Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

When with life lengthened out came a desolate time,
And darkness and danger had compassed him round,
With a thought he would[150] flee to these haunts of his prime,
And here once again a kind shelter be found. 20
And let me believe that when nightly the Muse
Did[151] waft him to Sion, the glorified hill,[152]
Here also, on some favoured height, he[153] would choose
To wander, and drink inspiration at will.

Vallombrosa! of thee I first heard in the page 25
Of that holiest of Bards, and the name for my mind
Had a musical charm, which the winter of age
And the changes it brings had no power to unbind.
And now, ye Miltonian shades! under you
I repose, nor am forced from sweet fancy to part, 30
While your leaves I behold and the brooks they will strew,
And the realised vision is clasped to my heart.

Even so, and unblamed, we rejoice as we may
In Forms that must perish, frail objects of sense;
Unblamed--if the Soul be intent on the day 35
When the Being of Beings shall summon her hence.
For he and he only with wisdom is blest
Who, gathering true pleasures wherever they grow,
Looks up in all places, for joy or for rest,
To the Fountain whence Time and Eternity flow. 40

[145] The name of Milton is pleasingly connected with Vallombrosa in many ways. The pride with which the Monk, without any previous question from me, pointed out his residence, I shall not readily forget. It may be proper here to defend the Poet from a charge which has been brought against him, in respect to the passage in _Paradise Lost_, where this place is mentioned. It is said, that he has erred in speaking of the trees there being deciduous, whereas they are, in fact, pines. The fault-finders are themselves mistaken; the _natural_ woods of the region of Vallombrosa _are_ deciduous, and spread to a great extent; those near the convent are, indeed, mostly pines; but they are avenues of trees _planted_ within a few steps of each other, and thus composing large tracts of wood; plots of which are periodically cut down. The appearance of those narrow avenues, upon steep slopes open to the sky, on account of the height which the trees attain by being _forced_ to grow upwards, is often very impressive. My guide, a boy of about fourteen years old, pointed this out to me in several places.--W.W. 1842.

[146] Compare _Paradise Lost_, book i. l. 302. Vallombrosa--the shady valley--is 18 miles distant from Florence. Wordsworth’s quotation from Milton was from memory. It is not quite accurate.--ED.

[147] See for the two _first lines_, _Stanzas composed in the Simplon Pass_.--W.W. 1842. (See vol. vi. p. 357.)--ED.

[148] The monastery of Vallombrosa was founded about 1050, by S. Giovanni Gnalberto. It was suppressed in 1869, and is now converted into the R. Instituto Forestale, or forest school. The “cell,” the “sequestered retreat” referred to by Wordsworth, is doubtless _Il Paradisino_, or _Le Celle_, a small hermitage 266 feet above the monastery, which is itself 2980 feet above the sea.--ED.

[149] Compare Milton’s letter to Benedetto Bonmattei of Florence, written during his stay in the city, September 10, 1638.--ED.

[150] 1845.

… might …

1842.

[151] 1845.

Would …

1842.

[152] Compare _Paradise Lost_, book iii. l. 29--

… but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flourie Brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit.

ED.

[153] 1845.

… they …

1842.

XIX

AT FLORENCE

[Upon what evidence the belief rests that this stone was a favourite seat of Dante, I do not know; but a man would little consult his own interest as a traveller, if he should busy himself with doubts as to the fact. The readiness with which traditions of this character are received, and the fidelity with which they are preserved from generation to generation, are an evidence of feelings honourable to our nature. I remember how, during one of my rambles in the course of a college vacation, I was pleased on being shown a seat near a kind of rocky cell at the source of the river, on which it was said that Congreve wrote his _Old Bachelor_. One can scarcely hit on any performance less in harmony with the scene; but it was a local tribute paid to intellect by those who had not troubled themselves to estimate the moral worth of that author’s comedies; and why should they? He was a man distinguished in his day; and the sequestered neighbourhood in which he often resided was perhaps as proud of him as Florence of her Dante: it is the same feeling, though proceeding from persons one cannot bring together in this way without offering some apology to the Shade of the great Visionary.--I.F.]

Under the shadow of a stately Pile,
The dome of Florence, pensive and alone,
Nor giving heed to aught that passed the while,
I stood, and gazed upon a marble stone,
The laurelled Dante’s favourite seat.[154] A throne, 5
In just esteem, it rivals; though no style
Be there of decoration to beguile
The mind, depressed by thought of greatness flown.
As a true man, who long had served the lyre,
I gazed with earnestness, and dared no more. 10
But in his breast the mighty Poet bore
A Patriot’s heart, warm with undying fire.
Bold with the thought, in reverence I sate down,
And, for a moment, filled that empty Throne.

[154] The _Sasso di Dante_ is built into the wall of the house, No. 29 Casa dei Canonici, close to the Duomo.--ED.

XX

BEFORE THE PICTURE OF THE BAPTIST, BY RAPHAEL, IN THE GALLERY AT FLORENCE[155]

[It was very hot weather during the week we stayed at Florence; and, never having been there before, I went through much hard service, and am not therefore _ashamed_ to confess I fell asleep before this picture and sitting with my back towards the Venus de Medicis. Buonaparte--in answer to one who had spoken of his being in a sound sleep up to the moment when one of his great battles was to be fought, as a proof of the calmness of his mind and command over anxious thoughts--said frankly, that he slept because from bodily exhaustion he could not help it. In like manner it is noticed that criminals on the night previous to their execution seldom awake before they are called, a proof that the body is the master of us far more than we need be willing to allow. Should this note by any possible chance be seen by any of my countrymen who might have been in the gallery at the time (and several persons were there) and witnessed such an indecorum, I hope he will give up the opinion which he might naturally have formed to my prejudice.--I.F.]

The Baptist might have been ordain’d to cry
Forth from the towers of that huge Pile, wherein
His Father served Jehovah; but how win
Due audience, how for aught but scorn defy
The obstinate pride and wanton revelry 5
Of the Jerusalem below, her sin
And folly, if they with united din
Drown not at once mandate and prophecy?
Therefore the Voice spake from the Desert, thence
To Her, as to her opposite in peace, 10
Silence, and holiness, and innocence,
To Her and to all Lands its warning sent,
Crying with earnestness that might not cease,
“Make straight a highway for the Lord--repent!”

[155] This sonnet refers to the picture of the young St. John the Baptist, now in the Tribuna, Florence, designed about the same time as the Madonna di San Sisto, for Cardinal Colonna, who is said to have presented it to his doctor, Jacopo da Carpi. It has been much admired, and often copied; but it is inferior, both in drawing and in colouring, to the great works of Raphael. How much of it was actually from his hand is uncertain; and Baptist is painted rather like a Bacchus than a Saint.--ED.

XXI

AT FLORENCE--FROM MICHAEL ANGELO

[However at first these two sonnets from Michael Angelo may seem in their spirit somewhat inconsistent with each other, I have not scrupled to place them side by side as characteristic of their great author, and others with whom he lived. I feel, nevertheless, a wish to know at what periods of his life they were respectively composed.[156] The latter, as it expresses, was written in his advanced years, when it was natural that the Platonism that pervades the one should give way to the Christian feeling that inspired the other: between both there is more than poetic affinity.--I.F.]

Rapt above earth by power of one fair face,
Hers in whose sway alone my heart delights,
I mingle with the blest on those pure heights
Where Man, yet mortal, rarely finds a place.
With Him who made the Work that Work accords 5
So well, that by its help and through his grace
I raise my thoughts, inform my deeds and words,
Clasping her beauty in my soul’s embrace.
Thus, if from two fair eyes mine cannot turn,
I feel how in their presence doth abide 10
Light which to God is both the way and guide;
And, kindling at their lustre, if I burn,
My noble fire emits the joyful ray
That through the realms of glory shines for aye.

[156] The second of the two sonnets translated by Wordsworth is No. lxxiii. in Signor Cesare Guastî’s edition of Michael Angelo (1863).

AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.

_Scaro d’un’ importuna._

It was evidently written in old age. The following is Mr. John Addington Symond’s translation of the same sonnet.

Freed from a burden sore and grievous band,
Dear Lord, and from this wearying world untied,
Like a frail bark I turn me to Thy side,
As from a fierce storm to a tranquil land.
Thy thorns, Thy nails, and either bleeding hand,
With Thy mild gentle piteous face, provide
Promise of help and mercies multiplied,
And hope that yet my soul secure may stand.
Let not Thy holy eyes be just to see
My evil part, Thy chastened ears to hear,
And stretch the arm of judgment to my crime:
Let Thy blood only love and succour me,
Yielding more perfect pardon, better cheer,
As older still I grow with lengthening time.

_The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tomaso Campanella_, by John Addington Symonds, p. 110.

Compare Wordsworth’s translation of other three sonnets by Michael Angelo (vol. iii. pp. 380-384).--ED.

XXII

AT FLORENCE--FROM M. ANGELO

Eternal Lord! eased of a cumbrous load,
And loosened from the world, I turn to Thee;
Shun, like a shattered bark, the storm, and flee
To thy protection for a safe abode.
The crown of thorns, hands pierced upon the tree, 5
The meek, benign, and lacerated face,
To a sincere repentance promise grace,
To the sad soul give hope of pardon free.
With justice mark not Thou, O Light divine,
My fault, nor hear it with thy sacred ear; 10
Neither put forth that way thy arm severe;
Wash with thy blood my sins; thereto incline
More readily the more my years require
Help, and forgiveness speedy and entire.

XXIII

AMONG THE RUINS OF A CONVENT IN THE APENNINES

[The political revolutions of our time have multiplied, on the Continent, objects that unavoidably call forth reflections such as are expressed in these verses, but the Ruins in those countries are too recent to exhibit, in anything like an equal degree, the beauty with which time and nature have invested the remains of our Convents and Abbeys. These verses, it will be observed, take up the beauty long before it is matured, as one cannot but wish it may be among some of the desolations of Italy, France, and Germany.--I.F.]

Ye Trees! whose slender roots entwine
Altars that piety neglects;
Whose infant arms enclasp the shrine
Which no devotion now respects;
If not a straggler from the herd 5
Here ruminate, nor shrouded bird,
Chanting her low-voiced hymn, take pride
In aught that ye would grace or hide--
How sadly is your love misplaced,
Fair Trees, your bounty run to waste! 10

Ye, too,[157] wild Flowers! that no one heeds,
And ye--full often spurned as weeds--
In beauty clothed, or breathing sweetness
From fractured arch and mouldering wall--
Do but more touchingly recal 15
Man’s headstrong violence and Time’s fleetness,
Making[158] the precincts ye adorn
Appear to sight still more forlorn.

[157] 1845.

And ye, …

1842.

[158] 1845.

And make …

1842.

XXIV

IN LOMBARDY

See, where his difficult way that Old Man wins
Bent by a load of Mulberry leaves!--most hard
Appears _his_ lot, to the small Worm’s compared,
For whom his toil with early day begins.
Acknowledging no task-master, at will 5
(As if her labour and her ease were twins)
_She_ seems to work, at pleasure to lie still;--
And softly sleeps within the thread she spins.
So fare they--the Man serving as her Slave.
Ere long their fates do each to each conform: 10
Both pass into new being,--but the Worm,
Transfigured, sinks into a hopeless grave;
_His_ volant Spirit will, he trusts, ascend
To bliss unbounded, glory without end.

XXV

AFTER LEAVING ITALY

[I had proof in several instances that the Carbonari, if I may still call them so, and their favourers, are opening their eyes to the necessity of patience, and are intent upon spreading knowledge actively but quietly as they can. May they have resolution to continue in this course! for it is the only one by which they can truly benefit their country. We left Italy by the way which is called the “Nuova Strada de Allmagna,” to the east of the high passes of the Alps, which take you at once from Italy into Switzerland. This road leads across several smaller heights, and winds down different vales in succession, so that it was only by the accidental sound of a few German words that I was aware we had quitted Italy, and hence the unwelcome shock alluded to in the two or three last lines of the latter sonnet.--I.F.]

Fair Land! Thee all men greet with joy; how few,
Whose souls take pride in freedom, virtue, fame,
Part from thee without pity dyed in shame:
I could not--while from Venice we withdrew,
Led on till an Alpine strait confined our view[159] 5
Within its depths, and to the shore we came
Of Lago Morto, dreary sight and name,
Which o’er sad thoughts a sadder colouring threw.
Italia! on the surface of thy spirit,
(Too aptly emblemed by that torpid lake) 10
Shall a few partial breezes only creep?--
Be its depths quickened; what thou dost inherit
Of the world’s hopes, dare to fulfil; awake,
Mother of Heroes, from thy death-like sleep!

[159] They left Venice by the Nuova Strada de Allmagna, resting at Logerone, Sillian, Spittal (in Carinthia), and thence on to Salzburg.--ED.

XXVI

CONTINUED

As indignation mastered grief, my tongue
Spake bitter words; words that did ill agree
With those rich stores of Nature’s imagery,
And divine Art, that fast to memory clung--
Thy gifts, magnificent Region, ever young 5
In the sun’s eye, and in his sister’s sight
How beautiful! how worthy to be sung
In strains of rapture, or subdued delight!
I feign not; witness that unwelcome shock
That followed the first sound of German speech, 10
Caught the far-winding barrier Alps among.
In that announcement, greeting seemed to mock[160]
Parting; the casual word had power to reach
My heart, and filled that heart with conflict strong.

[160] See the Fenwick note to the last sonnet.--ED.

AT BOLOGNA, IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE LATE INSURRECTIONS, 1837[161][162]

Composed 1837.--Published 1842

This was originally (1842) included in the “Memorials of a Tour in Italy,” but, in 1845, it was transferred, along with the two which follow it, to the “Sonnets dedicated to Liberty and Order.”--ED.

I

Ah why deceive ourselves! by no mere fit
Of sudden passion roused shall men attain
True freedom where for ages they have lain
Bound in a dark abominable pit,
With life’s best sinews more and more unknit. 5
Here, there, a banded few who loathe the chain
May rise to break it: effort worse than vain
For thee, O great Italian nation, split
Into those jarring fractions.--Let thy scope
Be one fixed mind for all; thy rights approve 10
To thy own conscience gradually renewed;
Learn to make Time the father of wise Hope;
Then trust thy cause to the arm of Fortitude,
The light of Knowledge, and the warmth of Love.

II

CONTINUED

Composed 1837.--Published 1842

Hard task! exclaim the undisciplined, to lean
On Patience coupled with such slow endeavour,
That long-lived servitude must last for ever.
Perish the grovelling few, who, prest between
Wrongs and the terror of redress, would wean 5
Millions from glorious aims. Our chains to sever
Let us break forth in tempest now or never!--
What, is there then no space for golden mean
And gradual progress?--Twilight leads to day,
And, even within the burning zones of earth, 10
The hastiest sunrise yields a temperate ray;
The softest breeze to fairest flowers gives birth:
Think not that Prudence dwells in dark abodes,
She scans the future with the eye of gods.

III

CONCLUDED

Composed 1837.--Published 1842

As leaves are to the tree whereon they grow
And wither, every human generation
Is to the Being of a mighty nation,
Locked in our world’s embrace through weal and woe;
Thought that should teach the zealot to forego 5
Rash schemes, to abjure all selfish agitation,
And seek through noiseless pains and moderation
The unblemished good they only can bestow.
Alas! with most, who weigh futurity
Against time present, passion holds the scales: 10
Hence equal ignorance of both prevails,
And nations sink; or, struggling to be free,
Are doomed to flounder on, like wounded whales
Tossed on the bosom of a stormy sea.

[161] This date was omitted in the edition of 1842.

[162] The three sonnets, _At Bologna, in remembrance of the late Insurrections_, 1837, are printed as a sequel to the Italian Tour of that year.--ED.

“WHAT IF OUR NUMBERS BARELY COULD DEFY”

Composed 1837.--Published 1837

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

What if our numbers barely could defy
The arithmetic of babes, must foreign hordes,
Slaves, vile as ever were befooled by words,
Striking through English breasts the anarchy
Of Terror, bear us to the ground, and tie 5
Our hands behind our backs with felon cords?
Yields every thing to discipline of swords?
Is man as good as man, none low, none high?--
Nor discipline nor valour can withstand
The shock, nor quell[163] the inevitable rout, 10
When in some great extremity breaks out
A people, on their own beloved Land
Risen, like one man, to combat in the sight
Of a just God for liberty and right.

[163] 1837.

… nor stem …

C.

A NIGHT THOUGHT

Composed 1837.--Published 1837

[These verses were thrown off extempore upon leaving Mrs. Luff’s house at Fox Ghyll one evening. The good woman is not disposed to look at the bright side of things, and there happened to be present certain ladies who had reached the point of life where _youth_ is ended, and who seemed to contend with each other in expressing their dislike of the country and climate. One of them had been heard to say she could not endure a country where there was “neither sunshine nor cavaliers.”--I.F.]

This poem was first published in _The Tribute, a Collection of Miscellaneous unpublished Poems by various Authors, edited by Lord Northampton_, in 1837, “for the benefit of the widow and family of the Rev. Edward Smedley.” (The same volume contained a poem by Southey on Brough Bells.) It next found a place in “Poems chiefly of Early and Late Years” (1842). A stanza given in _The Tribute_, No. 2 (see below), was omitted afterwards.--ED.

Lo! where the Moon along the sky
Sails with her happy destiny;[164]
Oft is she hid from mortal eye
Or dimly seen,
But when the clouds asunder fly 5
How bright her mien![165]

Far different we--a froward race,[166]
Thousands though rich in Fortune’s grace
With cherished sullenness of pace
Their way pursue, 10
Ingrates who wear a smileless face
The whole year through.

If kindred humours e’er would make[167]
My spirit droop for drooping’s sake,
From Fancy following in thy wake, 15
Bright ship of heaven!
A counter impulse let me take
And be forgiven.[168]

[164] 1842.

The moon that sails along the sky
Moves with a happy destiny,

1837.

[165] 1837.

Not flagging when the winds all sleep,
Not hurried onward, when they sweep
The bosom of th’ ethereal deep,
Not turned aside,
She knows an even course to keep,
Whate’er betide.

In the text of 1837 only.

[166] 1842.

Perverse are we--a froward race;

1837.

[167] 1842.

If kindred humour e’er should make

1837.

[168] Compare the poem _To the Daisy_ (1802), beginning--

Bright Flower! whose home is everywhere.

ED.

THE WIDOW ON WINDERMERE SIDE

Published 1842

[The facts recorded in this Poem were given me, and the character of the person described, by my friend the Rev. R. P. Graves,[169] who has long officiated as curate at Bowness, to the great benefit of the parish and neighbourhood. The individual was well known to him. She died before these verses were composed. It is scarcely worth while to notice that the stanzas are written in the sonnet form, which was adopted when I thought the matter might be included in twenty-eight lines.--I.F.]

One of the “Poems founded on the Affections.”--ED.

I

How beautiful when up a lofty height
Honour ascends among the humblest poor,
And feeling sinks as deep! See there the door
Of One, a Widow, left beneath a weight
Of blameless debt. On evil Fortune’s spite 5
She wasted no complaint, but strove to make
A just repayment, both for conscience-sake
And that herself and hers should stand upright
In the world’s eye. Her work when daylight failed
Paused not, and through the depth of night she kept 10
Such earnest vigils, that belief prevailed
With some, the noble Creature never slept;
But, one by one, the hand of death assailed
Her children from her inmost heart bewept.

II

The Mother mourned, nor ceased her tears to flow, 15
Till a winter’s noon-day placed her buried Son
Before her eyes, last child of many gone--
His raiment of angelic white, and lo!
His very feet bright as the dazzling snow
Which they are touching; yea far brighter, even 20
As that which comes, or seems to come, from heaven,
Surpasses aught these elements can show.
Much she rejoiced, trusting that from that hour
Whate’er befel she could not grieve or pine;
But the Transfigured, in and out of season, 25
Appeared, and spiritual presence gained a power
Over material forms that mastered reason.
Oh, gracious Heaven, in pity make her thine!

III

But why that prayer? as if to her could come
No good but by the way that leads to bliss 30
Through Death,--so judging we should judge amiss.
Since reason failed want is her threatened doom,
Yet frequent transports mitigate the gloom:
Nor of those maniacs is she one that kiss
The air or laugh upon a precipice; 35
No, passing through strange sufferings toward the tomb,
She smiles as if a martyr’s crown were won:
Oft, when light breaks through clouds or waving trees,
With outspread arms and fallen upon her knees
The Mother hails in her descending Son 40
An Angel, and in earthly ecstasies
Her own angelic glory seems begun.

[169] The late Archdeacon of Dublin, author of _Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton_, etc. He gives the date of the composition of the poem as 1837.--ED.

1838

In 1838 Wordsworth wrote ten sonnets. These were published (along with the one suggested by Mrs. Southey) for the first time in the volume of collected Sonnets, several being inserted out of their intended place, while the book was passing through the press.

The _Protest against the Ballot_, which appeared in 1838, was never republished.--ED.

TO THE PLANET VENUS

UPON ITS APPROXIMATION (AS AN EVENING STAR) TO THE EARTH, JANUARY 1838

Composed 1838.--Published 1838[170]

One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED.

What strong allurement draws, what spirit guides,
Thee, Vesper! brightening still, as if the nearer
Thou com’st to man’s abode the spot grew dearer
Night after night? True is it Nature hides
Her treasures less and less.--Man now presides 5
In power, where once he trembled in his weakness;
Science[171] advances with gigantic strides;
But are we aught enriched in love and meekness?[172]
Aught dost thou see, bright Star! of pure and wise
More than in humbler times graced human story; 10
That makes our hearts more apt to sympathise
With heaven, our souls more fit for future glory,
When earth shall vanish from our closing eyes,
Ere we lie down in our last dormitory?[173]

[170] It was afterwards printed in the _Saturday Magazine_, Oct. 24, 1840.--ED.

[171] 1845.

Knowledge

1838.

[172] Compare Tennyson’s _In Memoriam_, stanza cxx.--

Let Science prove we are, and then
What matters Science unto men, etc.

ED.

[173] Compare the poem in vol. vii. p. 299, _To the Planet Venus, an Evening Star_.--ED.

“HARK! ’TIS THE THRUSH, UNDAUNTED, UNDEPREST”

Composed 1838.--Published 1838

One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED.

Hark! ’tis the Thrush, undaunted, undeprest,
By twilight premature of cloud and rain;
Nor does that roaring wind deaden his strain[174]
Who carols thinking of his Love and nest,
And seems, as more incited, still more blest. 5
Thanks; thou hast snapped a fire-side Prisoner’s chain,
Exulting Warbler! eased a fretted brain,
And in a moment charmed my cares to rest.
Yes, I will forth, bold Bird! and front the blast,
That we may sing together, if thou wilt, 10
So loud, so clear, my Partner through life’s day,
Mute in her nest love-chosen, if not love-built
Like thine, shall gladden, as in seasons past,
Thrilled by loose snatches of the social Lay.

RYDAL MOUNT, 1838.

[174] 1838.

… undaunted, unopprest,
Struggling with twilight premature and rain.
Loud roars the wind, but smothers not his strain

MS.

“’TIS HE WHOSE YESTER-EVENING’S HIGH DISDAIN”

Composed 1838.--Published 1838

One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED.

’Tis He whose yester-evening’s high disdain
Beat back the roaring storm--but how subdued
His day-break note, a sad vicissitude!
Does the hour’s drowsy weight his glee restrain?
Or, like the nightingale, her joyous vein 5
Pleased to renounce, does this dear Thrush attune
His voice to suit the temper of yon Moon
Doubly depressed, setting, and in her wane?
Rise, tardy Sun! and let the Songster prove
(The balance trembling between night and morn 10
No longer) with what ecstasy upborne
He can pour forth his spirit. In heaven above,
And earth below, they best can serve true gladness
Who meet most feelingly the calls of sadness.

COMPOSED AT RYDAL ON MAY MORNING, 1838[175]

Composed 1st May 1838.--Published 1838

[This and the following sonnet were composed on what we call the “Far Terrace” at Rydal Mount, where I have murmured out many thousands of verses.--I.F.]

This sonnet was first published in the Volume of Collected Sonnets in 1838. In 1842 it was classed among the “Miscellaneous Sonnets”; but in 1845 it was transferred to the “Memorials of a Tour in Italy, 1837.”--ED.

If with old love of you, dear Hills! I share
New love of many a rival image brought
From far, forgive the wanderings of my thought:
Nor art thou wronged, sweet May! when I compare[176]
Thy present birth-morn with thy last,[177][178] so fair, 5
So rich to me in favours. For my lot
Then was, within the famed Egerian Grot
To sit and muse, fanned by its dewy air
Mingling with thy soft breath! That morning too,
Warblers I heard their joy unbosoming 10
Amid the sunny, shadowy, Coliseum;[179]
Heard them, unchecked by aught of saddening hue,[180]
For victories there won by flower-crowned Spring,[181]
Chant in full choir their innocent Te Deum.

[175] 1845.

The title in 1838 was “COMPOSED ON MAY-MORNING, 1838”; and “RYDAL MOUNT” was written at the foot of the sonnet.

[176] 1838.

May, if from these thy northern haunts I share
Fond looks of mind for images remote
Fetched out of milder climates, blame me not,
Nor that, upris’n thus early, I compare

MS.

Let those who will or can, dear May, forbear
To rise and hail thy coming, I could not.
The vivid images of scenes remote
Rushing on memory urge me to compare

MS.

Dear native Hills, the love of you I share
With …

MS.

Dear fields and native mountains, if I share
My love of youth with love of objects brought
{From far, by faithful memory, blame me not. }
{Fetched from a milder climate, blame me not.}
{From a distant land by memory, blame me not.}
{Nor that, upris’n thus early, }
{Nor be displeased, sweet May, if} I compare
{May,}
{Thy } present …

MS.

[177] 1838.

… past,

MS.

[178] On May morning, 1837, Wordsworth was in Rome with Henry Crabb Robinson.--ED.

[179] The Flavian Amphitheatre, begun by Vespasian, A.D. 72, and continued by his son Titus, one of the noblest structures in Rome, now a ruin. --ED.

[180] 1845.

… of sombre hue,

1838.

… by thoughts of sombre hue,

MS.

[181] 1838.

… too,
How my heart swelled when in the mighty ring,
The mouldering, shadowy, sunny Collosseum,
I heard with some sad thoughts of local hue
Warblers there lodged, for victories won by spring

MS.

… too,
Here did I a deathless joy embosoming,
{Mid } the shadowy Collosseum,
{Within}
Hear not without sad thoughts of local hue

MS.

… too,
Heard I, a deathless joy embosoming,
Tho’ not without sad thoughts of local hue,
Amid the shadowy, sunny, Collosseum,
Warblers there lodged, for victories won by Spring

MS.

COMPOSED ON A MAY MORNING, 1838[182]

Composed 1838.--Published 1838[183]

This was one of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED.

Life with yon Lambs, like day, is just begun,
Yet Nature seems to them a heavenly guide.[184]
Does joy approach? they meet the coming tide;
And sullenness avoid, as now they shun[185]
Pale twilight’s lingering glooms,--and in the sun 5
Couch near their dams, with quiet satisfied;[186]
Or gambol--each with his shadow at his side,[187]
Varying its shape wherever he may run.
As they from turf yet hoar with sleepy dew
All turn, and court the shining and the green, 10
Where herbs look up, and opening flowers are seen;
Why to God’s goodness cannot We be true,
And so, His[188] gifts and promises between,
Feed to the last on pleasures ever new?

[182] 1845.

The title, in 1838, was “COMPOSED ON THE SAME MORNING”; referring to the previous sonnet in that edition, beginning--

If with old love of you, dear Hills! I share.

[183] There were so many tentative efforts in the construction of this sonnet, and the one which follows it, that I feel justified in printing them from MS. sources.--ED.

[184] 1838.

Life with yon mountain lambs is just begun,

MS.

Yon mountain Lambs whose life is just begun
Some guidance know to Man’s grave years denied.

MS.

Your lives, ye mountain lambs, tho’ just begun
A guidance know to our best years denied.

MS. sent to Mr. Clarkson.

[185] 1838.

O that by Nature we were prompt the tide
Of joy to meet, as {they} are who {now } shun
{ye } {there}

MS. sent to Mr. Clarkson.

[186] 1838.

The lingering glooms of twilight, in the sun
To couch, with sober quiet satisfied.

MS. sent to Mr. Clarkson.

… shun
Hollows unbrightened by the {rising} sun
{morning}
On slopes to couch with quiet satisfied.

MS.

To couch on slopes where he his beams has tried,
Sporting and running wheresoe’er ye run.

MS.

[187] 1838.

Couch near their dams; or frisk in sportive pride
Each with his playful shadow at his side,

MS.

[188] 1838.

As they from turf hoary with unsunned dew
Turn and do one and all prefer the green
To chilly nooks, knolls cheered with glistening sheen,
Why may not we a kindred course pursue
And so, God’s …

MS.

… shun
Hollows {enlivened } by the rising sun
{unbrightened}
On slopes to couch with quiet satisfied,
Or gambol each, his shadow at his side,
Running in sport wherever he may run.
As from dull turf hoary with unsunned dew
They turn, and one and all prefer the green
To chilly nooks, knolls {warmed} with glistening sheen,
{cheered}
Why may not we a kindred course pursue
And so, Heaven’s …

MS.

… shun
The lingering gloom of twilight in the sun,
To couch with sober quiet satisfied,
Or gambol each, his shadow at his side,
Varying its shape wherever he may run.

MS.

As they from turf with thick and sleepy dew
{{Yet} whitened o’er, turn and}
{{All} } prefer the green
{Turn, and do one and all }
To chilly nooks, {slopes} warm with glistening sheen,
{knolls}
Why may not we thro’ life such course pursue
And so, God’s …

MS.

As they from turf with thick and sleepy dew
Yet whitened o’er, turn and prefer the green;
To chilly nooks, slopes warm with glistering sheen,
Why may not we such course through life pursue,
And so, God’s gifts and promises between,
Feed …

MS.

A PLEA FOR AUTHORS, MAY 1838

Failing impartial measure to dispense
To every suitor, Equity is lame;
And social Justice, stript of reverence
For natural rights, a mockery and a shame;
Law but a servile dupe of false pretence, 5
If, guarding grossest things from common claim
Now and for ever, She, to works that came[189]
From mind and spirit, grudge a short-lived fence.
“What! lengthened privilege, a lineal tie,
For _Books_!” Yes, heartless Ones, or be it proved 10
That ’tis a fault in Us to have lived and loved
Like others, with like temporal hopes to die;
No public harm that Genius from her course
Be turned; and streams of truth dried up, even at their source![190]

[189] 1838.

{If} failing one strict measure to dispense
{When}
To all her suitors Equity is lame,
And social justice by fit reverence
Of natural right unswayed is but a name,

MS.

{Law but} the servile dupe of false pretence,
{And Law}

MS.

{When} guarding grossest things from common claim
{If}
Now, and for ever, She for work that came

MS.

… lame,
Justice unswayed, unmoved by reverence
For natural right {what is she but a name?}
{is but an empty name, }

MS.

[190] 1838.

… from its course
Be turned, and streams of truth dried at their source.

MS.

From mind and spirit grudge a short-lived fence.
But no--{our} sages join in banded force
{the}
{That} books by right or wrong {may} glad the isle
{With} {to}
Say, {would} this serve the {future should our} course
{can } {people if the }
{Of pure domestic hopes be checked the while}
{Of prejudice be less opposed the while }
{Should} toil-worn Genius want a cheering smile
{If }
And streams of truth be dried up at their source?

MS.

Out of the mind grudges a short-lived fence.
{But no--the Sages join in banded force }
{And how preposterous Sages is your course}
Who cry give books free passage thro’ the isle.
{Say can this serve the people of our isle, }
{By right or wrong, for better or for worse,}
Friends to the people, what care ye the while
Tho’ toil-worn genius want a cheering smile
And far-fetched truth be dried up at her source?

MS.

“BLEST STATESMAN HE, WHOSE MIND’S UNSELFISH WILL”

Composed 1838.--Published 1838

One of the “Sonnets dedicated to Liberty and Order.”--ED.

Blest Statesman He, whose Mind’s unselfish will
Leaves him[191] at ease among grand thoughts: whose eye
Sees that, apart from magnanimity,
Wisdom exists not; nor the humbler skill
Of Prudence, disentangling good and ill 5
With patient care. What tho’[192] assaults run high,
They daunt not him who holds his ministry,
Resolute, at all hazards, to fulfil
Its[193] duties;--prompt to move, but firm to wait,--
Knowing, things rashly sought are rarely found; 10
That, for[194] the functions of an ancient State--
Strong by her charters, free because imbound,
Servant of Providence, not slave of Fate--
Perilous is sweeping change, all chance unsound.[195]

[191] 1842.

… her

C. and 1838.

[192] 1838.

… if

C.

[193] 1838.

His

C.

[194] 1838.

… in

C.

[195]

All change is perilous, and all chance unsound.

SPENSER.--W.W. 1838.

The passage will be found in _The Faërie Queene_, book v. canto xii. stanza 36.--ED.

VALEDICTORY SONNET[196]

Composed 1838.--Published 1838

One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED.

Serving no haughty Muse, my hands have here
Disposed some cultured Flowerets (drawn from spots
Where they bloomed singly, or in scattered knots),
Each kind in several beds of one parterre;
Both to allure the casual Loiterer, 5
And that, so placed, my Nurslings may requite
Studious regard with opportune delight,
Nor be unthanked, unless I fondly err.
But metaphor dismissed, and thanks apart,
Reader, farewell! My last words let them be-- 10
If in this book Fancy and Truth agree;
If simple Nature trained by careful Art
Through It have won a passage to thy heart;
Grant me thy love, I crave no other fee!

[196] This closed the volume of sonnets published in 1838.--ED.

1839

The fourteen “Sonnets upon the Punishment of Death” were originally published in the _Quarterly Review_ (in December 1841), in an article on the “Sonnets of William Wordsworth” by the late Sir Henry Taylor, author of _Philip van Artevelde_, and other poems. Towards the close of this article (of 1841), after reviewing the volume of Sonnets published in 1838, Sir Henry adds, “There is a short series _written two years ago_, which we have been favoured with permission to present to the public for the first time. It was suggested by the recent discussions in Parliament, and elsewhere, on the subject of the ‘Punishment of Death.’”

When republishing this and other critical Essays on Poetry, in the collected edition of his works in 1878, Sir Henry omitted the paragraphs relating to these particular sonnets. Wordsworth published the sonnets in his volume of “Poems chiefly of Early and Late Years,” in 1842.--ED.

SONNETS UPON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH

IN SERIES

Composed 1839.--Published 1841

“In the session of 1836, a report by the Commissioners on Criminal Law--of which the second part was on this subject (the Punishment of Death)--was laid before Parliament. In the ensuing session this was followed by papers presented to Parliament by her Majesty’s command, and consisting of a correspondence between the Commissioners, Lord John Russell, and Lord Denman. Upon the foundation afforded by these documents, the bills of the 17th July 1837--(7th Gul. IV. and 1st Vict. cap. 84 to 89 and 91)--were brought in and passed. These acts removed the punishment of death from about 200 offences, and left it applicable to high treason,--murder and attempts at murder--rape--arson with danger to life--and to piracies, burglaries, and robberies, when aggravated by cruelty and violence.” (Sir Henry Taylor, _Quarterly Review_, Dec. 1841, p. 39.) Some members of the House of Commons--Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, Mr. Ewart, and others--desired a further limitation of the punishment of death to the crimes of murder and treason only: and the question of the entire abolition of capital punishment being virtually before the country, Wordsworth dealt with it in the following series of sonnets.--ED.

I

SUGGESTED BY THE VIEW OF LANCASTER CASTLE (ON THE ROAD FROM THE SOUTH)

This Spot--at once unfolding sight so fair
Of sea and land, with yon grey towers that still
Rise up as if to lord it over air--
Might soothe in human breasts the sense of ill,
Or charm it out of memory; yea, might fill 5
The heart with joy and gratitude to God
For all his bounties upon man bestowed:
Why bears it then the name of “Weeping Hill”?[197]
Thousands, as toward yon old Lancastrian Towers,
A prison’s crown, along this way they past 10
For lingering durance or quick death with shame,
From this bare eminence thereon have cast
Their first look--blinded as tears fell in showers
Shed on their chains; and hence that doleful name.

[197] The name given to the spot from which criminals on their way to the Castle of Lancaster first see it.--ED.

II[198]

“TENDERLY DO WE FEEL BY NATURE’S LAW”

Tenderly do we feel by Nature’s law
For worst offenders: though the heart will heave
With indignation, deeply moved we grieve,
In after thought, for Him who stood in awe
Neither of God nor man, and only saw, 5
Lost wretch, a horrible device enthroned
On proud temptations, till the victim groaned
Under the steel his hand had dared to draw.
But O, restrain compassion, if its course,
As oft befalls, prevent or turn aside 10
Judgments and aims and acts whose higher source
Is sympathy with the unforewarned, who died[199]
Blameless--with them that shuddered o’er his grave,
And all who from the law firm safety crave.

[198] “The first sonnet prepares the reader to sympathise with the sufferings of the culprits. The next cautions him as to the limits within which his sympathies are to be restrained.” (Sir Henry Taylor.)--ED.

[199] 1842.

… that died

1841.

III[200]

“THE ROMAN CONSUL DOOMED HIS SONS TO DIE”

The Roman Consul doomed his sons to die
Who had betrayed their country.[201] The stern word
Afforded (may it through all time afford)
A theme for praise and admiration high.
Upon the surface of humanity 5
He rested not; its depths his mind explored;
He felt; but his parental bosom’s lord
Was Duty,--Duty calmed his agony.
And some, we know, when they by wilful act
A single human life have wrongly taken, 10
Pass sentence on themselves, confess the fact,
And, to atone for it, with soul unshaken
Kneel at the feet of Justice, and, for faith
Broken with all mankind, solicit death.

[200] “In the third and fourth sonnets the reader is prepared to regard as low and effeminate the views which would estimate life and death as the most important of all sublunary conditions.” (Sir Henry Taylor.)--ED.

[201] Lucius Junius Brutus, who condemned his sons to die for the part they took in the conspiracy to restore the Tarquins. (See Livy, book ii.)--ED.

IV

“IS _DEATH_, WHEN EVIL AGAINST GOOD HAS FOUGHT”

Is _Death_, when evil against good has fought
With such fell mastery that a man may dare
By deeds the blackest purpose to lay bare?
Is Death, for one to that condition brought,
For him, or any one, the thing that ought 5
To be _most_ dreaded? Lawgivers, beware,
Lest, capital pains remitting till ye spare
The murderer, ye, by sanction to that thought
Seemingly given, debase the general mind;
Tempt the vague will tried standards to disown, 10
Nor only palpable restraints unbind,
But upon Honour’s head disturb the crown,
Whose absolute rule permits not to withstand
In the weak love of life his least command.

V

“NOT TO THE OBJECT SPECIALLY DESIGNED”

Not to the object specially designed,
Howe’er momentous in itself it be,
Good to promote or curb depravity,
Is the wise Legislator’s view confined.
His Spirit, when most severe, is oft most kind; 5
As all Authority in earth depends
On Love and Fear, their several powers he blends,
Copying with awe the one Paternal mind.
Uncaught by processes in show humane,
He feels how far the act would derogate 10
From even the humblest functions of the State;
If she, self-shorn of Majesty, ordain
That never more shall hang upon her breath
The last alternative of Life or Death.

VI[202]

“YE BROOD OF CONSCIENCE--SPECTRES! THAT FREQUENT”

Ye brood of conscience--Spectres! that frequent
The bad man’s restless walk, and haunt his bed--
Fiends in your aspect, yet beneficent
In act, as hovering Angels when they spread
Their wings to guard the unconscious Innocent-- 5
Slow be the Statutes of the land to share
A laxity that could not but impair
_Your_ power to punish crime, and so prevent.
And ye, Beliefs! coiled serpent-like about
The adage on all tongues, “Murder will out,”[203] 10
How shall your ancient warnings work for good
In the full might they hitherto have shown,
If for deliberate shedder of man’s blood
Survive not Judgment that requires his own?

[202] “The sixth sonnet adverts to the effect of the law in preventing the crime of murder, not merely by fear, but by horror, by investing the crime itself with the colouring of dark and terrible imaginations.” (Sir Henry Taylor.)--ED.

[203] See Chaucer, _The Nonnes Priestes Tale_, l. 232.--ED.

VII

“BEFORE THE WORLD HAD PAST HER TIME OF YOUTH”

Before the world had past her time of youth
While polity and discipline were weak,
The precept eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,
Came forth--a light, though but as of day-break,
Strong as could then be borne. A Master meek 5
Proscribed the spirit fostered by that rule,
Patience _his_ law, long-suffering _his_ school,
And love the end, which all through peace must seek.
But lamentably do they err who strain
His mandates, given rash impulse to controul 10
And keep vindictive thirstings from the soul,
So far that, if consistent in their scheme,
They must forbid the State to inflict a pain,
Making of social order a mere dream.

VIII[204]

“FIT RETRIBUTION, BY THE MORAL CODE”

Fit retribution, by the moral code
Determined, lies beyond the State’s embrace,
Yet, as she may, for each peculiar case
She plants well-measured terrors in the road
Of wrongful acts. Downward it is and broad, 5
And, the main fear once doomed to banishment,
Far oftener then, bad ushering worse event,
Blood would be spilt that in his dark abode
Crime might lie better hid. And, should the change
Take from the horror due to a foul deed, 10
Pursuit and evidence so far must fail,
And, guilt escaping, passion then might plead
In angry spirits for her old free range,
And the “wild justice of revenge”[205] prevail.

[204] “In the eighth sonnet the doctrine, which would strive to measure out the punishments awarded by the law in proportion to the degrees of moral turpitude, is disavowed.” (Sir Henry Taylor.)--ED.

[205] See Bacon’s Essay _Of Revenge_, beginning, “Revenge is a sort of wild justice.”--ED.

IX

“THOUGH TO GIVE TIMELY WARNING AND DETER”

Though to give timely warning and deter
Is one great aim of penalty, extend
Thy mental vision further and ascend
Far higher, else full surely shalt thou err.[206]
What is a State? The wise behold in her 5
A creature born of time, that keeps one eye
Fixed on the statutes of Eternity,
To which her judgments reverently defer.
Speaking through Law’s dispassionate voice the State
Endues her conscience with external life 10
And being, to preclude or quell the strife
Of individual will, to elevate
The grovelling mind, the erring to recal,
And fortify the moral sense of all.

[206] 1845.

… thou shalt err.

1842.

X

“OUR BODILY LIFE, SOME PLEAD, THAT LIFE THE SHRINE”

Our bodily life, some plead, that life the shrine
Of an immortal spirit, is a gift
So sacred, so informed with light divine,
That no tribunal, though most wise to sift
Deed and intent, should turn the Being adrift 5
Into that world where penitential tear
May not avail, nor prayer have for God’s ear
A voice--that world whose veil no hand can lift
For earthly sight. “Eternity and Time”
_They_ urge, “have interwoven claims and rights 10
Not to be jeopardised through foulest crime:
The sentence rule by mercy’s heaven-born lights.”
Even so; but measuring not by finite sense
Infinite Power, perfect Intelligence.

XI[207]

“AH, THINK HOW ONE COMPELLED FOR LIFE TO ABIDE”

Ah, think how one compelled for life to abide
Locked in a dungeon needs must eat the heart
Out of his own humanity, and part
With every hope that mutual cares provide;
And, should a less unnatural doom confide 5
In life-long exile on a savage coast,
Soon the relapsing penitent may boast
Of yet more heinous guilt, with fiercer pride.
Hence thoughtful Mercy, Mercy sage and pure,
Sanctions the forfeiture that Law demands, 10
Leaving the final issue in _His_ hands
Whose goodness knows no change, whose love is sure,
Who sees, foresees; who cannot judge amiss,
And wafts at will the contrite soul to bliss.

[207] “In the eleventh and twelfth sonnets the alternatives of secondary punishment,--solitary imprisonment, and transportation,--are adverted to.” (Sir Henry Taylor.)--ED.

XII

“SEE THE CONDEMNED ALONE WITHIN HIS CELL”

See the Condemned alone within his cell
And prostrate at some moment when remorse
Stings to the quick, and, with resistless force,
Assaults the pride she strove in vain to quell.
Then mark him, him who could so long rebel, 5
The crime confessed, a kneeling Penitent
Before the Altar, where the Sacrament
Softens his heart, till from his eyes outwell
Tears of salvation. Welcome death! while Heaven
Does in this change exceedingly rejoice; 10
While yet the solemn heed the State hath given
Helps him to meet the last Tribunal’s voice
In faith, which fresh offences, were he cast
On old temptations, might for ever blast.

XIII[208]