CHAPTER XVI THE PERIOD OF REVOLUTION 1798-1832 THE placid and self-satisfied eighteenth century ended in a storm of reaction and revolt. The upheaval of the French Revolution transformed all Europe. England was spared its most violent and bloody aspects, but was deeply affected by its political and moral elements. With the fall of the Bastille, the symbol of ancient tyranny, in 1789, a new era of history opened. The past was torn up by the roots; social instituInfluence of tions were shattered as by an earthquake shock; out of the chaos was evolved a new species of man, the modern self-governing, democratic man. Young and ardent minds were thrilled by the cry of the Revolution, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." It seemed to be the dawn of a new day for humanity, the bright morning of expanding faith and glorious promises. Burns's dream of universal brotherhood seemed about to be realized. Young poets embraced the new ideas with wild enthusiasm. the French Revolution Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, says Wordsworth, whose "terrific democratic notions" appalled his friends. Coleridge boldly described a noble lord as bearing "the leprous stain of nobility." Blake appeared in the London streets wearing the red liberty cap. All were nourished, like Shelley's Alastor, "by solemn vision and bright silver dream." The stimulating power of the French Revolution quickly allied itself with the reactionary movement for freedom and individuality in literature. The union of the two forces, romanticism and revolution, resulted in an outburst of original Revolution and Romanticism creative genius such as had not been known since the Elizabethan period. One of the most important events of literary history was the publication in 1798 of the Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge. As modern democracy dates from the fall of the Bastille, so modern poetry dates from the Lyrical Ballads. What had been an instinctive protest and half-hearted revolt on the part of the poets now became a deliberate revolution. The "return to nature" was consummated in Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, and romantic poetry reached its full triumph in Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. By these two contributions to the Lyrical Ballads people were amazed as by two great stars suddenly blazing forth in the ancient firmament. Period of The nineteenth century opened with a remarkable group of poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Scott, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, the leaders and makers of modern poetry. All were filled with the spirit of romanticism and all but Scott and Keats were strongly affected by the spirit of the French Revolution. The period from 1798, the year of the Lyrical Ballads, to 1832, the year of the Reform Bill, by which the English people finally achieved their liberties, may be called the period of romantic triumph. In these years the seeds of romanticism were taking permanent root in all the arts. Which one of the poets who opened the gates of the new century with such glorious celebration of song is to be regarded as essentially the greatest of the group, is an academic question, interesting to discuss and impossible to decide. It is certain, however, that the inspiring leader in this development of modern poetry was Wordsworth. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 1770-1850 In the extreme northwest corner of England there is a space about thirty miles square called the Lake District, which is graced by poetic associations beyond all other regions of the kingdom. The road from Coniston to Keswick is a kind of via sacra, lined with literary shrines, the homes of Ruskin, Dr. Arnold, Harriet Martineau, Felicia Hemans, De Quincey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey. The region is filled with shire the spirit of Wordsworth's poetry, as it is saturated Wordsworth- with the mists that fall from old Helvellyn. The sparkling "becks," the storm-swept "pikes," the mountain tarns, and the hills, gorgeous with the gold and purple of gorse and heather, are all elements of his verse. It is well named "Wordsworthshire," and an intimate knowledge of its scenery contributes much to an interpretation of Wordsworth's message to the world. The Poet of the Lakes In Cockermouth, on the north border of this region, Wordsworth was born in 1770. A part of his childhood was spent with his grandfather at Penrith, where his playmate was Mary Hutchinson, the "phantom of delight" who became his wife. At Hawkshead, where he spent his happy school-days, and at Cambridge, he created the impression of a rugged, independent mountain lad, showing more regard for nature than for men and books. After a few years of drifting he returned to the Lakes to spend all his remaining years at Grasmere and at Rydal Mount. The quaint little Dove Cottage, his first home, and later the home of De Quincey, is a shrine visited yearly by a multitude of pilgrims. Near by in the Grasmere churchyard is his grave, marked by a plain marble slab. The story of Wordsworth's external life is as simple as the story of one of his simple poems. The important events of his life were spiritual experiences, and the course of this inner life is fully described in the remarkable autobiographic poems, The Prelude and The Excursion. Left an orphan at an early A Simple and Serene Life age, he was educated by relatives, who regarded with some impatience his disinclination for practical life. He believed, with a peculiarly devout faith, that his life had been dedicated to poetry by a divine interposition expressed through the influences of nature. A beautiful sunrise, witnessed in early youth, pro duced an exaltation of spirit that to him was a service of consecration: I made no vows, but vows Were then made for me; bond unknown to me A bequest of £900 from a friend secured to him the "plain living and high thinking" required by his lofty purpose, and his life became a long calm of poetic meditation and spiritual serenity, seldom interrupted by the world's events. His austere soul was not disturbed even by the attacks of unfriendly critics, nor by the failure of his poetry to find general appreciation. |