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WIL.L.IAM WORDSWORTH.
T. L. FOUNTAIN, SBNIOE.
[First Prize Article.]
William Wordsworth was born in 1770,
and died in 1850. The triumphant strug
gle of the American colonists for freedom,
the terrific outburst of the French revo
lution, the general breaking away from
old conventions and wonderful awaken
ing of ideas in England, combined to make
these eighty years one of the most re
markable periods of modern history. “Liv
ing in that dawn when it was bliss to be
alive, but to be young was very heaven,”
tne emotions that stirred the earnest and
sympathetic nature of Wordteworth could
not find adequate expression in prose,
but in the language of poetry his great
heart found utterance, and there came
from his sylvan retreat the most inspir
ing song.
Always enthusiastic in the cause of lib
erty, he at first warmly espoused the side
of the French revolutionists; for in it he
thought that he could 1 see the dawn of a
universal awakening and the regeneration
of society. In his vivid imagination he
could see “France standing on the top
of golden hours, and human nature seem
ing born again.” But the atrocious crimes
committed in the name of liberty soon
blasted his high hopes and produced in
him a conservatism that remained with
him throughout his life and exercised a
wholesome influence on his work. Though
his disappointment was bitter, he did not
lose his faith in humanity, gr cease to
take an active interest in its progress
and welfare.
After taking his degree at Cambridge
and making a tour through France and
other countries of Europe, Wordsworth
took up his abode at Grasmere, a small
hamlet in what is commonly called the
“Lake Country,” whose woodland scenery
and rustic life were to furnish the mate
rial and inspiration of those poems which
have proved such a blessing to mankind.
In the year 1802 his domestic happi
ness was made complete by his marriage
to one of the most accomplished and lov
able women in all England. His whole
domestic life was, in marked contrast to
that of most other men of great genius,
ideal.
After his marriage Wordsworth led a
very secluded existence, taking long
walks in the morning, reading his verses
to his wife and his sister in the evening,
retiring and rising with the birds; such
was the simple routine of his daily life,
yet no man could have been more truly
happy than he. No desire for what is
commonly called popularity ever entered
his mind. The failure of his contempor
aries to regard' his work with favor did
not in the least dishearten him, but with
an imperturbable calmness and sweetness
of spirit, he pursued with increasing de
votion his high calling; for full well he
knew that genius must create the taste