Another note now discovers itself--a passion for the Earth. All these
men had a passion for the Earth, an intense joy in the open air. This
feeling differs from the Nature-worship of poets like Wordsworth and
Shelly. It is less romantic, more realistic. The attitude is not so
much that of the devotee as that of the lover. There is nothing mystical
or abstract about it. It is direct, personal, intimate. I call it
purposely a passion for the Earth rather than a passion for Nature, in
order to distinguish it from the pronounced transcendentalism of the
romantic poets.
The poet who has expressed most nearly the attitude of these Vagabonds
towards Nature--more particularly that of Thoreau, Whitman, Borrow, and
Jefferies--is Mr. George Meredith.
Traces of it may be found in Browning with reference to the "old brown
earth," and in William Morris, who exclaimed--
"My love of the earth and the worship of it!"
but Mr. Meredith has given the completest expression to this
Earth-worship.