324 is 'POETRY AT BOTTOM 



philosophical experiments the ' Prelude,' the * Excursion ' 

 will be read for the light they cast upon the poet's mind, 

 and for occasional passages of authentic inspiration. Taken 

 as a whole, they are too unequal in execution, too imperfectly 

 penetrated with the vital spirit of true poetry, to stand the 

 test of time or wake the enthusiasm of centuries of students. 

 Those, then, who love and reverence Wordsworth, for whom 

 from earliest boyhood he has been a name of worship, will 

 thank the delicate and sympathetic critic who has here 

 collected Wordsworth's masterpieces in the compass of three 

 hundred pages. They will also thank him for the preface 

 in which he has pointed out the sterling qualities of 

 Wordsworth's poetry. After speaking of Wordsworth's debt 

 to Burns, who first in a century of false taste used 'a 

 style of perfect plainness, relying for effect solely on the 

 weight and force of that which with entire fidelity it 

 utters,' Mr. Arnold introduces the following paragraph as 

 to Wordsworth's handling of that style : 



Still Wordsworth's use of it has something unique and unmatchable. 

 Nature herself seems, I say, to take the pen out of his hand, and to 

 write for him with her own bare, sheer, penetrating power. This arises 

 from two causes : from the profound sincereness with which Wordsworth 

 feels his subject, and also from the profoundly sincere and natural 

 character of his subject itself. He can and will treat such a subject 

 with nothing but the most plain, first-hand, almost austere naturalness. 

 His expression may often be called bald, as, for instance, in the poem of 

 ' Revolution and Independence ' ; but it is as bald as the bare mountain- 

 tops are bald, with a baldness which is full of grandeur. 



This is assuredly the truest and finest description which 

 has yet been written of Wordsworth's manner at its best ; 

 and the account rendered of the secret of his charm is no less 

 to the point : ' Wordsworth's poetry is great because of the 

 extraordinary power with which Wordsworth feels the joy 

 offered to us in nature, the joy offered to us in the simple 

 elementary affections and duties, and because of the extra- 

 ordinary power with which, in case after case, he shows us 

 this joy, and renders it so as to make us share it.' At the 

 same time Mr. Arnold recognises the poet's inequalities, and 



