 4:19:45 PM12/16/2011 4:19:45 PM
This fourth edition first published 2012Editorial material and organization © 2012 Duncan Wu
Edition history: Blackwell Publishers Ltd (1e, 1994 and 2e, 1998); Blackwell Publishing Ltd (3e, 2006)
Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.
Registered OfficeJohn Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
Editorial Offices350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UKThe Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
The right of Duncan Wu to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Romanticism: an anthology / edited by Duncan Wu. – 4th ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4051-9075-6 (pbk.)1. English literature–19th century. 2. English literature–18th century. 3. Romanticism–Great Britain. I. Wu, Duncan. PR1139.R66 2012 820.8′0145–dc23
2011033180
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 9 on 10.5pt Dante by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
1 2012
Wu_ffirs.indd ivWu_ffirs.indd iv 12/16/2011 4:19:46 PM12/16/2011 4:19:46 PM
OTHER BOOKS BY DUNCAN WU
Wordsworth’s Reading 1770–1799Wordsworth’s Reading 1800–1815Making Plays: Interviews with Contemporary British Dramatists and DirectorsWordsworth: An Inner LifeWordsworth’s PoetsSix Contemporary Dramatists: Bennett, Potter, Gray, Brenton, Hare, AyckbournWilliam Hazlitt: The First Modern Man
William Wordsworth: Selected Poems (co-edited with Stephen Gill)Romanticism: A Critical Reader (editor)William Wordsworth: The Five-Book Prelude (editor)Women Romantic Poets: An Anthology (editor)A Companion to Romanticism (editor)William Hazlitt, The Plain Speaker: Key Essays (editor)The Selected Writings of William Hazlitt, nine volumes (editor)British Romanticism and the Edinburgh Review (co-edited with Massimiliano Demata)William Wordsworth: The Earliest Poems 1785–1790 (editor)Metaphysical Hazlitt (co-edited with Uttara Natarajan and Tom Paulin)New Writings of William Hazlitt (editor)Immortal Bird: Romantic Poems about Nightingales (editor)The Happy Fireside: Romantic Poems about Cats and Dogs (editor)
Wu_ffirs.indd vWu_ffirs.indd v 12/16/2011 4:19:46 PM12/16/2011 4:19:46 PM
EdinburghGlasgow
Abbotsford
HolyIsland
Ayr
DumfriesGretnaGreen
CockermouthPenrith
KeswickGrasmere
HawksheadKendal
LiverpoolManchester
Birmingham
Swansea
CoventryRugby
TinternAbbey
Shrewsbury
NewsteadAbbey
WemEastwood
Porlock
Alfoxden House(Holford)
Ottery St Mary Bournemouth
Clevedon
Canterbury
Dover
Windsor
Cobham
Stonehenge
SalisburyWinchester
Felpham
Field Place
Brighton
TunbridgeWells
Nottingham
Cambridge
OxfordMarlow
Eton London
Lincoln
MALVERN HILLS
MENDIP
HILLS
THE
FENS
WENSLEYDALE
HO
LDERNESS
NEWFOREST
PORTLAND
BILL
ISLE OF WIGHT
FOREST OF
ARDEN
NetherStowey
VALLEY OF THE ROCKS
Land’s End
Bath THE WEALD
MT
SNOWDON
Gwyrch
LAMMERMUIR HILLS
CHEVIO
THILLS
HADRIAN’S WALL
COTSWOLD
HILLS
DORSET DOWNS
SOUTH DOWNS
NORTH DOWNSSALISBURY
PLAIN
CHILTERN HILLS
PE
NN
IN
ES
ISLE OFMAN
Arran
100 miles
BLACKMOOR
RYDAL MT
S C O T L A N D
WAL E S
E N G L A N D
CA
MB
RI
AN
MT
S
N
ENGLAND,WALES andthe BORDERS
in the 19th Century
Wu_ffirs.indd viWu_ffirs.indd vi 12/16/2011 4:19:46 PM12/16/2011 4:19:46 PM
Contents
Titles within square brackets are editorial.
List of Illustrations xxviiiList of Plates xxixAbbreviations xxxIntroduction xxxiiEditor’s Note on the Fourth Edition xlvEditorial Principles xlviAcknowledgements xlviiiA Romantic Timeline 1770–1851 li
Richard Price (1723–1791) 3From A Discourse on the Love of our Country (1789)
[On Representation] 4[Prospects for Reform] 5
Thomas Warton (1728–1790) 6From Poems (1777)
Sonnet IX. To the River Lodon 7
Edmund Burke (1729/30–1797) 8From A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas
of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) Obscurity 10
From Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) 11[History will record…] 11[The age of chivalry is gone] 12[On Englishness] 14[Society is a Contract] 15
Wu_ftoc.indd viiWu_ftoc.indd vii 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
viiiC
onte
nts William Cowper (1731–1800) 17
From The Task (1785) [Crazy Kate] (Book I) 19[On Slavery] (Book II) 20[The Winter Evening] (Book IV) 21
From Works (1835–7) Sweet Meat has Sour Sauce, or The Slave-Trader in the Dumps 23
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) 24From Common Sense (1776)
Of the Origin and Design of Government in General 26
From The Rights of Man Part I (1791) [Freedom of Posterity] 26[On Revolution] 27
From The Rights of Man Part II (1792) [Republicanism] 28
Anna Seward (1742–1809) 29Sonnet written from an Eastern Apartment in the Bishop’s Palace
at Lichfield 30
From Llangollen Vale, with Other Poems (1796) To Time Past. Written Dec. 1772 30
From Gentleman’s Magazine (1786) Advice to Mrs Smith. A Sonnet 31
From Llangollen Vale, with Other Poems (1796) Eyam 32
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin) (1743–1825) 34From Poems (1773)
A Summer Evening’s Meditation 37
From Poems (1792) Epistle to William Wilberforce, Esq., on the Rejection of the Bill
for Abolishing the Slave Trade 41
From Works (1825) The Rights of Woman 44
From The Monthly Magazine (1799) To Mr Coleridge 45
Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, A Poem (1812) 46
Wu_ftoc.indd viiiWu_ftoc.indd viii 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
ix
Con
tent
sHannah More (1745–1833) 55From Sacred Dramas: Chiefly Intended for Young Persons: The Subjects Taken
from the Bible. To which is Added, Sensibility, A Poem (1782) Sensibility: A Poetical Epistle to the Hon. Mrs Boscawen 59
Slavery: A Poem (1788) 69
Cheap Repository The Story of Sinful Sally. Told by Herself (1796) 76
Charlotte Smith (née Turner) (1749–1806) 81Elegiac Sonnets: The Third Edition. With Twenty Additional Sonnets (1786) 87
To William Hayley, Esq. 87Preface to the First Edition 87Preface to the Third Edition 88Sonnet I 88Sonnet II. Written at the Close of Spring 89Sonnet III. To a Nightingale 89Sonnet IV. To the Moon 89Sonnet V. To the South Downs 90Sonnet VI. To Hope 90Sonnet VII. On the Departure of the Nightingale 91Sonnet VIII. To Spring 91Sonnet IX 91Sonnet X. To Mrs G. 92Sonnet XI. To Sleep 92Sonnet XII. Written on the Seashore. October 1784 93Sonnet XIII. From Petrarch 93Sonnet XIV. From Petrarch 94Sonnet XV. From Petrarch 94Sonnet XVI. From Petrarch 94Sonnet XVII. From the Thirteenth Cantata of Metastasio 95Sonnet XVIII. To the Earl of Egremont 95Sonnet XIX. To Mr Hayley. On Receiving some Elegant Lines from Him 96Sonnet XX. To the Countess of Abergavenny. Written
on the Anniversary of her Marriage 96Sonnet XXI. Supposed to be Written by Werther 97Sonnet XXII. By the Same. To Solitude 97Sonnet XXIII. By the Same. To the North Star 98Sonnet XXIV. By the Same 98Sonnet XXV. By the Same. Just before his Death 98Sonnet XXVI. To the River Arun 99Sonnet XXVII 99Sonnet XXVIII. To Friendship 100Sonnet XXIX. To Miss C———. On being Desired to Attempt
Writing a Comedy 100
Wu_ftoc.indd ixWu_ftoc.indd ix 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xC
onte
nts Sonnet XXX. To the River Arun 101
Sonnet XXXI. Written on Farm Wood, South Downs, in May 1784 101Sonnet XXXII. To Melancholy. Written on the Banks of the Arun,
October 1785 102Sonnet XXXIII. To the Naiad of the Arun 102Sonnet XXXIV. To a Friend 102Sonnet XXXV. To Fortitude 103Sonnet XXXVI 103
The Emigrants: A Poem in Two Books (1793) 104Dedication: To William Cowper, Esq. 104Book I 106Book II 115
From Beachy Head: with Other Poems (1807) Beachy Head 126
George Crabbe (1754–1832) 146From The Borough (1810) Letter XXII: The Poor of the Borough
Peter Grimes 147
William Godwin (1756–1836) 155From Political Justice (2 vols, 1793)
[On Property] 157[Love of Justice] 158[On Marriage] 159
Ann Yearsley (née Cromartie) (1756–1806) 160From Poems on various subjects (1787)
Addressed to Sensibility 163A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade (1788) 165
William Blake (1757–1827) 174All Religions Are One (composed c.1788) 180
There is no Natural Religion (composed c.1788) 181
The Book of Thel (1789) 182
Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789–94)
Songs of Innocence (1789) 186Introduction 186The Shepherd 186The Ecchoing Green 186The Lamb 187
Wu_ftoc.indd xWu_ftoc.indd x 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xi
Con
tent
sThe Little Black Boy 188The Blossom 189The Chimney Sweeper 189The Little Boy Lost 190The Little Boy Found 190Laughing Song 190A Cradle Song 191The Divine Image 191Holy Thursday 192Night 192Spring 194Nurse’s Song 194Infant Joy 195A Dream 195On Another’s Sorrow 196
Songs of Experience (1794) 197Introduction 197Earth’s Answer 197The Clod and the Pebble 198Holy Thursday 198The Little Girl Lost 199The Little Girl Found 200The Chimney Sweeper 202Nurse’s Song 202The Sick Rose 202The Fly 202The Angel 203The Tyger 203My Pretty Rose-Tree 204Ah, Sunflower! 204The Lily 205The Garden of Love 205The Little Vagabond 205London 207The Human Abstract 207Infant Sorrow 208A Poison Tree 208A Little Boy Lost 209A Little Girl Lost 209To Tirzah 210The Schoolboy 211The Voice of the Ancient Bard 212A Divine Image 212
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790) 212The Argument 212The Voice of the Devil 213
Wu_ftoc.indd xiWu_ftoc.indd xi 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xiiC
onte
nts A Memorable Fancy [The Five Senses] 214
Proverbs of Hell 215A Memorable Fancy [Isaiah and Ezekiel] 217A Memorable Fancy [A Printing-House in Hell] 218A Memorable Fancy [The Vanity of Angels] 219A Memorable Fancy [A Devil, My Friend] 222A Song of Liberty 222Chorus 223
Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793) 224The Argument 224Visions 224
The First Book of Urizen (1794) 230Preludium to the First Book of Urizen 230Chapter I 230Chapter II 231Chapter III 233Chapter IVa 235Chapter IVb 235Chapter V 237Chapter VI 239Chapter VII 241Chapter VIII 242Chapter IX 243
Letter from William Blake to the Revd Dr Trusler, 23 August 1799 (extract) 245
From The Pickering Manuscript (composed 1800–4) The Mental Traveller 246The Crystal Cabinet 249
From Milton (composed 1803–8) [And did those feet in ancient time] 249
Mary Robinson (née Darby) (1758–1800) 250From The Wild Wreath (1804)
A London Summer Morning 253
From Lyrical Tales (1800) The Haunted Beach 255
From The Poetical Works of the Late Mrs Robinson (1806) Ode Inscribed to the Infant Son of S. T. Coleridge, Esq. Born 14 September
1800 at Keswick in Cumberland. 257
From Memoirs of the Late Mrs Robinson (1801) Mrs Robinson to the Poet Coleridge 259
From The Wild Wreath (1804) The Savage of Aveyron 261
Wu_ftoc.indd xiiWu_ftoc.indd xii 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xiii
Con
tent
sRobert Burns (1759–1796) 265
From Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) Epistle to J. Lapraik, an old Scotch bard, 1 April 1785 267Man was Made to Mourn, A Dirge 271To a Mouse, on turning her up in her nest, with the plough,
November 1785 273
From Francis Grose, The Antiquities of Scotland (1791) Tam o’ Shanter. A Tale 275Song [‘Oh my love’s like the red, red rose’] 281
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) 281From A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)
[On Poverty] 283
From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) Introduction 284[On the Lack of Learning] 287[A Revolution in Female Manners] 288[On State Education] 289
Helen Maria Williams (1761–1827) 291From Poems (1786)
Part of an Irregular Fragment, found in a Dark Passage of the Tower 296
From Letters written in France in the summer of 1790 (1790) [A Visit to the Bastille] 302[On Revolution] 303[Retrospect from England] 303
From Julia, A Novel (1790) The Bastille, A Vision 304
A Farewell, for Two Years, to England. A Poem (1791) 307
From Letters containing a Sketch of the Politics of France (1795) [Madame Roland] 312
Joanna Baillie (1762–1851) 313From A Series of Plays (1798)
Introductory Discourse (extracts) 314
William Lisle Bowles (1762–1851) 321From Fourteen Sonnets (1789)
Sonnet VIII. To the River Itchin, near Winton 321
Wu_ftoc.indd xiiiWu_ftoc.indd xiii 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xivC
onte
nts John Thelwall (1764–1834) 322
From Poems Written in Close Confinement in the Tower and Newgate upon a Charge of Treason (1795) Stanzas on hearing for certainty that we were to be tried for high treason 324
From The Tribune (1795) Dangerous tendency of the attempt to suppress political discussion 325Civic oration on the anniversary of the acquittal of the lecturer
[5 December], being a vindication of the principles, and a review of the conduct, that placed him at the bar of the Old Bailey. Delivered Wednesday 9 December 1795 (extracts) 326
Letter from John Thelwall to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 10 May 1796 (extract) 327
From Poems Written Chiefly in Retirement (1801) Lines written at Bridgwater in Somersetshire, on 27 July 1797,
during a long excursion in quest of a peaceful retreat 329
William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (1798) 333
Contents of Lyrical Ballads (1798) are presented in the order in which they appeared when first published in volume form, not that of composition as elsewhere in this volume. Advertisement (Wordsworth) 337The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in seven parts (Coleridge) 339The Foster-Mother’s Tale: A Dramatic Fragment (Coleridge) 357Lines left upon a seat in a Yew-Tree which stands near the Lake
of Esthwaite, on a desolate part of the shore, yet commanding a beautiful prospect (Wordsworth) 359
The Nightingale; A Conversational Poem, written in April 1798 (Coleridge) 360
The Female Vagrant (Wordsworth) 363Goody Blake and Harry Gill: A True Story (Wordsworth) 370Lines written at a small distance from my house, and sent by my little
boy to the person to whom they are addressed (Wordsworth) 374Simon Lee, the old Huntsman, with an incident in which he was
concerned (Wordsworth) 375Anecdote for Fathers, showing how the art of lying may be
taught (Wordsworth) 378We are seven (Wordsworth) 380Lines written in early spring (Wordsworth) 382The Thorn (Wordsworth) 383The Last of the Flock (Wordsworth) 390The Dungeon (Coleridge) 392The Mad Mother (Wordsworth) 393The Idiot Boy (Wordsworth) 396
Wu_ftoc.indd xivWu_ftoc.indd xiv 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xv
Con
tent
sLines written near Richmond, upon the Thames, at Evening (Wordsworth) 408
Expostulation and Reply (Wordsworth) 409The Tables Turned: an evening scene, on the same subject
(Wordsworth) 410Old Man Travelling; Animal Tranquillity and Decay,
A Sketch (Wordsworth) 411The Complaint of a Forsaken Indian Woman (Wordsworth) 412The Convict (Wordsworth) 414Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting
the banks of the Wye during a tour, 13 July 1798 (Wordsworth) 415
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) 420A Night-Piece 426
The Discharged Soldier 427
The Ruined Cottage 431First Part 431Second Part 436
The Pedlar 444
[Not useless do I deem] 453
[Away, away – it is the air] 457
[The Two-Part Prelude] 457First Part 457Second Part 470
[There is an active principle] (extract) 483
From Lyrical Ballads (1800) [There was a boy] 484Nutting 485[Strange fits of passion I have known] 487Song [‘She dwelt among th’ untrodden ways’] 488[A slumber did my spirit seal] 488[Three years she grew in sun and shower] 488
[The Prelude: Glad Preamble] 490
[Prospectus to ‘The Recluse’] 491
From Lyrical Ballads (1800) The Brothers: A Pastoral Poem 493Preface to Lyrical Ballads 506Note to ‘The Thorn’ 518Note to Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ 520Michael: A Pastoral Poem 520
Wu_ftoc.indd xvWu_ftoc.indd xv 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xviC
onte
nts From Poems in Two Volumes (1807)
[I travelled among unknown men] 533
From Lyrical Ballads (1802) Appendix to the Preface to Lyrical Ballads:
On Poetic Diction (extracts) 533Preface to Lyrical Ballads (extracts from revised text) 536
From Poems in Two Volumes (1807) To H.C., Six Years Old 538The Rainbow 539
[These chairs they have no words to utter] 540
From Poems in Two Volumes (1807) Resolution and Independence 541[I grieved for Buonaparte] 545[The world is too much with us] 545Composed upon Westminster Bridge, 3 September 1802 546To Toussaint L’Ouverture 547[It is a beauteous evening, calm and free] 5471 September 1802 548London 1802 548[Great men have been among us] 549Ode (from 1815 entitled Ode. Intimations of Immortality
from Recollections of Early Childhood) 549
From The Five-Book Prelude [The Infant Prodigy] (from Book IV) 554
From Poems (1815) Daffodils [‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’] 558
From Poems in Two Volumes (1807) Stepping Westward 559The Solitary Reaper 560
From The Thirteen-Book Prelude [The Arab Dream] (from Book V) 561[Crossing the Alps] (from Book VI) 565[The London Beggar] (from Book VII) 568[London and the Den of Yordas] (from Book VIII) 568[Paris, December 1791] (from Book IX) 570[Blois, Spring 1792] (from Book IX) 571[Beaupuy] (from Book IX) 572[Godwinism] (from Book X) 575[Confusion and Recovery; Racedown, Spring 1796] (from Book X) 576[The Climbing of Snowdon] (from Book XIII) 578
From Poems in Two Volumes (1807) Elegiac Stanzas, Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle in a Storm,
Painted by Sir George Beaumont 583
Wu_ftoc.indd xviWu_ftoc.indd xvi 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xvii
Con
tent
sA Complaint 585Star Gazers 585[St Paul’s] 586
From Poems (1815) Surprised by joy – impatient as the wind 587Preface (extract) 588
From The River Duddon (1820) Conclusion (‘I thought of thee, my partner and my guide’) 591
From The Fourteen-Book Prelude (1850), Book VII (extract) [Genius of Burke!] 591
From Yarrow Revisited, and Other Poems (1835) Airey-Force Valley 592
From Poetical Works (1836) Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg 593
From The Fenwick Notes (1843) [On the ‘Ode’] (extract) 595[On ‘We are Seven’] (extract) 595
Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) 597
From The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) [Melrose Abbey] 599Caledonia 599
From Marmion (1808), from Canto V Lochinvar 600
From Tales of My Landlord (1819); The Bride of Lammermoor Lucy Ashton’s Song 602
From J. G. Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Scott (1837–8) Scott’s Diary: 12 February 1826 602
Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855) 603From The Grasmere Journals
Wednesday 3 September 1800 604Friday 3 October 1800 (extract) 605Thursday 15 April 1802 605Thursday 29 April 1802 6064 October 1802 607
A Cottage in Grasmere Vale 608
After-recollection at sight of the same cottage 609
A Sketch 609
Thoughts on my Sickbed 609
Wu_ftoc.indd xviiWu_ftoc.indd xvii 12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM12/19/2011 12:43:33 PM
xviiiC
onte
nts Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) 611
From Sonnets from Various Authors (1796) Sonnet V. To the River Otter 618
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to George Dyer, 10 March 1795 (extract) 619
From Poems on Various Subjects (1796) Effusion XXXV. Composed 20 August 1795, at Clevedon, Somersetshire
parallel text 620
From Poetical Works (1834) The Eolian Harp. Composed at Clevedon, Somersetshire (1834) parallel text 621
From Poems (1797) Reflections on having left a Place of Retirement 626Religious Musings (extract) 628
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to John Thelwall, 19 November 1796 (extract) 630
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to Robert Southey, 17 July 1797 (extract) (including early version of This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison) parallel text 632
From Poetical Works (1834) This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison (1834) parallel text 633
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to John Thelwall, 14 October 1797 (extract) 638
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to Thomas Poole, 16 October 1797 (extract) 638
From Christabel; Kubla Khan: A Vision; The Pains of Sleep (1816) Of the Fragment of ‘Kubla Khan’ 639[Kubla Khan] (MS) parallel text 640Kubla Khan (1816) parallel text 641
From Fears in Solitude, written in 1798 during an alarm of an invasion; to which are added France: an Ode; and Frost at Midnight (1798) Frost at Midnight (1798) parallel text 644
From Poetical Works (1834) Frost at Midnight (1834) parallel text 645
From Fears in Solitude, written in 1798 during an alarm of an invasion;to which are added France: an Ode; and Frost at Midnight (1798)France: An Ode 650Fears in Solitude. Written April 1798, During the Alarm of an Invasion 653
From Christabel; Kubla Khan: A Vision; The Pains of Sleep (1816) Christabel 659 Preface 659 Part I 660 The Conclusion to Part I 666 Part II 667 The Conclusion to Part II 675
Wu_ftoc.indd xviiiWu_ftoc.indd xviii 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xix
Con
tent
sLetter from S. T. Coleridge to Thomas Poole, 6 April 1799 (extract) 676
From The Annual Anthology (1800) Lines Written in the Album at Elbingerode, in the Hartz Forest 677
The Day-Dream 678
From The Morning Post (6 September 1802) The Picture; or, The Lover’s Resolution 679
A Letter to Sara Hutchinson, 4 April 1802. Sunday Evening 683
From Poetical Works (1828) A Day-Dream 692
From Sibylline Leaves (1817) Dejection: An Ode 693
From The Morning Post (11 September 1802) Chamouny; the Hour Before Sunrise. A Hymn 697
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to Robert Southey, 11 September 1803 (extract) (including early version of The Pains of Sleep) parallel text 700
From Christabel; Kubla Khan: A Vision; The Pains of Sleep (1816) The Pains of Sleep (1816) parallel text 701
From The Morning Post (11 October 1802) Epigram on Spots in the Sun, from Wernicke 704
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to Thomas Poole, 14 October 1803 (extract) 704
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to Richard Sharp, 15 January 1804 (extract) 705
To William Wordsworth. Lines composed, for the greater part, on the night on which he finished the recitation of his poem in Thirteen Books, concerning the growth and history of his own mind, January 1807, Coleorton, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch 706
Letter from S. T. Coleridge to William Wordsworth, 30 May 1815 (extract) 709
From Biographia Literaria (1817) Chapter 13 (extract) 711Chapter 14 (extracts) 712
From Sibylline Leaves (1817) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In seven parts. 714
From Poetical Works (1829) Constancy to an Ideal Object 731
From Table Talk (edited from MS) [On ‘The Ancient Mariner’] 732[The True Way for a Poet] 732[On ‘The Recluse’] 732[Keats] 733
Wu_ftoc.indd xixWu_ftoc.indd xix 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxC
onte
nts Francis, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850) 734
From Edinburgh Review (November 1814) Review of William Wordsworth, ‘The Excursion’ (extracts) 735
Robert Southey (1774–1843) 741From The Monthly Magazine (October 1797)
Hannah, A Plaintive Tale 744
From The Morning Post (30 June 1798) The Idiot 746
From The Morning Post (9 August 1798) The Battle of Blenheim 748
From The Morning Post (26 September 1798) Night 750
From Critical Review (October 1798) Review of William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge,
‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1798) 751
From Poems (1799) The Sailor who had Served in the Slave-Trade 753
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) 756From Blank Verse by Charles Lloyd and Charles Lamb (1798)
The Old Familiar Faces 760
From The Annual Anthology (1799) Living without God in the World 761
Letter from Charles Lamb to William Wordsworth, 30 January 1801 (extract) 762
Letter from Charles Lamb to John Taylor, 30 June 1821 (extract) 763
From Elia (1823) Imperfect Sympathies 764Witches, and Other Night-Fears 769
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) 774From The Round Table (1817)
On Gusto 779
From The New Monthly Magazine (February 1822) The Fight 782
From The Liberal (April 1823) My First Acquaintance with Poets 794
Wu_ftoc.indd xxWu_ftoc.indd xx 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxi
Con
tent
sFrom The Spirit of the Age (1825) Mr Coleridge 808
James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) 816From The Examiner (14 May 1815)
To Hampstead 820
From The Story of Rimini, A Poem (1816) Canto III. The Fatal Passion (extract) 820
From The Examiner (21 September 1817) On the Grasshopper and Cricket 825
From Foliage (1818) To Percy Shelley, on the degrading notions of deity 826To the Same 826To John Keats 827
From The Indicator (1820) A Now, Descriptive of a Hot Day 827
Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859) 829From Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822)
[Ann of Oxford Street] 835[The Malay] 837[The Pains of Opium] 839[The Pains of Opium: Visions of Piranesi] 841[Oriental Dreams] 842[Easter Sunday] 843
From London Magazine (October 1823) On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth 845
From Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine (February 1839) [On Wordsworth’s ‘There was a boy’] 848
From Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine (March 1845) Suspiria de Profundis: The Affliction of Childhood
(extract) 850
From Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine ( June 1845) Suspiria de Profundis: The Palimpsest (extract) 855
From Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine ( July 1845) Suspiria de Profundis: Finale to Part I. Savannah-la-Mar 856
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846) 858[The Immortal Dinner] 860
Wu_ftoc.indd xxiWu_ftoc.indd xxi 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxiiC
onte
nts George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824) 862
From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: A Romaunt (1812) Written Beneath a Picture 872
From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: A Romaunt (2nd edn, 1812) Stanzas 872
From Hebrew Melodies (1815) She Walks in Beauty 874
From Poems (1816) When we two parted 875Fare Thee Well! 876
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto the Third (1816) 878
From The Prisoner of Chillon and Other Poems (1816) Prometheus 912Stanzas to Augusta 914
Epistle to Augusta 915
From The Prisoner of Chillon and Other Poems (1816) Darkness 919
Manfred, A Dramatic Poem (1817) 922Dramatis Personae 922Act I 922Act II 932Act III 947
Letter from Lord Byron to Thomas Moore, 28 February 1817 (extract) (including ‘So we’ll go no more a-roving’) 958
Don Juan (1819) Dedication 959Canto I 964Canto II 1015
To the Po. 2 June 1819 1064
Letter from Lord Byron to Douglas Kinnaird, 26 October 1819 (extract) 1065
Messalonghi, 22 January 1824. On this day I complete my thirty-sixth year 1065
Richard Woodhouse, Jr (1788–1834) 1067Letter from Richard Woodhouse to John Taylor,
c.27 October 1818 (extract) 1067
Letter from Richard Woodhouse to John Taylor, 19 September 1819 (extract) 1069
Wu_ftoc.indd xxiiWu_ftoc.indd xxii 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxiii
Con
tent
sPercy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) 1070From Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude, and Other Poems (1816)
To Wordsworth 1081Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude 1081
Journal-Letter from Percy Bysshe Shelley to Thomas Love Peacock, 22 July to 2 August 1816 (extract) 1100
From The Examiner (19 January 1817) Hymn to Intellectual Beauty 1101
From History of a Six Weeks’ Tour through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland by Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley (1817) Mont Blanc. Lines written in the Vale of Chamouni 1104
From The Examiner (11 January 1818) Ozymandias 1108
On Love 1108
From Rosalind and Helen (1819) Lines written among the Euganean Hills, October 1818 1110
From Posthumous Poems (1824) Stanzas written in Dejection, near Naples 1119
The Mask of Anarchy. Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester 1120
From Prometheus Unbound (1820) Ode to the West Wind 1131
England in 1819 1134
‘Lift not the painted veil’ 1135
From Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments (1840) On Life 1135
Prometheus Unbound (1820) Preface 1138Dramatis Personae 1141Act I 1142Act II 1166Act III 1185Act IV 1198
From Prometheus Unbound (1820) To a Skylark 1215
Epipsychidion (1821) 1218
A Defence of Poetry; or, Remarks Suggested by an Essay Entitled ‘The Four Ages of Poetry’ (extracts) 1233
Wu_ftoc.indd xxiiiWu_ftoc.indd xxiii 1/11/2012 11:44:41 AM1/11/2012 11:44:41 AM
xxivC
onte
nts Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats (1821) 1248
From Posthumous Poems (1824) Music, when soft voices die 1266When passion’s trance is overpast 1266
To Edward Williams (‘The serpent is shut out from Paradise’) 1266
With a Guitar, to Jane 1268
John Clare (1793–1864) 1271From The London Magazine (1822)
To Elia 1272
Sonnet 1272
From The Shepherd’s Calendar (1827) January (A Cottage Evening) (extract) 1273June (extract) 1274
To the Snipe 1275
The Flitting 1278
The Badger 1284
A Vision 1285
‘I am’ 1286
An Invite to Eternity 1286
Little Trotty Wagtail 1287
Silent Love 1288
[‘O could I be as I have been’] 1288
Felicia Dorothea Hemans (née Browne) (1793–1835) 1290From Poems (1808)
Written on the Sea-Shore 1296
From Welsh Melodies (1822) The Rock of Cader Idris 1296
From The Works of Mrs Hemans (1839) Manuscript fragments in prose 1297
From Records of Woman: With Other Poems (1828) Records of Woman (complete sequence) 1298
Dedication 1299Arabella Stuart 1299The Bride of the Greek Isle 1307The Switzer’s Wife 1312
Wu_ftoc.indd xxivWu_ftoc.indd xxiv 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxv
Con
tent
sProperzia Rossi 1315Gertrude, or Fidelity till Death 1318Imelda 1320Edith, a Tale of the Woods 1324The Indian City 1329The Peasant Girl of the Rhône 1334Indian Woman’s Death Song 1336Joan of Arc, in Rheims 1338Pauline 1341Juana 1344The American Forest Girl 1345Costanza 1347Madeline, a Domestic Tale 1350The Queen of Prussia’s Tomb 1353The Memorial Pillar 1355The Grave of a Poetess 1357
Miscellaneous Pieces (1828) The Homes of England 1359The Sicilian Captive 1360To Wordsworth 1362The Spirit’s Mysteries 1363The Graves of a Household 1365
From Songs of the Affections, with Other Poems (1830) The Land of Dreams 1366Nature’s Farewell 1367Second Sight 1369
From The Works of Mrs Hemans (1839) Despondency and Aspiration 1370
From The New Monthly Magazine (1835) Thoughts During Sickness: II. Sickness Like Night 1374
John Gibson Lockhart (1794–1854) 1375From Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine (August 1818)
The Cockney School of Poetry No. IV (extracts) 1379
John Keats (1795–1821) 1384From Poems (1817)
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer 1396Addressed to Haydon 1397On the Grasshopper and the Cricket 1398
From Endymion: A Poetic Romance (1818) (extracts) [‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’] 1398[Hymn to Pan] 1399[The Pleasure Thermometer] 1401
Wu_ftoc.indd xxvWu_ftoc.indd xxv 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxviC
onte
nts Letter from John Keats to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817 (extract) 1403
Letter from John Keats to George and Tom Keats, 21 December 1817 (extract) 1404
On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again 1405
Sonnet: ‘When I have fears that I may cease to be’ 1406
Letter from John Keats to John Hamilton Reynolds, 3 February 1818 (extract) 1406
From Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil 1407
Letter from John Keats to John Hamilton Reynolds, 3 May 1818 (extract) 1423
Letter from John Keats to Richard Woodhouse, 27 October 1818 1424
From Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and Other Poems (1820)Hyperion: A Fragment 1425The Eve of St Agnes 1446
Journal-Letter from John Keats to George and Georgiana Keats, 14 February–3 May 1819 (extracts) 1458
La Belle Dame Sans Merci: A Ballad 1460
From Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) Ode to Psyche 1462Ode to a Nightingale 1464Ode on a Grecian Urn 1466Ode on Melancholy 1469Ode on Indolence 1470Lamia 1472To Autumn 1489
The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream 1490
[Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art] 1502
[This living hand, now warm and capable] 1503
Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) 1503From Poems (1833)
Sonnet IX (‘Long time a child, and still a child’) 1504
From Essays and Marginalia (1851) Sonnet: ‘When I review the course that I have run’ 1504To Wordsworth 1504
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin) (1797–1851) 1505From Journals 1506
28 May 1817 150615 May 1824 1506
Wu_ftoc.indd xxviWu_ftoc.indd xxvi 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
xxvii
Con
tent
sOn Reading Wordsworth’s Lines on Peele Castle 1507
A Dirge 1508
[Oh listen while I sing to thee] 1509
From The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. Mary Shelley (1839) Note on the ‘Prometheus Unbound’ (extracts) 1509
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) 1512From The Improvisatrice; and Other Poems (1824)
The Improvisatrice: Introduction 1518[Sappho’s Song] 1519
From New Monthly Magazine (1835) Stanzas on the Death of Mrs Hemans 1520
From Fisher’s Drawing Room Scrap-Book (1838) Felicia Hemans 1522
From The Works of L. E. Landon (1838) Scenes in London: Piccadilly 1525The Princess Victoria 1527
From The Zenana, and Minor Poems of L.E.L. (1839) On Wordsworth’s Cottage, near Grasmere Lake 1528
From Life and Literary Remains of L.E.L. (1841) The Poet’s Lot 1530Death in the Flower 1531Experience Too Late 1531The Farewell 1531
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) 1532From The Globe and Traveller (30 June 1824)
Stanzas on the Death of Lord Byron (composed shortly after 14 May 1824) 1533
From New Monthly Magazine (1835) Stanzas Addressed to Miss Landon, and suggested by her ‘Stanzas
on the Death of Mrs Hemans’ 1534
From The Athenaeum (26 January 1839) L.E.L.’s Last Question 1535
From The Athenaeum (29 October 1842) Sonnet on Mr Haydon’s Portrait of Mr Wordsworth 1537
Index of First Lines 1538
Index to Headnotes and Notes 1543
Wu_ftoc.indd xxviiWu_ftoc.indd xxvii 12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM12/19/2011 12:43:34 PM
Illustrations
1. The front page of Leigh Hunt’s Examiner for 14 December 1817 xxxv 2. Anna Laetitia Barbauld’s Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, as it
first appeared in 1812 xxxviii 3. Felicia Hemans’s Records of Woman (second edition, 1828) xliii 4. Hazlitt’s The Spirit of the Age, first published in 1825 xliv 5. Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), engraved by Chapman after
an unknown artist, published 1798 35 6. Hannah More (1745–1833) painted by Henry William Pickersgill, 1822 56 7. Charlotte Smith (1749–1806) engraved by Pierre Condé from a
portrait by John Opie, published 1797 82 8. ‘London’, by William Blake 206 9. Helen Maria Williams (1761–1827), engraved after a painting by
an unknown artist, published 1816 29210. Dove Cottage, Grasmere, home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth,
1799–1809 52111. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) by Peter Vandyke, 1795 61212. Charles Lamb (1775–1834) reading three books at once by candlelight,
as portrayed by Daniel Maclise 75713. Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) striking a raffish pose during the 1830s,
as portrayed by Daniel Maclise 81714. Shelley’s ‘Hymn to Intellectual Beauty’ as it was first published,
in the pages of Leigh Hunt’s Examiner 107415. The Peterloo Massacre, by an unknown artist, 1819 112116. Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793–1835), bust by Angus Fletcher, 1829 129217. A View of Cheapside in the City of London, by T. M. Baynes after
W. Duryer, published 11 December 1823 138518. The Sosibios Vase, drawing attributed to Keats 146719. Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) as portrayed
by Daniel Maclise, c.1830–5 1513
Wu_flast.indd xxviiiWu_flast.indd xxviii 12/19/2011 12:42:13 PM12/19/2011 12:42:13 PM