Romantic traces in the ecclesiastical sonnets of William Wordsworth Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Granger, Byrd H. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 29/09/2021 07:10:09 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/319067 ROMANTIC TRACES IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH by Byrd Howell Granger A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS in the Graduate College, University of Arizona 1952 Approved: Director of Thesis A TABLE OF 'CONTENTS Chapter '■ ' “. ■ . ; ;; Page / iNTRODnq#om: , - ; ; 1 lo. : THE' SONNET AS A ROMANTIC "ELEMENT AND. ITS : • USE IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS > » „ 0 20 H e VORDSWORTH’S VOCABULARY AND THE ECGLESI- . ASTICAL : SONNETS „ 0 , »; c 0 0 ; a 0 28 III 0 THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETSTHEIR HISTORY ' - and m ~ m m s i r w identic" elemts in PART :,<t o o o o 6 o ' o o » o o a o o e « 39 IV. AN ANALYSIS OF ROMANTIC El M b NTS^IN PART - -S ' . .: II OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS, » . - .: 70 V T AN. ANALYSIS OF rIjMAUTIC "ELEMENTS ilN PART TT ; III OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS 0 - ... 1 ^ 9 . , VI o- SUMMARY e a „ III: '0.: a;’ .o;...T:« . I:;.: .• ='.: o,;. .1 1 0 • _ , . APPENDH a ■ t> a o. o a o a o o. o a q a;' ® a 121 - TABLE Ir FREQUENCY OF WORDSWORTH?S FAVORITE WORDS-IN THE ECCLESIASTIC CAL SONNETS a . ... «. a e « . > 0 » » 121 TABLE II: FREQUENCY OF WORDSWORTH^S FAVORITE WORDS AND THEIR CL ASS IFI CAP­ TION AS ROMANTIC OR NON-ROMANTIC IN ;■ THE ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS (PART I) 123 : - ; TABLE III: -' THE. SAME9 PART II ..... a 124 TABLE IV: THE SAME, PART I1I» * . 125 BIBLIOGRAPHY A i , 0. ■. -. I ;o; a. 0 » » . » . 0126: Stop, Christ i.ah passer-by I Stop, child of God 9 And- read with gentle breasto Beneath this sod. A poet lies, or that which once seemed hee ; . ; - , ;" Samuel Taylor. Coleridge, "Epitaph" INTRODUCTION The .major problem which faces any student of Wordsworth ■ is the complexity of the nian0 It is one which has attracted .. the attention of scholars whog after turning out tomes : ■ , concerning specific.phases of ¥ordsworth 3 admit, candidly that the problem iss in the final word 5 incapable of solution*• The difficulty may lie in the fact that Wordsworth lived long enough to experience changes which his short-lived contempo­ raries - Shelley,'Byronj Keats - lacked time, perhaps^ to ; encompass ® Born ahead of and H y i n g long after them, a poet - for:.whom time' is "measured in decades rather than in. years, . William Wordsworth presents a Complicated picture« ; Part of that picture is shihingly beautiful in its , poetic expression® Parts;of it seem'dull and lifeless 0 Occasionally to the appraising.eye the hand of the artist ' seems to have left streaks of color which are the very life of the finer portions at the center of the canvas® The : Ecclesiastical Sonnets were added to the poet? S work when it , W.as. Seven-eighths completed» It Is the purpose of the writer to examine the Ecclesiastical Sonnets closely to ascertain ; ; . to what extent the characteristics which mark the Work of the poet in his most productive years are reflected in the late-born sonnet series ® w,- . : . , i ' In order to understand what elements are reeognized not only as a part of those denoting.the'romantic era but also as reflecting Wordsworth in his prime, it has been necessary to examine the poet ? s work and the standard critical references in the.field. These are noted in the bibliographyo■It is not within the scope of this paper to present a biographical resume er an abstract of critical opinions 0 The approach is neither biographical nor philosophical^ but criticale The first step to be taken is to.establish what elements .are those which place Wordsworth In his unique position in , the era of romantic poetry# Even a cursory study of his work reveals that as a poet he moved through various .stages, each dependent upon.that preceding, yet each brilliantly characteristic as a separate phaSe» As A. L= Strout makes clear, there is not simply one Wordsworth;. the poet displays three distinct styles 0 -According to Strout $ they are „ o 0the early Popeian "Evening Walk" and . : ' ^Descriptive Sketches^" one; the Lyrical Ballads , two; the Poems ‘.of ISO?, three <, >:o-0 : they . prove Wordsworth to have been a great experi­ menter in verse 6 The language of "Yew TreesjM ■ : for example, is as unlike as possible the • ■ language of the simple ballads: the Syntax, word order,-vocabulary are MiltoniCo The style of 1 0 0 7 has become literary, yet purged of artici- ciality. 1 ■ . : 1 . It-.• Only " the s epond, and third stages -are included in that ' period in'which Wordsworth produced his finest work in its le d Ao L 0 Strout, "Wordsworth$s Dessication," Modern language Review, 7JDLY (1940), 170o / " : 3o major proportions for both the ^Evening Walk” and the ^Descriptive Sketches” belong to the early years before the poet had found his poetic voice 0 It was 5 however$ a develop­ ing voicej for the young poet was already speaking in some­ what deeper tones than those who had preceded him*- Is George McLean Harper says of the ^Descriptive Sketches 3 ” ”He describes the life of poor and humble people without a trace of condescension* This attitude was as yet so rare in English authors as to be almost novel 0 He paints with that kind of sympathy which, really shares the feelings Of . • 2 - - - its objectso” The progress of the poet8s genius 3 howevers is not the concern of this paper except as it makes clear those elements which may be said to characterize Wordsworth8s romanticism* Thus it may hot be amiss to point out that" i Go W= Meyer believes that Wordsworth8s early delineation of "fellow beings in distress were conceived in the.older style, as mute and static parts or adjuncts of the scenery ■ - 3 ;■ . he was describing3 " but that the poet18added point and effectiveness to his social criticism by creating real and recognizable victims of society to tell us of their misery in words ostensibly of their own choosing88 in 88Guilt and Sorrow * 88 With this view Harper is" in accord® . Wordsworth 8 s 2® George McLean Harperp William Wordsworth, His Life, Works and Influence, p 0 60® 3o George Wilbur Meyer; Wordsworth8s Formative Years, p*-. 151-15.2, - . — ” interest; in the individual f ound. its apogee in the Lyrical - : Balladso How much concern for individuals^ particularly those of the lower classes and in distress? remains.in- the Iccleslastlcal Sonnets is a point which will be assayed in ' ■ .this study® - , y: : Wordsworth 1 s :interest in individuals was closely allied to: his interest' in nature , Which., however, - was not the mere viewing of nature with the. old, accustomed esthetic eyeQ Wordsworth added something to the traditional view of nature® He -was not only an observer, but a true partaker of nature, into which he entered in a communion of spirit® H, Wo :Garrod says that “Wordsworth had these experiences at first mostly in.connexion with the appearances of what we call vNature?, and they came to him, not by mental abstrac­ tion, but through the senses® ®®® they were apprehended by that part of the faculties which may be called ’Nature* as ' ^ V X.:':, ■ : 4 '■ \ v :.. ; distinguished from Reason o’1. • Garrod adds that the poet found such experiences With nature the source of good® ; Herbert Read indicates that the poet’s attitude toward nature extends beyond this concept by distinguishing between the life of nature and the life of man, and that t h i s -':' IX- X ■;' • :X: ■: . is perhaps the most important point to remember X X in considering Wdrdsworth’s poetry® X.® it is. -:; to this carefully kept distinction that we ©We - 4e Ho- Wo Garrod-, Wordsworth: Lectures and Essays, p® 9&® ; the absence of sentimentality in his attitude" taward Nature*, The/ romantic poet projects into ' Nature his - own f eelings and sentiments * . „ » * For • ; ilordsworth 3 however Nature had her own life r which was ihdepehdent of ours/, though a part of the same (ladhead«^/^ and Nature, Mind and the external world? are/geared together and in unison / . complete the motive principle, of the universe-® 5. : . The foregoing applies particularly to ideas present in that poetry which followed/on the heels of the poet 8 s early" : work with/ its neo-= el as sic shadings o, But Wordsworth was not . content to accept single ideas 5 and in his early concept of ::nature he failed to find an answer to the problem of the Origin of man’s mindo He believed that nature instructed men for moral good, but the problem of the mind, according to Tif® Beach, ’’was too difficult of solution by/reference merely to nature i ,.a growing dualism shows itself in Words'* worth’s emphasis on/imagination as /a/spiritudl-facuity necessary to the reading of nature , and he. ehded by virtually ’ giving up nature and deriving man’s spirit directly ’from God, " " /;: / ■ _ 6 " ■ /" ' : -■■■ ■ ■'./" / ,:/ ■" / ' ^ "... who is our homes’,f ; Beach comments further that the poet was seeking for a moral philosophy which would/guide men to ’’just and reasonable practices in social life, and so ftq] .