The Prose Works of William Wordsworth: For the First Time Collected, With Additions from Unpublished Manuscripts. In Three Volumes.Wordsworth, William
General
The Prose Works of William Wordsworth: For the First Time Collected, With Additions from Unpublished Manuscripts. In Three Volumes.
Wordsworth, William
English literature -- 19th century
venerable people, which 'shake the human frame with horror;' if not
alone the life which is sustained by the bread of the mouth, but
that--without which there is no life--the life in the soul, has been
directly and mortally warred against; if reason has had abominations to
endure in her inmost sanctuary;--then does intense passion, consecrated
by a sudden revelation of justice, give birth to those higher and better
wonders which I have described; and exhibit true miracles to the eyes of
men, and the noblest which can be seen. It may be added that,--as this
union brings back to the right road the faculty of imagination, where it
is prone to err, and has gone farthest astray; as it corrects those
qualities which (being in their essence indifferent), and cleanses those
affections which (not being inherent in the constitution of man, nor
necessarily determined to their object) are more immediately dependent
upon the imagination, and which may have received from it a thorough
taint of dishonour;--so the domestic loves and sanctities which are in
their nature less liable to be stained,--so these, wherever they have
flowed with a pure and placid stream, do instantly, under the same
influence, put forth their strength as in a flood; and, without being
sullied or polluted, pursue--exultingly and with song--a course which
leads the contemplative reason to the ocean of eternal love.
I feel that I have been speaking in a strain which it is difficult to
harmonize with the petty irritations, the doubts and fears, and the
familiar (and therefore frequently undignified) exterior of present and
passing events. But the theme is justice: and my voice is raised for
mankind; for us who are alive, and for all posterity:--justice and
passion; clear-sighted aspiring justice, and passion sacred as vehement.
These, like twin-born Deities delighting in each other's presence, have
wrought marvels in the inward mind through the whole region of the
PyrenÎan Peninsula. I have shewn by what process these united powers
sublimated the objects of outward sense in such rites--practices--and
ordinances of Religion--as deviate from simplicity and wholesome piety;
how they converted them to instruments of nobler use; and raised them to
a conformity with things truly divine. The same reasoning might have
been carried into the customs of civil life and their accompanying
imagery, wherever these also were inconsistent with the dignity of man;
and like effects of exaltation and purification have been shewn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account