Contents - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

Not useless do I deemThese Shadowy sympathies with things that holdAn inarticulate Language: for the ManOnce taught to love such objects, as exciteNo morbid passions, no disquietude,No vengeance & no hatred, needs must feelThe Joy of that pure principle of LoveSo deeply, that, unsatisfied with aughtLess pure & exquisite, he cannot chuseBut seek for objects of a kindred loveIn fellow natures, & kindred Joy.Accordingly, he by degrees perceivesHis feelings of aversion softened down,A holy tenderness pervades his frame!His sanity of reason not impair’dSay rather that his thoughts now flowing clearFrom a clear fountain flowing, he looks round-He seeks for Good & finds the Good he seeks, 26Wordsworth (CL I 397-8)These lines formed part of a possible ‘reconciling addendum’ to ‘The Ruined Cottage’ and Ipropose that the lines they are extracted from contain Wordsworth’s distillation of Stoic wisdom thathe had discovered in his reading of Cicero’s philosophical works. They are intended to represent thePedlar’s own Stoic philosophy. 27 The description of the growth of the Pedlar’s mind in ‘The RuinedCottage’ is expressed using concepts that originate in early Stoic philosophy and his character isrepresented to the reader as that of a ‘natural’ Stoic sage. The reference to ‘Joy’ here is descriptive ofthe mild inward state of emotion characteristic of the ‘wise man’ who is ‘joyful’ because of histranquil state of mind: ‘His feelings of aversion softened down / A holy tenderness pervades his frame.This ‘Joy of the pure principle of Love’ is something attained through the active pursuit of virtue,which is defined by the Stoics as ‘following the path of Nature’. It is a feeling that can be describedusing the term gaudium, but here Wordsworth also appears to be suggesting the state of minddescribed by the term tranquillitas. 28 Coleridge was obviously impressed by these lines and theirphilosophy, which Wordsworth does not announce as originating in Stoicism; nor do they claim anyneed for Christian faith.The rest of Coleridge’s letter informs his brother of his new mode of discussing and judgingmatters, in which he endeavors to be more considerate of all aspects of a case, and to listen with careto other people’s opinions. Referring to his own habits of thinking, he stresses a new attitude of mind,based on decisions made after long and considered meditation, rather than jumping to conclusions byasserting a position made according to set values. Instead, he will decide for himself ‘the quantity &the nature of the Evil – I consider this as a most important rule for the regulation of the intellect & the26 I would suggest Wordsworth is using a subtle play on words here as he seeks and finds ‘the Good’, whileColeridge at this time is more concerned with seeking and finding ‘the God’.27 The extended passage is later used in Book IV of The Excursion, ‘Despondency Corrected’.28 Both the Epicurean and the Stoic schools of philosophy sought the state of mind described as tranquillitas,which signifies an absolute calmness. The Alfoxen and Christabel notebooks are full of fragments of poetryrecording Wordsworth’s attempts at achieving, and then describing such a state of mind. This passageforeshadows the description of the poet in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads as someone who recollects ‘intranquillity’.55