and the length of the lines in any rhymed metrical passage may be determined either by a fixed stanzaic law, or by a law infinitely deeper-by the law which impels the soul, in a state of poetic exaltation, to seize hold of every kind of metrical aid, such as rhyme, cæsura, etc., for the purpose of accentuating and marking off each shade of emotion as it arises, regardless of any demands of stanza. . . . If a metrical passage does not gain immensely by being written independently of stanzaic law, it loses immensely. . . . In the regular metres we enjoy the pleasure of feeling that the rhymes will inevitably fall under a recognized law of couplet or stanza. But if the passage flows independently of these, it must still flow inevitably-it must, in short, show that it is governed by another and a yet deeper force, the inevitableness of emotional expression." Watts-Dunton considered "Kubla Khan" the most perfect of irregular poems in English, but he thought Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" the greatest of all English odes in spite of the fact that certain passages do not possess complete harmony between idea and metrical form. Changes in science soon render scientific writings obsolete Sir Isaac Newton gives place to Einstein;—but the obsolete philosophy and psychology on which Wordsworth builded do not materially affect the value of his great ode to us. Although a philosopher of today would give different reasons for a belief in personal immortality, Wordsworth's ode has a permanent value which changes in philosophy and psychology are powerless to affect. In fairness to the poet, however, it should be said that Wordsworth did not mean literally to advocate the Platonic belief that the soul exists before birth. ODE INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD I There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more. II The Rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the Rose, The Moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare, Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath past away a glory from the earth. III Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, And while the young lambs bound As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief: The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity, And with the heart of May Doth every Beast keep holiday;— Thou Child of Joy, Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy! IV Ye blessèd Creatures, I have heard the call Ye to each other make; I see The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee; My head hath its coronal, The fulness of your bliss, I feel-I feel it all. This sweet May-morning, And the Children are culling On every side, In a thousand valleys far and wide, Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm, And the Babe leaps up on his Mother's arm:- -But there's a Tree, of many, one, A single Field which I have looked upon, The Pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? V Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: And cometh from afar: But He beholds the light, and whence it flows, The Youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the Man perceives it die away, VI Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; The homely Nurse doth all she can And that imperial palace whence he came. VII Behold the Child among his new-born blisses, See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies, A mourning or a funeral; And this hath now his heart, To dialogues of business, love, or strife; Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride Filling from time to time his "humorous stage” Were endless imitation. VIII Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie Thou best Philosopher, who yet dost keep On whom those truths do rest, |