The Title-page announces that this is only a portion of a poem; and the
Reader must be here apprised that it belongs to the second part of a
long and laborious Work, which is to consist of three parts.--The Author
will candidly acknowledge that, if the first of these had been completed,
and in such a manner as to satisfy his own mind, he should have preferred
the natural order of publication, and have given that to the world first;
but, as the second division of the Work was designed to refer more to
passing events, and to an existing state of things, than the others were
meant to do, more continuous exertion was naturally bestowed upon it, and
greater progress made here than in the rest of the poem; and as this part
does not depend upon the preceding, to a degree which will materially
injure its own peculiar interest, the Author, complying with the earnest
entreaties of some valued Friends, presents the following pages to the
Public.
It may be proper to state whence the poem, of which _The Excursion_ is
a part, derives its Title of THE RECLUSE.--Several years ago, when the
Author retired to his native mountains, with the hope of being enabled to
construct a literary Work that might live, it was a reasonable thing that
he should take a review of his own mind, and examine how far Nature and
Education had qualified him for such employment. As subsidiary to this
preparation, he undertook to record, in verse, the origin and progress
of his own powers, as far as he was acquainted with them. That Work,[A]
addressed to a dear Friend, most distinguished for his knowledge and
genius, and to whom the Author's Intellect is deeply indebted, has been
long finished; and the result of the investigation which gave rise to it
was a determination to compose a philosophical poem, containing views of
Man, Nature, and Society; and to be entitled, _The Recluse_; as having
for its principal subject the sensations and opinions of a poet living
in retirement.--The preparatory poem[M] is biographical, and conducts
the history of the Author's mind to the point when he was emboldened to
hope that his faculties were sufficiently matured for entering upon the
arduous labour which he had proposed to himself; and the two Works have
the same kind of relation to each other, if he may so express himself,
as the ante-chapel has to the body of a gothic church. Continuing this
allusion, he may be permitted to add, that his minor Pieces, which have
been long before the Public, when they shall be properly arranged,[N]
will be found by the attentive Reader to have such connection with the
main Work as may give them claim to be likened to the little cells,
oratories, and sepulchral recesses, ordinarily included in those edifices.
The Author would not have deemed himself justified in saying, upon this
occasion, so much of performances either unfinished, or unpublished,
if he had not thought that the labour bestowed by him upon what he
has heretofore and now laid before the Public, entitled him to candid
attention for such a statement as he thinks necessary to throw light
upon his endeavours to please and, he would hope, to benefit his
countrymen.--Nothing further need be added, than that the first and
third parts of _The Recluse_ will consist chiefly of meditations in the
Author's own person; and that in the intermediate part (_The Excursion_)
the intervention of characters speaking is employed, and something of a
dramatic form adopted.
It is not the Author's intention formally to announce a system: it was
more animating to him to proceed in a different course; and if he shall
succeed in conveying to the mind clear thoughts, lively images, and
strong feelings, the Reader will have no difficulty in extracting the
system for himself. And in the mean time the following passage, taken
from the conclusion of the first book of _The Recluse_, may be acceptable
as a kind of _Prospectus_ of the design and scope of the whole Poem.
"On Man, on Nature, and on Human Life,
Musing in solitude, I oft perceive
Fair trains of imagery before me rise,
Accompanied by feelings of delight
Pure, or with no unpleasing sadness mixed; 5
And I am conscious of affecting thoughts
And dear remembrances, whose presence soothes
Or elevates the Mind, intent to weigh
The good and evil of our mortal state.
--To these emotions, whencesoe'er they come, 10
Whether from breath of outward circumstance,
Or from the Soul--an impulse to herself--
I would give utterance in numerous verse.
Of Truth, of Grandeur, Beauty, Love, and Hope,
And melancholy Fear subdued by Faith; 15
Of blessed consolations in distress;
Of moral strength, and intellectual Power;
Of joy in widest commonalty spread;
Of the individual Mind that keeps her own
Inviolate retirement, subject there 20
To Conscience only, and the law supreme
Of that Intelligence which governs all--
I sing:--'fit audience let me find though few!'[O]
"So prayed, more gaining than he asked, the Bard--
In holiest mood.[1] Urania,[P] I shall need 25
Thy guidance, or a greater Muse, if such
Descend to earth or dwell in highest heaven!
For I must tread on shadowy ground, must sink
Deep--and, aloft ascending, breathe in worlds
To which the heaven of heavens is but a veil. 30
All strength--all terror, single or in bands,
That ever was put forth in personal form--
Jehovah--with his thunder, and the choir
Of shouting Angels, and the empyreal thrones--
I pass them unalarmed. Not Chaos, not 35
The darkest pit of lowest Erebus,
Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out
By help of dreams--can breed such fear and awe
As fall upon us often when we look
Into our Minds, into the Mind of Man-- 40
My haunt, and the main region of my song.
--Beauty--a living Presence of the earth,
Surpassing the most fair ideal Forms
Which craft of delicate Spirits hath composed
From earth's materials--waits upon my steps; 45
Pitches her tents before me as I move,
An hourly neighbour. Paradise, and groves
Elysian, Fortunate Fields--like those of old
Sought in the Atlantic Main[Q]--why should they be
A history only of departed things, 50
Or a mere fiction of what never was?
For the discerning intellect of Man,
When wedded to this goodly universe
In love and holy passion, shall find these
A simple produce of the common day. 55
--I, long before the blissful hour arrives,
Would chant, in lonely peace, the spousal verse
Of this great consummation:--and, by words
Which speak of nothing more than what we are,
Would I arouse the sensual from their sleep 60
Of Death, and win the vacant and the vain
To noble raptures; while my voice proclaims
How exquisitely the individual Mind
(And the progressive powers perhaps no less
Of the whole species) to the external World 65
Is fitted:--and how exquisitely, too--
Theme this but little heard of among men--
The external World is fitted to the Mind;
And the creation (by no lower name
Can it be called) which they with blended might 70
Accomplish:--this is our high argument.
--Such grateful haunts foregoing, if I oft
Must turn elsewhere--to travel near the tribes
And fellowships of men, and see ill sights
Of madding passions mutually inflamed; 75
Must hear Humanity in fields and groves
Pipe solitary anguish; or must hang
Brooding above the fierce confederate storm
Of sorrow, barricadoed evermore
Within the walls of cities--may these sounds 80
Have their authentic comment; that even these
Hearing, I be not downcast or forlorn!--
Descend, prophetic Spirit![2] that inspir'st
The human Soul of universal earth,
Dreaming on things to come;[R] and dost possess 85
A metropolitan temple in the hearts
Of mighty Poets: upon me bestow
A gift of genuine insight; that my Song
With star-like virtue in its place may shine,
Shedding benignant influence, and secure, 90
Itself, from all malevolent effect
Of those mutations that extend their sway
Throughout the nether sphere!--And if with this
I mix more lowly matter; with the thing
Contemplated, describe the Mind and Man 95
Contemplating; and who, and what he was--
The transitory Being that beheld
This Vision; when and where, and how he lived;--
Be not this labour useless. If such theme
May sort with highest objects, then--dread Power!
Whose gracious favour is the primal source 101
Of all illumination--may my Life
Express the image of a better time,
More wise desires, and simpler manners;--nurse
My Heart in genuine freedom:--all pure thoughts 105
Be with me;--so shall thy unfailing love
Guide, and support, and cheer me to the end!"