10 DECEMBER 1937, Page 17

Wordsworth's Vogue A distinguished person said not long since that

he supposed no one read Wordsworth now ! The readers of poetry are not legion in these days, but Wordsworth still extracts a passionate devotion hardly given to any other poet. His poetry was always a cardinal influence in the character of Lord Grey. He had great passages of the Prelude by heart ; and such phrases as " the deep power of joy," which added much to Lord Grey's happiness of mind, are an almost daily accompaniment to the thoughts of the chief political journalist of our day. A wholly delightful and very learned book, Wild Flowers in Literature, was written a year or two ago by Mr. Vernon Rendall, but it omits one of the most moving of all flower poems in our literature Rosetti's " Woodspurge " written immediately after the death of his wife. It is not often that so precise and particular a detail as the "cup of three" in this plant is made to carry so deep an emotion.