THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - VOL. 2 (Completed)

GLEN-ALMAIN; OR, THE NARROW GLEN

Composed (possibly) in 1803.--Published 1807

Classed in 1815 and 1820 with the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

In this still place, remote from men,

Sleeps Ossian, in the NARROW GLEN;

In this still place, where murmurs on

But one meek streamlet, only one:

He sang of battles, and the breath

Of stormy war, and violent death;

And should, methinks, when all was past,

Have rightfully been laid at last

Where rocks were rudely heaped, and rent

As by a spirit turbulent;

Where sights were rough, and sounds were wild,

And everything unreconciled;

In some complaining, dim retreat,

For fear and melancholy meet;

But this is calm; there cannot be

A more entire tranquillity.

Does then the Bard sleep here indeed?

Or is it but a groundless creed?

What matters it?--I blame them not

Whose Fancy in this lonely Spot

Was moved; and in such [1] way expressed

Their notion of its perfect rest.

A convent, even a hermit's cell,

Would break the silence of this Dell: [A]

It is not quiet, is not ease;

But something deeper far than these:

The separation that is here

Is of the grave; and of austere

Yet [2] happy feelings of the dead:

And, therefore, was it rightly said

That Ossian, last of all his race!

Lies buried in this lonely place.

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VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:1827.

... in this ... 1807.]

[Variant 2:1827.

And ... 1807.]

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FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Compare the poem 'To the Lady Fleming', stanza iii. ll.28-9.--Ed.]

The glen is Glenalmond, in Perthshire, between Crieff and Amulree, known locally as "the Sma' Glen." I am not aware that it was ever called "GlenAlmain," till Wordsworth gave it that singularly un-Scottish name. [B]It must have been a warm August day, after a tract of dry weather, when he went through it, or the Almond would scarcely have been called a"small streamlet." In many seasons of the year the distinctive features of the Glen would be more appropriately indicated by the words, which the poet uses by way of contrast with his own experience of it, viz. a place

'Where sights are rough, and sounds are wild,

And everything unreconciled.'

But his characterization of the place--a glen, the charm of which is little known--in the stillness of an autumn afternoon, is as true to nature as any of his interpretations of the spirit of the hills and vales of Westmoreland. As yet there is no farm-house, scarcely even a sheiling, to "break the silence of this Dell. "The following is Dorothy Wordsworth's account of their walk through it on Friday, September 9th, 1803:

"Entered the glen at a small hamlet at some distance from the head, and, turning aside a few steps, ascended a hillock which commanded a view to the top of it--a very sweet scene, a green valley, not very narrow, with a few scattered trees and huts, almost invisible in a misty green of afternoon light. At this hamlet we crossed a bridge, and the road led us down the glen, which had become exceedingly narrow, and so continued to the end: the hills on both sides healthy and rocky, very steep, but continuous; the rock not single or overhanging, not scooped into caverns, or sounding with torrents; there are no trees, no houses, no traces of cultivation, not one outstanding object. It is truly a solitude, the road even making it appear still more so; the bottom of the valley is mostly smooth and level, the brook not noisy: everything is simple and undisturbed, and while we passed through it the whole place was shady, cool, clear, and solemn. At the end of the long valley, we ascended a hill to a great height, and reached the top, when the sun, on the point of setting, shed a soft yellow light upon every eminence. The prospect was very extensive; over hollows and plains, no towns, and few houses visible--a prospect, extensive as it was, in harmony with the secluded dell, and fixing its own peculiar character of removedness from the world, and the secure possession of the quiet of nature more deeply in our minds. The following poem was written by William on hearing of a tradition relating to it, which we did not know when we were there."

Ed.

[Footnote B: In the Statistical Account of Scotland, however--drawn up by the parish ministers of the county, and edited by Sir JohnSinclair--both the river and the glen are spelt Almon, by the Rev. Mr.Erskine, who wrote the account of Monzie Parish in Perthshire. This was in 1795. A recent authority states:

"'Glenamon,' in Ayrshire, and 'Glenalmond,' in Perthshire, are both from the corrupted spelling of the word 'Avon,' which derives from its being very nearly the pronunciation of the Gaelic word for 'a river.' These names are from 'Gleann-abhuinn,' that is, 'the valley of the river.'"

(See the 'Gaelic Topography of Scotland', by James A. Robertson, Edinburgh, 1859.)--Ed.]

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