The radical young poet’s backhanded tribute to the older writer is a stern judgment on his lapsed political idealism
The radical young poet’s backhanded tribute to the older writer is a stern judgment on his lapsed political idealism
To Wordsworth
Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to know
That things depart which never may return:
Childhood and youth, friendship and love’s first glow,
Words of stern moral advice to a besotted young man are delivered with a brisk and even sunny touch
The moon becomes the witty image of an isolated and contemptuously neglected elderly relation
From an almost whimsical beginning, these verses on wishing to overcome mortality grow lyrical and deeply moving
A single missing word in the 1902 poem sparks a deeper look at rhythm, dialect and longing
A landscape of illusory peace is depicted just before the guns of battle reach it in the first world war
An elegy to the poet’s personal physician is full of vivid detail delivered with infectious warmth
