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

Wordsworth and the Mountains: The Crossing of the Alps. 19 Let this one temple last, be this one spot Of earth devoted to eternity!' (229, 11. 430-435) Under the influence of "conflicting passions" Wordsworth hails the newly born freedom but consents to support the preservation of the monastery as one of the important "courts of mystery"

. The zeal of the young man is checked by the reverence which Nature calls on to exercise in the convent; the convent in turn comes to be converted into a mystical place where worldly considerations stop short together with time, and the "heaven-imparted truth" becomes something synonymous for Wordsworth with what he reads as .. .that imaginative impulse sent Prom these majestic floods, yon shining cliffs, The untransmuted shapes of many worlds, Cerulean ether's pure inhabitants, These forests unapproachable by death, [...] (231, 11. 462-466) —that is, the truth that he reads from Nature. An important element of the passage dealing with the convent is the idea of the place as a work of man "devoted to eternity". In the passage describing the descent from the Simplon Pass elements of nature are referred to as "[t]he types and symbols of Eternity". The concept of eternity might provide a link between the two passages here, and in such a way the reader may be tempted to feel an elaborate and very carefully planned structure: the voice of Nature personified is thus present even before the desired destination is reached; it is sounded when and where it is the least expected, and this may foreshadow something of the later moments. Wordsworth and his companion reach their most important destination after this incident: this destination is the "wondrous Vale / Of Chamouny". That is the place from where they can have the first glimpse of Mont Blanc but the sight of the mighty mountain is accompanied by different feelings than would be expected: That very day, From a bare ridge we also first beheld Unveiled the summit of Mont Blanc, and grieved To have a soulless image on the eye That had usurped upon a living thought That never more could be. (235, 11. 523-528) The grief is felt over that "soulless image" which may probably be read as the thwarted anticipation felt when the first sight of Mont Blanc does not lead to the expected sense of the sublime, the wonder and awe generally associated with the pure sight of the mountain. The language here becomes rather