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A Tentative, Yet Serendipitous Discovery
Upon Reading Wordsworth
-by Donnah Boyce

(transcribed from Pink Moon #13, February 1998)


I recently purchased a book of poems by Wordsworth. Flicking through the pages the first poem that caught my eye was called THE IDIOT BOY. I began reading and noted that the main 'character' was called 'Betty'. I kept reading and was astounded to find how the lyrics of RIVER MAN and parts of Wordsworth's poem seem to correlate. Now, I may be jumping to wildly fantasizing conclusions here, but the coincidences seem too good and seeing that we know Nick read poetry it's probably no too far fetched. It could be that the lyrics to RIVER MAN were inspired by Wordsworth's poem. It's as if Nick has wondered what the good natured Betty would think of things today, and wonders if he can find peace of mind as Betty did in THE IDIOT BOY
      Basically, the 'plot' of THE IDIOT BOY goes like this: a poor, good woman named Betty has an 'idiot' son and a dying neighbour called Susan who may not live through the night. Betty sends her son to fetch the doctor, but all manner of worries go through her mind as time passes and neither the doctor nor her son appear, or in Nick's words she "...hadn't heard the news". Betty must decide whether to stay with the dying Susan and risk losing her son, or go out and search for her son and risk losing Susan, or in Nick's words she "Hadn't had the time to choose / A way to lose". Betty leaves Susan and searches frantically for her son, all the time going over in her mind the various situations her son may be in, or as Nick puts it, she "...prayed today / For the sky to blow away / Or maybe stay / She wasn't sure". Meanwhile, Susan begins to worry for both Betty and the 'idiot' son who has been out all night (Nick's "all night shows"). As Susan's attention is focused on the missing pair her physical illness dissipates and she survives, or in Wordsworth's own words, "And, as her mind grew worse and worse / her body - it grew better". Or, in Nick's RIVER MAN, "Calling for her mind again / She lost the pain / And stayed for more" (with an apparent change of protagonist from Susan to Betty).
      An extra verse of RIVER MAN, which was posthumously discovered in Nick's lyric book, also fits well with the poem. The extra verse is as follows: "Betty fell behind a while / Said she hadn't time to smile / Or die in style / But still she tries / Said her time was growing short / Hadn't done the things she ought / Where teacher taught / And Father flies." In Wordsworth's poem Betty loses faith and becomes dejected (or in Nick's words she "...fell behind a while") after visiting the doctor's house and failing to find her son there. Betty curses herself as a "wretched mother" and realizes she has forgotten to send the doctor to help the dying Susan (Nick's "Hadn't done the things she ought / Where teacher taught and Father flies"). Betty hears the clock strike three in the morning, is almost 60 years old, and after finding no one on the road to help her she considers drowning herself in a "green-grown pond" (or in Nick's lyrics, her "time was growing short" and she "hadn't time to smile / or die in style"). After considering suicide, Betty's spirits are raised when she realizes her son may be in the woods and she resumes her search in earnest (Nick's "But still she tries").
      Betty eventually finds her son near a waterfall. Wordsworth's waterfall seems to have some answers that Nick desires to find in his own life, so he's going to see the river man in order to try and find why there's a "ban on feeling free" for him. I find the image of the 'idiot boy' and mental incapacity fascinating considering Nick's plight. Sadly, Nick seems to know that the river man's answers aren't 'meant' for him and there will be no cure or freedom like Betty or Susan experienced.
      If my strange-sounding supposition is correct, I wonder who Hazey Jane, Jeremy, Jacamo and Joey are? Could HAZEY JANE I be Nick's reaction to Shelley's TO JANE: THE INVITATION and HAZEY JANE II to TO JANE: THE RECOLLECTION or maybe WITH A GUITAR, TO JANE? Maybe, or maybe not, or maybe the midnight hour has clouded my perception yet again... I'd be interested to know what other people think about this matter.

Anyone wishing to contact Donnah Boyce regarding the above, her previous essays, or any other Nick-related correspondence, can do so at:
P.O. Box 379, Woolgoolga, NSW, Australia, 2456.

The Idiot Boy by William Wordsworth | River Man by Nick Drake