![WORDSWORTH, William (1770-1850). Autograph manuscript signed ('Wm Wordsworth'), a verse draft opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill', n.p. [Rydal Mount], 22 June 1825.](https://devapim.christies.com/uat/lot-images/6247796/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17706_0241_000(wordsworth_william_autograph_manuscript_signed_a_verse_draft_opening_w051120).jpg?maxwidth=3840)
Lot 241
WORDSWORTH, William (1770-1850). Autograph manuscript signed ('Wm Wordsworth'), a verse draft opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill', n.p. [Rydal Mount], 22 June 1825.
Closed11 December 2019
Price Realised
GBP 12,500
More Information
WORDSWORTH, William (1770-1850). Autograph manuscript signed ('Wm Wordsworth'), a verse draft opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill', n.p. [Rydal Mount], 22 June 1825.
One page, 203 x 160mm, 16 lines. Provenance: perhaps given to the writer Maria Jane Jewsbury (1800-1833, see next lot), who visited the Wordsworths in the summer of 1825; by descent from her biographer Eric Gillett (1893-1978).
A draft by Wordsworth containing the germs of two poems published ten years later: 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' and 'To May'. The first stanza, opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill/ The tremulous heart excite', may be compared to lines forming part of 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' [cf. lines 13-16 of the version published in Yarrow Revisited, 1835], while the second stanza, which begins 'Season of Fancy and of Hope!/ Permit not for one hour', mirrors the final verse of 'To May' [a pendant, also published in 1835].
In 1843, Wordsworth dictated an account of his life's work to his friend Isabella Fenwick; the 'Fenwick Notes' serve as an invaluable resource for Wordsworth scholars, offering explanatory detail and illuminating his sources of inspiration. Of the two May poems, Wordsworth noted: 'My daughter & I left Rydal Mount upon a tour through our mountains with Mr. and Mrs. Carr in the month of May 1826 & as we were going up the Vale of Newlands I was struck with the appearance of the little Chapel gleaming thro' the veil of half opened leaves – & the feeling which was then conveyed to my mind was expressed in the Stanza that follows [...] my intention was to write only one Poem; but subsequently I broke it into two making additions to each part so as to produce a consistent and appropriate whole'. In fact, the present draft is dated 1825 by Wordsworth, not 1826 – a memory-lapse, perhaps, or simply a reflection of the very gradual manner in which certain poems were composed.
One page, 203 x 160mm, 16 lines. Provenance: perhaps given to the writer Maria Jane Jewsbury (1800-1833, see next lot), who visited the Wordsworths in the summer of 1825; by descent from her biographer Eric Gillett (1893-1978).
A draft by Wordsworth containing the germs of two poems published ten years later: 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' and 'To May'. The first stanza, opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill/ The tremulous heart excite', may be compared to lines forming part of 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' [cf. lines 13-16 of the version published in Yarrow Revisited, 1835], while the second stanza, which begins 'Season of Fancy and of Hope!/ Permit not for one hour', mirrors the final verse of 'To May' [a pendant, also published in 1835].
In 1843, Wordsworth dictated an account of his life's work to his friend Isabella Fenwick; the 'Fenwick Notes' serve as an invaluable resource for Wordsworth scholars, offering explanatory detail and illuminating his sources of inspiration. Of the two May poems, Wordsworth noted: 'My daughter & I left Rydal Mount upon a tour through our mountains with Mr. and Mrs. Carr in the month of May 1826 & as we were going up the Vale of Newlands I was struck with the appearance of the little Chapel gleaming thro' the veil of half opened leaves – & the feeling which was then conveyed to my mind was expressed in the Stanza that follows [...] my intention was to write only one Poem; but subsequently I broke it into two making additions to each part so as to produce a consistent and appropriate whole'. In fact, the present draft is dated 1825 by Wordsworth, not 1826 – a memory-lapse, perhaps, or simply a reflection of the very gradual manner in which certain poems were composed.
WORDSWORTH, William (1770-1850). Autograph manuscript signed ('Wm Wordsworth'), a verse draft opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill', n.p. [Rydal Mount], 22 June 1825.
One page, 203 x 160mm, 16 lines. Provenance: perhaps given to the writer Maria Jane Jewsbury (1800-1833, see next lot), who visited the Wordsworths in the summer of 1825; by descent from her biographer Eric Gillett (1893-1978).
A draft by Wordsworth containing the germs of two poems published ten years later: 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' and 'To May'. The first stanza, opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill/ The tremulous heart excite', may be compared to lines forming part of 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' [cf. lines 13-16 of the version published in Yarrow Revisited, 1835], while the second stanza, which begins 'Season of Fancy and of Hope!/ Permit not for one hour', mirrors the final verse of 'To May' [a pendant, also published in 1835].
In 1843, Wordsworth dictated an account of his life's work to his friend Isabella Fenwick; the 'Fenwick Notes' serve as an invaluable resource for Wordsworth scholars, offering explanatory detail and illuminating his sources of inspiration. Of the two May poems, Wordsworth noted: 'My daughter & I left Rydal Mount upon a tour through our mountains with Mr. and Mrs. Carr in the month of May 1826 & as we were going up the Vale of Newlands I was struck with the appearance of the little Chapel gleaming thro' the veil of half opened leaves – & the feeling which was then conveyed to my mind was expressed in the Stanza that follows [...] my intention was to write only one Poem; but subsequently I broke it into two making additions to each part so as to produce a consistent and appropriate whole'. In fact, the present draft is dated 1825 by Wordsworth, not 1826 – a memory-lapse, perhaps, or simply a reflection of the very gradual manner in which certain poems were composed.
One page, 203 x 160mm, 16 lines. Provenance: perhaps given to the writer Maria Jane Jewsbury (1800-1833, see next lot), who visited the Wordsworths in the summer of 1825; by descent from her biographer Eric Gillett (1893-1978).
A draft by Wordsworth containing the germs of two poems published ten years later: 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' and 'To May'. The first stanza, opening 'While mellow warble, lovely trill/ The tremulous heart excite', may be compared to lines forming part of 'Ode, Composed on May Morning' [cf. lines 13-16 of the version published in Yarrow Revisited, 1835], while the second stanza, which begins 'Season of Fancy and of Hope!/ Permit not for one hour', mirrors the final verse of 'To May' [a pendant, also published in 1835].
In 1843, Wordsworth dictated an account of his life's work to his friend Isabella Fenwick; the 'Fenwick Notes' serve as an invaluable resource for Wordsworth scholars, offering explanatory detail and illuminating his sources of inspiration. Of the two May poems, Wordsworth noted: 'My daughter & I left Rydal Mount upon a tour through our mountains with Mr. and Mrs. Carr in the month of May 1826 & as we were going up the Vale of Newlands I was struck with the appearance of the little Chapel gleaming thro' the veil of half opened leaves – & the feeling which was then conveyed to my mind was expressed in the Stanza that follows [...] my intention was to write only one Poem; but subsequently I broke it into two making additions to each part so as to produce a consistent and appropriate whole'. In fact, the present draft is dated 1825 by Wordsworth, not 1826 – a memory-lapse, perhaps, or simply a reflection of the very gradual manner in which certain poems were composed.
These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime.
Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.