As I venture further into Wordsworth's 1805 Prelude I have noticed striking similarities and poetic aesthetic choices within it that many of my favorite, more contemporary poets continue to utilize (not to mention my own work). This could quite possibly be the greatest poem I have read to date. This poem seems to be, at least so far (I just finished Book 3 of 13), strictly procedural. What I mean is that Wordsworth's Prelude is a poem about the instance of its making. There is a presence of the present within the poem that is at play with the fact that the poem itself is referential to its own past as well as Wordsworth's. There is more poetic insight within this poem than an actual poem, and therein lies its strangeness--this is first and foremost a poem, but unlike his contemporaries and
predecessors, Wordsworth's own poetic process is being evaluated throughout. It's a poem for poets--a
proclamation of ambition and failure and success all at the same moment. The poem reads as if it were written in the 20
th century at times and is as fresh today (to me) as it was in 1805. My appreciation for Wordsworth before diving into his work the past few months was marginal at best. I would encourage all of you to revisit those poets you may have, at some point, dismissed for whatever reason. There may be the greatest poem ever written awaiting you.
Some favorite portions:
And now it would content me to yield up
Those lofty hopes awhile, for present gifts
Of humbler industry. But, o dear friend,
The poet, gentle creature as he is,
Has like the lover his unruly times -
His fits when he is neither sick nor well,
Though no distress be near him but his own
Unmanageable thoughts. (Wordsworth, Prelude, Book I, Lines 142-149)
Ah me, that all
The terrors, all the early miseries,
Regrets, vexations, lassitudes, that all
The thoughts and feelings which have been infused
Into my mind, should ever have made up
The calm existence that is mine when I
Am worthy of myself. (Wordsworth, Prelude, Book I, Lines 355-361)
