\ l6THE UNMEDIATED VISION sented as such. His aim in The Prelude is therefore not to justify the ways of Nature to man, nor to sketch the growth of an idea, but to present the growth of the whole mind, never disguising the fact that the bases of belief lie too deeply submerged in childhood to be more than glimpsed by the reasoning reason. 19 The principle of generosity is not only an aesthetic principle, but one that influences the totality of human effort. There is in Wordsworth none of that "chessboard psychology" with which Herder reproached the philosophy of Kant. If the imagination fails, it is because the poet has failed with respect to his soul. The first important event of The Prelude tells us of such a failure: It was a splendid evening, and my soul Once more made trial of her strength, nor lacked Aeolian visitations; but the harp Was soon defrauded, and the banded host Of harmony dispersed in struggling sounds, And lastly utter silence! "Be it so; Why think of any thing but present good?" 20 The episode sets the cheerful note of the entire epic. The "Once more" almost like the "Once again" of "Tintern Abbey" suggests that this incident is only one of very many opportunities the poet has to commune with Nature. The failure is not radical. Furthermore, no problem of subject and object exists. The evening is splendid, the soul does exist. Wordsworth is a poet as affirmative in his way as Milton. "Splendid" is ordinarily a rather common adjective of appreciation, used here to show not a special gift of joy, but a common joy immediately replied to, a joy open daily to the eager in heart, not granted the poet by divine dispensation.A serious note, however, subsists. Why is the poet defrauded of his poetry, why must he resign himself with the calm thought, "Be it so"? True to his custom, Wordsworth does not presume to tell us; he states (1) the experience, (2) his acceptance, and no attempt is made to justify one in terms of the other.Certain other episodes in a more mystical vein, such as "Crossing the Alps," already cited, help to answer this question. They are always concerned with the testing of the soul. Wordsworth insists
