Chapter XII: Part 12

Wordsworth and his sister crossed over the Hambleton (or Hamilton) Hills, on their way from Westmoreland to Gallow Hill, Yorkshire, to visit the Hutchinsons, before they went south to London and Calais, where they spent the month of August, 1802. But after his marriage to Mary Hutchinson, on the 4th of October, Wordsworth, his wife, and sister, recrossed these Hambleton Hills on their way to Grasmere, which they reached on the evening of the 6th October. The above sonnet was composed on the evening of the 4th October, as the Fenwick note indicates.--Ed.

* * * * *

TO H. C.

SIX YEARS OLD

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood."--Ed.

O thou! whose fancies from afar are brought;
Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel,
And fittest to unutterable thought
The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol;
Thou faery voyager! that dost float 5
In such clear water, that thy boat
May rather seem
To brood on air [A] than on an earthly stream;
Suspended in a stream as clear as sky,
Where earth and heaven do make one imagery; 10
O blessed vision! happy child!
Thou [1] art so exquisitely wild,
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years.

I thought of times when Pain might be thy guest, 15
Lord of thy house and hospitality;
And Grief, uneasy lover! never rest
But when she sate within the touch of thee.
O too industrious folly!
O vain and causeless melancholy! 20
Nature will either end thee quite;
Or, lengthening out thy season of delight,
Preserve for thee, by individual right,
A young lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks.
What hast thou to do with sorrow, 25
Or the injuries of to-morrow?
Thou art a dew-drop, which the morn brings forth,
Ill fitted to sustain [2] unkindly shocks,
Or to be trailed along the soiling earth;
A gem that glitters while it lives, 30
And no forewarning gives;
But, at the touch of wrong, without a strife
Slips in a moment out of life.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1845.

That ... 1807.]

[Variant 2:

1827.

Not doom'd to jostle with ... 1807.

Not framed to undergo ... 1815.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: See Carver's Description of his Situation upon one of the Lakes of America.--W. W. 1807.]

These stanzas were addressed to Hartley Coleridge. The lines,

'I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years,'

taken in connection with his subsequent career, suggest the similarly sad "presentiment" with which the 'Lines composed above Tintern Abbey' conclude. The following is the postscript to a letter by his father, S. T. C., addressed to Sir Humphry Davy, Keswick, July 25, 1800:

"Hartley is a spirit that dances on an aspen leaf; the air that yonder
sallow-faced and yawning tourist is breathing, is to my babe a
perpetual nitrous oxide. Never was more joyous creature born. Pain
with him is so wholly trans-substantiated by the joys that had rolled
on before, and rushed on after, that oftentimes five minutes after his
mother has whipt him he has gone up and asked her to whip him again."

('Fragmentary Remains, Literary and Scientific', of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., pp. 78, 79.)--Ed.

* * * * *

TO THE DAISY

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

"Her [A] divine skill taught me this,
That from every thing I saw
I could some instruction draw,
And raise pleasure to the height
Through the meanest object's sight.
By the murmur of a spring,
Or the least bough's rustelling;
By a Daisy whose leaves spread
Shut when Titan goes to bed;
Or a shady bush or tree;
She could more infuse in me
Than all Nature's beauties can
In some other wiser man."

G. WITHER. [1]

[Composed in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere.--I. F.]

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

In youth from rock to rock I went,
From hill to hill in discontent
Of pleasure high and turbulent,
Most pleased when most uneasy;
But now my own delights I make,--5
My thirst at every rill can slake, [2]
And gladly Nature's love partake,
Of Thee, sweet Daisy! [3]

Thee Winter in the garland wears
That thinly decks his few grey hairs; 10
Spring parts the clouds with softest airs,
That she may sun thee; [4]
Whole Summer-fields are thine by right;
And Autumn, melancholy Wight!
Doth in thy crimson head delight 15
When rains are on thee.

In shoals and bands, a morrice train,
Thou greet'st the traveller in the lane;
Pleased at his greeting thee again;
Yet nothing daunted, 20
Nor grieved if thou be set at nought: [5]
And oft alone in nooks remote
We meet thee, like a pleasant thought,
When such are wanted.

Be violets in their secret mews 25
The flowers the wanton Zephyrs choose;
Proud be the rose, with rains and dews
Her head impearling,
Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim,
Yet hast not gone without thy fame; 30
Thou art indeed by many a claim
The Poet's darling.

If to a rock from rains he fly,
Or, some bright day of April sky,
Imprisoned by hot sunshine lie 35
Near the green holly,
And wearily at length should fare;
He needs [6] but look about, and there
Thou art!--a friend at hand, to scare
His melancholy. 40

A hundred times, by rock or bower,
Ere thus I have lain couched an hour,
Have I derived from thy sweet power
Some apprehension;
Some steady love; some brief delight; [7] 45
Some memory that had taken flight;
Some chime [8] of fancy wrong or right;
Or stray invention.

If stately passions in me burn,
And one [9] chance look to Thee should turn, 50
I drink out of an humbler urn
A lowlier pleasure;
The homely sympathy that heeds
The common life, our nature breeds;
A wisdom fitted to the needs 55
Of hearts at leisure.

Fresh-smitten by the morning ray,
When thou art up, alert and gay,
Then, cheerful Flower! my spirits play
With kindred gladness: [10] 60
And when, at dusk, by dews opprest
Thou sink'st, the image of thy rest
Hath often eased my pensive breast
Of careful sadness. [11]

And all day long I number yet, 65
All seasons through, another debt,
Which I, wherever thou art met,
To thee am owing; [12]
An instinct call it, a blind sense;
A happy, genial influence, 70
Coming one knows not how, nor whence,
Nor whither going.

Child of the Year! that round dost run
Thy pleasant course,--when day's begun
As ready to salute the sun 75
As lark or leveret,
Thy long-lost praise thou shalt regain; [B]
Nor be less dear to future men
Than in old time;--thou not in vain [13]
Art Nature's favourite. [C] 80

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: The extract from Wither was first prefixed to this poem in the edition of 1815. The late Mr. Dykes Campbell was of opinion that Charles Lamb had suggested this motto to Wordsworth, as 'The Shepherd's Hunting' was Lamb's "prime favourite" amongst Wither's poems. It may be as well to note that his quotation was erroneous in two places. His "instruction" should be "invention" (l. 3), and his "the" (in l. 4) should be "her."--Ed.]

[Variant 2:

1807.

To gentle sympathies awake, MS.]

[Variant 3:

1807.

And Nature's love of Thee partake,
Her much-loved Daisy! 1836.

The text of 1840 returns to the reading of 1807.

Of her sweet Daisy. C.]

[Variant 4:

1836.

When soothed a while by milder airs,
Thee Winter in the garland wears
That thinly shades his few grey hairs;
Spring cannot shun thee; 1807.

When Winter decks his few grey hairs
Thee in the scanty wreath he wears;
Spring parts the clouds with softest airs,
That she may sun thee; 1827.]

[Variant 5:

1836.

... in the lane;
If welcome once thou count'st it gain;
Thou art not daunted,
Nor car'st if thou be set at naught; 1807.

If welcom'd ... 1815.

The text of 1827 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 6:

1820

He need..... 1807]

[Variant 7:

1807

....some chance delight; MS.]

[Variant 8:

1807

Some charm..... C.]

[Variant 9:

1807

And some..... MS.]

[Variant 10:

1836.

When, smitten by the morning ray,
I see thee rise alert and gay,
Then, chearful Flower! my spirits play
With kindred motion: 1807.

With kindred gladness: 1815.

Then Daisy! do my spirits play,
With cheerful motion. MS.]

[Variant 11:

1815.

At dusk, I've seldom mark'd thee press
The ground, as if in thankfulness
Without some feeling, more or less,
Of true devotion. 1807.

The ground in modest thankfulness MS.]

[Variant 12:

1807.

But more than all I number yet
O bounteous Flower! another debt
Which I to thee wherever met
Am daily owing; MS.]

[Variant 13:

1836.

Child of the Year! that round dost run
Thy course, bold lover of the sun,
And chearful when the day's begun
As morning Leveret,
Thou long the Poet's praise shalt gain;
Thou wilt be more belov'd by men
In times to come; thou not in vain 1807.

Thy long-lost praise thou shalt regain;
Dear shalt thou be to future men
As in old time;--1815.

Dear thou shalt be 1820.

The text of 1827 returns to that of 1815.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: His Muse.--W. W. 1815.

The extract is from 'The Shepherds Hunting', eclogue fourth, ll. 368-80.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: See, in Chaucer and the elder Poets, the honours formerly paid to this flower.--W. W. 1815.]

[Footnote C: This Poem, and two others to the same Flower, which the Reader will find in the second Volume, were written in the year 1802; which is mentioned, because in some of the ideas, though not in the manner in which those ideas are connected, and likewise even in some of the expressions, they bear a striking resemblance to a Poem (lately published) of Mr. Montgomery, entitled, 'A Field Flower'. This being said, Mr. Montgomery will not think any apology due to him; I cannot however help addressing him in the words of the Father of English Poets:

'Though it happe me to rehersin--
That ye han in your freshe songis saied,
Forberith me, and beth not ill apaied,
Sith that ye se I doe it in the honour
Of Love, and eke in service of the Flour.'

W. W. 1807.

In the edition of 1836, the following variation of the text of this note occurs: "There is a resemblance to passages in a Poem."--Ed.]

For illustration of the last stanza, see Chaucer's Prologue to 'The Legend of Good Women'.

'As I seyde erst, whanne comen is the May,
That in my bed ther daweth me no day,
That I nam uppe and walkyng in the mede,
To seen this floure agein the sonne sprede,
Whan it up rysith erly by the morwe;
That blisful sight softneth al my sorwe,
So glad am I, whan that I have presence
Of it, to doon it alle reverence,
As she that is of alle floures flour.'
...
To seen this flour so yong, so fresshe of hewe,
Constreynde me with so gredy desire,
That in myn herte I feele yet the fire,
That made me to ryse er yt wer day,
And this was now the firste morwe of May,
With dredful hert, and glad devocioun
For to ben at the resurreccion
Of this flour, whan that yt shulde unclose
Agayne the sonne, that roos as rede as rose
...
And doune on knes anoon ryght I me sette,
And as I koude, this fresshe flour I grette,
Knelying alwey, til it unclosed was,
Upon the smale, softe, swote gras.

Again, in The 'Cuckoo and the Nightingale', after a wakeful night, the Poet rises at dawn, and wandering forth, reaches a "laund of white and green."

'So feire oon had I nevere in bene,
The grounde was grene, y poudred with daysé,
The floures and the gras ilike al hie,
Al grene and white, was nothing elles sene.'

Ed.

* * * * *

TO THE SAME FLOWER [A]

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

[Composed in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere.-I. F.]

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

With little here to do or see
Of things that in the great world be,
Daisy! again I talk to thee, [1]
For thou art worthy,
Thou unassuming Common-place 5
Of Nature, with that homely face,
And yet with something of a grace,
Which Love makes for thee!

Oft on the dappled turf at ease
I sit, and play with similes, [2] 10
Loose types of things through all degrees,
Thoughts of thy raising:
And many a fond and idle name
I give to thee, for praise or blame,
As is the humour of the game, 15
While I am gazing.

A nun demure of lowly port;
Or sprightly maiden, of Love's court,
In thy simplicity the sport
Of all temptations; 20
A queen in crown of rubies drest;
A starveling in a scanty vest;
Are all, as seems [3] to suit thee best,
Thy appellations.

A little cyclops, with one eye 25
Staring to threaten and defy,
That thought comes next--and instantly
The freak is over,
The shape will vanish--and behold
A silver shield with boss of gold, 30
That spreads itself, some faery bold
In fight to cover!

I see thee glittering from afar--
And then thou art a pretty star;
Not quite so fair as many are 35
In heaven above thee!
Yet like a star, with glittering crest,
Self-poised in air thou seem'st to rest;--
May peace come never to his nest,
Who shall reprove thee! 40

Bright _Flower!_ [4] for by that name at last,
When all my reveries are past,
I call thee, and to that cleave fast,
Sweet silent creature!
That breath'st with me in sun and air, 45
Do thou, as thou art wont, repair
My heart with gladness, and a share
Of thy meek nature!

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1845.

Sweet Daisy! oft I talk to thee, 1807.

Yet once again I talk . . 1836.]

[Variant 2:

1820.

Oft do I sit by thee at ease,
And weave a web of similies, 1807.]

[Variant 3:

1827.

... seem ... 1807.]

[Variant 4:

1836.

Sweet Flower!.... 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The two following Poems were overflowings of the mind in composing the one which stands first in the first Volume (i.e. the previous Poem),--W. W. 1807.]

In his editions 1836-1849 Wordsworth gave 1805 as the year in which this poem was composed, but the Fenwick note prefixed to it renders this impossible. It evidently belongs to the same time, and "mood," as the previous poem.--Ed.

* * * * *

TO THE DAISY (#2)

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

[This and the other Poems addressed to the same flower were composed at Town-end, Grasmere, during the earlier part of my residence there. I have been censured for the last line but one--"thy function apostolical"--as being little less than profane. How could it be thought so? The word is adopted with reference to its derivation, implying something sent on a mission; and assuredly this little flower, especially when the subject of verse, may be regarded, in its humble degree, as administering both to moral and to spiritual purposes.--I.F.]

This was included among the "Poems of the Fancy" from 1815 to 1832. In 1837 it was transferred to the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--Ed.

Bright Flower! whose home is everywhere,
Bold in maternal Nature's care,
And all the long year through the heir [1]
Of joy and [2] sorrow.
Methinks that there abides in thee 5
Some concord [3] with humanity,
Given to no other flower I see
The forest thorough!

Is it that Man is soon deprest? [4]
A thoughtless Thing! who, once unblest, 10
Does little on his memory rest,
Or on his reason,
And [5] Thou would'st teach him how to find
A shelter under every wind,
A hope for times that are unkind 15
And every season?

Thou wander'st the wide world about,
Uncheck'd by pride or scrupulous doubt,
With friends to greet thee, or without,
Yet pleased and willing; 20
Meek, yielding to the occasion's call,
And all things suffering from all,
Thy function apostolical
In peace fulfilling. [6]

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1840.

Bright Flower, whose home is every where!
A Pilgrim bold in Nature's care,
And all the long year through the heir 1807.

Bright flower, whose home is every where!
A Pilgrim bold in Nature's care,
And oft, the long year through, the heir 1827.

Confiding Flower, by Nature's care
Made bold,--who, lodging here or there,
Art all the long year through the heir 1837.]

[Variant 2:

1850.

... or ... 1807.]

[Variant 3:

1807.

Communion ... 1837.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 4:

1807.

And wherefore? Man is soon deprest; 1827.

The text of 1837 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 5:

1807.

But ... 1827.

The text of 1837 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 6:

1807.

This stanza was omitted in the editions of 1827 and 1832, but replaced in 1837.]

The three preceding poems 'To the Daisy' evidently belong to the same time, and are, as Wordsworth expressly says, "overflowings of the mind in composing the one which stands first." Nevertheless, in the revised edition of 1836-7, he gave the date 1802 to the first, 1803 to the third, and 1805 to the second of them. In the earlier editions 1815 to 1832, they are all classed among the "Poems of the Fancy," but in the edition of 1837, and afterwards, the last, "Bright Flower! whose home is everywhere," is ranked among the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection." They should manifestly be placed together. Wordsworth's fourth poem 'To the Daisy', which is an elegy on his brother John, and belongs to a subsequent year--having no connection with the three preceding poems, will be found in its chronological place.--Ed.

* * * * *

LOUISA

AFTER ACCOMPANYING HER ON A MOUNTAIN EXCURSION

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

[Town-end 1805.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections." From 1807 to 1832 the title was simply 'Louisa'.--Ed.

I met Louisa in the shade,
And, having seen that lovely Maid,
Why should I fear to say [1]
That, nymph-like, she is fleet and strong, [2]
And down the rocks can leap along 5
Like rivulets in May?
[3]
She loves her fire, her cottage-home;
Yet o'er the moorland will she roam
In weather rough and bleak;
And, when against the wind she strains, 10
Oh! might I kiss the mountain rains
That sparkle on her cheek.

Take all that's mine "beneath the moon," [A]
If I with her but half a noon
May sit beneath the walls 15
Of some old cave, or mossy nook,
When up she winds along the brook [4]
To hunt the waterfalls.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1807.

Though, by a sickly taste betrayed,
Some will dispraise the lovely Maid,
With fearless pride I say 1836.

The text of 1845 returns to that of 1807.]

[Variant 2:

1845.

That she is ruddy, fleet, and strong; 1807.

That she is healthful, ... 1836.]

[Variant 3: In the editions of 1807 to 1843 occurs the following verse, which was omitted from subsequent editions:

And she hath smiles to earth unknown;
Smiles, that with motion of their own
Do spread, and sink, and rise;
That come and go with endless play,
And ever, as they pass away,
Are hidden in her eyes.]

[Variant 4:

1807.

When she goes barefoot up the brook MS.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Compare Young's 'Night Thoughts', where the phrase occurs three times. See also 'Lear', act IV. scene vi. l. 26:

'For all beneath the moon.'

Haywood, 'The English Traveller', v. 1:

'All things that dwell beneath the moon.'

It was also used by William Drummond, in one of his sonnets,

'I know that all beneath the moon decays.'

Ed.]

Wordsworth gave as the date of the composition of this poem the year 1805; but he said of the following one, 'To a Young Lady, who had been Reproached for taking Long Walks in the Country'--"composed at the same time" and "designed to make one piece"--that it was written in 1803.

But it is certain that these following lines appeared in 'The Morning Post', on Feb. 12, 1802, where they are headed 'To a beautiful Young Lady, who had been harshly spoken of on account of her fondness for taking long walks in the Country'. There is difficulty, both in ascertaining the exact date of composition, and in knowing who "Louisa" or the "Young Lady" was. Mrs. Millicent G. Fawcett wrote to me several years ago, suggesting, with some plausibility, a much earlier date, if Dorothy Wordsworth was the lady referred to. She referred me to Dorothy's letter to her aunt, Mrs. Crackenthorpe, written from Windybrow, Keswick, in 1794, when staying there with her brother; and says

"What inclined me to think that the poem was written earlier than 1805
was that it anticipates Dorothy's marriage, and this would more
naturally be present as a probable event in W. W.'s mind in 1794 or
thereabouts than in 1805, after Dorothy had dedicated her life to her
brother, to the exclusion of all wish to make a home of her own by
marriage. The expression 'Healthy as a shepherd boy' is also more
applicable to a girl of twenty-two than to a woman of thirty-three. Do
you think it possible that the poem may have been written in 1794, and
not published till later, when its application would be less evident
to the family circle?"

Dorothy Wordsworth's letter will be quoted in full in a later volume, but the following extract from it may be given now:

"I cannot pass unnoticed that part of your letter in which you speak
of my 'rambling about the country on foot.' So far from considering
this as a matter for condemnation I rather thought it would have given
my friends pleasure that I had courage to make use of the strength
with which Nature has endowed me, when it not only procured me
infinitely more pleasure than I should have received from sitting in a
post-chaise, but was also the means of saving me at least thirty
shillings."

I do not think the date of composition can be so early as 1794. What may be called internal, or structural, evidence is against it. Wordsworth never could have written these two poems till after his settlement at Dove Cottage. Besides, in 1794, he could have no knowledge of a possible "nest in a green dale, a harbour and a hold"; while at that time his sister had certainly no "cottage home." I believe they were written after he took up his residence at Town-end (the date being uncertain); and that they refer to his sister, and not to his wife. It has been suggested by Mr. Ernest Coleridge (see 'The Athenæum', Oct. 21, 1893) that they refer to Mary Hutchinson: but there is no evidence of Wordsworth taking long country walks with her before their marriage, or that she was "nymph-like," "fleet and strong," that she loved to "roam the moorland," "in weather rough and bleak," or that she "hunted waterfalls." The reference to his sister is confirmed by the omission of the delightful second stanza of the poem in the last edition revised by the poet, that of 1849, when she was a confirmed invalid at Rydal Mount. Those "smiles to earth unknown," had then ceased for ever. The reason why Wordsworth erased so delightful and wonderful a stanza, is to me only explicable on the supposition, that it was his sister he referred to, she who had accompanied him in former days, in so many of his "long walks in the country." His wife never did this; she had not the physical strength to do it; and, if she had been the person referred to, Wordsworth would hardly, in 1845, have erased such a description of her, as occurs in the stanza written in 1802, when she was still so vigorous. Besides, Mary Wordsworth was in no sense "a Child of Nature," as Dorothy was: while the testimony of the Wordsworth household is explicit, that it was to his sister, and not to his wife, that the poet referred. I find no difficulty in the allusion made in the second poem to Dorothy being yet possibly a "Wife and Friend"; nor to the fact that it was originally addressed "To a beautiful Young Lady." Neither Dorothy nor Mary Wordsworth were physically "beautiful," according to our highest standards; although the poet addressed the latter as "a Phantom of delight," and as "a lovely apparition." It is quite true that it was Mary Wordsworth's old age that was "serene and bright," while Dorothy's was the very reverse; but the poet's anticipation of the future was written when his sister was young, and was by far the stronger of the two.--Ed.

* * * * *

TO A YOUNG LADY, WHO HAD BEEN REPROACHED FOR TAKING LONG WALKS IN THE COUNTRY [A]

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

[Composed at the same time and on the same view as "I met Louisa in the shade:" indeed they were designed to make one piece.--I.F.]

From 1815 to 1832 this was classed among the "Poems proceeding from Sentiment and Reflection." In 1836 it was transferred to the group of "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

Dear Child of Nature, let them rail!
--There is a nest in a green dale,
A harbour and a hold;
Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see
Thy own heart-stirring days, [1] and be 5
A light to young and old.

There, healthy as a shepherd boy,
And treading among flowers of joy
Which at no season fade, [2]
Thou, while thy babes around thee cling, 10
Shalt show us how divine a thing
A Woman may be made.

Thy thoughts and feelings shall not die,
Nor leave thee, when grey hairs are nigh
A melancholy slave; 15
But an old age serene [3] and bright,
And lovely as a Lapland night,
Shall lead thee to thy grave.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1836.

Thy own delightful days, ... 1802.]

[Variant 2:

1836.

As if thy heritage were joy,
And pleasure were thy trade. 1802.

And treading among flowers of joy,
That at no season fade, 1827.]

[Variant 3:

1815.

... alive ... 1802.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: For the original title of this poem,--as published in 'The Morning Post and Gazetteer',--see the note to the previous poem. When first published it was unsigned.--Ed.]

See the editorial note to the preceding poem.--Ed.

* * * * *

1803

The poems associated with the year 1803 consist mainly of the "Memorials of a Tour in Scotland," which Wordsworth and his sister took--along with Coleridge--in the autumn of that year, although many of these were not written till some time after the Tour was finished. 'The Green Linnet' and 'Yew-trees' were written in 1803, and some sonnets were composed in the month of October; but, on the whole, 1803 was not a fruitful year in Wordsworth's life, as regards his lyrics and smaller poems. Doubtless both 'The Prelude' and 'The Excursion' were revised in 1803.--Ed.

* * * * *

THE GREEN LINNET

Composed 1803.--Published 1807

[Composed in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere, where the bird was often seen as here described.--I.F.]

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

Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed
Their snow white blossoms on my head,
With brightest sunshine round me spread
Of spring's unclouded weather,
In this sequestered nook how sweet 5
To sit upon my orchard-seat!
And birds and flowers once more to greet,
My last year's friends together. [1]

One have I marked, the happiest guest
In all this covert of the blest: 10
Hail to Thee, far above the rest
In joy of voice and pinion!
Thou, Linnet! in thy green array,
Presiding Spirit here to-day,
Dost lead the revels of the May; 15
And this is thy dominion.

While birds, and butterflies, and flowers,
Make all one band of paramours,
Thou, ranging up and down the bowers,
Art sole in thy employment: 20
A Life, a Presence like the Air,
Scattering thy gladness without care,
Too blest with any one to pair;
Thyself thy own enjoyment.

Amid [2] yon tuft of hazel trees, 25
That twinkle to the gusty breeze,
Behold him perched in ecstacies,
Yet seeming still to hover;
There! where the flutter of his wings
Upon his back and body flings 30
Shadows and sunny glimmerings,
That cover him all over.

My dazzled sight he oft deceives,
A Brother of the dancing leaves;
Then flits, and from the cottage-eaves 35
Pours forth his song in gushes; [3]
As if by that exulting strain
He mocked and treated with disdain
The voiceless Form he chose to feign,
While fluttering in the bushes. [4] 40

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1827.

The May is come again:--how sweet
To sit upon my Orchard-seat!
And Birds and Flowers once more to greet,
My last year's Friends together:
My thoughts they all by turns employ;
A whispering Leaf is now my joy,
And then a Bird will be the toy
That doth my fancy tether. 1807.

And Flowers and Birds once more to greet, 1815.

The text of 1815 is otherwise identical with that of 1827.]

[Variant 2:

1845.

Upon ... 1807.]

[Variant 3:

1845.

While thus before my eyes he gleams,
A Brother of the Leaves he seems;
When in a moment forth he teems
His little song in gushes: 1807.

My sight he dazzles, half deceives,
A Bird so like the dancing Leaves;
Then flits, and from the Cottage eaves
Pours forth his song in gushes; 1827.

My dazzled sight the Bird deceives,
A Brother of the dancing Leaves; 1832.

The Bird my dazzled sight deceives, 1840.

The Bird my dazzling sight deceives C.]

[Variant 4:

1827.

As if it pleas'd him to disdain
And mock the Form which he did feign,
While he was dancing with the train
Of Leaves among the bushes. 1807.

The voiceless Form he chose to feign, 1820.]

Of all Wordsworth's poems this is the one most distinctively associated with the Orchard, at Town-end, Grasmere. Dorothy Wordsworth writes in her Journal under date May 28th, 1802:

"We sat in the orchard. The young bull-finches in their pretty
coloured raiment, bustle about among the blossoms, and poise
themselves like wire-dancers or tumblers, shaking the twigs and
dashing off the blossoms."

Ed.

* * * * *

YEW-TREES

Composed 1803.--Published 1815

[Written at Grasmere. These Yew-trees are still standing, but the spread of that at Lorton is much diminished by mutilation. I will here mention that a little way up the hill, on the road leading from Rosthwaite to Stonethwaite (in Borrowdale) lay the trunk of a Yew-tree, which appeared as you approached, so vast was its diameter, like the entrance of a cave, and not a small one. Calculating upon what I have observed of the slow growth of this tree in rocky situations, and of its durability, I have often thought that the one I am describing must have been as old as the Christian era. The Tree lay in the line of a fence. Great masses of its ruins were strewn about, and some had been rolled down the hillside and lay near the road at the bottom. As you approached the tree, you were struck with the number of shrubs and young plants, ashes, etc., which had found a bed upon the decayed trunk and grew to no inconsiderable height, forming, as it were, a part of the hedgerow. In no part of England, or of Europe, have I ever seen a yew-tree at all approaching this in magnitude, as it must have stood. By the bye, Hutton, the old guide, of Keswick, had been so impressed with the remains of this tree, that he used gravely to tell strangers that there could be no doubt of its having been in existence before the flood.--I.F.]

One of the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

There is a Yew-tree, pride of Lorton Vale,
Which to this day stands single, in the midst
Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore:
Not loth to furnish weapons for the bands
Of Umfraville or Percy ere they marched 5
To Scotland's heaths; or those that crossed the sea
And drew their sounding bows at Azincour,
Perhaps at earlier Crecy, or Poictiers.
Of vast circumference and gloom profound
This solitary Tree! a living thing 10
Produced too slowly ever to decay;
Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed. But worthier still of note
Are those fraternal Four of Borrowdale,
Joined in one solemn and capacious grove; 15
Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine
Up-coiling, and inveterately convolved;
Nor uninformed with Phantasy, and looks
That threaten the profane;--a pillared shade, 20
Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue,
By sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged
Perennially--beneath whose sable roof
Of boughs, as if for festal purpose, decked
With unrejoicing berries--ghostly Shapes 25
May meet at noontide; Fear and trembling Hope,
Silence and Foresight; Death the Skeleton
And Time the Shadow;--there to celebrate,
As in a natural temple scattered o'er
With altars undisturbed of mossy stone, 30
United worship; or in mute repose
To lie, and listen to the mountain flood
Murmuring from Glaramara's inmost caves.

The text of this poem was never altered. The Lorton Yew-tree--which, in 1803, was "of vast circumference," the "pride of Lorton Vale," and described as:

'a living thing
Produced too slowly ever to decay;
Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed--'

does not now verify its poet's prediction of the future. Mr. Wilson Robinson of Whinfell Hall, Cockermouth, wrote to me of it in May 1880:

"The tree in outline expanded towards the root considerably: then, at
about two feet from the ground, the trunk began to separate into huge
limbs, spreading in all directions. I once measured this trunk at its
least circumference, and found it 23 feet 10 inches. For the last 50
or 60 years the branches have been gradually dying on the S. E. side,
and about 25 years ago a strong S. E. gale, coming with accumulated
force down Hope Gill, and--owing to the tree being so open on that
side--taking it laterally at a disadvantage, wrenched off one of the
great side branches down to the ground, carrying away nearly a third
of the tree. This event led to farther peril; for, the second portion
having been sold to a cabinetmaker at Whitehaven for £15, this gave
the impression that the wood was very valuable (owing to the celebrity
of the tree); and a local woodmonger bought the remainder. Two men
worked half a day to grub it up; but a Cockermouth medical gentleman,
hearing what was going on, made representations to the owner, and it
ended in the woodmen sparing the remainder of the tree, which was not
much the worse for what had been done. Many large dead branches have
also been cut off, and now we have to regret that the 'pride of Lorton
Vale,' shorn of its ancient dignity, is but a ruin, much more
venerable than picturesque."

The "fraternal Four of Borrowdale" are certainly "worthier still of note." The "trunk" described in the Fenwick note, as on the road between Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite, has disappeared long ago; but the "solemn and capacious grove" existed till 1883 in its integrity. The description in the poem is realistic throughout, while the visible scene suggests

"an ideal grove, in which the ghostly masters of mankind meet, and
sleep, and offer worship to the Destiny that abides above them, while
the mountain flood, as if from another world, makes music to which
they dimly listen."

(Stopford A. Brooke, in 'Theology in the English Poets', p. 259.) With the first part of the poem Wordsworth's 'Sonnet composed at----Castle' during the Scotch Tour of 1803 may be compared (p. 410). For a critical estimate of the poem see 'Modern Painters', part III. sec. II, chap. iv. Ruskin alludes to "the real and high action of the imagination in Wordsworth's 'Yew-trees' (perhaps the most vigorous and solemn bit of forest landscape ever painted). It is too long to quote, but the reader should refer to it: let him note especially, if painter, that pure touch of colour, 'by sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged.'" See also Coleridge's criticism in 'Biographia Literaria', vol. ii. p. 177, edition 1847, and his daughter Sara's comment on her father's note. There can be little doubt that, as Professor Dowden has suggested, the lines 23 to 28 were suggested to Wordsworth by Virgil's lines in the Sixth Book of the 'Æneid', 273-284--

'Vestibulum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus Orci
Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curæ;
Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus,
Et Metus, et malesuada Fames, ac turpis Egestas,
Terribiles visu formæ, Letumque, Labosque;
Tum consanguineus Leti Sopor, et mala mentis
Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum,
Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Discordia demens,
Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis.
In medio ramos annosaque bracchia pandit
Ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia volgo
Vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus hærent.'

"The 'Four Yew Trees,' and the mysterious company which you have
assembled there, 'Death the Skeleton and Time the Shadow.' It is a
sight not for every youthful poet to dream of; it is one of the last
results he must have gone thinking for years for."

(Charles Lamb to Wordsworth, 1815.)

In Crabb Robinson's 'Diary', a reference to the Yew-trees of Lorton and Borrowdale will be found under date Sept. 16 and 20, 1816.

"The pride of Lorton Vale" is now a ruin, and has lost all its ancient
majesty: but, until the close of 1883, the "fraternal four" of
Borrowdale were still to be seen "in grand assemblage." Every one who
has felt the power of Wordsworth's poetry,--and especially those who
had visited the Seathwaite valley, and read the 'Yew-Trees' under the
shade of that once "solemn and capacious grove" before 1884,--must
have felt as if they had lost a personal friend, when they heard that
the "grove" was gone. The great gale of December 11, 1883, smote it
fiercely, uprooting one of the trees, and blowing the others to
ribbands. The following is Mr. Rawnsley's account of the disaster:

'Last week the gale that ravaged England did the Lake country much
harm. We could spare many of the larch plantations, and could hear
(with a sigh) of the fall of the giant Scotch firs opposite the
little Scafell Inn at Rosthwaite, and that Watendlath had lost its
pines; but who could spare those ancient Yews, the great

"... fraternal Four of Borrowdale,
Joined in one solemn and capacious grove;
Huge trunks! and each particular trunk a growth
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine
Up-coiling, and inveterately convolved."

'For beneath their pillared shade since Wordsworth wrote his poem,
that Yew-tree grove has suggested to many a wanderer up Borrowdale,
and visitant to the Natural Temple,

"an ideal grove in which the ghostly masters of mankind meet, and
sleep, and offer worship to the Destiny that abides above them,
while the mountain flood, as if from another world, makes music to
which they dimly listen."

'These Yew-trees, seemingly

"Produced too slowly ever to decay;
Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed,"

'have been ruthlessly overthrown. One has been uprooted bodily; all
the leaders and branches of the others have been wrenched from the
main trunk; and the three still standing are bare poles and broken
wreckage. Until one visits the spot one can have no conception of
the wholesale destruction that the hurricane has wrought; until he
looks on the huge rosy-hearted branches he cannot guess the
tremendous force with which the tornado had fallen upon that "sable
roof of boughs."

'For tornado or whirlwind it must needs have been. The Yews grew
under the eastern flank of the hill called Base Brown. The gale
raged from the westward. One could hardly believe it possible that
the trees could have been touched by it; for the barrier hill on
which they grew,--and under whose shelter they have seen centuries
of storm,--goes straight upwards, betwixt them and the west. It was
only realizable when, standing amid the wreckage, and looking across
the valley, it was seen that a larch plantation had been entirely
levelled, and evidently by a wind that was coming from the east, and
directly toward the Yew-trees. On enquiring at Seathwaite Farm, one
found that all the slates blown from the roof of that building on
the west side, had been whirled up clean over the roof: and we can
only surmise that the winds rushing from the west and north-west,
and meeting the bastions of Glaramara and the Sty-head slopes, were
whirled round in the 'cul-de-sac' of the valley, and moved with
churning motion back from east to west over the Seathwaite Farm, and
so in straight line across the beck, and up the slope to the
Yew-tree cluster. With what a wrenching, and with what violence,
these trees were in a moment shattered, only those can guess who now
witness the ruins of the pillared shade, upon the "grassless floor
of red-brown hue."'"

Ed.

* * * * *

"WHO FANCIED WHAT A PRETTY SIGHT"

Composed 1803.--Published 1807

In the edition of 1807 this poem was No. VIII. of the series entitled "Moods of my own Mind." It was afterwards included among the "Poems of the Fancy," and in a MS. copy it was named "The Coronet of Snowdrops."--Ed.

Who fancied what a pretty sight
This Rock would be if edged around
With living snow-drops? circlet bright!
How glorious to this orchard-ground!
Who loved the little Rock, and set 5
Upon its head this coronet?

Was it the humour of a child?
Or rather of some gentle [1] maid,
Whose brows, the day that she was styled
The shepherd-queen, were thus arrayed? 10
Of man mature, or matron sage?
Or old man toying with his age?

I asked--'twas whispered; The device
To each and [2] all might well belong:
It is the Spirit of Paradise 15
That prompts such work, a Spirit strong,
That gives to all the self-same bent
Where life is wise and innocent.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1836.

... love-sick ... 1807.]

[Variant 2:

1827.

... or ... 1807.]

* * * * *

"IT IS NO SPIRIT WHO FROM HEAVEN HATH FLOWN"

Composed 1803.--Published 1807

[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. I remember the instant my sister S. H., called me to the window of our Cottage, saying, "Look how beautiful is yon star! It has the sky all to itself." I composed the verses immediately.--I.F.]

This was No. XIII. of "Moods of my own Mind," in the edition of 1807. It was afterwards included among the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

It is no Spirit who from heaven hath flown,
And is descending on his embassy;
Nor Traveller gone from earth the heavens to espy!
'Tis Hesperus--there he stands with glittering crown,
First admonition that the sun is down! 5
For yet it is broad day-light: clouds pass by;
A few are near him still--and now the sky,
He hath it to himself--'tis all his own.
O most ambitious Star! an inquest wrought
Within me when I recognised thy light; 10
A moment I was startled at the sight:
And, while I gazed, there came to me a thought
That I might step beyond my natural race
As thou seem'st now to do; might one day trace [1]
Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength above, 15
My Soul, an Apparition in the place,
Tread there with steps that no one shall reprove! [A]

* * * * *

VARIANT ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 1807.

O most ambitious Star! an inquest wrought
Within me when I recognised thy light;
A moment I was startled at the sight:
And, while I gazed, there came to me a thought
That even I beyond my natural race
Might step as thou dost now: might one day trace 1815.

O most ambitious Star! thy Presence brought
A startling recollection to my mind
Of the distinguished few among mankind,
Who dare to step beyond their natural race,
As thou seem'st now to do:--nor was a thought
Denied--that even I might one day trace 1820.

The text of 1836 returns to that of 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Professor Dowden directs attention to the relation between these lines and the poem beginning "If thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven."--Ed.]

* * * * *

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND

1803

These poems were first collected, under the above title, in the edition of 1827. In 1807, nine of them--viz. 'Rob Roy's Grave', 'The Solitary Reaper', 'Stepping Westward', 'Glen Almain, or, The Narrow Glen', 'The Matron of Jedborough and her Husband', 'To a Highland Girl', 'Sonnet', 'To the Sons of Burns after visiting the Grave of their Father', 'Yarrow Unvisited',--were printed under the title, "Poems written during a Tour in Scotland." This group begins the second volume of the edition of that year. But in 1815 and 1820--when Wordsworth began to arrange his poems in groups--they were distributed with the rest of the series in the several artificial sections. Although some were composed after the Tour was finished--and the order in which Wordsworth placed them is not the order of the Scotch Tour itself--it is advisable to keep to his own method of arrangement in dealing with this particular group, for the same reason that we retain it in such a series as the Duddon Sonnets.--Ed.

* * * * *

DEPARTURE FROM THE VALE OF GRASMERE. AUGUST, 1803 [A]

Composed 1811.--Published 1827

[Mr. Coleridge, my sister, and myself started together from Town-end to make a tour in Scotland. Poor Coleridge was at that time in bad spirits, and somewhat too much in love with his own dejection; and he departed from us, as is recorded in my Sister's Journal, soon after we left Loch Lomond. The verses that stand foremost among these Memorials were not actually written for the occasion, but transplanted from my 'Epistle to Sir George Beaumont'.--I. F.]

The gentlest Shade that walked Elysian plains
Might sometimes covet dissoluble chains;
Even for the tenants of the zone that lies
Beyond the stars, celestial Paradise,
Methinks 'twould heighten joy, to overleap 5
At will the crystal battlements, and peep
Into some other region, though less fair,
To see how things are made and managed there.
Change for the worse might please, incursion bold
Into the tracts of darkness and of cold; 10
O'er Limbo lake with aëry flight to steer,
And on the verge of Chaos hang in fear.
Such animation often do I find,
Power in my breast, wings growing in my mind,
Then, when some rock or hill is overpast, 15
Perchance without one look behind me cast,
Some barrier with which Nature, from the birth
Of things, has fenced this fairest spot on earth.
O pleasant transit, Grasmere! to resign
Such happy fields, abodes so calm as thine; 20
Not like an outcast with himself at strife;
The slave of business, time, or care for life,
But moved by choice; or, if constrained in part,
Yet still with Nature's freedom at the heart;--
To cull contentment upon wildest shores, 25
And luxuries extract from bleakest moors;
With prompt embrace all beauty to enfold,
And having rights in all that we behold.
--Then why these lingering steps?--A bright adieu,
For a brief absence, proves that love is true; 30
Ne'er can the way be irksome or forlorn
That winds into itself for sweet return.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: This first poem referring to the Scottish Tour of 1803, was not actually written till 1811. It originally formed the opening paragraph of the 'Epistle to Sir George Beaumont'. Wordsworth himself dated it 1804. It is every way desirable that it should introduce the series of poems referring to the Tour of 1803.--Ed.]

The following is from Dorothy Wordsworth's 'Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland':

"William and I parted from Mary on Sunday afternoon, August 14th,
1803; and William, Coleridge, and I left Keswick on Monday morning,
the 15th."

Ed.

* * * * *

AT THE GRAVE OF BURNS, 1803. SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

Composed 1803. [A]--Published 1842

[For illustration, see my Sister's Journal. It may be proper to add that the second of these pieces, though _felt_ at the time, was not composed till many years after.--I. F.]

I shiver, Spirit fierce and bold,
At thought of what I now behold:
As vapours breathed from dungeons cold
Strike pleasure dead,
So sadness comes from out [1] the mould 5
Where Burns is laid.

And have I then thy bones so near,
And thou forbidden to appear?
As if it were thyself that's here
I shrink with pain; 10
And both my wishes and my fear
Alike are vain.
[2]
Off weight--nor press on weight!--away
Dark thoughts!--they came, but not to stay;
With chastened feelings would I pay 15
The tribute due
To him, and aught that hides his clay
From mortal view.

Fresh as the flower, whose modest worth
He sang, his genius "glinted" forth, [B] 20
Rose like a star that touching earth,
For so it seems,
Doth glorify its humble birth
With matchless beams.

The piercing eye, the thoughtful brow, 25
The struggling heart, where be they now?--
Full soon the Aspirant of the plough,
The prompt, the brave,
Slept, with the obscurest, in the low
And silent grave. 30

I mourned with thousands, but as one
More deeply grieved, for He was gone
Whose light I hailed when first it shone,
And showed my youth [3]
How Verse may build a princely throne 35
On humble truth.

Alas! where'er the current tends,
Regret pursues and with it blends,--
Huge Criffel's hoary top ascends
By Skiddaw seen,--40
Neighbours we were, and loving friends
We might have been;

True friends though diversely inclined;
But heart with heart and mind with mind,
Where the main fibres are entwined, 45
Through Nature's skill,
May even by contraries be joined
More closely still.

The tear will start, and let it flow;
Thou "poor Inhabitant below," [C] 50
At this dread moment--even so--
Might we together
Have sate and talked where gowans blow,
Or on wild heather.

What treasures would have then been placed 55
Within my reach; of knowledge graced
By fancy what a rich repast!
But why go on?--
Oh! spare to sweep, thou mournful blast,
His grave grass-grown. 60

There, too, a Son, his joy and pride,
(Not three weeks past the Stripling died,)
Lies gathered to his Father's side,
Soul-moving sight!
Yet one to which is not denied 65
Some sad delight.

For _he_ is safe, a quiet bed
Hath early found among the dead,
Harboured where none can be misled,
Wronged, or distrest; 70
And surely here it may be said
That such are blest.

And oh for Thee, by pitying grace
Checked oft-times in a devious race,
May He who halloweth the place 75
Where Man is laid
Receive thy Spirit in the embrace
For which it prayed!

Sighing I turned away; but ere
Night fell I heard, or seemed to hear, 80
Music that sorrow comes not near,
A ritual hymn,
Chanted in love that casts out fear
By Seraphim. [D]

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1842.

... out of ... MS.]

[Variant 2:

But wherefore tremble? 'tis no place
Of pain and sorrow, but of grace,
Of shelter, and of silent peace,
And "friendly aid";
Grasped is he now in that embrace
For which he prayed. [a] MS.]

[Variant 3:

1845.

Well might I mourn that He was gone
Whose light I hailed when first it shone,
When, breaking forth as nature's own,
It showed my youth 1842.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: It is dated thus by Wordsworth himself on three occasions, and the year of its composition is also indicated in the title of the poem.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: Compare Burns's poem 'To a Mountain Daisy', l. 15.--Ed.]

[Footnote C: See Burns's 'A Bard's Epitaph', l. 19.--Ed.]

[Footnote D: Compare 'The Tomb of Burns', by William Watson, 1895.--Ed.]

* * * * *

SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Sub-Footnote a: See in his poem the 'Ode to Ruin'.--Ed.]

The following is an extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal of the Tour in Scotland:

"Thursday, August 18th.--Went to the churchyard where Burns is
buried. A bookseller accompanied us. He showed us the outside of
Burns's house, where he had lived the last three years of his life,
and where he died. It has a mean appearance, and is in a bye
situation, whitewashed.... Went on to visit his grave. He lies at a
corner of the churchyard, and his second son, Francis Wallace, beside
him. There is no stone to mark the spot; but a hundred guineas have
been collected, to be expended on some sort of monument.