Chapter VIII: Conclusion (2)

Hush, feeble lyre! weak words refuse
The service to prolong!
To yon exulting thrush the Muse
Entrusts the imperfect song; 60
His voice shall chant, in accents clear,
Throughout the live-long day,
Till the first silver star appear,
The sovereignty of May.

FOOTNOTES:

[423] Doubtless the Rev. Mr. Carr, of Bolton Abbey, and his wife.--ED.

[424] Compare _Thoughts on the Seasons_, written in 1829.--ED.

TO MAY[425]

Composed 1826-34.--Published 1835

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED.

Though many suns have risen and set
Since thou, blithe May, wert born,
And Bards, who hailed thee, may forget
Thy gifts, thy beauty scorn;
There are who to a birthday strain 5
Confine not harp and voice,
But evermore throughout thy reign
Are grateful and rejoice!

Delicious odours! music sweet,
Too sweet to pass away! 10
Oh for a deathless song to meet
The soul's desire--a lay
That, when a thousand years are told,
Should praise thee, genial Power!
Through summer heat, autumnal cold, 15
And winter's dreariest hour.

Earth, sea, thy presence feel--nor less,
If yon ethereal blue
With its soft smile the truth express,
The heavens have felt it too. 20
The inmost heart of man if glad
Partakes a livelier cheer;
And eyes that cannot but be sad
Let fall a brightened tear.

Since thy return, through days and weeks 25
Of hope that grew by stealth,
How many wan and faded cheeks
Have kindled into health!
The Old, by thee revived, have said,
"Another year is ours;" 30
And wayworn Wanderers, poorly fed,
Have smiled upon thy flowers.

Who tripping lisps a merry song
Amid his playful peers?
The tender Infant who was long 35
A prisoner of fond fears;
But now, when every sharp-edged blast
Is quiet in its sheath,
His Mother leaves him free to taste
Earth's sweetness in thy breath. 40

Thy help is with the weed that creeps
Along the humblest ground;
No cliff so bare but on its steeps
Thy favours may be found;
But most on some peculiar nook 45
That our own hands have drest,
Thou and thy train are proud to look,
And seem to love it best.

And yet how pleased we wander forth
When May is whispering, "Come! 50
"Choose from the bowers of virgin earth
"The happiest for your home;
"Heaven's bounteous love through me is spread
"From sunshine, clouds, winds, waves,
"Drops on the mouldering turret's head, 55
"And on your turf-clad graves!"

Such greeting heard, away with sighs
For lilies that must fade,
Or "the rathe primrose as it dies
Forsaken"[426] in the shade! 60
Vernal fruitions and desires
Are linked in endless chase;
While, as one kindly growth retires,
Another takes its place.

And what if thou, sweet May, hast known 65
Mishap by worm and blight;
If expectations newly blown
Have perished in thy sight;
If loves and joys, while up they sprung,
Were caught as in a snare; 70
Such is the lot of all the young,
However bright and fair.

Lo! Streams that April could not check
Are patient of thy rule;
Gurgling in foamy water-break, 75
Loitering in glassy pool:
By thee, thee only, could be sent
Such gentle mists as glide,
Curling with unconfirmed intent,
On that green mountain's side. 80

How delicate the leafy veil
Through which yon house of God
Gleams 'mid the peace of this deep dale[427]
By few but shepherds trod!
And lowly huts, near beaten ways, 85
No sooner stand attired
In thy fresh wreaths, than they for praise
Peep forth, and are admired.

Season of fancy and of hope,
Permit not for one hour, 90
A blossom from thy crown to drop,
Nor add to it a flower!
Keep, lovely May, as if by touch
Of self-restraining art,
This modest charm of not too much, 95
Part seen, imagined part!

FOOTNOTES:

[425] Some of the stanzas of this poem were composed in Nov. 1830, on the way from Rydal to Cambridge. See Wordsworth's letter to W. R. Hamilton, Nov. 26, 1830.--ED.

[426] Compare _Lycidas_, l. 142.--ED.

[427] Newlands. See the Fenwick note, p. 146.--ED.

"ONCE I COULD HAIL (HOWE'ER SERENE THE SKY)"

Composed 1826.--Published 1827

"Late, late yestreen I saw the new moone
Wi' the auld moone in hir arme."

_Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence_, _Percy's Reliques_.--W. W.

["No faculty yet given me to espy
The dusky Shape within her arms imbound."

Afterwards, when I could not avoid seeing it, I wondered at this, and the more so because, like most children, I had been in the habit of watching the moon through all her changes, and had often continued to gaze at it when at the full till half blinded.--I. F.]

From 1827 to 1842, one of the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Poems." In
1845 transferred to the "Miscellaneous Poems."--ED.

Once I could hail (howe'er serene the sky)
The Moon re-entering her monthly round,
No faculty yet given me to espy
The dusky Shape within her arms imbound,
That thin memento of effulgence lost 5
Which some have named her Predecessor's ghost.

Young, like the Crescent that above me shone,
Nought I perceived within it dull or dim;
All that appeared was suitable to One
Whose fancy had a thousand fields to skim; 10
To expectations spreading with wild growth,
And hope that kept with me her plighted troth.

I saw (ambition quickening at the view)
A silver boat launched on a boundless flood;
A pearly crest, like Dian's when it threw 15
Its brightest splendour round a leafy wood;
But not a hint from under-ground, no sign
Fit for the glimmering brow of Proserpine.[428]

Or was it Dian's self[428] that seemed to move
Before me?--nothing blemished the fair sight; 20
On her I looked whom jocund Fairies love,
Cynthia,[428] who puts the _little_ stars to flight,
And by that thinning magnifies the great,
For exaltation of her sovereign state.

And when I learned to mark the spectral Shape 25
As each new Moon obeyed the call of Time,
If gloom fell on me, swift was my escape;
Such happy privilege hath life's gay Prime,
To see or not to see, as best may please
A buoyant Spirit, and a heart at ease. 30

Now, dazzling Stranger! when thou meet'st my glance,
Thy dark Associate ever I discern;
Emblem of thoughts too eager to advance
While I salute my joys, thoughts sad or stern;
Shades of past bliss, or phantoms that, to gain 35
Their fill of promised lustre, wait in vain.

So changes mortal Life with fleeting years;
A mournful change, should Reason fail to bring
The timely insight that can temper fears,
And from vicissitude remove its sting; 40
While Faith aspires to seats in that domain
Where joys are perfect--neither wax nor wane.

FOOTNOTES:

[428]

Terret, lustrat, agit, Proserpina, Luna, Diana;
Ima, suprema, feras, sceptro, fulgore, sagitta.--ED.

"THE MASSY WAYS, CARRIED ACROSS THESE HEIGHTS"

Composed 1826.--Published 1835[429]

[The walk is what we call the _Far-terrace_, beyond the summerhouse at Rydal Mount. The lines were written when we were afraid of being obliged to quit the place to which we were so much attached.--I.F.]

One of the "Inscriptions."--ED.

The massy Ways, carried across these heights[430]
By Roman perseverance,[431] are destroyed,
Or hidden under ground, like sleeping worms.
How venture then to hope that Time will spare[432]
This humble Walk? Yet on the mountain's side 5
A POET'S hand first shaped it; and the steps
Of that same Bard--repeated to and fro
At morn, at noon,[433] and under moonlight skies
Through the vicissitudes of many a year--
Forbade the weeds to creep o'er its grey line. 10
No longer, scattering to the heedless winds
The vocal raptures of fresh poesy,
Shall he frequent these precincts; locked no more
In earnest converse with beloved Friends,
Here will he gather stores of ready bliss, 15
As from the beds and borders of a garden
Choice flowers are gathered! But, if Power may spring
Out of a farewell yearning--favoured more
Than kindred wishes mated suitably
With vain regrets--the Exile would consign 20
This Walk, his loved possession, to the care
Of those pure Minds that reverence the Muse.[434]

FOOTNOTES:

[429] The title of these lines in the edition of 1835 was _Inscription_.--ED.

[430] 1835.

... once carried o'er these hills MS.

[431] Referring to the Roman Way, fragments of which are to be seen on High Street. Ambleside was a Roman station. "At the upper corner of Windermere lieth the dead carcase of an ancient city, with great ruins of walls, and many heaps of rubbish, one from another, remaining of building without the walls, yet to be seen. The fortress thereof was somewhat long, fenced with a ditch and rampire, took up in length 132 ells, and breadth 80. That it had been the Romans' work is evident by the British bricks, by the mortar tempered with little pieces of brick among it, by small earthen pots or pitchers, by small cruets or phials of glass, by pieces of Roman money oftentimes found, and by round stones as big as millstones or quernstones, of which laid and couched together they framed in old times their columns, and by the paved ways leading to it. Now the ancient name is gone, unless a man would guess at it, and think it were that Amboglana, whereof the book of notices maketh mention, seeing at this day it is called Ambleside."--See Camden's _Britannia_, 645 (edition 1590).--ED.

[432] 1835.

... to hope that private claims
Will from the injuries of time protect MS.

[433] 1835.

... and the foot
Of that same Bard, by pacing to and fro
At morn, and noon, ... MS.

[434] 1835.

... its gray line.
Murmuring his unambitious verse alone,
Or in sweet converse with beloved Friends.
No more must he frequent it. Yet might power
Follow the yearnings of the spirit, he
Reluctantly departing, would consign
This walk, his heart's possession, to the care
Of those pure Minds that reverence the Muse. MS.

FAREWELL LINES[435]

Composed 1826.--Published 1842

[These lines were designed as a farewell to Charles Lamb and his sister, who had retired from the throngs of London to comparative solitude in the village of Enfield--I.F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

"High bliss is only for a higher state,"[436]
But, surely, if severe afflictions borne
With patience merit the reward of peace,
Peace ye deserve; and may the solid good,
Sought by a wise though late exchange, and here 5
With bounteous hand beneath a cottage-roof
To you accorded, never be withdrawn,
Nor for the world's best promises renounced.
Most soothing was it for a welcome Friend,
Fresh from the crowded city, to behold 10
That lonely union, privacy so deep,
Such calm employments, such entire content.
So when the rain is over, the storm laid,
A pair of herons oft-times have I seen,
Upon a rocky islet, side by side, 15
Drying their feathers in the sun, at ease;
And so, when night with grateful gloom had fallen,
Two glow-worms in such nearness that they shared,
As seemed, their soft self-satisfying light,
Each with the other, on the dewy ground, 20
Where He that made them blesses their repose.--
When wandering among lakes and hills I note,
Once more, those creatures thus by nature paired,
And guarded in their tranquil state of life,
Even, as your happy presence to my mind 25
Their union brought, will they repay the debt,
And send a thankful spirit back to you,
With hope that we, dear Friends! shall meet again.

FOOTNOTES:

[435] As Charles Lamb retired to Enfield in 1826, these lines cannot have been composed much later than that year, although they were not published till 1842. Lamb wrote thus to Wordsworth on the 6th of April 1825: "I came home FOR EVER on Tuesday in last week. The incomprehensibleness of my condition overwhelmed me. It was like passing from life into eternity. ... I wandered about, thinking I was happy, but feeling I was not. But that tumultuousness is passing off, and I begin to understand the nature of the gift. Holidays, even the annual month, were always uneasy joys: their conscious fugitiveness; the craving after making the most of them. Now, when all is holiday, there are no holidays. I can sit at home, in rain or shine, without a restless impulse for walkings. I am daily steadying, and shall soon find it as natural to me to be my own master, as it has been irksome to have had a master. Mary wakes every morning with an obscure feeling that some good has happened to us."--ED.

[436] See Thomson's lines _To the Reverend Patrick Murdoch_, Rector of Stradishall, in Suffolk, 1738, l. 10.--ED.

1827

The poems composed in 1827 were for the most part sonnets. But several of those first published in 1827 evidently belong to an earlier year, the date of which it is impossible to discover.--ED.

ON SEEING A NEEDLECASE IN THE FORM OF A HARP

THE WORK OF E. M. S.[437]

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Poems of the Fancy."--ED.

Frowns are on every Muse's face,
Reproaches from their lips are sent,
That mimicry should thus disgrace
The noble Instrument.

A very Harp in all but size! 5
Needles for strings in apt gradation!
Minerva's self would stigmatize
The unclassic profanation.

Even her _own_ needle that subdued
Arachne's rival spirit,[438] 10
Though wrought in Vulcan's happiest mood,
Such honour[439] could not merit.

And this, too, from the Laureate's Child,
A living lord of melody!
How will her Sire be reconciled 15
To the refined indignity?

I spake, when whispered a low voice,
"Bard! moderate your ire;
Spirits of all degrees rejoice
In presence of the lyre. 20

The Minstrels of Pygmean bands,[440]
Dwarf Genii, moonlight-loving Fays,
Have shells to fit their tiny hands
And suit their slender lays.

Some, still more delicate of ear, 25
Have lutes (believe my words)
Whose framework is of gossamer,
While sunbeams are the chords.

Gay Sylphs[B] this miniature will court,
Made vocal by their brushing wings, 30
And sullen Gnomes[441] will learn to sport
Around its polished strings;

Whence strains to love-sick maiden dear,
While in her lonely bower she tries
To cheat the thought she cannot cheer, 35
By fanciful embroideries.

Trust, angry Bard! a knowing Sprite,
Nor think the Harp her lot deplores;
Though 'mid the stars the Lyre shine[442] bright,
Love _stoops_ as fondly as he soars."[443] 40

FOOTNOTES:

[437] Edith May Southey.--ED.

[438] Arachne, daughter of a dyer of Colophon, skilful with her needle, challenged Minerva to a trial of skill. Minerva defeated her, and committing suicide, she was changed by the goddess into a spider.--ED.

[439] 1845.

Like station ... 1827.

[440] Pygmæi, the nation of Lilliputian dwarfs, fabled to dwell in India, or Ethiopia. (See Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, vi. 90; Aristotle, _De Anima_, viii. 12.)--ED.

[441] According to mediæval belief, the Sylphs were elemental spirits of the air; the Gnomes the elemental spirits of the earth. "The Gnomes or Dæmons of Earth delight in mischief; but the Sylphs, whose habitation is in the Air, are the best-condition'd creatures imaginable."--(See Pope, _Rape of the Lock_, Preface.)--ED.

[442] 1832.

... shines ... 1827.

[443] 1827.

... as she soars." MS.

MISCELLANEOUS SONNETS

DEDICATION

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[In the cottage, Town-end, Grasmere, one afternoon in 1801, my Sister read to me the Sonnets of Milton. I had long been well acquainted with them, but I was particularly struck on that occasion by the dignified simplicity and majestic harmony that runs through most of them,--in character so totally different from the Italian, and still more so from Shakespeare's fine Sonnets. I took fire, if I may be allowed to say so, and produced three Sonnets the same afternoon, the first I ever wrote except an irregular one at school. Of these three, the only one I distinctly remember is "I grieved for Buonaparté." One was never written down: the third, which was, I believe, preserved, I cannot particularise.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

TO ----[444]

Happy the feeling from the bosom thrown
In perfect shape (whose beauty Time shall spare
Though a breath made it) like a bubble blown
For summer pastime into wanton air;
Happy the thought best likened to a stone 5
Of the sea-beach, when, polished with nice care,
Veins it discovers exquisite and rare,
Which for the loss of that moist gleam atone
That tempted first to gather it. That here,
O chief of Friends![445] such feelings I present, 10
To thy regard, with thoughts so fortunate,
Were a vain notion; but the hope is dear,[446]
That thou, if not with partial joy elate,
Wilt smile upon this gift with[447] more than mild content![448]

FOOTNOTES:

[444] This dedicatory sonnet may possibly have been inscribed to his sister, whose reading of Milton's sonnets in 1801 first led him (as the Fenwick note tells us) to write sonnets.--ED.

[445] See the note on the previous page.--ED.

[446] 1837.

... gather it. O chief
Of Friends! such feelings if I here present,
Such thoughts, with others mixed less fortunate;
Then smile into my heart a fond belief
That Thou, ... 1827.

[447] 1837.

Receiv'st the gift for ... 1827.

[448]

"_Something less than joy, but more than dull content._"

COUNTESS OF WINCHELSEA.--W. W. 1837.

"HER ONLY PILOT THE SOFT BREEZE, THE BOAT"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Her only pilot the soft breeze, the boat
Lingers, but Fancy is well satisfied;
With keen-eyed Hope, with Memory, at her side,
And the glad Muse at liberty to note
All that to each is precious, as we float 5
Gently along; regardless who shall chide
If the heavens smile, and leave us free to glide,
Happy Associates breathing air remote
From trivial cares. But, Fancy and the Muse,
Why have I crowded this small bark with you 10
And others of your kind, ideal crew!
While here sits One whose brightness owes its hues
To flesh and blood; no Goddess from above,
No fleeting Spirit, but my own true Love?[449]

FOOTNOTES:

[449] The reminiscence of a day spent on Grasmere Lake with Mrs. Wordsworth.

Compare Robert Browning's lines--

No angel, but a dearer being
All dipt in angel instincts.--ED.

"WHY, MINSTREL, THESE UNTUNEFUL MURMURINGS"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

"Why, Minstrel, these untuneful murmurings--
Dull, flagging notes that with each other jar?"
"Think, gentle Lady, of a Harp so far
From its own country, and forgive the strings."
A simple answer! but even so forth springs, 5
From the Castalian fountain of the heart,[450]
The Poetry of Life, and all _that_ Art
Divine of words quickening insensate things.
From the submissive necks of guiltless men
Stretched on the block, the glittering axe recoils; 10
Sun, moon, and stars, all struggle in the toils
Of mortal sympathy; what wonder then
That[451] the poor Harp distempered music yields
To its sad Lord, far from his native fields?

FOOTNOTES:

[450] Castaly (Castalius fons), a fountain near Parnassus sacred to the Muses. See Virgil, _Georgics_, iii. 293.--ED.

[451] 1837.

If ... 1827.

TO S. H.[452]

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Excuse is needless when with love sincere
Of occupation, not by fashion led,
Thou turn'st the Wheel that slept with dust o'erspread;
_My_ nerves from no such murmur shrink,--tho' near,
Soft as the Dorhawk's to a distant ear, 5
When twilight shades darken[453] the mountain's head.[454]
Even She who toils to spin[455] our vital thread[456]
Might smile on work, O Lady, once so dear[457]
To household virtues. Venerable Art,
Torn from the Poor![458] yet shall kind Heaven protect 10
Its own; though Rulers, with undue respect,
Trusting to crowded factory and mart[459]
And[460] proud discoveries of the intellect,
Heed not[461] the pillage of man's ancient heart.

FOOTNOTES:

[452] Sarah Hutchinson, Mrs. Wordsworth's sister.--ED.

[453] 1837.

... bedim ... 1827.

[454] Either Wansfell, or Loughrigg.--ED.

[455] 1840.

She who was feigned to spin ... 1827.

She who even toils to spin ... C.

[456] Lachesis, the second of the three Parcæ, who was supposed to spin out the actions of our life.

Clotho colum retinet, Lachesis net, et Atropos occat.--ED.

[457] 1837.

Might smile, O Lady! on a task once dear 1827.

[458] Referring to the introduction of steam-looms, which displaced the hand-loom spinning of a previous generation.--ED.

[459] Compare _The Excursion_, book viii. ll. 165-185.--ED.

[460] 1837.

... yet will kind Heaven protect
Its own, not left without a guiding chart,
If Rulers, trusting with undue respect
To ... 1827.

[461] 1837.

Sanction ... 1827.

DECAY OF PIETY

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[Attendance at church on prayer-days, Wednesdays and Fridays and Holidays, received a shock at the Revolution. It is now, however, happily reviving. The ancient people described in this Sonnet were among the last of that pious class. May we hope that the practice, now in some degree renewed, will continue to spread.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Oft have I seen, ere Time had ploughed my cheek,
Matrons and Sires--who, punctual to the call
Of their loved Church, on fast or festival
Through the long year the House of Prayer would seek:
By Christmas snows, by visitation bleak 5
Of Easter winds, unscared, from hut or hall
They came to lowly bench or sculptured stall,
But with one fervour of devotion meek.
I see the places where they once were known,
And ask, surrounded even by kneeling crowds, 10
Is ancient Piety for ever flown?
Alas! even then they seemed like fleecy clouds
That, struggling through the western sky, have won
Their pensive light from a departed sun!

"SCORN NOT THE SONNET; CRITIC, YOU HAVE FROWNED"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[Composed, almost extempore, in a short walk on the western side of Rydal Lake.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned,
Mindless of its just honours; with this key
Shakspeare unlocked his heart;[462] the melody
Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound;[463]
A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound;[464] 5
With it Camöens soothed[465] an exile's grief;[466]
The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf
Amid the cypress with which Dante[467] crowned
His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp,
It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land 10
To struggle through dark ways;[468] and, when a damp
Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand
The Thing became a trumpet;[469] whence he blew
Soul-animating strains--alas, too few![470]

FOOTNOTES:

[462] Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical: compare Nos. 24, 30, 39, 105, 116.--ED.

[463] Petrarch's were all inspired by his devotion to Laura.--ED.

[464] Tasso's works include two volumes of sonnets, first published in 1581 and 1592.--ED.

[465] 1837.

Camöens soothed with it ... 1827.

[466] For his satire _Disparates na India_, Camöens was banished to Macao in 1556, where he wrote the _Os Lusiadas_, also many sonnets and lyric poems.--ED.

[467] Compare the _Vita Nuova_, _passim_.--ED.

[468] Spenser wrote ninety-two sonnets. From the eightieth sonnet it would seem that the writing of them was a relaxation, after the labour spent upon the _Faërie Queene_. It is to this sonnet that Wordsworth alludes.

After so long a race as I have run
Through Faery land, which these six books compile,
Give leave to rest me, being half foredone,
And gather to myself new breath awhile.--ED.

[469] Milton's twenty-three sonnets were written partly in English, partly in Italian. Compare Wordsworth's sonnet, addressed to him in 1802, beginning:--

Milton, thou should'st be living at this hour.--ED.

[470] Compare the sonnet beginning--

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room.--ED.

"FAIR PRIME OF LIFE! WERE IT ENOUGH TO GILD"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[Suggested by observation of the way in which a young friend, whom I do not choose to name, misspent his time and misapplied his talents. He took afterwards a better course, and became a useful member of society, respected, I believe, wherever he has been known.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Fair Prime of life! were it enough to gild
With ready sunbeams every straggling shower;
And, if an unexpected cloud should lower,
Swiftly thereon a rainbow arch to build
For Fancy's errands,--then, from fields half-tilled 5
Gathering green weeds to mix with poppy flower,
Thee might thy Minions crown, and chant thy power,
Unpitied by the wise, all censure stilled.
Ah! show that worthier honours are thy due;
Fair Prime of life! arouse the deeper heart; 10
Confirm the Spirit glorying to pursue
Some path of steep ascent and lofty aim;
And, if there be a joy that slights the claim
Of grateful memory, bid that joy depart.

RETIREMENT

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

If the whole weight of what we think and feel,
Save only far as thought and feeling blend
With action, were as nothing, patriot Friend!
From thy remonstrance would be no appeal;
But to promote and fortify the weal 5
Of our own Being is her paramount end;
A truth which they alone shall comprehend
Who shun the mischief which they cannot heal.
Peace in these feverish times is sovereign bliss:
Here, with no thirst but what the stream can slake, 10
And startled only by the rustling brake,
Cool air I breathe; while the unincumbered Mind,
By some weak aims at services assigned
To gentle Natures, thanks not Heaven amiss.

"_THERE IS A PLEASURE IN POETIC PAINS_"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

_There is a pleasure in poetic pains_
_Which only Poets know_;[471]--'twas rightly said;
Whom could the Muses else allure to tread
Their smoothest paths, to wear their lightest chains?
When happiest Fancy has inspired the strains, 5
How oft the malice of one luckless word
Pursues the Enthusiast to the social board,
Haunts him belated on the silent plains!
Yet he repines not, if his thought stand clear,
At last, of hindrance and obscurity, 10
Fresh as the star that crowns the brow of morn;
Bright, speckless, as a softly-moulded tear
The moment it has left the virgin's eye,
Or rain-drop lingering on the pointed thorn.

FOOTNOTES:

[471] See Cowper's _Task_, book ii. l. 285.--ED.

RECOLLECTION OF THE PORTRAIT OF KING HENRY EIGHTH, TRINITY LODGE, CAMBRIDGE[472]

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

The imperial Stature, the colossal stride,
Are yet before me; yet do I behold
The broad full visage, chest of amplest mould,
The vestments 'broidered with barbaric pride:
And lo! a poniard, at the Monarch's side, 5
Hangs ready to be grasped in sympathy
With the keen threatenings of that fulgent eye,
Below the white-rimmed bonnet, far-descried.
Who trembles now at thy capricious mood?
'Mid those surrounding Worthies, haughty King, 10
We rather think, with grateful mind sedate,
How Providence educeth, from the spring
Of lawless will, unlooked-for streams of good,
Which neither force shall check nor time abate!

FOOTNOTES:

[472] Trinity College, Cambridge, was founded by King Henry VIII. in 1546, on the site of King's Hall, founded by Edward III. in 1337. Two of the gateways of the latter remain, as parts of the great court of Trinity. Over one of these--the King's or entrance gate way--the statue of Henry VIII. is erected. The portrait, described in the sonnet, is in the Hall of the College.--ED.

"WHEN PHILOCTETES IN THE LEMNIAN ISLE"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

When Philoctetes in the Lemnian isle[473]
Like a Form sculptured on a monument
Lay couched; on him or his dread bow unbent[474]
Some wild Bird oft might settle and beguile
The rigid features of a transient smile, 5
Disperse the tear, or to the sigh give vent,
Slackening the pains of ruthless banishment
From his lov'd home, and from heroic toil.
And trust[475] that spiritual Creatures round us move,
Griefs to allay which[476] Reason cannot heal; 10
Yea, veriest[477] reptiles have sufficed to prove
To fettered wretchedness, that no Bastile[478]
Is deep enough to exclude the light of love,
Though man for brother man has ceased to feel.

FOOTNOTES:

[473] The original title of this sonnet in MS. was _Suggested by the same Incident_ (referring to the previous sonnet); and its original form, with one line awanting, was as follows:--

When Philoctetes, in the Lemnian Isle
Reclined with shaggy forehead earthward bent,
Lay silent like a weed-grown Monument,
Such Friend, for such brief moment as a smile
Asks to be born and die in, might beguile
The wounded Chief of pining discontent
From home affections, and heroic toil.
Seen, or unseen, beneath us, or above,
Are Powers that soften anguish, if not heal;
And toads and spiders have sufficed to prove
To fettered wretchedness that no Bastile
Is deep enough to exclude the light of Love,
Though man for Brother man have ceased to feel.

Philoctetes, one of the Argonauts, received from the dying Hercules his arrows. Called by Menelaus to go with the Greeks to the Trojan war, he was sent to the island of Lemnos, owing to a wound in his foot. There he remained for ten years, till the oracle informed the Greeks that Troy could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules. The sonnet refers to the legend of his life in Lemnos.--ED.

[474] 1837.

... isle
Lay couched; upon that breathless Monument,
On him, or on his fearful bow unbent, 1827.

[475] 1837.

From home affections, and heroic toil.
Nor doubt ... 1827.

[476] 1837.

... that ... 1827.

[477] 1837.

And very ... 1827.

[478] Compare the sonnet _To Toussaint l'Ouverture_ (vol. ii. p. 339).--ED.

"WHILE ANNA'S PEERS AND EARLY PLAYMATES TREAD"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[This is taken from the account given by Miss Jewsbury of the pleasure she derived, when long confined to her bed by sickness, from the inanimate object on which this sonnet turns.--I.F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

While Anna's peers[479] and early playmates tread,
In freedom, mountain-turf and river's marge;[480]
Or float with music in the festal barge;
Rein the proud steed, or through the dance are led;
Her doom it is[481] to press a weary bed-- 5
Till oft her guardian Angel, to some charge
More urgent called, will stretch his wings at large,
And friends too rarely prop the languid head.
Yet, helped by Genius--untired comforter,[482]
The presence even of a stuffed Owl for her 10
Can cheat the time; sending her fancy out
To ivied castles and to moonlight skies,
Though he can neither stir a plume, nor shout;
Nor veil, with restless film, his staring eyes.

FOOTNOTES:

[479] Anna Jewsbury, afterwards Mrs. William Fletcher. Compare _Liberty_, in this volume, stanza 1, and the note (p. 222).--ED.

[480] 1837.

While they, her Playmates once, light-hearted tread
The mountain turf and river's flowery marge; 1827.

While they, who once were Anna's Playmates, tread
The mountain turf and river's flowery marge; 1832.

[481] 1832.

Is Anna doomed ... 1827.

[482] 1837.

Yet Genius is no feeble comforter: 1827.

TO THE CUCKOO

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Not the whole warbling grove in concert heard
When sunshine follows shower, the breast can thrill
Like the first summons, Cuckoo! of thy bill,
With its twin notes inseparably paired.[483]
The captive 'mid damp vaults unsunned, unaired, 5
Measuring the periods of his lonely doom,
That cry can reach; and to the sick man's room
Sends gladness, by no languid smile declared.
The lordly eagle-race through hostile search
May perish; time may come when never more 10
The wilderness shall hear the lion roar;
But, long as cock shall crow from household perch
To rouse the dawn, soft gales shall speed thy wing,
And thy erratic voice[484] be faithful to the Spring!

FOOTNOTES:

[483] Compare _To the Cuckoo_--1802 (vol. ii. p. 290)--

Thy twofold shout I hear.

Also Robert Browning's _A Lovers' Quarrel_, stanza 18--

... that minor third
There is none but the cuckoo knows.--ED.

[484] Compare (vol. ii. p. 289)--

O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?--ED.

THE INFANT M---- M----

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[The infant was Mary Monkhouse,[485] the only daughter of my friend and cousin, Thomas Monkhouse.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Unquiet Childhood here by special grace
Forgets her nature, opening like a flower
That neither feeds nor wastes its vital power
In painful struggles. Months each other chase,
And nought untunes that Infant's voice; no trace[486] 5
Of fretful temper sullies her pure cheek;[487]
Prompt, lively, self-sufficing, yet so meek
That one enrapt with gazing on her face
(Which even the placid innocence of death
Could scarcely make more placid, heaven more bright)
Might learn to picture, for the eye of faith, 11
The Virgin, as she shone with kindred light;
A nursling couched upon her mother's knee,
Beneath some shady palm of Galilee.

FOOTNOTES:

[485] Afterwards Mrs. Henry Dew of Whitney Rectory, Herefordshire.--ED.

[486] 1837.

... a trace 1827.

[487] 1837.

... sullies not her cheek; 1827.

TO ROTHA Q----

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[Rotha, the daughter of my son-in-law, Mr. Quillinan.--I. F.]

Rotha, my Spiritual Child! this head was grey
When at the sacred font for thee I stood;
Pledged till thou reach the verge of womanhood,
And shalt become thy own sufficient stay:
Too late, I feel, sweet Orphan, was the day 5
For stedfast hope the contract to fulfil;
Yet shall my blessing hover o'er thee still,
Embodied in the music of this Lay,
Breathed forth beside the peaceful mountain Stream[488]
Whose murmur soothed thy languid Mother's ear 10
After her throes, this Stream of name more dear
Since thou dost bear it,--a memorial theme[489]
For others; for thy future self, a spell
To summon fancies out of Time's dark cell.[490]

FOOTNOTES:

[488] The river Rotha, which flows into Windermere from the lakes of Grasmere and Rydal.--ED.

[489] 1827.

... whose name is thine to bear
Hanging around thee a memorial theme MS.

[490] Compare the poem on the Borrowdale _Yew Trees_.--ED.

TO ----, IN HER SEVENTIETH YEAR[491]

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

[Lady Fitzgerald, as described to me by Lady Beaumont.--I.F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Such age how beautiful! O Lady bright,
Whose mortal lineaments seem all refined
By favouring Nature and a saintly Mind
To something purer and more exquisite
Than flesh and blood; whene'er thou meet'st my sight,
When I behold thy blanched unwithered cheek, 6
Thy temples fringed with locks of gleaming white,
And head that droops because the soul is meek,
Thee with the welcome Snowdrop I compare;
That child of winter, prompting thoughts that climb 10
From desolation toward[492] the genial prime;
Or with the Moon conquering earth's misty air,
And filling more and more with crystal light
As pensive Evening deepens into night.[493]

FOOTNOTES:

[491] 1832.

To ----, 1827.

[492] 1832.

... tow'rds ... 1827.

[493] Another version of this sonnet is given in a letter from Mrs. Wordsworth to Lady Beaumont:--

Lady, what delicate graces may unite
In age--so often comfortless and bleak!
Though from thy unenfeebled eye-balls break
Those saintly emanations of delight,
A snow-drop let me name thee; pure, chaste, white,
Too pure for flesh and blood; with smooth, blanch'd cheek,
And head that droops because the soul is meek,
And not that Time presses with weary weight.
Hope, Love, and Joy are with thee fresh as fair;
A Child of Winter prompting thoughts that climb
From desolation towards the genial prime:
Or, like the moon, conquering the misty air
And filling more and more with chrystal light,
As pensive evening deepens into night.--ED.

"IN MY MIND'S EYE A TEMPLE, LIKE A CLOUD"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

In my mind's eye a Temple, like a cloud
Slowly surmounting some invidious hill,
Rose out of darkness: the bright Work stood still;
And might of its own beauty have been proud,
But it was fashioned and to God was vowed 5
By Virtues that diffused, in every part,
Spirit divine through forms of human art:
Faith had her arch--her arch, when winds blow loud,
Into the consciousness of safety thrilled;
And Love her towers of dread foundation laid 10
Under the grave of things; Hope had her spire
Star-high, and pointing still to something higher;
Trembling I gazed, but heard a voice--it said,
"Hell-gates are powerless Phantoms when _we_ build."

"GO BACK TO ANTIQUE AGES, IF THINE EYES"

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."--ED.

Go back to antique ages, if thine eyes
The genuine mien and character would trace
Of the rash Spirit that still holds her place,
Prompting the world's audacious vanities!
Go back, and see[494] the Tower of Babel rise; 5
The pyramid extend its monstrous base,
For some Aspirant of our short-lived race,
Anxious an aery name to immortalize.
There, too, ere wiles and politic dispute
Gave specious colouring to aim and act, 10
See the first mighty Hunter leave the brute--
To chase mankind, with men in armies packed
For his field-pastime high and absolute,
While, to dislodge his game, cities are sacked!

FOOTNOTES:

[494] 1837.

See, at her call, ... 1827.

"IF THOU INDEED DERIVE THY LIGHT FROM HEAVEN"

Published 1827

[These verses were written some time after we had become residents at Rydal Mount, and I will take occasion from them to observe upon the beauty of that situation, as being backed and flanked by lofty fells, which bring the heavenly bodies to touch, as it were, the earth upon the mountain-tops, while the prospect in front lies open to a length of level valley, the extended lake, and a terminating ridge of low hills; so that it gives an opportunity to the inhabitants of the place of noticing the stars in both the positions here alluded to, namely, on the tops of the mountains, and as winter-lamps at a distance among the leafless trees.--I. F.]

If thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven,
Then, to the measure of that heaven-born light,
Shine, Poet![495] in thy place, and be content:--
The stars pre-eminent in magnitude,
And they that from the zenith dart their beams,[496] 5
(Visible though they[497] be to half the earth,
Though half a sphere be conscious of their brightness)
Are[498] yet of no diviner origin,
No purer essence, than the one that burns,
Like an untended watch-fire, on the ridge 10
Of some dark mountain; or than those which seem
Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps,
Among the branches of the leafless trees;
All are the undying offspring of one Sire:
Then, to the measure of the light vouchsafed, 15
Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content.[499]

These lines, first published in 1827, found a place in the edition of that year, amongst the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection." In the edition of 1845 they appeared as a Preface to the entire volume of Poems.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[495] 1837.

... from Heaven,
Shine, Poet, ... 1827.

[496] 1837.

The Star that from the zenith darts its beams, 1827.

[497] 1837.

... it ... 1827.

[498] 1837.

... its brightness,
Is ... 1827.

[499] The last three lines were added in 1837.--ED.

IN THE WOODS OF RYDAL[500]

Composed 1827.--Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Wild Redbreast![501] hadst them at Jemima's lip[502]
Pecked, as at mine, thus boldly, Love might say[503]
A half-blown rose had tempted thee to sip
Its glistening dews: but hallowed is the clay
Which the Muse warms; and I, whose head is grey,[504] 5
Am not unworthy of thy fellowship;
Nor could I let one thought--one motion--slip
That might thy sylvan confidence betray.
For are we not all His without whose care
Vouchsafed no sparrow falleth to the ground?[505] 10
Who gives his Angels wings to speed through air,
And rolls the planets through the blue profound;
Then peck or perch, fond Flutterer! nor forbear
To trust a Poet in still musings bound.[506]

FOOTNOTES:

[500] The original title (in MS.) was "To a Redbreast." _In the Woods of Rydal_ was added in 1836.--ED.

[501] This Sonnet, as Poetry, explains itself, yet the scene of the incident having been a wild wood, it may be doubted, as a point of natural history, whether the bird was aware that his attentions were bestowed upon a human, or even a living creature. But a Redbreast will perch upon the foot of a gardener at work, and alight on the handle of the spade when his hand is half upon it,--this I have seen. And under my own roof I have witnessed affecting instances of the creature's friendly visits to the chambers of sick persons, as described in the verses to the Redbreast. One of these welcome intruders used frequently to roost upon a nail in the wall, from which a picture had hung, and was ready, as morning came, to pipe his song in the hearing of the Invalid, who had been long confined to her room. These attachments to a particular person, when marked and continued, used to be reckoned ominous; but the superstition is passing away.--W. W. 1827.

[502] Jemima Quillinan.--ED.

[503] 1837.

Strange visitation! at _Jemima's_ lip
Thus hadst thou pecked, wild Redbreast! Love might say, 1827.

[504] 1827.

That the Muse warms; and I, though old and grey, MS.

[505] Compare _The Ancient Mariner_, Part vii., stanza 23.--ED.

[506] 1837.

... vision bound. 1827.