Now he thinks that such sights as the one depicted here are a useful reminder of human condition, something which has to be borne with “patient fortitude”. He perceives his former happiness as somewhat illusory and alienating. So he tells Beaumont (who, he’s sure, would be John’s friend, too, if they ever met) that his poem is not meant as criticism of his work, because he can appreciate the image of the stormy sea and the struggling ship. Now he can never look at sea the same way. In this context the lines from the beginning: “I could have fancied that the mighty Deep/Was even the gentlest of all gentle Things” sound particularly poignant. If the poet had had a painter’s skill, the picture he would have painted would have been very different: an idyllic painting of “a sea that could not cease to smile…beneath a sky of bliss.” But this image is lost to him, because the poet has suffered a great loss, which he does not name, but we can infer he refers to the drowning of his brother John, who was a ship captain. His memories of the castle, which he saw every day across the bay, were quite different, since the castle was reflected in the calm water of the sea, slightly trembling at most. Twelve years earlier Wordsworth spent a month in summer in a place directly opposite the castle, whose name is nowadays spelled “Piel”. Beuamont, as the Helpful Footnote explains, was a rich landscape painter and Wordsworth’s friend. One more of Wordsworth’s poems with a generic title, whose meaning has to be explained by a long subtitle – “Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle, in a Storm, Painted by Sir George Beaumont”. James Joyce – “Ulyss… on James Joyce – “Ulysses” (“Lest… James Joyce – “A Por… on James Joyce – “A Portrait of t…Ĭonsider sunk costs… on Rudyard Kipling –…Ĭonsidering Sunk Cos… on Rudyard Kipling –…
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