New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-06-05

n,ayo m xvi, Az. Charles Scribner's Sons.
French Wordsworthian one might easily be
..r,ted to describe offhand as an anomaly, for
-. senius of France Is the very antithesis Of
~. genius Of England and Of the English poet
on, NJ Iegouis proves to be one Of the rare
-, NJ letters in his country who are capable
=, entering into the spirit OF foreign poet
a.,,a- Revue and Tame before him have fit
t,,v disclosed keen appreciation OF English
u,.rature and to-day there are half dozen
,-.,.b writer's who write of English poetry with
| as-s,anding but sympathy so subtle as
Not n, NJ Iegouis is almost never encountered
=. the French side Of the Channel He deals
18th matters which have been traversed in
v,;cht's well-known Life of Wordsworth"
So, treats them with a much closer regard for
their psychology.
.srhe Prelude" is admittedly autobograph-
,..- fragment celebrating the inner develop
,sr. ~ the poet In this work he goes over
,hs scenes OF his schooldays, examines the steps
\, which he proceeded from boyhood to youth
and from youth to manhood. and records the
.niritual crises brought about by the political
ambitions Of Europe In these periods In hts life.
hiking The Prelude" then as spiritual docu-
mont NJ Legous fuses II with the more obvious
Noeraphical data accumulated by many writer's
and drawn upon by Knight for his formal
life" Naturally the poetic confessions en-
dch the familiar narrative Of facts, and the
,eader understands better than ever before the
rrowth Of Wordsworth from an unthinkins lad
% q philosophical poet. He was not. M Legouis
insists the strictly studious and contemplative
bow whom many Wordsworthians like to think
Of az the father to the man they admire. On
vle re-lO
youngster. fond OF such glimpses into imagina-
tive literature the small resources OF HAWKS
head and it's little school afforded, but fonder
still OF idle hours the hillside and IN the
woods II Is instructive TO note the persistence
Of this passion Of his for nature. 1t began
With no hierophantic thrills. prophesying the
poet 1t was sheer earth-love, sheer unthink-
Ing surrender TO the beauty OF the outer world
His Imagination was excited early but that IL
led him to divine strange forces and IDEAS be-
meath the face Of the landscape does not mean
that he took up the Interpretation OF nature al
the mythical stage which appeals 80 strongly
to young poets, especially 10 well-read young
poets To Understand Wordswo rth's boyish
sensations must az NJ. Legouis cleveriy
points out. go back beyond the age when the
earth peopled by gods and demons made
b the likeness OF men. to the time when the
mountain Itself had a conscious life all the more
fearful because it was quite unknown and
when in place OF the dryad there Was "a spirit
tn the woods Wordsworths childish hallucna-
tons are perhaps more nearly akin to those OF
the supersti,ious savage who tembles amidst
the weird forms assumed by natural objects
The point is important as II touches the Key 10
wordsworth's poetry In It's most characteristic
phases
He spent his boyhood in close, constant
imaginative and yet not too complex com
nunion with nature. simultaneously ne was
becoming acquainted with human nature on It's
kast mysterious side. assOciating wic village
types who introduced him TO plain, everyday
emotions Later at Cambridge. he found
peculiarly infelicitous atmosphere. The men
around him almost all gross in their tastes
and artificial In their studies Cambridge was
h the full tide Of her mathematical preoccupa-
tons Wordsworth found the IDEAS OF the
paace unsympathetic, and. In 30 far as he sur
rendered TO them, he gained no good The
academic tradition of the place In poetic mat
ters cultivated in him q frigid form OF utterance
which rendered his first poems excessively bad
For the uproarious dissipation into which the
entire University plunged he had an IN
stinctive rrpugnance He was thrown oach
upon himself and left the University still un-
formed In character, though with his thoughtfui
bent confirmed He was eager to think. and
stu more eager TO see the world. His renec-
ions on the world were TO prove a lifelong hap
piness and inspiration but at the start ne old
not know this II was with the world Itself
That he was In love, hungering for travel while
bis guardians were urging him to enter the
Church embrace the profession OF Law" /
Neither alternative was accountable TO him. !