A message from Wordsworth to today's idiots: "The human mind is capable of being excited without the application of gross and violent stimulants....". That was my first impression of Wordsworth's perspicacity. The second was his apparent sadness about the human condition, the third was his belief in and love of nature, and fourth was his gift for storytelling. I now appreciate him much more than I did fresh out of school. His "Lines Written in Early Spring" finishes with these three lines:
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
I guess human history never really changes. At the end of this collection, Mr. Somervell has included his take on the "Principles of Poetry and 'Lyrical Ballads' ", a very worthwhile inclusion. If, for some reason I have to divest myself of much of my collection of The Kings Treasuries of Literature, I will want to save this one: Number 40. ( )