Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2004. Vol. 4. Eger Journal of English Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 30)
PÉTER DOLMÁNYOS Wordsworth and the Mountains: The Crossing of the Alps and the Ascent to Snowdon
18 Péter Dolmányos part of something larger, though it is a very significant part. Before the scene of the actual crossing is narrated, Wordsworth describes an experience which may imply something as far as the crossing is concerned: the words of the divine are heard sounding over the Convent of Chartreuse. This surprising revelation is an indication foreshadowing the disappointment of the subsequent experience of Wordsworth's missing of the Simplon Pass. The episode in which Wordsworth and his companion cross the Alps is beated well after the middle section of Book Sixth of The Prelude. Book Sixth bears the title "Cambridge and the Alps'; it is only in the second half of this part that the walking tour in Prance is described, and the crossing of the Alps is intended as the culmination of this journey. There is great preparation and anticipation: as D. B. Pirie explains it, at that time the scenery of the Alps was generally considered to raise profound emotions from the spectator when he was on the spot and to reward him with an admiring audience when he was retelling his experience afterwards (Pirie 13-14). The reader then naturally brings a set of expectations to this section of the text only to face the actual words with disappointment as Wordsworth deflates all kinds of anticipations by his admittance of their 'failure' to attain the exaltation expected. The 'failure' is only partly a failure: it is true that Wordsworth and his fellow traveller, and consequently the reader as well, miss the dignified feelings as they cross the Alps without noticing it, but out of this situation grows one of the finest passages of the whole text, describing the descending part of the journey across the Simplon Pass. Before Wordsworth and his companion can catch a glimpse of the Alps, they travel through the whole country. France abounds in scenes of celebration: the revolution is at its height. Wordsworth finds delight in this, however, there is one scene in which the actions of the revolution create ambivalent feelings in him: this is the scene of the small monastery under siege. As they are approaching the Convent of Chartreuse they witness the march of "riotous men commissioned to expel / The blameless inmates" (229, 11. 425-426) from the monastery. A contrast can be observed between the "silence visible and perpetual calm" of the convent and the implied noise and violence of the "riotous men". The continuation of the passage, however, offers a more significant contrast than this: the thundering voice of nature intervenes in favour of the monastery: —'Stay, stay your sacrilegious hands!' —The voice Was Nature's, uttered from her Alpine throne; I heard it then, and seem to hear it now — 'Your impious work forbear: perish what may,
