...natural objects, led me on to feel 30 For passions that were not my own, and think NINETEENTH CENTURY 35 For the delight of a few natural hearts; And, with yet fonder feeling, for the sake Of youthful...

...the easy, conversational opening awakens doubt as to the potential future audience for this 'Tale': although it be a history Homely and rude, I will relate...who among these Hills Will be my second self when 1 am gone. (11. 34-9) 331 The story it introduces is one in which the hope of a 'second self is disappointed,...

...the fields and hills / Where was their occupation and abode" (11. 23-26), and slants his narration "for the sake / Of youthful Poets, who among these hills / Will be my second self when I am gone" (11. 37—39). Whatever Wordsworth's original intention may have been, the pragmatic form of "Michael,"...

...the poet hands on the inherited tale of Michael, for "the delight of a few natural hearts," he says: And with yet fonder feeling, for the sake Of youthful...these Hills Will be my second self when I am gone. [37-39] Had Luke escaped the effects of "the great national events which are daily taking place," of...

...include the reader in such a circuit, sounding the note of sympathy that also reverberates at the end: Therefore, although it be a history Homely and rude,...these hills Will be my second self when I am gone." To turn back from "Michael" to "The Coast-Road" is to recognize the loss of a connection: attentiveness...

...of life, the poem is conclusive, its closure emphasized, and it is made a whole to survive time — for the sake Of youthful Poets, who among these hills Will be my second self when I am gone. (37-39) The implicit analogy with the sheepfold must be intentional. What is left unfinished and is...

...fields and hills, but on 'occupation and abode', on 'dwelling', in a word. The story itself begins: 'Upon the Forestside in Grasmere Vale / There dwelt a shepherd, Michael was his name'; and 'dwell' recurs in other poems of the period, where Wordsworth is preoccupied with the deep interconnectedness...

...Michael and the eighteen-year-old Luke is succeeded by the compact between the narrator and his heirs: Therefore, although it be a history Homely and rude,...delight of a few natural hearts, And with yet fonder feelings, for the sake Of youthful Poets, who among these Hills Will be my second self when I am gone....

...our meditations with that, for example, of the "marvellous Boy," Chatterton. When in Michael we read, Upon the forest-side in Grasmere Vale There dwelt a Shepherd, Michael was his name, (Michael, 40-41) we are being introduced to evidence of the Shepherd — which evidence belongs with...

...holds to be the necessary condition for composition is "to feel / For passions that were not my own ... for the sake / Of youthful Poets, who among these Hills / Will be my second self when I am gone" (11. 30-31, 37-39). The basis of his narrative is sympathy, the ability to represent within himself...