William Wordsworth - Splendour in the Grass

THE WONDERING MINSTRELS



A POEM A DAY, COMPLETE WITH ANALYSIS, CRITICISM, BIOGRAPHICAL INFO, LITERARY ANECDOTES, TRIVIA, AND OUR OWN SKEWED SENSE OF HUMOUR :-)



(Poem #1173) Splendour in the Grass







 What though the radiance
 which was once so bright
 Be now for ever taken from my sight,
 Though nothing can bring back the hour
 Of splendour in the grass,
 of glory in the flower,
 We will grieve not, rather find
 Strength in what remains behind;
 In the primal sympathy
 Which having been must ever be;
 In the soothing thoughts that spring
 Out of human suffering;
 In the faith that looks through death,
 In years that bring the philosophic mind.











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-- William Wordsworth









William Wordsworth's 'Splendour in the Grass' is the poem we hear in the 1961movie by the same name.  Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty starred and Wood was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Deanie, Beatty's girlfriend.

The poem is from Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, which begins with the majestic:

  There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
  The earth, and every common sight,
            To me did seem
        Apparelled in celestial light,
  The glory and the freshness of a dream.

The entire ode is well worth reading.

My first introduction to Splendour in the Grass was on a day when I was home from school, sick with the flu. I passed the day watching movies on the television. Though I was only about eleven or twelve years old, the poem really resonated. And who can forget Natalie Wood struggling to read it in her English class, then hearing her recite it again, this time much wiser,at the end of the movie?

Kassie




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