Ossian Collection > Aspects of poetry

374 'THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE: [XII.
to seize on this slight traditionary incident, and make
it the organ of so much. What were the objects
which he had to describe and blend into one harmo-
nious whole ? They were these :
1. The last expiring gleam of feudal chivalry, ending
in the ruin of an ancient race, and the desolation of an
ancestral home.
2. The sole survivor, purified and exalted by the
sufferings she had to undergo.
3. The pathos of the decaying sanctities of Bolton,
after wrong and outrage, abandoned to the healing of
nature and time.
4. Lastly, the beautiful scenery of pastoral Wharfdale,
and of the fells around Bolton^ which blends so well with
these affecting memories.
All these were before him — they had melted into his
imagination, and waited to be woven into one harmo-
nious creation. He takes the White Doe, and makes
her the exponent, the symbol, the embodiment of them
all. The one central aim — to represent the beatifica-
tion of the heroine — how was this to be attained ?
Had it been a drama, the poet would have made
the heroine give forth in speeches her hidden mind
and character. But this was a romantic narrative.
Was the poet to make her soliloquise, analyse her own
feelings, lay bare her heart in metaphysical monologue ?
This might have been done by some modern poets, but
it was not Wordsworth's way of exhibiting character,