mainly for the remarkable corpus of his correspondence. Though it fills many volumes, none of it is positively bad. His letters lack the warm spontaneity of Cowper and the scholarly yet natural mastery of Gray, but as the products of a gentle and cultivated gift of writing they are supreme. TO GEORGE MONTAGU George Montagu was a contemporary of 639b 5 f. Mr. Hume's England, A History of NINETEENTH CENTURY WILLIAM COWPER Outwardly the life of William Cowper was uneventful; inwardly it was made up of experiences that were rarely without tragic consequence to his supersensitive nature. He was born of gentle blood in the rectory of Great Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire, where his father was incumbent. The death of his mother when he was only six and the cruelty of a bully in his first school made a profound impression on his affectionate and retiring nature. He spent seven years at Winchester School, where he was taught the classics and learned to love Homer. After a three years' apprenticeship and some study of law in the Temple he was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-three. Meanwhile he was exercising his talent in verse, enjoying renewed associations with his old Winchester friends, and taking part in the friendly gayety of the Nonsense Club. The death of his father in 1756 and separation from his cousin Theodora, whom he wished to marry, aggravated his innate despondency and prepared him for the crash which came in 1763. He was appointed to the clerkship of the journals in the House of Lords, but the appointment was contested, and he was required to appear before the house for examination. The prospect so oppressed him that he tried to escape the ordeal by suicide. His mind gave way, and he was placed in an asylum at St. Albans for a year and a half. On his recovery he removed to Huntingdon and there lived a simple life during 647a his remaining years. The Reverend Morley Unwin and his young wife Mary, the zealot Newton, the vivacious Lady Austen, and Cowper's kinswoman Lady Hesketh all sympathized with him in his mental distresses, encouraged him to write poetry, and contributed as much happiness as possible to his perturbed life. The Task, his greatest poem, begun at the suggestion of Lady Austen, was published in 1785. By its employment of blank verse, its treatment of simple scenes of nature, and its depiction of lowly country life, it carries on the traditions of Thomson, but it shows a warmth of appreciation and a prevailing geniality that were unknown to the author of The Seasons. John Gilpin, his most humorous work, written also at the request of Lady Austen, appeared the same year. The two poems brought him fame. His last years, filled with gloom from his settled conviction that salvation was denied him, are reflected in his terrible Castaway, 1799. He died peacefully at East Dereham in 1800. He is one of the great heralds of the romantic triumph in English poetry at the close of the eighteenth century. JOHN GILPIN 650a 49. placemen, incumbents of appointive government positions. 650b 86. Katterfelto, a quack doctor and con jurer whose advertisements filled the London papers about 1782. 651b 189. Oh evenings worthy of the gods!' Cf. Horace, Satires, II, vi, 65. 652b 269 f. he of Gath, etc. Cf. 1 Samuel xvii, 23 ff. 655a 473. Indian fume, tobacco smoke. 507. Midas, a king of Phrygia who, through a gift of Dionysus, turned to gold everything he touched. 655b 515. Arcadian scenes, etc. Virgil in his Eclogues, and Sir Philip Sidney in his Arcadia. 656b 627. balloted, conscripted for service. 657b 707. Tityrus, the name of the shepherd in the first Eclogue of Virgil. 723. ingenious Cowley. See p. 435 ff. and notes. 728. Chertsey, a village in Surrey where Cowley spent his last years. 658a 765. The Frenchman's darling, Mignon ette. This, the last of Cowper's original poems, was founded on an incident in Anson's Voyage around the World, 1748. The personal application in the poet's case is evident. 7. No braver chief. Lord George Anson, 1692-1762, was an heroic English admiral in the days of exploration and colonization in the Americas. GEORGE CRABBE The life experiences of no other English poet have more definitely determined the bent of his genius than did those of George Crabbe. He was born in the unattractive little fishing village of Aldburgh on the "frowning coast" of Suffolk, where his father was a collector of the salt tax. An apprenticeship to a surgeon and the practice of medicine for a brief period brought him that intimacy with the struggles of the poor and the sterner side of nature for which his work is distinguished. Failing as a doctor, he went to London to try his hand at literature, and after much das couragement attracted the attention of Burke, whose patronage enabled him to publish The Library, 1781, and TA Village, 1783. By his patron's advice he took orders and devoted himself to parish work for the rest of his life. Among his later works, The Par Register, 1807, and The Borough, 1810, draw largely upon his personal cortacts during this period. Although he used the poetic forms and methods of the eighteenth century, he was a rest in the current sense of the word, and the background of his work was the sorun The village described is Aldburgh, the poet's native place. 661b 12. Corydons, shepherds. 15. Mincio's banks. The Mincio is a river flowing into the Po below Mantua, the home of Virgil. 16. Tityrus. See note to 1. 707 of The Task. 27. Duck. The reference may be to Stephen Duck, a poor thresher mentioned by Johnson in his Life of Sarage. Some of Duck's contemporaries imagined for a time that he was a great original genius. 662b 97. Ajax, Ajax Telamon, one of the greater Greek heroes in the Trojan War. 663a 144. Dog-star, the star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, the brightest of the fixed stars. 665a 284. drowsy Bench, the lax laws governing the practice of medicine. 303. He, passing rich,' etc., an allusion to the parson in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, p. 572b, l. 137 ff. 665b 341. the moping owl. Cf. 1. 10 of Gray's Elegy. ROBERT BURNS Robert Burns was born in Ayrshire beside the bonnie Doon." He was the eldest of seven children, and the struggle of the family for existence on the small unproductive farm was unrelenting. He endured long hours of laborious toil, and had few books and little schooling, but developed a love of nature, generous emotions, and acute powers of observation which later were to inspire him with spontaneous song. When twenty-three he tried flax-dressing at Irvine; but acquiring only the bad habits and practices of the seaport town, he returned to farming, in partnership with his brother at Mossgiel. Soon afterward he met Jean Armour, who was to become his wife in 1788. During these years most of his finest work was done. By 1786 his wayward life had led him into difficulties, and he resolved to leave Scotland forever. He decided to go to Jamaica, but money was needed for the passage. He wrote to a friend," You have heard that I am going to commence poet in print it is just the last foolish action I intend to do; and then turn a wise man as fast as possible." In this way the famous Kilmarnock edition of his poems, 1786, came into existence. Its success was instantaneous, and as a result he was invited to the Scottish capital to meet the social and literary élite. At the end of the second winter, however, he real 665b 10. ized the uncongeniality of city life both to his social tastes and to his muse, and returned to his native district. With the proceeds of a second edition of his poems he stocked a few acres at Ellisland in Dumfriesshire and with Jean Amour settled down to a short period of contentment if not of prosperity. To add to his earnings he obtained a post in the excise at Dumfries, but again he was tempted into habits of intemperance, to the detriment of both health and reputation. He died in Dumfries, broken and embittered, at the age of thirtyseven. He had written of the life he knew, the tenderness and passion of simple folk, the tears and mirth that are essentially human, with a sincerity and power that made his poetry a vitalizing element for the new age. 666a 21. stacher, totter. 29. tentie rin, heedful run. 31. neebor town, a neighboring farm, including its buildings. 38. spiers, asks. 40. uncos, strange things. 44. Gars, makes. 44. claes, clothes. 48. eydent, busy, diligent. 49. jauk, trifle. 666b 62. hafflins, partly. 67. kye, cows. 69. blate and laithfu', shy and bashful. 72. lave, rest, others. 92. parrich, porridge. 93. soupe, milk. 93. hawkie, cow. 667a 94. hallan, partition. 96. weel-hained kebbuck, fell, well-saved ripe cheese. 99. towmond, etc., twelve months old since flax was in the flower. 105. lyart haffets, gray side locks. 111 ff. Dundee . . . Martyrs. . . Elgin, names of well-known sacred melodies. 113. beets, kindles. 122. the royal Bard, King David. 667b 133. he, who lone, etc., St. John on the Isle of Patmos. 35. Inverness an' Teviotdale. The former is in northern Scotland on the Moray Firth, the latter in Roxburghshire on the English border. 38. graith, implements, gear. 39. cadger pownie, a peddler's pony. 40. dyke-back, back of a turf fence or wall. 45. crambo-jingle. In the game of crambo one player supplies a rhyme to a word given by another. 49 ff. I am nae poet, etc. The five stanzas here following may be called Burns's confession of faith, or poetical creed, as opposed to the classical notion of the origin and essence of poetry. 64. sairs, serves. 66. knappin-hammers, hammers used for breaking stones. When Burns wrote Tam O'Shanter, Alloway Kirk, but a short distance from the poet's birthplace, had been long in ruins, and many legends had gathered about it, among them that of Douglas Graham, who was noted for his convivial habits, and whose experience probably gave Burns the suggestion for this poem. 1. chapman billies, peddler fellows. 5. nappy, ale. 7. Scots miles. The Scottish mile was longer by an eighth or thereabout than the English mile. 8. slaps, breaches or gates in the fences. 19. skellum, a good-for-nothing. 20. blethering, talking nonsense. 20. blellum, a babbler. 23. ilka melder, every meal grinding. 25. ca'd, driven. 31. warlocks, male witches. 33. greet, weep. 39. bleezing, blazing. WILLIAM BLAKE William Blake's poetry and pictorial art are closely linked together as the expression of a visionary and dreamer. He was born in London in the household of a clothier. His systematic education was meager, but his father apparently recognized his artistic temper and gave him the training that was most congenial to his talent. For four years he attended a drawing school and for seven more was an apprentice to a prominent engraver by the name of Besire. On completing his apprenticeship he began to engrave for the trade but continued his studies in art at the Royal Academy. He was married to Catherine Boucher in 1782, and with her sympathetic interest and help literally made his own books in every detail. He engraved his poems with a decorative design on copper plates and afterward added coloring by hand, by a process revealed to him, he affirmed, in a dream. His Poetical Sketches appeared in 1783, Songs of Innocence in 1789, and Songs of Experience in 1794. Although little known at the time, these have been recognized since as component parts of the Romantic Movement in its lyrical exuberance and mystical longing. he grew older his artistry improved but his poetry became more vague and incoherent. Some of his Prophetic Books, as he called them, are unintelligible. He continued in poverty to the end of his long life, and died in London in 1827. In his mystical view of Nature he suggests Wordsworth, and in his lyrical intensity and employment of materials of the spirit world he forecasts Shelley. As |