V

B . W 0 RD SWOR. H;

V.S Naipaul

story
B. Wordsworth :: The story

Wordsworth is taken from Naipaul’s collection of short stories

B Wordsworth
titled Miguel Street. This story
titled narrated in first person
story is narrated through aa
person through
boy-child’s
boy—child’s perspective. highlights the plight of aa ‘poet’
story highlights
perspective. The story ‘poet’
two share a
whom the child encounters. The two a very
very easy-going
easy—going
relationship and the child seems
relationship instinctively understand
seems to instinctively understand and
empathize with the ‘poet’.
empathize a humorous and fun manner,
‘poet’. Narrated in a manner,
solitude, alienation,
story revolves around the themes of solitude,
the story
 nature and the role of the artist in the society.
admiration, love for nature
brought to life through
story is brought
This story through the colloquial language,
language, the rich
setting and its exploration
Caribbean setting of the complex intricacies of
exploration of
relationship and artistic expression.
human relationship expression.

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 .
'[camoRDSWORTHK.

Characters
B.Wordsworth .
Setting
Miguel Street
/
The child-narrator
- His mother

‘Theme
The role of the artist in society
Alienation
. Friendship

Key Points
One day. B. Wordsworth shows up at the narrator's
house. lle's smartly dressed, speaks good English and
says he wants to watch the bees. He claims to be the
greatest poet in the world, that B. stands for black and
that William Wordsworth was his brother.
He then tries to sell a poem and finally gets chased
away by the narrator's mother.
A week later, the kid meets him in Miguel Street They .

go to B's house in Alberto Street and feast on mangoes.

The kid stains his shirt, gets thrashed by the mother and
goes to 8'5 house.
B. Wordsworth tries to comfort him by showing him the
wonders of nature and the beauty of the night sky. They
go to St Clair Avenue, the Savannah and walk to the
race course. ‘On being asked why he kept his gardens
untended, B tells the kid a story about how a girl and a
boy poet fell in love, got married. how they hoped for a
child and how the girl died with the unborn kid She .

had loved the garden and the husband left it as it was.

One day, Mr B. tells him that he's writing the greatest
poem in the world and that the line of the month is "The
past is deep."
They meet often and go to the Botanical Gardens, The
Rock Garden and the Chancellor Hill. Mr B. earns his
living by singing calypsoes as nobody buys his poems.
One day the boy visits him to find him in a sick state.
Wordsworth then tells him a "funny story“. instructing
 him to never come back again he tells the boy that
:

everything about him, his poetry and the poet-lovers

was a lie. The boy goes home crying.
o The boy walks past Alberto Street after a year :

B.Wordsworth's house and the mango trees are

replaced by concert buildings. It's as if he never t
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tbu o
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B.
B. Wordsworth :: Summary 
Summary
story is told by an
The story lives in Miguel
an unnamed child narrator who lives
Street. His house is daily frequented
frequented by three beggars dhoti—clad
beggars : aa dhoti-clad
:

ten, aa woman
Indian at ten, woman smoking pipe at twelve and a blind man
a blind man led
a boy at two.
by a two. The strangest smartly dressed person
strangest caller is a smartly person
afternoon wishing
who comes at about four o’clock one afternoon watch the
wishing to watch
narrator’s bees. Thus we are
are introduced to the man of the story: 
man of story: B
Wordsworth.

quite suspicious
The narrator’s mother is quite suspicious of the man
man and gives
gives him
instructs the narrator
the cold shoulder. She instructs narrator to watch the man
man while
he watches the bees
bees and the two end up bees together,
watching the bees
up watching together,
squatting under aa palm
squatting palm tree for about an hour. The little boy is
an hour.
intrigued by the man’s appearance
intrigued appearance and seeks to know him better.
himself verses
The man’s introduction about himself verses on hyperbole:
hyperbole:


I said what does you do, mister?

He got up and said, ‘I am a poet.’

I said, ‘A good poet?’

He said, ‘The greatest in the world.’

‘What’s your name, mister?’

‘B. Wordsworth.’
 stands for Black and that
name stands
He tells the boy that the ‘B‘ in his name
White Wordsworth was his brother. This reference
reference to the British
Romantic poet
Romantic William Wordsworth is significant
poet William significant and shall be taken
analysis.
course of analysis.
later in the course

Wordsworth then tries to sell a poem

Wordsworth cents, only
poem to the kid for four cents,
to end up
up getting mother. He calmly accepts
getting chased by his mother. accepts the
unappreciative response
unappreciative as “the poet’s tragedy” and doesn’t seem to
response as
mind it at all.
mind all. Perhaps he has been through
through such rejections earlier.
rejections earlier.

narrator meets
A week later, the narrator meets B. Wordsworth at the corner
B. Wordsworth corner of
Miguel Street. He hasn’t sold any
Miguel Street. any poems yet but invites
poems yet narrator
invites the narrator
to his home in Alberto Street to feast on mangoes
mangoes which have
become red, ripe and juicy. two head for B Wordsworth’s
juicy. The two Wordsworth’s  one-
one—

roomed hut which looks rather wild, mango, aa

a mango,
wild, surrounded by a
a plum tree. The narrator hogs down six mangoes
coconut and a  mangoes
and ends up staining his shirt with the mango
up staining juice. He gets
mango juice.
thrashed by
by his mother on reaching
reaching home and runs
runs away
away to B.
B.
Wordsworth’s house. Mr B. a walk
B. comforts him and takes him for a
down Saint Clair Avenue, to the Savannah and then to the Race
Course. Wordsworth then suggests
Course. B Wordsworth grass and gazing
suggests lying on the grass gazing
at the night
at night sky. stars are
sky. He asks the kid to think how far the stars are
impact this has on the young
from them and the impact mind is aa powerful
young mind
one :
I


 I did as he told me, and I saw what he
meant. I felt like nothing, and at the same
time I had never felt so big and great in all
my life. I forgot all my anger and all my
tears and all my blows.

Wordsworth then teaches him the names

 Wordsworth constellations of
of the constellations
names of
which he seems
seems to particularly remember the Orion. Shortly,
particularly remember they
Shortly, they
are interrupted by aa policeman
are interrupted becomes aa
interrogation becomes
policeman and the interrogation
comic exchange:
exchange:
The policeman said, ‘What
The ‘What are
are you here?’
you doing here?’

Wordsworth said, ‘I‘I have

Wordsworth have been
been asking
asking myself the same
myselfthe same
question for forty years.’
years.’

narrator starts visiting

friends. The narrator
The two become fast friends.
Wordsworth’s home very
very often and one day, asks him why is it that
bushes abound in his house. The poet then tells him aa
lets the bushes
he lets
little story kid:
story which completely overwhelms the kid:


He said ‘Listen, I will tell you a story . Once
upon a time a boy and a girl met each other
and they fell in love. They loved each other
so much they got married. They were both
poets. He loved words. She loved grass and
flowers and trees. They lived happily in a
single room, and then one day the girl poet
said to the boy poet, ‘We are going to have
another poet in the family.’ But this poet
was never born, because the girl died, and
the young poet died with her, inside her.
And the girl’s husband was very sad, and
he  said he would never touch a thing  in
the girl’s garden. And so the garden
remained, and grew high and wild.’

II looked
looked at B. Wordsworth, he told me
as he
Wordsworth, and as me this lovely
lovely story, he
story, he
seemed to
seemed to grow
grow older. understood his
older. II understood his story.”

a great
The two have a together. They Visit
great time together. Garden, the
visit the Rock Garden,
afternoon
Botanical Gardens, climb the Chancellor’s Hill late in the afternoon
Botanical
and watch the darkness fall on the Port of Spain. Wordsworth
Spain.  Wordsworth
fills the boy with
seems to have aa positive attitude towards life and fills
seems
awe. This is what the narrator
wonder and awe.
wonder narrator has to say
say about
towards life:
Wordsworth’s outlook towards life:
 
He did everything as though he were doing
it for the first time in his life… The world
became a most exciting place

Wordsworth then tells the boy an

Wordsworth an important secret: that he is writing
important secret:
greatest poem
the greatest that
poem in the world by writing one line aa month, and that
is: “The past
the line of the month is: is Deep.” Mr B.
past is B. tells the boy that
he hopes
hopes to distil the experiences of aa whole month into aa single line
experiences of
of poetry
poetry and that in twenty-two a poem
years he’ll have written a
twenty—two years poem that
humanity”.
will “sing to all humanity”.

One day while walking along the dockside,

dockside, the boys asks the poet
whether the pin he has will sink or float in water: He asks the
or float
a try. The pin
boy to give it a that B.
pin sinks. We later come to know that B.
Wordsworth supports
Wordsworth supports his living by singing
singing calypsos he’s a
calypsos and that he’s a
part-poet,
part—poet, part-performer.
part—performer.

finds B
narrator visits his house the next time, he finds
When the narrator
Wordsworth lying on his
Wordsworth his bed and he says
says that the poem
poem isn’t going
well. He is in a
well. terrible state. The boy is overwhelmed with sadness
a terrible
when he understands Wordsworth is going to die soon. He tells the
understands B Wordsworth
narrate him aa ‘funny’ story
kid that he will narrate story and makes him promise
promise
story. The boy agrees:
to never come back after he’s heard the story.  agrees:


He said , ‘ Good. Well, listen. That story that
I told you about the boy poet and the girl
poet do you remember that that wasn’t true
it was something I just made up. All this talk
about poetry and the greatest poem in the
world that wasn’t true either. Isn’t that the
funniest thing you have heard?

However, narrator runs

However, his voice breaks and the narrator runs home crying
After about a year, the boy walks
a year, walks down Alberto Street but
nowhere to be seen.
Wordsworth’s house is nowhere replaced by huge
seen. It is replaced huge
concrete buildings. The mango
concrete buildings. mango tree, coconut and the plum
tree, the coconut plum tree
have all been cut down and it seems
seems as B.Wordsworth had never
as if  B.Wordsworth
existed.
existed.

B. Wordsworth :: Analysis 
Analysis
Taken from aa collection of
Taken of short stories titled
titled Miguel Street,
Street, V.S
Wordsworth presents
Naipaul’s B. Wordsworth presents before us relationship
a complex relationship
us a
between aa young
between young boy and a man which is forged
a rather remarkable man
with great ease and simplicity.
great ease

Revolving around the themes of identity,

Revolving alienation, friendship,
identity, alienation, friendship,
artist, B Wordsworth
admiration and the role of the artist, Wordsworth is narrated in
the first person by a
person by boy who comes in contact with aa man
a little boy man of
same name.
the same man appears
name. One day, the man appears in the narrator’s house
smartly dressed, clearly unlike the beggars
to ‘watch the bee’s’. He’s smartly beggars
narrator is quick
who come to his house everyday. The narrator quick to detect
coldness with which his mother accosts the man. In contrast
the coldness
her, the narrator
to her, doesn’t judge
narrator doesn’t a
judge the man and talks to him in a
Perhaps this ease
manner. Perhaps
friendly manner.  reaching out and
ease of reaching
communicating with the other enables the narrator-kid
communicating narrator—kid to know and
understand the life of an
understand an interesting, man and perhaps
interesting, lonely man
become the only one to do so.
so.

Wordsworth helps
Wordsworth narrator—kid grow
helps the narrator-kid important
grow and teaches him important
leisure. The narrator’s strict mother serves
lessons about life and leisure. serves
B. Wordsworth’s accommodating
as aa foil to B.
as nature. He lets
accommodating nature. lets the boy
himself and even entertains his idea of
things by himself
discover things of placing the
pin on water to see what happens next.
pin next. He teaches the kid to
delight in everyday
delight experiences we take for granted
everyday experiences granted and presents
presents
a fresh pair
him a eyes with which to observe and soak in the
pair of eyes
wonders of the natural world.
wonders world.

Miguel Street, the collection from which the story

Miguel Street, story is taken features
many
many interestingly B. Wordsworth’s is certainly
interestingly odd characters and B. certainly
them. The characters in the book often struggle
one of them. their
struggle with their
 and, owing
identities and, past of the region,
owing to the colonial past region, find
themselves shaped by the colonial experience.
themselves experience.  B.
B. Wordsworth’s
story
story highlights of the artist from the society he lives
highlights the alienation of lives
s / he might play in it.
in and tries to come to terms with role s/he it.

notices about the man

things the narrator notices
One of the first things his
man is his
English which quite
English Trinidadian folks. Though
quite unlike that of his Trinidadian Though he
speaks good
speaks good English, artificiality about it :
English, there is aa hint of artificiality :


His English was so good, it didn’t sound
natural, and I could see my mother was
worried.

Black Wordsworth himself the ‘greatest poet in the world ‘‘ and

Wordsworth calls himself
claims William Wordsworth
claims that William Romantic
Wordsworth was his brother. Like his Romantic
counterpart who was an
counterpart acclaimed ‘Nature Poet“,
an acclaimed Poet“, B. Wordsworth
B. Wordsworth
nature But he isn’t known
loves to spend time with nature known by anybody as aa
anybody as
poet.
poet. Though status may
marginalized status
Though his marginalized may be attributed to his
writes poems
actually writes
color, it is difficult to state whether he actually all.
poems at all.

he’s quite
One cannot help but feel that he’s his identity.
quite lost about his identity. Parts
identity seem
of his identity claims to be the
seem to contradict others. He claims
greatest poet in the world .. Yet we don’t see his poetry.
greatest poet poetry. His poem
poem
unfinished and he seems
remains unfinished artistic
an artistic
seems to have fallen in an
paralysis the past
paralysis after writing the line the past is deep. He dismisses the
story narrated it with much passion.
story he tells the kid after having narrated passion. He
earns his living
is poet who earns living by singing Calypso songs.
songs. A lot in him
seems imitation and he seems
seems to be imitation seems have aa divided identity.
identity.

setting and the local colour of the story

The setting story gives a very
gives it a very
distinctive appeal.
distinctive appeal. The Caribbean setting palm and mango
setting with its palm mango
Chancellor Hill, the Race Course
trees, the Chancellor
trees, of Spain,
Course and the Port of Spain,
combined with the sights
combined sights of Miguel distinctive visual
Miguel Street provide aa distinctive
appeal reader. On the other hand, the colloquial
appeal to the reader. colloquial diction
us ‘hear’ the language
helps us
helps of the people inhabiting
language of inhabiting the story.
story.
Notice this brief exchange
Notice between the narrator’s mother and B.
exchange between B.
Wordsworth and the effect
Wordsworth effect it produces:


 I ran up the steps and shouted, ‘Ma,  it
have a man outside here. He say he want to
watch the bees. My mother came out, looked
at the man and asked him in an unfriendly
way, ‘What do you want?’

The man said, ‘I want to watch your bees.

Wordsworth’s story highlights the alienation of

story highlights artist from the
of the artist
society he lives
society s / he might
lives in and tries to come to terms with role s/he
B.Wordsworth lives
it. B.Wordsworth
play in it. lives in the margins.
margins. Nobody buys his
Nobody buys
poems
poems and he doesn’t seem to have any
any agency public life
agency in the public
whatsoever. But he does have aa great
whatsoever. influence on the personal
great influence personal life
results in artistic
of the boy which results artistic expression
expression in the form of the
boy’s
boy’s narration. B.
B. Wordsworth’s is a poetry that is lived, not
poetry that
written. He lives
lives his life like aa poem.
poem.

relationship between
The theme of the relationship art and material wealth
between art wealth is
found in the utterances
found B. Wordsworth
utterances of  B. hardships he has
Wordsworth and the hardships
a living by selling his poems
to face to eke out a poems for twenty
twenty cents and
signing Calypso songs. buy
songs. When the narrator’s mother refuses to buy
his poem,
poem, his response, though aa funny
response, though funny one, truth in it :
one, has some truth :


My mother say she ain’t have four cents.’

Wordsworth said, ‘It is the poet’s tragedy.’

Again, story, we find him unable to be able to believe

Again, later in the story,
that material well—being if he wrote the
well-being would be his share even if
greatest
greatest poem
poem in the world : :


But you will be the richest man in the world
when you write the greatest poem ?’

He didn’t reply.

silence on his part

This silence volumes about the chasm that exists
speaks volumes
part speaks exists
between poetry
between poetry and material prosperity.
prosperity.

Whether B.
Whether Wordsworth actually
B. Wordsworth actually writes
writes good poems or whether he is
good poems
delusional person
a delusional
a himself aa poet
person fancying himself an unimportant
poet is an unimportant
assessment makes the very
question. Such assessment
question. very mistake which the
narrator avoids –— of placing
narrator B. Wordsworth’s
placing aa value judgment on B.
worth. What is more important
worth. important is his personal life, the past
past he’s
through and the relationship
been through boy. When
relationship he develops with the boy.  When 
his story
his  account, the line
story about the girl and the child is taken into account,
full month to write bears aa
past is deep” which he takes aa full  
“The past
when viewed as
meaning rather than when
completely different meaning as aa
disjointed utterance
disjointed a madman.
utterance of a

that B.Wordsworth comes across

It is true that as aa strange
across as strange person
person but it
is this very
very ‘strangeness’
‘strangeness’ which endears him .He cares about the
.He cares
himself as
can see himself
‘lesser things’ in life and can as aa part
part of the universe.
His lazy loiterings
loiterings may
may appear
appear as escapism but ifif at all,
as escapism an
all, it is an
escape
escape to discovery.  narrator feels when
discovery. This is perhaps what the narrator
grass with B.Wordsworth
he lies on the grass thrashed by his
B.Wordsworth after getting thrashed
mom, watching
mom, night sky :
watching the night :


 I felt like nothing, and at the same time I
had never felt so big and great in all my life.
I forgot all my anger and all my tears and
all my blows.
 across as
Furthermore, he also comes across person with aa great
as aa kind person great
degree emotional intelligence.
degree of emotional intelligence. Before his death, he makes the
narrator promise
narrator return after he’s
promise to never return he’s told him aa funny
funny story: of
story: of
how all he’d said about the poet’s wife was a
a lie. His voice
voice breaks in
the process. not. What seems
process. It might be aa lie, it might not. seems to be the
case though is that it was aa true story
case though he’s lying now.
story and that he’s now. If so,
so,
actually aa profound
it is actually gesture he’s making
profound gesture here. B.
making here. Wordsworth
B. Wordsworth
is undoubtedly a lonely man.
undoubtedly a finds aa friend in the young
man. He finds narrator
young narrator
with whom he can loneliness and transforms the boy’s
can share his loneliness
outlook towards However, when he knows
towards life. However, knows his end is near,
near, he
attempts to erase
attempts erase his existence from the mind of the young
young boy
boy
by saying  that everything
saying that everything he’s ever said is aa lie. After having
expressed his credo to perhaps
expressed perhaps the only person through his story,
person through story, he
tries to erase
erase his memory
memory from the very mind so as
person’s mind
very person’s as to
of missing
relieve him from the burden of missing someone
someone and allow him to
himself
negate himself
explore life in his own terms. In short, he tries to negate
for the sake of the other which is perhaps most profound
perhaps the most profound gesture
gesture
a human being can
a make. This noble gesture
can make. self-effacement
gesture of self-effacement
it.
sacrifice with it.
carries a note of sacrifice

final paragraphs
The final paragraphs portray
portray aa poignant of B.
picture of
poignant picture B. Wordsworth’s
fate. A year narrator walks
year after his last visit the narrator walks along Alberto Street
find B.
only to find hut replaced
B. Wordsworth’s hut two—storied building.
replaced by aa two-storied building.
The mango,
mango, the plum been cut down.
plum and the coconut trees have all been
replaces the living signs
man—made material replaces
The hard, man-made nature and
signs of nature
an awfully sad one which sums
the last line is an sums up of B
up the life of
Wordsworth:
Wordsworth:

It
It was
was just as
as though
though B.
B. Wordsworth
Wordsworth had
had never
never existed.
ezdsted.
This strange story about aa ‘strange’
strange story ‘strange’ person
person may
may appear
appear humorous at
first sight
first sight but at its core lies aa tragedy
tragedy of tremendous magnitude:
magnitude:
one with a profound lesson that can
a profound can radically one’s outlook
change one’s
radically change
towards people, places
towards places and the very nature of human existence.
very nature existence.

B. Wordsworth :: About the author

B. Wordsworth
 Vidiadhar Surajprasad
Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul, aa Trinidadian writer
Surajprasad Naipaul, writer of Indian
17th August,
descent was born on 17th 1932 in Trinidad.
August, 1932 His great-
Trinidad. His great—
grandfather an indentured laborer who had come to Trinidad
grandfather was an Trinidad
during the British Raj.
during Raj. Naipaul was a a very student and
bright student
very bright
of Oxford in 1950
attended the University of 1950 on aa scholarship. He
sometime before he began
worked for the BBC for sometime his career
began his career in
writing.

V.S Naipaul is a prolific writer who has had an

a prolific an enormous
enormous output of
output of
credit. He has written everything
literature to his credit. everything from the comic to
the tragic
tragic and around overlapping
overlapping themes of politics,
politics, religion
identity,
identity, colonialism, oppression and individuality.
colonialism, oppression first three
individuality. His first
of great
novels of importance important
great importance important novels include Mystic Masseur,
Mystic Masseur,
The Suffrage
The Street. However, it was his fourth
of Elvira and Miguel Street.
Sufirage of
novel, A House for propelled him to the league
for Mr Biswas which propelled league of
greats. Some of his other works include A Bend in
the greats. in the River,
River,
Mimic Men and The
Mimic The Enigma of Arrival. Naipaul
of Arrival. Naipaul has written aa couple
nonfiction works centered around India which include An Area of
of nonfiction of
wounded civilization
Darkness, India: A wounded civilization and India: A Million Mutinies
Now. He was also an traveler whose travels across
an avid traveler across the globe
precipitated in works like Among
precipitated the Believers: an
Among the an Islamic Journey,
Journey,
Beyond Belief, Half aa Life and The
Belief, Half The Masque of
of Africa.
Africa.

2001.
Prize for literature in 2001.
He received the Nobel Prize

Street, the collection from which

Miguel Street, which B. Wordsworth is taken
B. Wordsworth
Somerset Maugham
bagged the Somerset Maugham Award in 1961 Somerset
1961 and Somerset
himself selected
Maugham himself
Maugham selected it as an entry,
as an thus making
entry, thus making Naipaul
Naipaul the
first non-European writer to win the prize.
non—European writer

Naipaul 17th August

Naipaul died on 17th 2018 and according
August 2018 according to Geordie Greig,
Greig,
Sunday, the writer
Naipaul’s friend and the editor of The Mail on Sunday,
final rest after being read Crossing
drifted towards his final Crossing the Bar, aa
poem
poem by Tennyson.
Tennyson.