XXXIX.
There are three lofty and emotional verses in Wordsworth’s “Intimations,” which should be spoken of. The first of these is a gem, and would have been without flaw but that it begins in the climacteric, while the subject and development of it, which should come first, begin at the sixth line, thus:
“It is not now as it hath been of yore,”
down to the end.
It is almost sad to observe what splendid material Wordsworth sacrifices through his want of poetic art.
The stanza needs no verbal correction; its fault is in the misplacement of the lines. It is one of the most important verses in the language, or I would not trouble the critic about it, but I will ask him to read it thus by transposing the lines:
(1. The Subject.)
It is not now as it hath been of yore;
(2. The Development.)
Turn wheresoe’er I may,