Chapter 4 - Romantic odes

Summary

In his “NOTE to the Poem ON REVISITING THE WYE,” in the 1800 Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth writes, rather stuffily: “I have not ventured to call this Poem an Ode; but it was written with a hope that in the transitions, and the impassioned music of the versification would be found the principal requisites of that species of composition.” Within two years Wordsworth was at work on his first and greatest ode, explicitly so-called; it was completed in 1804 and published in 1807 under the title “Ode.” It was not until he reprinted it in 1815 that he gave it the subtitle by which it is known, another mouthful like the subtitle of the “Lines” on revisiting the Wye: “Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.” It is often reduced to the handier “Immortality Ode” or “Intimations Ode.” As its theme, the loss of a gift he had in childhood and youth, and the compensation of a higher gift, resembles that of the earlier almost-ode, I will begin this chapter with a brief comparison of the two. I will then say something about odes in general, and lastly read closely two of the finest Romantic odes, one by Keats and one by Shelley.