r to nature. His poetry of
man is found more in his longer narrative poems, although in them as
well as in his shorter pieces, he shows the action of nature on man.
In _The Prelude_, the most remarkable autobiographical poem in
English, not only reveals the power in nature to develop man, but he
also tells how the French revolution made him feel the worth of each
individual soul and a sense of the equality of all humanity at the bar
of character and conscience. As his lyrics show the sympathetic soul
of nature, so his narrative poems illustrate the second dominant
characteristic of the age, the strong sense of the worth of the
humblest man.

[Illustration: GRASMERE LAKE.]

_Michael_, one of the very greatest of his productions, displays a
tender and living sympathy with the humble shepherd. The simple
dignity of Michael's character, his frugal and honorable life, his
affection for his son, for his sheep, and for his forefather's old
home, appealed to the heart of the poet. He loved his subject and
wrote the poem with that indescribable simplicity which makes the
tale, the verse, and the tone of thought and feeling form together one
perfect and indissoluble whole. _The Leech-Gatherer_ and the story of
"Margaret" in _The Excursion_ also deal with lowly characters and
exhibit Wordsworth's power of pathos and simple earnestness. He could
not present complex personalities; but these characters, which
belonged to the landscapes of the Lake District and partook of its
calm and its simplicity, he drew with a sure hand.

His longest narrative poem is _The Excursion_ (1814), which is in nine
books. It contains fine passages of verse and some of his sanest and
maturest philosophy; but the work is not the masterpiece that he hoped
to make. It is tedious, prosy, and without action of any kind. The
style, which is for the most part heavy, becomes pure and easy only in
some description of a mountain peak or in the recital of a tale, like
that of "Margaret."

An Interpreter of Child Life.--Perhaps the French Revolution and the
unforgettable incident of the pitiable peasant child were not without
influence in causing him to become a great poetic interpreter of
childhood. No poem has surpassed his _Alice Fell, or Poverty_ in
presenting the psychology of childish grief, or his _We Are Seven_ in
voicing the faith of--

"...A simple child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,"

or the loneliness o