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Course Materials
Alan Liu
William Wordsworth, Kendal and Windermere
Railway (1844) |
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These are excerpts from two letters-to-the-editor written
by Wordsworth and published in The Morning Post in 1844.
Wordsworth subsequently reprinted the letters together as a
pamphlet in 1845. The text here is from The Prose Works of
William Wordsworth, ed. W.J.B. Owen and Jane Worthington
Smyser (Oxford: Clarendon, 1974), vol. 3. |
from Letter 1
Elaborate gardens, with topiary works, were
in high request, even among our remote ancestors, but the
relish for choice and picturesque natural scenery (a poor
and mean word which requires an apology, but will be generally
understood), is quite of recent origin. Our earlier travellersRay,
the naturalist, one of the first men of his ageBishop
Burnet, and others who crossed the Alps, or lived some time
in Switzerland, are silent upon the sublimity and beauty of
those regions. . . . But what has all this
to do with the subject? Why, to show that a vivid perception
of romantic scenery is neither inherent in mankind, nor a
necessary consequence of even a comprehensive education. It
is benignly ordained that green fields, clear blue skies,
running streams of pure water, rich groves and woods, orchards,
and all the ordinary varieties of rural nature, should find
an easy way to the affections of all men, and more or less
so from early, childhood till the senses are impaired by old
age and the sources of mere earthly enjoyment have in a great
measure failed. But a taste beyond this, however desirable
it may be that every one should possess it, is not to be implanted
at once; it must be gradually developed both in nations and
individuals. Rocks and mountains, torrents and widespread
waters, and all those features of nature which go to the composition
of such scenes as this part of England is distinguished for,
cannot, in their finer relations, to the human mind be comprehended,
even very imperfectly conceived, without processes of culture
or opportunities of observation in some degree habitual.
(pp. 341-43)
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from Letter II
Sacred as that relic of the devotion of
our ancestors deserves to be kept, there are temples of Nature,
temples built by the Almighty, which have a still higher claim
to be left unviolated. Almost every reach of the winding vales
in this district might once have presented itself to a man
of imagination and feeling under that aspect, or, as the Vale
of Grasmere appeared to the Poet Gray more than seventy years
ago. "No flaring gentleman's-house" says he, "nor
garden-walls break in upon the repose of this little unsuspected
paradise, but all is peace," &c., &c.
Were the Poet now living, how would he have lamented the probable
intrusion of a railway with its scarifications, its intersections,
its noisy machinery, its smoke, and swarms of pleasure-hunters,
most of them thinking that they do not fly fast enough through
the country which they have come to see. Even a broad highway
may in some places greatly impair the characteristic beauty
of the country, as will be readily acknowledged by those who
remember what the Lake of Grasmere was before the new road
that runs along its eastern margin had been constructed.
Quanto praestantius esset
Numen aquae viridi si margine clauderet undas
Herba |
As it once was, and fringed with wood, instead
of the breastwork of bare wall that now confines it. In the
same manner has the beauty, and still more the sublimity of
many Passes in the Alps been injuriously affected. Will the
reader excuse a quotation from a MS. poem in which I attempted
to describe the impression made upon my mind by the descent
towards Italy along the Simplon before the new military road
had taken place of the old muleteer track with its primitive
simplicities?
Brook
and road
Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy pass,
And with them did we journey several hours
At a slow step. The immeasurable height
Of woods decaying, never to be decayed,
The stationary blasts of waterfalls,
And in the narrow rent, at every turn,
Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn,
The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,
The rocks that muttered close upon our ears,
Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side
As if a voice were in them, the sick sight
And giddy prospect of the raving stream,
The unfettered clouds and region of the heavens,
Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light,
Were all like workings of one mind, the features
Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree,
Characters of the great Apocalypse,
The types and symbols of Eternity,
Of first, and last, and midst, and without end.
1799. |
Thirty
years afterwards I crossed the Alps by the same Pass: and
what had become of the forms and powers to which I had been
indebted for those emotions? Many of them remained of course
undestroyed and indestructible. But, though the road and torrent
continued to run parallel to each other, their fellowship
was put an end to. The stream had dwindled into comparative
insignificance, so much had Art interfered with and taken
the lead of Nature; and although the utility of the new work,
as facilitating the intercourse of great nations, was readily
acquiesced in, and the workmanship, in some places, could
not but excite admiration, it was impossible to suppress regret
for what had vanished for ever. The oratories
heretofore not unfrequently met with, on a road still somewhat
perilous, were gone; the simple and rude bridges swept away;
and instead of travellers proceeding, with leisure to observe
and feel, were pilgrims of fashion hurried along in their
carriages, not a few of them perhaps discussing the merits
of "the last new Novel," or poring over their Guide-books,
or fast asleep. Similar remarks might be applied to the mountainous
country of Wales; but there too, the plea of utility, especially
as expediting the communication between England and Ireland,
more than justifies the labours of the Engineer. Not so would
it be with the Lake District. A railroad is already planned
along the sea coast, and another from Lancaster to Carlisle
is in great forwardness: an intermediate one is therefore,
to say the least of it, superfluous. Once for all let me declare
that it is not against Railways but against the abuse of them
that I am contending.
How far I
am from undervaluing the benefit to be expected from railways
in their legitimate application will appear from the following
lines published in 1837, and composed some years earlier.
STEAMBOATS
AND RAILWAYS.
Motions and Means, on sea & land
at war
With old poetic feeling, not for this
Shall ye, by poets even, be judged amiss!
Nor shall your presence, howsoe'er it mar
The loveliness of nature, prove a bar
To the mind's gaining that prophetic sense
Of future good, that point of vision, whence
May be discovered what in soul ye are.
In spite of all that Beauty must disown
In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace
Her lawful offspring in man's Art; and Time,
Pleased with your triumphs o'er his brother Space,
Accepts from your bold hands the proffered crown
Of hope, and welcomes you with cheer sublime.
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I
have now done with the subject. The time of life at which
I have arrived may, I trust, if nothing else will, guard me
from the imputation of having written from any selfish interests,
or from fear of disturbance which a railway might cause to
myself. If gratitude for what repose and quiet in a district
hitherto, for the most part, not disfigured but beautified
by human hands, have done for me through the course of a long
life, and hope that others might hereafter be benefited in
the same manner and in the same country, be selfishness,
then, indeed, but not otherwise, I plead guilty to the charge.
Nor have I opposed this undertaking on account of the inhabitants
of the district merely, but, as hath been intimated, for the
sake of every one, however humble his condition, who coming
hither shall bring with him an eye to perceive, and a heart
to feel and worthily enjoy.
(pp.353-55)
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from the Response of the Board of Trade
(1845)
We must therefore state that an argument
which goes to deprive the artisan of the offered means of
occassionally changing his narrow abode, his crowded streets,
his wearisome task and unwholesome toil, for the fresh air,
and the healthful holiday which sends him back to his work
refreshed and invigoratedsimply that individuals who
object on the grounds above stated may retain to themselves
the exclusive enjoyment of scenes which should be open alike
to all, provided the enjoyment of them shall not involve the
infringement of private rights, appears to us to be an argument
wholly untenable. . . .
(Owen and Smyser, III:334)
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