Readi ng Wordsworth after McGann:

Moment s of Negativity in "Ti ntern Abbey"

and the Immortality Ode
P E T E R S I MO N S E N
Is it not possible, under certain conditions and at certain times, for
very important things to betray themselves in very slight
indications? . . . So let us not under-value small signs: perhaps from
them it may be possible to come upon the tracks of greater things.
(Freud: 31)
Si nce the mi d 1980s , J e r ome J . Mc Ga n n has been t he " mos t influential
cri ti c of Roma nt i c i s m" ( Cr oni n: 5) . Mc Ga nn' s i nterventi ons i n this field
have been deci si ve in openi ng and revi si ng the Roma nt i c canon as well as
i n al teri ng our appr oach to Roma nt i c texts. Du e in l arge part t o Mc Ga n n
ma ny mor e very di fferent poet s f rom t he peri od are t oday bei ng read in
t he hi stori cal , cont ext ual manner he has t heori sed and advocat ed. As s uch
hi s wor k has been a nd is a sal utary s ource of i nspi rat i on for mos t
cont empor ar y Romant i ci s t s . Yet one seri ous pr obl em remai ns : in book
after book, essay after essay, Mc Ga n n features Wi l l i am Wor ds wor t h i n the
rol e of t he part l y cunni ng reacti onary, partl y del uded idealist, who
wr ongl y s uppres s es parti cul ar soci o-hi stori cal or psychi c actual i ti es f rom
t he surface o f his poet ry. In his maj or wor k in Roma nt i c cri ti ci sm, The
Romantic Ideology, whi ch pr ovi ded the scri pt and set t he s t age for Angl o-
Amer i can Roma nt i c cri ti ci sm well i nt o the 1990s , one of Mc Ga nn' s
central premi s es is t hat Wor ds wor t h' s poet ry enacts " a strategy of
di s pl acement " wher eby " Th e po e m anni hi l ates its hi story, bi ographi cal
a nd soci o-hi stori cal al i ke, and replaces these parti cul ars wi t h a record of
pur e cons ci ous nes s " ( 90) . Her e it onl y remai ns for Mc Ga n n to add " t hat
Wor ds wor t h' s . . . is a false consci ousness needs scarcel y t o be s ai d" ( i bi d. ) .
It is not Mc Ga nn' s as s umpt i on of a historically elevated posi t i on f rom
whi ch t o pr onounce a devastati ng cri ti que of the escapist t endency in
Wor ds wor t hi an Romant i ci s m' s i magi nati ve proj ect that seems to be
79
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
probl emat i c. Surel y Romant i c poetry of the Words wort hi an ki nd at first
si ght often appears to wi sh to be abl e to transcend rather than articulate its
particular material enabl i ng condi t i ons, whether these are upset t i ng soci o-
historical events exterior to the poet , or psychi c events interior to the poet.
Th e probl em is Mc Ga nn' s belief that Words wort h manages successfully to
di spl ace and even ' annihilate' whatever causes his anxieties and crises. For
Mc Ga n n Wor ds wor t h remai ns in a state of naive assurance that there is
i ndeed full compens at i on in the i magi nati ve idealities proj ected in the poeti c
works. However, neither Wor ds wor t h nor his poems were ever as convi nced
that they had sufficiently stable grounds for asserting such assurance as they
are ma de out to be in the criticism of Mc Ga nn.
1
T o substanti ate this cl ai m
the fol l owi ng attends to ' moment s of negativity' in Words wort h' s poetry;
moment s in whi ch it anticipates an undel uded and sceptical cri ti que of its
own transcendent as s umpt i ons and affirmative vi si ons.
2
The expl orat i on of these mome nt s of negati vi ty in Wor ds wor t h has
been a persi stent concern of muc h twenti eth cent ury Wor ds wor t h
cri ti ci sm f rom A. C. Bradl ey t hr ough Geof f rey Ha r t ma n and Paul de Ma n
t o Frances Fer gus on, Da vi d S i mps on and ma ny others. The s e critics have
i n vari ous ways devel oped i nsi ghts provi ded by Bradl ey who in 1900
t urned agai nst the Vi ct ori an recepti on of Wor ds wor t h. For Bradl ey,
Wor ds wor t h was not the nostal gi c, necessarily sol aci ng and over-
emot i onal lover of nature readers s uch as J ohn St uart Mi l l a nd Ma t t he w
Ar nol d had f ound hi m to be. Wor ds wor t h was a pr ot o- moder n poet who
conf ront ed "povert y, cri me, i nsani ty, rui ned i nnocence, t ort uri ng hopes
do o me d to exti ncti on, solitary angui s h, even despai r" , and who " di d not
avert hi s eyes f rom i t" (Bradl ey: 124) . Thi s under s t andi ng of Wor ds wor t h
s t ands in danger o f bei ng curbed by Mc Ga nn' s powerful i nfl uence i nsofar
1
For other critiques of the understanding of Romanticism professed by McGann and
orher new historicists and cultural materialists, see M. H. Abrams, "On Political Readings
of the Lyrical Ballads', in his How to Do Things with Texts: Essays in Criticism and Critical
Theory (New York: Norton, 1989), pp. 364-391, Peter Manning, "Placing Poor Susan:
Wordsworth and the New Historicism", in his Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts (New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 300-320, and Susan Wolfson,
"Questioning 'The Romantic Ideology': Wordsworth", Revue Internationale de Philosophic
44:3 (1990), pp. 429-447. In granting Wordsworth some of the insights the new
historicists typically refuse him the essays by Manning and Wolfson have been most useful.
2
For a consideration of the role and articulation of negativity in literature, see the essays
in Sanford Budick and Wolfgang Iser (eds.), Languages of The Unsayable: The Play of
Negativity in Literature and Literary Theory (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996).
80
Peter Simonsen
as its pr obabl e cons equence is a less t han desi rabl e return of Wor ds wor t h
st udi es t o Vi ct ori an condi t i ons .
Wor ds wor t h often f unct i ons as the nor m agai nst whi ch mos t other
poet s of the Roma nt i c per i od appear i nteresti ng a nd appeal i ng to
Mc Ga n n . In an essay on versi ons of el egy i n Roma nt i c poetry, " Th e
Fai l ures of Roma nt i c i s m" , Mc Ga n n di scusses what he calls ' a poet ry o f
fai l ure' as a speci al " mo d e of poet ry" : " Poet ry as the expressi on a nd even
t he e mbodi me nt of loss a nd f ai l ure" ( 271) .
3
Thi s is a radi cal l y dar k poet ry,
whi ch Mc Ga n n typi cal l y champi ons , a nd it exhi bi ts an " I ndur at ed
Byr oni c s or r ow [which] signifies a l oss f rom whi ch there is no
r e de mpt i on" ( 273) . Accor di ng t o Mc Ga n n , this dar k mo d e of poet ry,
whi ch is pract i ced by Byr on, Keat s and Shel l ey, deri ves f rom s uch late
ei ght eent h cent ury elegiac wome n poet s as Char l ot t e Smi t h a nd Ma r y
Robi ns on, a nd gets rearti cul ated by such later poet s as Fel i ci a He ma ns a nd
Let i t i a El i zabet h La ndon. The s e poet s Mc Ga n n na mes sent i ment al a nd
di st i ngui shes f r om their Roma nt i c cont emporari es . Sent i ment al " poet i cal
t heory a nd pract i ce [is] firmly l ocat ed in hi st ory", wri tes Mc Ga n n ,
. . . indeed, its theory and practice make historicality, with all its
nontranscendental features, a defining quality of the poetical.
Romanticism feeds upon this theory, but only to raise up cries of
resistance, or to build temples in excremental places. Sentimental
poetry, by contrast, brings all of its illusions, including its lost
illusions, down to eatth. (285)
In order t o f ocus and f rame his readi ng of the sent i ment al t radi t i on, whi ch
emphas i s es l oss, the body, di si l l usi on, deat h, materi al i ty, the real, Mc Ga n n
const ruct s a Roma nt i c t radi t i on that emphas i s es the exact oppos i t es of
compens at i on, the mi nd, i l l usi on, life, spi ri tual i ty, the ideal. Pres ent i ng
t he nor mat i ve Roma nt i c t radi t i on agai nst whi ch he pr omot es t he mor e
hones t (we ma y as s ume) manner o f conf ront i ng loss a nd failure i n the
s ent i ment al t radi t i on, Mc Ga n n wri tes,
The usual undertaking of these matters follows a
Wordsworthian/Coleridgean line: 'For such loss ... abundant
recompence' . According to this view, there isthere must bea
faith that looks through dearh. The philosophic mind of
3
See also McGann's chapter, "The Loss of Sentimental Poetry" in The Poetics of
Sensibility: A Revolution in Literary Style (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), pp. 150-173.
81
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
romanticism works to redeem the harrowing logic of ultimate loss:
perhaps even, as in certain Christian and Marxian schemas, to
transform it into splendor. But a serious problem lurks beneath
these elegant compensatory formulas. We know this from
Wordsworth' s own poerry, whose best moments regularly betray
rheir conscious commitments. (271; McGann' s ellipsis)
Wor ds wor t h is here ma de to subscri be to an i dea of a cl osed psychi c
e c onomy in whi ch it is pos s i bl e to believe in full compens at i on for loss.
He thus comes to represent an al mos t unbel i evabl y nai ve pos i t i on agai nst
whi ch Mc Ga n n can present his count er-t radi t i on of sent i ment al i st poet s,
who consci ousl y recogni se and face the " pr obl e m" of " ul t i mat e l os s " that
Mc Ga n n cl ai ms Wor ds wor t h onl y articulates by acci dent when his poe ms
" bet ray their cons ci ous c ommi t ment s " .
Mc Ga n n is clearly bei ng hyperbol i cal in his construal of Wor ds wor t h
as the nor m transgressed by the therefore newl y i nteresti ng sent i ment al
poet s. Yet this is exactl y the pr obl em. On e of the easiest ways to l egi t i mat e
t he retrieval of any of t he numer ous negl ected Roma nt i c poet s is to cl ai m
that this or that poet or gr oup of poet s depart s f rom and transgresses ' the
nor m' . As al ways in such undert aki ngs what is pos i t ed as the nor m has to
be a uni fi ed and self-identical entity, whi ch at mos t can cont radi ct itself
when it betrays its " cons ci ous c ommi t me nt s " in uni nt ended slips and
l apses. However , the unnecessari l y hi gh pri ce for this sal utary recuperat i on
of a count er-t radi t i on at wor k in the Roma nt i c per i od is a mi s r eadi ng and
re-mysti fi cati on o f Wor ds wor t h whi ch threatens t o bec ome the nor mat i ve
under s t andi ng o f Wor ds wor t h insofar as Mc Ga nn' s i nfl uence has c o me to
as s ume hegemoni c status in current Roma nt i c cri ti ci sm
Whe n he presents Wor ds wor t h' s al l egedl y cl osed e c onomy of loss
a nd full compens at i on in " Th e Fai l ures of Roma nt i c i s m" , Mc Ga n n refers
t o t wo f amous poe ms and passages by Wor ds wor t h. He quot es a l i ne f rom
" Ti nt er n Abbe y" ( 1798) and he al l udes to stanza ten of the I mmor t al i t y
Od e ( 1804/ 05) a nd presents this as evi dence that there is, as there mus t
be, abundant r ecompens e in the face of loss in nor mat i ve Wor ds wor t hi an
Roma nt i ci s m. Thi s essay is essentially a testi ng of Mc Ga nn' s evi dence.
T h e use of " Ti nt er n Abbey" will be reconsi dered first in order t o begi n to
suggest that on a s econd l ook, Wor ds wor t h is not sayi ng exactl y what
Mc Ga n n takes hi m to be sayi ng. Next , a historical f rame is pr ovi ded t o
si tuate the di scussi on of the val ue of poetry a nd the i magi nat i on in the
Roma nt i c peri od itself, whi ch finally leads to a readi ng of a passage in the
I mmor t al i t y Od e whi ch, like the pas s age f rom " Ti nt er n Abbey" ,
82
Peter Simonsen
pr of oundl y probl emat i s es and compl i cat es what Mc Ga n n leaves as an
unpr obl emat i s ed gi ven: that Wor ds wor t h' s poet i c l anguage ai ms t o
convi nce us in the affi rmati ve that it provi des full compens at i on for the
l osses it registers.
/
" Ti nt er n Abbe y" is about what it means to be in t i me: a revisit t o a
f ormerl y vi si ted s pot in nat ure compel s t he speaker t o meas ur e what is l ost
agai ns t what is gai ned as t i me passes. T h e p o e m makes use o f one of
Wor ds wor t h' s mos t characteri sti c artistic t echni ques , what Car l os Baker
t er ms " t he doubl e- expos ur e t echni que" ( 106) . As Baker expl ai ns,
Wor ds wor t h us ed the t echni que t o expl ore hi s maj or t heme of personal
gr owt h by j uxt apos i ng " t wo wi del y separat ed peri ods of t i me in s uch a way
t hat we are ma de dramat i cal l y cons ci ous o f the degree o f growt h that has
t aken pl ace bet ween St age On e a nd St age T wo " ( i bi d. ) . T h e p o e m
s ugges t s t hat the speaker has l ost an i mmedi at e, di rect, s ens uous rel ati on
t o nat ure s uch as that experi enced in early yout h. Yet Wor ds wor t h will not
l ament thi s l oss, becaus e s omet hi ng is gai ned f rom it. Wha t is gai ned is t he
experi ence as such, the me mo r y of it, whi ch on t he one ha nd can serve as a
s ubs t i t ut e for nat ure when t he speaker is away f r om nat ure, and on the
ot her ha nd makes evi dent the power o f cons ci ous nes s to f unct i on i n the
i mme di a t e absence of the worl d. I n " Ti nt er n Abbey" , accor di ng t o Baker,
" As [ Words wort h] overl ooks the scene once mor e, wi t h t he ment al
l ands cape of the pas t still i n his purvi ew, he is ma de doubl y aware o f a
s ens e of l oss (the pas t will not return) and a sense of compens at i on greater
t han the loss (the new mat uri t y and i nsi ght whi ch t he advanci ng years
have br ought ) " ( 107) . Al t hough they di sagree i n their eval uat i on o f
Wor ds wor t h' s poe m, Baker' s readi ng is cons onant wi t h Mc Ga nn' s . The y
are bot h conf i dent that Wor ds wor t h i n " Ti nt er n Abbe y" receives
" a bunda nt " compens at i on for the losses regi stered in t he poe m.
Yet Mc Ga n n represses the undercurrent of scepti cal doubt t hat
qual i fi es Wor ds wor t h' s af f i rmati ons and mani f est s itself in certai n
mo me nt s of negati vi ty i n the poe m. Mc Ga n n cites a crucial phras e f r om
t he p o e m t o illustrate his i dea that in Wor ds wor t h there is full
compens at i on, but he leaves s omet hi ng out of t he quot at i on, whi ch can be
seen t o qual i fy and negati vi ze t he af f i rmat i on that encapsul at es it.
Wor ds wor t h registers the loss of his earlier sel f a nd the i mmedi at e rel ati on
t o nat ur e he experi enced on his first visit t o Ti nt er n Abbey:
83
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur: othei gifts
Have followed, for such loss, / would believe,
Abundant recompence. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. (Gill: 134,11. 84-94; emphasis added)
I n " The Fai l ures of Roma nt i c i s m" , Mc Ga n n del i beratel y erases the crucial
i tal i ci sed phras e that Wor ds wor t h depl oys to destabi l i se the nai ve not i on
o f full compens at i on in the cl osed e c onomy o f loss a nd gai n i mpl i ed i n the
passage. Co mme nt i ng on this and other mome nt s o f negati vi ty in the
poe m, Sus an Wol f s on astutel y poi nt s out that " t o phrase a spiritual
e c onomy . . . wi t h a tentati ve auxi l i ary . . . is to depl et e the store of
r ecompens e. Wor ds wor t h' s rhetori c of affi rmati on in ' Ti nt er n Abbey'
i ndul ges a f orm of negati ve assert i on" ( 439) . T o suggest that we are merel y
deal i ng wi t h mi nor and relatively i nsi gni fi cant det ai l s or wi t h an
i nst ance when Wor ds wor t h i nadvertentl y betrays hi s " cons ci ous
c o mmi t me nt s " wo ul d be to pr of oundl y mi s r ead hi m. As Chr i s t opher
Ri cks poi nt s out a nd a mpl y demons t rat es in his at t ent i on t o mi nut e,
parti cul ar details in Wor ds wor t h, " S o s i mpl y l uci d is Wor ds wor t h' s speech
t hat it can cons t i t ut e a t empt at i on: we ma y not pay sufficient at t ent i on to
t he very words , si nce we are so conf i dent of what t hey are s ayi ng" ( 127) .
I n a certai n scepti cal readerly mood, the " I woul d bel i eve" admi t s the
i l l usory or at least t enuous gr ound on whi ch Wor ds wor t h bui l ds his hopes
for full compens at i on. I f we recover Mc Ga nn' s repressed passage and
br i ng t he proper wei ght t o bear on the tentati ve moda l auxiliary ' woul d' in
" I would bel i eve", t hen we unders t and Wor ds wor t h to be sayi ng that in
fact he does not bel i eve that he has had or ever will receive " a bunda nt
r ecompence" in the face of loss, absence, deat h.
Wor ds wor t h al mos t , but not exactly, says the oppos i t e of what
Mc Ga n n want s hi m t o be sayi ng. Mc Ga n n want s Wor ds wor t h t o be
wri t i ng in the i ndi cati ve and to be st at i ng a hel d fact, whereas all
Wor ds wor t h can do is t o wri te in the opt at i ve thus expressi ng a wi sh,
whi ch ma y or ma y not be fulfilled. " I woul d bel i eve" comes cl ose to
84
Peter Simonsen
i mpl yi ng, ' I woul d i f I coul d' , or 'I woul d but I don' t ' . Fol l owi ng this l i ne
o f t hought we begi n to sense t he oxymor oni c nat ure of the sheer i dea of
" a bunda nt r ec ompenc e" and to raise the ques t i on of whet her a
r epr es ent at i onbe it i n the f orm o f ment al i magery hel d i n me mor y or
verbal poet r yunder any ci rcums t ance can be sai d t o subst i t ut e
adequat el y for what it represents, a nd hot rather f unct i on as a remi nder o f
l oss, a compl ex si gn of abs ence as muc h as presence. Mc Ga nn' s const rual
o f a bi nary oppos i t i on bet ween a Wor ds wor t hi an, opt i mi s t i c and
compens at or y vi si on a nd its dark, sent i ment al , Byr oni c count er-vi si on
begi ns to di ssol ve as we recogni ze that Wor ds wor t h encompas s es bot h
what Mc Ga n n calls the sent i ment al a nd what he calls the Roma nt i c
el egi ac current. I f Wor ds wor t h' s negat i ons are never abs ol ut e nor, by the
s a me t oken, are hi s af f i rmati ons.
T o under s t and mor e fully where Mc Ga nn' s under s t andi ng of
Wor ds wor t h' s poet ry deri ves f r om, a nd t o see mor e clearly what is at st ake
in recuperat i ng certai n mome nt s o f negati vi ty in thi s poetry, it is necessary
t o recapi tul ate the way in whi ch poet ry was aggrandi s ed and eval uat ed as a
ki nd of subst i t ut e rel i gi on in the Roma nt i c peri od a nd after. Nor mat i vel y
Roma nt i c i s m has been sai d t o centre on the i dea that i magi nat i ve
l i terature can s ome how correct the wr ongs of the worl d; t hat t he failures
o f the real can be a me nde d at the ideal level of huma n cons ci ous nes s
t hr ough the redempt i ve i nterventi on of t he i magi nat i on. I magi nat i on is
t he ment al , quasi -di vi ne facul ty that is mobi l i zed i n Roma nt i c aestheti cs i n
order t o compens at e in i deal i ty for the s hort - comi ngs of reality.
In a letter f r om 1807 Wor ds wor t h says that hi s vocat i on is t o create
poet ry, whi ch at s ome future dat e will " cons ol e the afflicted, . . . a dd
s uns hi ne to dayl i ght by ma ki ng the ha ppy happi er, . . . [and] teach t he
y o ung and t he graci ous of every age, t o see, t o t hi nk a nd feel, a nd
therefore to be c ome mor e actively a nd securel y vi r t uous " ( De Sel i ncourt
1969: 146; 150) . Thi s capt ures what Mc Ga n n takes Wor ds wor t h' s poet r y
t o exempl i f y a nd arti cul ates s ome of our cul ture' s mos t deepl y ent r enched
i deas about what i magi nat i ve l i terature is a nd is s uppos ed to do: cons ol e i n
t i mes of distress, a dd s uns hi ne on a rai ny day, a nd provi de a mea ns t o
cul ti vate the faculties of seei ng, t hi nki ng, a nd feeling t o realise our full
huma n potenti al . In t he Preface t o the Lyrical Ballads, Wor ds wor t h
si mi l arl y wri tes:
85
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
Poetry is rhe breath and finer spirit of all knowledge [The poet]
is the rock of defence of human nature; an upholder and preserver,
carrying everywhere with him relationship and love. In spite of
difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws
and customs, the poet binds together by passion and knowledge
the vasr empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole
earth, and over all time. (Gill: 606)
As Ra y mo nd Wi l l i ams poi nt s out , for Wor ds wor t h poetry ideally
embodi es a nd t ransmi t s to the reader "certai n huma n val ues, capaci ti es,
energi es, whi ch the devel opment of soci ety t owards an i ndustri al
ci vi l i sati on was felt to be threateni ng or even des t royi ng" ( 36) . I ndeed,
especi al l y in the ni neteenth but al so in t he twenti eth century,
Wor ds wor t h' s poet ry was often val ued for its t herapeut i c effects, its
capaci t y to f uncti on as a refuge, ant i dot e and source of huma ne val ue in
an i ncreasi ngl y urbani sed, i ndustri al i sed, capi tal i sed, and ul ti matel y
godl es s moder n wor l d of sci ence and col d cal cul ati on.
A few lines f rom Keat s can be t aken to s um up the Roma nt i c i dea o f
poet ry' s huma ni s i ng agency. In one of his last poems , t he unf i ni shed
medi t at i on on the sources of artistic i nspi rati on and creati on as well as the
rol e of the poet in the moder n worl d, t he The Fall of Hyperion f ragment
c ompos e d in t he s umme r of 1819, Keat s asks:
' . . . sure not all
Those melodies sung into the world's ear
Are useless: sure a poet is a sage,
A humanist, physician to all men [?]' (Barnard: 440,11. 187-90)
On e of the contexts necessary for underst andi ng Keats' s desire to know
whether poetry is "usel ess" is the phi l osophi cal movement of utilitarianism,
whi ch had its ori gi ns in late seventeenth century Britain and received its
classical f ormul at i ons in the wor k of J er emy Bent ham. As M. H. Abr ams
poi nt s out , the utilitarian thinkers "at t acked poetry for bei ng an out moded
l uxury trade, or a functionless vestige of a pri mi ti ve ment al i t y" ( 326) . In the
face of a mat eri al -mi nded publ i c that es pous ed such ideas about poetry, the
Romant i cs invested their poetry with absol ut e val ue by pr omot i ng it as the
huma ne agent for secular redempt i on, s omet hi ng all humans need for their
emot i onal and ment al well-being. Thus Shelley cl ai med, in response to
Tho ma s Love Peacock' s utilitarian theory of poetry in " The Four Ages of
86
Peter Simonsen
Poetry", that " Poet ry is . . . s omet hi ng divine" and that poet s are the
" unacknowl edged legislators of the worl d" .
A f amous i nci dent f r om t he peri od relates how J o hn St uar t Mi l l was
s aved f r om a state o f depressi on a nd ment al br eakdown by readi ng
Wor ds wor t h' s poet ry in 1828. Mi l l f amous l y descri bes this i n his
Autobiography ( 1873) in t erms o f a quasi -rel i gi ous conversi on experi ence.
Mi l l had been engaged in t he utilitarian proj ect of ref ormi ng and
i mpr ovi ng soci ety and its i nst i t ut i ons in order to i ncrease the materi al
wel l -bei ng and therefore the happi nes s of the largest pos s i bl e numbe r of
humans . " But t he t i me c a me when I [awoke] f r om this as f r om a dr e a m" ,
Mi l l recogni ses, and cont i nues :
It was in the autumn of 1826. I was in a dull state of nerves . . .
unsusceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement. . . In this
frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question ditectly to
myself: ' Suppose that all your objects in life were realised; that all
the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking
forward to could be completely effected at this very insrant: would
this be a great joy and happiness to you?' And an irrepressible self-
consciousness disrinctly answered ' No! ' At this my heart sank
within me: the whole foundation upon which my life was
constructed fell down. All my happiness was to have been found in
the continual pursuit of this end. The end had ceased to charm,
and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I
seemed to have nothing left to live for. (Srillinger: 80-81)
Yet, havi ng reached this l ow poi nt , Mi l l di scovers Wor ds wor t h' s poet ry:
Thi s [depressed] state of my thoughts and feelings made the fact of
my reading Wordsworth for the firsr time (in the autumn of 1828),
an imporrant event in my life What made Wordsworth' s poems
a medicine for my state of mind, was that they expressed, nor mere
outward beauty, but states of feeling, and of thought coloured by
feeling, under the excitement of beauty. They seemed to be the
very culture of the feelings, which I was in quest of. In them I
seemed to draw from a source of inward joy, of sympathetic and
imaginative pleasure. . . . I needed to be made to feel that there was
real, permanent happiness in tranquil contemplation. Wordsworth
taught me this. (88)
Mi l l ' s under s t andi ng o f Wor ds wor t h' s power to gi ve ment al relief was
pref i gured by Wor ds wor t h hi ms el f in the movement s o f his maj or poe ms .
As Mi l l put s it wi t h reference t o the I mmor t al i t y Od e , " I f ound that
87
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
[ Wor ds wor t h] hi ms el f had had si mi l ar experi ence t o mi ne; that he also
ha d felt t hat the first freshness o f youthf ul enj oyment of life was not
l asti ng; but that he had s ought for compens at i on, and had f ound i t " ( 89) .
Mi l l f ound relief f rom his depressi on t hrough readi ng the
I mmor t al i t y Od e and f rom recogni si ng that Wor ds wor t h had experi enced
a si mi l ar crisis, but had f ound relief f rom it and regai ned hi s strength. Th e
ki nd o f hope i nvested by Wor ds wor t h in the cons ol at ory and humani s i ng
power o f hi s poetry woul d s eem to have been real i sed by Mi l l when he
read Wor ds wor t h in 1828 at a t i me when Roma nt i c ideas about poet ry
a nd the aggr andi s ement of art as redempt i ve were bei ng di s s emi nat ed in
a nd a dopt ed by the cul t ure at large t hr ough such readi ng experi ences as
Mi l l ' s or that ot het Vi ct ori an sage, Ma t t hew Ar nol d, who in " El egi ac
Ver s es " ( 1850) asked, " where will Eur ope' s latter hour / Agai n f i nd
Wor ds wor t h' s heal i ng power ? " ( Bryson: 188) .
Ill
It s houl d now be possi bl e to see mor e clearly the ori gi ns of the
under s t andi ng of Wor ds wor t h t hat Mc Ga n n present s in " Th e Fai l ures o f
Roma nt i c i s m" and elsewhere: St uart Mi l l ' s is a maj or ni net eent h-cent ury
cel ebrat i on o f what Mc Ga n n calls Romant i ci s m' s "el egant compens at or y
f or mul as " . Mo r e recently, Hel en Vendl er, Mi chael O' Nei l l and Du nc a n
Wu have reasserted the t ranscendent ' heal i ng power' of Wor ds wor t h' s
I mmor t al i t y Ode . Accor di ng to Vendl er, " Ar nol d was uncanni l y accurat e
i n s peaki ng of Wor ds wor t h' s ' heal i ng power' : t he Od e is sel f -therapeuti c"
( 78- 9) , and for O' Nei l l , the po e m is concerned wi th the "curat i ve
propert i es of expressi on" ( 48) . Li kewi se, in his i nvesti gati on of the extent
t o whi ch " t he force that exerted mos t i nfl uence on [ Wordswort h' s] poet i c
life was g r i e f ( 309) , Dunc a n Wu mai nt ai ns that Wor ds wor t h in the Od e
hel d that " gri ef coul d be t r ans cended" and that this posi t i on was in need
of " no j ust i f i cat i on" ( 202) , even as Wu admi t s " a percept i bl e t endency in
hi s poet ry t owards s cept i ci s m" ( 309) .
Yet, this under s t andi ng of the I mmor t al i t y Od e is pr emi s ed on a
bl i ndnes s vis--vis certain mome nt s of negati vi ty that pul l in t he other
di rect i on. A number of critics have poi nt ed t o the ways in whi ch the Od e
under mi nes its own affi rmati ons. In one of the fullest exami nat i ons o f the
Od e , Jeffrey C. Robi ns on descri bes a ' cl assroom experi ment ' o f s pendi ng
an enti re semest er readi ng the work. Thr o ug h cl ose textual anal ysi s that
emphas i s ed the poem' s ' ques t i oni ngs ' and by means of a vari ety o f
88
Peter Simonsen
cont ext ual pl acement s as well as at t ent i on t o the stages o f compos i t i on and
revi si on, Robi ns on' s st udent s were l ed t o revise their initial sense of
" Wor ds wor t h' s general l y cons ol i ng i nt ent i on" t o be c ome " t angl ed in
Wor ds wor t h' s own conf us i ons of loss and gai n" ( 63) . Al s o r es pondi ng t o
t he compl exi t i es o f t he poem' s ' quest i oni ngs' of its own certai nti es, Peter
Ma nni ng has s hown how it " expl oi t s t he res onance of Chri s t i an faith
wi t hout c ommi t t i ng itself t o belief, to t he convi ct i on that woul d lessen its
huma n uncert ai nt y" ( 80) , and, mor e recently, Fr ed Hoer ner has argued
t hat in the Od e the "l oss that breaks the heart reki ndl es a di al ecti c of
j oi ni ng and ques t i oni ng, presence and abs ence" rather t han a "retreat away
f r om sufferi ng a nd i nt o cons ol at i on" ( 656) . It is wi t h reference to these
a nd other mor e full expl i cati ons of t he negat i ve thrusts i n Od e that I f ocus
in the f ol l owi ng on one unset t l i ng mome nt of negati vi ty in t he poe m.
Th e first three stanzas of the po e m t hat cured Mi l l ' s depressi on
capt ur e the total move me nt o f the poe m, a full readi ng of whi ch can onl y
be sket ched here:
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;-
Tur n wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The Rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the Rose,
The Moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath past away a glory from the earth.
Now, while the Birds thus sing a joyous song,
And while the young Lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound,
To me alone there came a thought of grief:
89
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong.
The Cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep,
No more shall grief of mine rhe season wrong;
I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,
The Winds come to me from rhe fields of sleep,
And all the earth is gay,
Land and sea
Give themselves up to jollity,
And with the heart of May
Doth every Beast keep holiday,
Thou Child of J oy
Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-
boy!
A three-step dialectic of remembered j oy, its loss, and its subsequent
retrieval is bei ng articulated. Th e movement begi ns by recalling a state of
pl eni t ude and j oy experi enced in chi l dhood ( " The glory and the freshness of
a dr eam" ) . But this pl eni tude is registered as past and lost ("there hat h past
away a glory f rom the earth"). Thi s loss leads t o, yet is not presented as the
direct cause of, the speaker' s t hought of " gr i ef , whi ch marks the cl i max of
the speaker' s crisis ( " To me alone there came a t hought of g r i e f ) . In the
final movement strength is regai ned despi te irretrievable loss, gri ef finds
relief, and the crisis is overcome. The poet, as Mi l l put s it, has " s ought for
compens at i on, and [has] f ound it". Th e means t o overcome the crisis, mos t
readers recognise, is poeti c utterance ("ti mel y utterance"). Thi s utterance
yields " Echoes " that signal a re-established posi ti ve correspondence between
the subj ect and the obj ect whi ch counters the negative state of bei ng isolated
i n t hought ; " No mor e shall gri ef of mi ne the season wrong; / I hear the
Echoes t hrough the mount ai ns t hrong".
Poet i c ut t erance is what finally allows the speaker t o feel and sense
t hat "all the earth is gay" a nd to part i ci pat e, al t hough vi cari ousl y, i n this
rej uvenat ed life. Thi s move me nt capt ures t he larger a nd hi ghl y compl ex
move me nt of the po e m f rom loss t oward the possi bi l i ty of compens at i on.
Towa r ds the end o f the poem, in lines al l uded to by Mc Ga n n i n " Th e
Fai l ures of Roma nt i c i s m" , Wor ds wor t h acknowl edges his loss, but
presents the t hought s of suffering, whi ch are evoked by l oss, as adequat e
r ecompens e for what is lost:
Though norhing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
90
Peter Simonsen
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be,
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In rhe faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind. (Gill: 302,11. 180-189)
Thi s affi rmati ve s t at ement that compens at or y " s t r engt h" can " s pr i ng" out
of " s oot hi ng t hought s " of "suf f eri ng" (the f ormal r hyme spri ng/ suf f eri ng
whi ch is under s cor ed by enj a mbment al mos t enacts t he s emant i c mes s age
t o suggest bot h the sense of ' to ori gi nat e out ' of a nd ' to escape f rom'
sufferi ng) ma y be read in the l i ght of what was sai d earlier in stanza three,
in parti cul ar i n these lines:
To me alone rhere came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong.
In t he s ame mo me nt that the t hought o f gri ef is not ed, Wor ds wor t h goes
on t o state that he has f ound relief a nd regai ned hi s strength t hr ough what
he calls " t i mel y ut t erance" .
" I agai n a m s t r ong" seems an unnat ural wor d order c ompa r e d t o the
mor e st rai ght f orward ' I a m s t rong agai n' . Th e i nversi on o f the mor e
st rai ght f orward wor d order ma y be expl ai ned by the need t o find a r hyme-
wor d t o chi me wi t h the stanza' s first rhyme- word, ' song' . T h e fact that
' s ong' a nd ' st rong' r hyme i ndi cates that ut t eri ng thi s r hymed s ong is what
makes Wor ds wor t h st rong. I n The Verbal Icon, Wi l l i am K. Wi ms a t t
poi nt s out t hat rhymes " i mpos e upon the l ogi cal pat t ern of expressed
ar gument a ki nd of fixative count erpat t ern of al ogi cal i mpl i cat i on" ( 153) .
An d as Ro ma n J a kobs on expl ai ns, " Rhy me necessarily i nvol ves t he
s emant i c rel at i onshi p bet ween r hymi ng uni t s . . . . What ever t he rel ati on
bet ween s ound and meani ng in different r hyme t echni ques , bot h spheres
are necessari l y i nvol ved" ( 45- 6) . Thus , Mi chael O' Nei l l concl udes about
these textual move me nt s in Wor ds wor t h' s poe m, " Th e r hyme kept
apart for five l i nes, suggest s that st rengt h lies in s ong, and Wor ds wor t h' s
' t i mel y ut t erance' suggest s the curati ve propert i es of expres s i on" ( 48) . T h e
rhymes on gri ef/rel i ef and spri ng/ suf f eri ng accompl i s h the s a me t hi ng:
91
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
gi vi ng rhyt hmi c utterance t o s omet hi ng pai nful is a way t owards relieving
t he mi nd a nd over comi ng crisis. Th e s ong makes the speaker st rong, gives
relief f rom grief. Th e ma ki ng or utteri ng of the po e m compens at es for the
l osses it is about . In essence, this is what the po e m is about for J o hn St uart
Mi l l , Hel en Vendl er, J e r ome Mc Ga n n and Mi chael O' Nei l l , despi t e their
si gni fi cant i deol ogi cal and met hodol ogi cal differences. However , we
s houl d not take leave o f the po e m carryi ng onl y an affirmative
under s t andi ng of it as s i mul t aneous l y asserti ng and affi rmi ng a
" t herapeut i c s ucces s " (Vendl er: 79) t hr ough " t he curati ve propert i es of
expres s i on" exempl i f i ed and i nst anced by the magi c of rhyme.
If what has been sai d concerni ng the i mpor t ance of the r hyme of
' st rong' and ' s ong' and ' gri ef and ' rel i ef is grant ed, what are we t o ma ke
o f the fact, whi ch O' Nei l l a nd all other readers of the Od e negl ect to
ment i on, that ' song' and ' st rong' al so r hyme wi th ' wrong' ? Is thi s the
poem' s subt l y ' al ogi cal ' ( Wi ms at t ) way of i mpl yi ng t hat its overt asserti ons
o f " t he curati ve properti es of expressi on" ma y be ' wrong' ? Tha t it is
s ome how ' wrong' to search for cons ol at i on, relief, a nd st rengt h in poet i c
utterance? Is the s ong in other wor ds sayi ng that it is wr ong t o seek
compens at i on i n " t hought s that s pri ng / Ou t o f huma n sufferi ng"? On a
strai ghtf orward readi ng the l i ne " No mor e shall gri ef of mi ne the season
wr ong" coul d not be clearer in its rej ecti on of despai r. Yet the rhyme
nonethel ess i mpart s enough o f a ques t i oni ng not e of scept i ci sm i nt o this
resol ute af f i rmati on t o suggest that even as the po e m is sayi ng one t hi ng in
an affirmative mo d e it is doi ng anot her t hi ng in a negati ve mode .
Des pi t e t he fact that it relates to the French context, whi ch was never
exactly parallel to the Engl i s h when it comes to the force of Neocl assi cal
doct ri nes of decor um and pos i t i ons on r hyme ( because the Engl i s h had t o
t ake account of a native bl ank verse tradi ti on muc h stronger t han
anywhere on the cont i nent ) , the f ol l owi ng ma y be read as an account o f
the apparent l y irrational and i nexpl i cabl e use of r hyme in the Od e :
In upholding the essentially Cattesian view that Truth expressed
irself as clear and distinct ideas, neoclassical French theorists of
poetic language, of whom Boileau is rhe best known,
recommended the suppression or, at least, the strict control of
language's more irrational potentialities. One of the chief problems
here was deciding on the function and status of rhyme. Rhyme was
a necessary feature of regular French verse: it provided essential
phonetic reinforcemenr to the verse line and guaranteed formal
unity. But at the same time rhyme was, from a semantic point of
92
Peter Simonsen
view, potentially a subversive agent. If not strictly disciplined, it
could neglect its duty as an element in a logically structured
discourse and assert itself as a feature in its own right, establishing
through phonetic similarity with other words (rhyme or otherwise),
an oblique or irrational connection which might run counter to the
proposition of which it was, in theory, part. . . . Wi th the
Romantics, words were permitted to regain some of their opacify
which had been refined out of them by the demands of rational
discourse in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. (Scott: 15)
T o t rans pos e these i nsi ghts to the Engl i s h cont ext , reference mi ght be
ma d e t o J o hn Dr yden' s Essay on Dramatic Poesy ( 1668) . Bef ore t he essay' s
trul y si gni fi cant di scussi on of t he use a nd relative meri ts of r hyme and
bl ank verse i n dr ama, Dr yden s ums up received wi s dom concer ni ng " t he
sweetness of Engl i s h verse". Thi s , he says,
is improved by the happiness of some writers yet living; who first
taught us to mould our thoughts into easy and significant words,
and to retrench superfluities of expression,and to make our rime
so properly a part of the verse, rhat it should never mislead rhe
sense, but itself be led and governed by it. (Arnold: 16)
Dr yde n here recogni ses, even as he resists, the potenti al of r hyme t o
mi s l ead the sense, t o under mi ne the l ogi c of sense maki ng. Cons i der i ng
t he i nfl uence o f the Essay on s ubs equent Engl i s h l i terature and taste, this
s t at ement not onl y reflects recei ved wi s dom concer ni ng the rel ati on of
r hyme t o sense, it certai nl y generates t he i dea t hat t he t wo are, as Pope was
later to put it, to echo one anot her wi t h sense or ' reason' bei ng the s ource,
a nd r hyme or ' l anguage' bei ng the faithful, mi met i c echo. Thi s
cor r es ponds t o t he Neocl as s i cal i dea that l anguage is a dress for t hought ,
s omet hi ng whi ch fits mor e or less adequat el y, but whi ch is ul t i mat el y a
mer e or nament to the sense a nd not , as the Romant i cs will c o me t o
bel i eve, s omet hi ng that embodi es t hought , and crucially, s omet hi ng whi ch
need not al ways ma ke sense in the s a me way Pope desires. As Pope wri tes
t o i n t r o d u c e d Essay on Criticism ( 1711) ,
' Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill;
Bur, of the two, less dang' rous is th' Offence,
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense. (Audra and Williams:
239,11. 1-4)
93
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
On e way of keepi ng " Wr i t i ng" f rom " mi s-l ead[ i ng] our Sens e" , and t hus
of cont rol l i ng the a ut onomous force of l anguage whi l e still retai ni ng
rhyme, is t o pr omot e and use cl osed coupl et s. In coupl et s the di st ance
bet ween rhyme-words and t hus l anguage' s pot ent i al to pr oduce aberrant
meani ngs is kept to an absol ut e mi ni mum t o meet the Popean dictum:
" Th e Sound mus t s eem an Eccho to the Sense" ( Audr a a nd Wi l l i ams : 2 8 1 ,
1. 365) .
Romant i ci s m' s resi stance to and depart ure f rom the cl osed coupl et
ma y be a depart ure f rom the desi re t o control t he pot ent i al of r hyme to
pr oduce ' uni nt ended' meani ngs and a move to l i berate what Da vi d Scot t
calls " l anguage' s mor e irrational potenti al i ti es". I n other wor ds , it ma y be
sai d that there is a paradoxi cal i ntent t o pr oduce uni nt ended meani ngs t o
be l ocat ed i n certai n Roma nt i c poe ms s uch as t he Od e rather than what
Mc Ga n n post ul at es when he account s for Wor ds wor t h' s few " best
mo me nt s " when the poet ry betrays its " cons ci ous c ommi t me nt s " and
apparent l y says mor e t han it means .
If onl y we knew what Wor ds wor t h' s t hought s , i nt ent i ons,
c ommi t ment s were when he al l owed hi s l anguage t o i ndul ge in s uch
apparent l y cont radi ct ory a nd mi nd-baf f l i ngl y irrational rhymes! The n we
mi ght have sai d wi t h Mc Ga n n that the r hyme of s ong a nd wr ong is an
uni nt ent i onal acci dent of l anguage and not s omet hi ng we s houl d t ake as
essenti al l y Wor ds wor t hi an. But we do not know why he ma de that fatal
rhyme. I ndeed, the odds are that these rhymes are far f r om acci dental . In
his di ary, Tho ma s Mo o r e paraphrases Wor ds wor t h' s conversat i on on the
relative meri ts of Engl i s h and Ital i an wi t h regard to r hymi ng: " I n
st ruggl i ng wi t h wor ds one [is] l ed to gi ve bi rth to and dwell upon
t hought s , whi l e, on the contrary, an easy and mel l i f l uous l anguage [like
Ital i an is] apt t o t empt , by its facility, i nt o negl i gence, and t o l ead the poet
to subst i t ut e mus i c for t hought " ( O' Donnel l : 41- 2) . In t he s ame pl ace,
Mo o r e reports Wor ds wor t h s peaki ng of " t he i mmens e t i me it t ook hi m t o
wri te even the shortest copy of ver s es , s omet i mes whol e weeks empl oyed
in s hapi ng t wo or three lines, before he can satisfy hi ms el f wi t h their
s t ruct ure" ( O' Donnel l : 2 5 6 n3 5 ) . Surel y Wor ds wor t h was cons ci ous and
c ommi t t e d when he uti l i sed the irrational powers of l anguage in r hymi ng
s ong, st rong, a nd wr ong in the Ode . Yet whet her or not the r hyme is
finally seen as an acci dent, it is there on the open page, and t hus
suscept i bl e to bei ng i nterpreted as an unt i mel y si gn of the poe m' s own
subversi on o f the naively affirmative under s t andi ng o f it as merel y
medi ci ne for a depressed state of mi nd.
94
Peter Simonsen
Th e doubl e pul l of the l anguage of the Od e can be under s t ood i n
t erms of a di st i nct i on bet ween Roma nt i c ' i deol ogy' a nd Roma nt i c ' work' ,
whi ch Mc Ga n n i nt roduces i n Romantic Ideology. " Th e gr and i l l usi on o f
Roma nt i c ideology is that one ma y es cape . . . a wor l d [in whi ch, as Shel l ey
wri tes in t he Defence, ' ma n, havi ng ensl aved t he el ement s, remai ns hi ms el f
a slave' ] t hr ough i magi nat i on and poetry. T h e great t rut h of Roma nt i c
work is that there is no escape, t hat there is onl y revel ati on (in a whol l y
secul ar s ens e) " ( 131) . T h e presence of a certai n negati vi ty at t he core o f
t he l anguage of what has been read as one o f the mos t affi rmati ve poe ms
by Wor ds wor t h suggest s that we s houl d not uncri ti cal l y repeat the
t herapeut i c readi ng of Wor ds wor t h. Thi s mo me nt of negati vi ty i n t he
Od e resonates wi t h Mc Ga nn' s descri pt i on in Romantic Ideology of
Roma nt i c poetry' s "greatest mome nt s of artistic s ucces s " , whi ch, he
cont i nues , "are al mos t al ways associ at ed wi t h loss, failure, a nd def eat i n
part i cul ar the losses whi ch strike mos t cl osel y t o t hos e Ideal s ( and
I deol ogi es) cheri shed by the poet s i n their wor ks " ( 132) . Yet Mc Ga n n
i nsi sts on pr obl emat i s i ng t he i dea that t he greatness of Roma nt i c poet ry is
connect ed wi t h its capaci t y to l ead t o an aut hent i c cri ti que o f its own
domi na nt i deol ogy. He wri tes that Roma nt i c poetry' s "great est mome nt s
usual l y occur when it pursues its last a nd final i l l usi on: that it can expos e
or even that it has uncovered its i l l usi ons a nd false cons ci ous nes s , that it
has finally arrived at t he Tr ut h" . Thi s is essentially what the Od e has been
t aken to achi eve in t he key-rhyme dwel l ed upon above. Yet, Mc Ga n n
cont i nues as he t urns the tabl es upon s uch an ar gument : " Th e need t o
bel i eve i n s uch an achi evement , either i mmedi at e or eventual , is deepl y
Roma nt i c ( and therefore illusive) becaus e it l ocates the goal o f huma n
purs ui t s , needs, and desi res in Ideal s pace" ( 134) . However , not hi ng s eems
further r emoved f rom the truth t han this conf us i on of real, mat eri al
textual space, the space o f the poet i c work, wi t h an Ideal space, the s pace
o f Roma nt i c I deol ogy. Wor ds wor t h' s i mpl i ed cri ti que o f the
compens at or y pot ent i al of poet i c l anguage ma y not qual i fy as t he Tr ut h,
but it is certai nl y not a cri t i que that happens in an Ideal and therefore
i l l usory space, it happens ri ght bef ore our eyes.
Wor ds wor t h is not s i mpl y the affi rmati ve poet Mc Ga n n t urns hi m
i nt o, nor is he the oppos i t e. He is bot h a nd in a sense nei ther. Thi s dual i t y
is reflected in Wor ds wor t h' s f undament al ambi val ence regardi ng t he force
o f poet i c l anguage. In one of the Essays upon Epitaphs f r om 1810, for
i nst ance, Wor ds wor t h f amous l y present s wor ds as i n pos s es s i on of a power
t o gi ve or t o take away life:
95
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
If words be nor . . . an incarnation of the thought but only a
clothing for it, then surely will rhey prove an ill gift [which has] the
power to consume and to alienate [the reader] from his right mind.
Language, if it do[es] not uphold, and feed, and leave in quiet, like
the power of gravitation or the air we breathe, is a counter-spirit,
unremittingly and noiselessly at work to derange, to subvert, to lay
waste, to vitiate, and to dissolve. (Owen and Smyser: III, 84-5)
Li kewi se, in a letter f rom 1829 he wri tes, " wor ds are not a mere vehicle,
but they are powers either to kill or t o a ni ma t e" ( De Sel i ncourt 1979:
185) . As he put s it in Bo o k Fi ve of The Prelude ( 1805) ,
. . . . Visionary power
Attends upon the motions of the winds
Embodi ed in the mystery of words;
There darkness makes abode, and all the host
Of shadowy things do work their changes there,
As in a mansion like rheir proper home;
Even forms and substances ate circumfused
By that transparent veil with light divine;
And through the turnings intricate of Verse,
Present themselves as objects recognised,
In flashes, and wirh a glory scarce their own. (Gill: 450,11. 619-
629)
Wor ds are a myst ery partl y because t hey are at once the loci o f darkness
and s hadows and the medi a of di vi ne enl i ght enment and moment a r y
i nsi ghts. Wor ds wor t h cont ai ns a nd encompas s es , in a radi cal l y uns t abl e
conj unct i on, bot h what Mc Ga n n identifies as the sent i ment al -mat eri al i st
strai n i n Roma nt i c peri od wri ti ng, a nd the oppos i t e, mor e idealist-
t ranscendent al i st strain of what is mor e tradi ti onal l y under s t ood as
Roma nt i c i s m. Th e i nterpl ay and tensi on bet ween these surel y needs t o be
cons i dered i f we are to account for the full force of hi s work.
Fr o m the Fr eudi an perspecti ve o f my epi graph we know that
mi st akes, slips a nd errors are never j ust that. The y are t r emendous l y
i mpor t ant detai l s that open al mos t li mi tless possi bi l i ti es for i nt erpret at i on.
As Fr eud warns, "l et us not under-val ue smal l si gns: per haps f rom t hem it
ma y be pos s i bl e t o c ome upon the tracks of greater t hi ngs " . Wor ds wor t h' s
rhymes are s uch " s mal l s i gns " that ma y l ead to "greater t hi ngs " s uch as the
nat ure and val ue of Roma nt i c poetry, and to the cl ai m that in order t o
read the Od e in the ri ght ma nne r a nd not onl y this po e m, but any
96
Peter Simonsen
Roma nt i c p o e ma cons t ant awareness of the dupl i ci t y o f l anguage,
l anguage as bot h, at once, ani mat i ng and ki l l i ng, medi ci ne and poi s on,
mus t be present in the mi nd of the reader. In Wor ds wor t h a nd in
Roma nt i c poetry, every affi rmati on o f " a bunda nt r ecompence" carries
wi t hi n itself the seeds of its own undoi ng i n the s hape of a scepti cal and
hesi t ant "I woul d bel i eve".
University of Southern Denmark
97
Reading Wordsworth after McGann
References:
Abrams, M. H. 1953. The Mirror and the Lamp. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Arnold, Thomas (ed.), William T. Arnold (rev. ed.). 1901. An Essay of Dramatic
Poesy. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press.
Audra, E. and Aubrey Williams (eds.). 1961. The Poems of Alexander Pope.
Volume I. Pastoral Poetry and An Essay on Criticism. London: Methuen &
Co.
Baker, Carlos. 1960. "Sensation and Vision in Wordsworth" in M. H. Abrams
(ed.), English Romantic Poets: Modern Essays in Criticism. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Barnard, J ohn (ed.). 1988. John Keats: Complete Poems. London: Penguin Books.
Bradley, A. C. 1909 (org. 1900). "Wordsworth" in Oxford Lectures on Poetry.
London: Macmillan.
Bryson, J ohn (ed.). 1967. Matthew Arnold. Poetry and Prose. London: Ruperr
Hart-Davis.
Cronin, Richard. 2000. The Politics of Romantic Poetry: In Search of the Pure
Commonwealth. London: MacMillan.
De Selincourt, Ernesr (ed.) and Mary Moorman (rev.). 1969. The Letters of
William and Dorothy Wordsworth, The Middle Years, Part I, 1806-1811.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- , (ed.), Alan G. Hill (rev. ed.). 1979. The Letters of William and Dorothy
Wordsworth, Second Edition, Later Years, Part 2, 1829-1834. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Freud, Si gmund. 1953 (org. 1920). " The Psychology of Errors" mA General
Introduction to Psycho-Analysis. Translated by J oan Riviere. New York:
Perma Books.
Gill, Stephen (ed.). 1984. William Wordsworth: The Oxford Authors. Oxford:
Oxford University Ptess.
Hoerner, Fred. 1995. "Nostalgia' s Freight in Wordsworth' s Intimations Ode" ,
ELH 62:3: 631-661.
Jakobson, Roman. 2000. "Linguistics and Poetics" in Davi d Lodge and Nigel
Wood (eds.), Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. London: Longman.
McGann, Jerome J. 1983. The Romantic Ideology: A Critical Investigation.
Chicago: Chicago University Press.
98
Peter Simonsen
. 1998. " The Failures of Romanticism" in Tilottama Rajan and Julia M. Wright
(eds.), Romanticism, History, and the Possibilities of Genre, Re-forming
literature 1789-1837- Cambridge: Cambri dge University Press.
O' Donnell, Brennan. 1995. The Passion of Meter: A Study of Wordsworth's
Metrical Art. Kent: The Kent State University Press.
O' Neill, Michael. 1997. Romanticism and the Self Conscious Poem. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Owen, W. J. B. and Jane Worthington Smyser (eds.). 1974. Prose Works of
William Wordsworth. 3 Vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ricks, Christopher. 1984. The Force of Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Robinson, Jeffrey C. 1987. Radical Literary Education: A Classroom Experiment
with Wordsworth's 'Ode'. Madi son: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Scott, David. 1988. Pictorialist Poetics: Poetry and the Visual Arts in Nineteenth-
Century France. Cambridge: Cambri dge University Press.
Stillinger, Jack (ed.). 1969. John Stuart Mill: Autobiography and Other Writings.
Boston: Houghron Mifflin Company.
Vendler, Helen. 1978. "Lionel Trilling and rhe Immortality Ode" , Salmagundi
(Spring 1978): 66-86.
Williams, Raymond. 1958. Culture and Society: Coleridge to Orwell. London: The
Hogarth Press.
Wimsatt, W. K. 1954. " One Relation of Rhyme to Reason" in The Verbal Icon:
Studies in the Meaning of Poetry. Lexington: The University Press of
Kentucky.
Wolfson, Susan. 1990. "Questioning ' The Romantic Ideology': Wordsworth",
Revue Internationale de Philosophic 44:3: 429-447'.
Wu, Duncan. 2002. Wordsworth: An Inner Life. Oxford: Blackwell.
99
Reading Wordsworth aftet McGann