3-10-50 MFP Harding PREFACE. IN editing the present volume my aim has been to provide the student with a representative selection of Wordsworth's poetry, as far as was possible within the limits assigned. The book is divided into two parts; Part I. being intended to break the ground, so to speak, and lead up to Part II. The poems of the separate parts are arranged in chronological order of composition -with one exception, the Ode Intimations of Immortality, which closes the volume in accordance with the poet's own arrangement, to which he steadily adhered in all the editions of his works published during his lifetime. In the preparation of these Selections I have consulted Wordsworth, by F. W. H. Myers; the Introductions to Wordsworth's poetry by John Morley, Matthew Arnold, and R. W. Church; Appreciations, by Walter Pater; The Age of Wordsworth, by Professor C. H. Herford; and Selections from Wordsworth, by Hawes Turner; to all of whom I wish to express my grateful acknowledgments. I am under special obligation to Professor William Knight, whose recent valuable edition of The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth I have freely made use of, particularly in drawing up the Introductions to the several poems. For the historical portion of the Note to line 68 of Influence of Natural Objects, in Part II., I am indebted to the kindness of Professor W. W. Skeat. Lastly, my cordial thanks are due to my friend, Mr. James A. Aldis, Headmaster of Queen Mary's School, Walsall, who kindly reviewed the whole of the proofs, and gave me much valuable assistance in the preparation of the General Introduction. W. T. W. |
