THE BATTALION.
59
diction is his theory of poetic material,
which is that the lives of ordinary people
furnish material for poetry in its high
est form. This theory he most faithfully
carries out, and one has only to read
that touching poem, “Michael,” to see how
nobly he has succeeded. Before Words
worth’s day, the great writers of poetry
and fiction always took as their theme
the lives and deeds of the distinguished
and powerful, and the “short and simple
annals of the poor” received little con
sideration, but after the appearance of
his poems public sentiment was directed
to a large extent toward the lower
classes, with the result that they have
been very materially benefited.
Wordsworth’s distinguishing trait was
his unbounded love for nature. In her
he found his comfort in time of sorrow,
bis joy and inspiration in time of peace.
A more successful interpreter of nature
has never appeared among men. He loved
her in her various 1 moods, in her simplic
ity, in her beauty, in her grandeur. He
not only felt the beauty of the great and
sublime in nature, but even the smallest
things received his thoughtful apprecia
tion. How beautifully is this expressed
in the closing lines of that masterpiece,
“Intimations of Immortality.”
To me the meanest flower that blows can
give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for
tears.
In his wonderful ability to teach us to
understand and appreciate nature, he is
indeed “an eye among the blind, a seer
blest.”
But in spite of these most admirable
qualities, not even the most enthusiastic
admirer of Wordsworth can claim that
all his poetry is of real merit; for much
of it, as in “The Excursion” and “The
Prelude,” hardly rises above the level of
ordinary prose. This unevenness is pos
sibly due in a large measure to the fact
that Wordsworth the philosopher and
teacher frequently predominated over
Wordsworth the poet. He attempted to
burden poetry with a task for which it
was not fitted, that of teaching when it
should seek only to please. His poems
are in many places a dreary desert with
its monotonous miles of sand and rock,
but almost before you are aware you
are in an oasis made all the more beauti
ful and refreshing by its contrast with
the seorohing sands which surround it.
Indeed, no poet has been worse at his
worst or better at his best than Words
worth.
ATHLETICS.
WM. E. BEILHABZ, SOPHOMORE.
[Second Prize Article.]
Athletics is a great factor in the de
velopment of a school; they are bene
ficial in more ways than only physical
dtevelopment of the body, for “a healthy
body is the seat of a strong mind.”
A school of this size and standing
should have a large and well equipped
gymnasium, in connection with baths,
and if possible a swimming pool, all un
der the supervision and direction of a
skilled and intelligent physical director.
Such an equipment is always an induce
ment to young men; then football would
not have a monopoly under whose juris
diction and at a great expense only the
chosen few obtain the benefit of di
rected training; but better material
would be induced by the physical advant-