And a disturbance of spirit is one of the finest pleasures
that a highly-organised man can enjoy. But this truth can only be
really learnt by the repetitions of experience. As an aid
to the more exhaustive examination of your feelings under Wordsworth,
in order that you may better understand what he was trying
to effect in you, and the means which he employed, I must direct you
to Wordsworth himself. Wordsworth, in addition to being a poet,
was unsurpassed as a critic of poetry. What Hazlitt does for poetry
in the way of creating enthusiasm Wordsworth does in the way
of philosophic explanation. And Wordsworth's explanations of the theory
and practice of poetry are written for the plain man.
They pass the comprehension of nobody, and their direct, unassuming,
and calm simplicity is extremely persuasive. Wordsworth's chief essays
in throwing light on himself are the "Advertisement," "Preface,"
and "Appendix" to *Lyrical Ballads*; the letters to Lady Beaumont
and "the Friend" and the "Preface" to the Poems dated 1815.
All this matter is strangely interesting and of immense
educational value. It is the first-class expert talking at ease
about his subject. The essays relating to *Lyrical Ballads* will be
the most useful for you. You will discover these precious documents
in a volume entitled *Wordsworth's Literary Criticism* (published by
Henry Frowde, 2s. 6d.), edited by that distinguished Wordsworthian
Mr. Nowell C. Smith. It is essential that the student of poetry
should become possessed, honestly or dishonestly, either of this volume
or of the matter which it contains. There is, by the way, a volume of
Wordsworth's prose in the Scott Library (1s.). Those who have not read
Wordsworth on poetry can have no idea of the naïve charm
and the helpful radiance of his expounding. I feel that I cannot
too strongly press Wordsworth's criticism upon you.