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Book SynopsisFrom its first publication, what is now known as the Immortality Ode has been praised for the magnificence of its verse and disparaged for its paucity of meaning - the ''immortality'' of the subtitle unsubstantiated, and the ''recollections'' insubstantial. Yet Wordsworth''s idea of immortality has clear precedents in the seventeenth century, and recollections of childhood are Traherne''s starting point for the recovery of a lost vision comparable to Wordsworth''s. Via the power of the imagination, or reason, they believed they could experience a renewed vision that both termed variously Paradise, or infinity, or immortality. Graham Davidson traces the origins of Wordsworth''s poetic impetus to his resistance to the Cartesian division between mind and nature, first adumbrated by the Cambridge Platonists. If reunited, Paradise was regained, but this personal trajectory was tempered by a deep sympathy for the woes of mortal life. Davidson explores the consequent dialogue through some of
Trade Review{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Verdana;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\hyphpar0\sb283\sl288\slmult1\qj\cf1\f0\fs20 "Many attempts have been made to fit Wordsworth\rquote s thought to the various templates of Anglicanism, Methodism, Pantheism, or to the very different philosophies of Locke, Berkeley or Kant. But, bar that of Plato, he avowed no \lquote ism\rquote . Davidson demonstrates that the framework of Wordsworth\rquote s thinking closely matches, and might be derived from, that of the very undogmatic Cambridge Platonists." Douglas Hedley, Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, University of Cambridge\par "A thorough investigation of the merits of Wordsworth\rquote s Intimations Ode from which any reader will learn. Freshly conceived, meticulously worked through, probing, respectful, exciting: a book to send readers back to the poem enlivened." James C.C. Mays, Emeritus Professor of Modern English and American poetry, University College Dublin\par "The fruit of a lifetime\rquote s engagement with Wordsworth, this is a deeply pondered, questioning study, full of insight into the poet\rquote s endless struggle to shape his thoughts. Of particular interest is how Davidson tackles Wordsworth\rquote s enigmatic \lquote life of things\rquote and its relationship to the thing itself. Uniquely, his study of Traherne illustrates how the progress of the Ode follows the pattern of Traherne\rquote s thought." David Fairer, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Leeds\par "In this strikingly original discussion of Wordsworth\rquote s major poems, free of theoretical obfuscation, Graham Davidson persuasively demonstrates that the poet\rquote s refusal to publish his work in chronological order, and The Prelude in his lifetime, resulted in the failure of the Victorians and the Modernists, especially Eliot, to understand fully what he had done." Stephen Gill, Supernumerary Fellow, Lincoln College Oxford\par Stimulating, stylish and meticulously researched, Graham Davidson\rquote s latest book offers new ways of reading William Wordsworth\rquote s Immortality Ode, a poem central to his poetic oeuvre, but often wildly misread or simply misunderstood.\par Jayne Thomas, Time Literary Review, October, 20, 2023 - Online\par \par \pard\cf0\par } For Davidson, Eliot's poetry points the reader to a gesture of salvation beyond this world, whereas Wordsworth and Coleridge felt it incarnated before them and passed on their experience of its power to others. By drawing on the Cambridge Platonists, as well as Douglas Hedley's discerning work on them, Davidson brings into focus a Wordsworth for whom paradise was regained through an intellectual acuity inseparable from sympathy, compassion, and faith. Emma Mason, University of Warnick, In The Charles Lamb Bulletin, Wintr 2023, New Series No. 178, pp87-88. Davidson's readings are admirably dedicated to preserving and explicating the terms of Wordsworth's writings, not only in the poetry, but in the prose and letters; he immerses his readers in generous quotations selected from throughout Wordsworth's body of work; and he is confident that Wordsworth speaks to any who will hear. Owen Boynton In A Tremble Ever Since In Essays In Criticism, Vol 73, Issue 4, October 2023, pages 460-467.
Table of ContentsAbbreviations Acknowledgements Preface Part I: Patterns 1 A Philosophical Framework: Understanding the Intelligible 2 Expostulation and Reply: The Tables Turned 3 Tintern Abbey: His First and Happiest Ode 4 Geometry, Poetry and the Sublime of Man Part II: Principles 5 Intimations 6 Recollections Part III: A Crisis: The Poems of 1802 7 Several Kinds of Poem 8 Heaven and Earth Part IV: Reading the Ode 9 Origins 10 Verse, Grammar and Imagery 11 Competing Forces 12 Stanzas I-IV: The Statement of Loss 13 Stanzas V-VIII: The Analysis of Loss 14 Stanzas IX-X: Recovery 15 Stanza XI: Resolution Part V: Looking Forward into History 16 Poems Published and Unpublished 17 What if? A Counterfactual Reading Bibliography Index
