Imatges de pàgina
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Ir thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven,
Then, to the measure of that Heaven-born light,
Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content:
The stars pre-eminent in magnitude,

And they that from the Zenith dart their beams

(Visible though they be to half the earth,

Though half a sphere be conscious of their brightness), Are yet of no diviner origin,

No

purer essence, than the one that burns,

Like an untended watch-fire, on the ridge

Of some dark mountain; or than those which seem
Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps,
Among the branches of the leafless trees;
All are the undying offspring of one Sire;
Then, to the measure of the light vouchsafed,
Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content.

POEMS BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH

Or the Poems in this class, 'THE EVENING WALK' and 'DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES' were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their publication.

This notice, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the Poem, 'Descriptive Sketches,' as it now stands. The corrections, though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining with propriety a place in the class of Juvenile Pieces.

1836

I
EXTRACT

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION

D

OF LEAVING SCHOOL

EAR native regions, I foretell,

From what I feel at this farewell,
That wheresoe'er my steps may tend,
And whensoe'er my course shall end,
If in that hour a single tie

Survive of local sympathy,

My soul will cast the backward view,
The longing look alone on you.

Thus, while the Sun sinks down to rest
Far in the regions of the west,
Though to the vale no parting beam
Be given, not one memorial gleam,

A lingering light he fondly throws

On the dear hills where first he rose.

ΙΟ

1786

C

II

WRITTEN IN VERY EARLY YOUTH

ALM is all nature as a resting wheel.

The kine are couched upon the dewy grass;

The horse alone, seen dimly as I pass,
Is cropping audibly his later meal:

Dark is the ground; a slumber seems to steal
O'er vale, and mountain, and the starless sky.
Now, in this blank of things, a harmony,
Home-felt, and home-created, comes to heal
That grief for which the senses still supply
Fresh food; for only then, when memory

Is hushed, am I at rest. My Friends! restrain
Those busy cares that would allay my pain;
Oh! leave me to myself, nor let me feel
The officious touch that makes me droop again.

Published 1802

ΙΟ

III

AN EVENING WALK

ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY

General Sketch of the Lakes-Author's regret of his Youth which was passed amongst them-Short description of Noon-Cascade-Noontide Retreat-Precipice and sloping Lights-Face of Nature as the Sun declines-Mountain-farm, and the Cock-Slate-quarry-Sunset-Superstition of the Country connected with that moment-Swans-Female Beggar -Twilight-sounds-Western Lights-Spirits-Night-Moonlight-Hope-Night-sounds-Conclusion.

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AR from my dearest Friend, 'tis mine to rove

FAR

Through bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral

cove;

Where Derwent rests, and listens to the roar
That stuns the tremulous cliffs of high Lodore;
Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads,
To willowy hedge-rows, and to emerald meads;
Leads to her bridge, rude church, and cottaged grounds,
Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds;
Where, undisturbed by winds, Winander1 sleeps;
'Mid clustering isles, and holly-sprinkled steeps;
Where twilight glens endear my Esthwaite's shore,
And memory of departed pleasures, more.

Fair scenes, erewhile, I taught, a happy child,
The echoes of your rocks my carols wild:
The spirit sought not then, in cherished sadness,
A cloudy substitute for failing gladness.

In youth's keen eye the livelong day was bright,
The sun at morning, and the stars at night,

1 These lines are only applicable to the middle part of that lake.

IO

Alike, when first the bittern's hollow bill

Was heard, or woodcocks1 roamed the moonlight hill.

In thoughtless gaiety I coursed the plain,
And hope itself was all I knew of pain;

For then the inexperienced heart would beat
At times, while young Content forsook her seat,

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And wild Impatience, pointing upward, showed,> Longary
Through passes yet unreached, a brighter road.
Alas! the idle tale of man is found
Depicted in the dial's moral round;
Hope with reflection blends her social rays
To gild the total tablet of his days;
Yet still, the sport of some malignant power,
He knows but from its shade the present hour.

But why, ungrateful, dwell on idle pain?
To show what pleasures yet to me remain,
Say, will my Friend, with unreluctant ear,
The history of a poet's evening hear?

Melton

30

40

When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still Breathed a pale steam around the glaring hill, And shades of deep-embattled clouds were seen, Spotting the northern cliffs with lights between ; When crowding cattle, checked by rails that make A fence far stretched into the shallow lake, Lashed the cool water with their restless tails, Or from high points of rock looked out for fanning gales; When school-boys stretched their length upon the green; And round the broad-spread oak, a glimmering scene, In the rough fern-clad park, the herded deer Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing ear; When horses in the sunburnt intake 2 stood, And vainly eyed below the tempting flood, Or tracked the passenger, in mute distress, With forward neck the closing gate to pressThen, while I wandered where the huddling rill Brightens with water-breaks the hollow ghyll,31 As by enchantment, an obscure retreat Opened at once, and stayed my devious feet. While thick above the rill the branches close, In rocky basin its wild waves repose,

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1 In the beginning of winter, these mountains are frequented by woodcocks, which in dark nights retire into the woods.

2 The word intake is local, and signifies a mountain-inclosure.

3 Ghyll is also, I believe, a term confined to this country: ghyll, and dingle, have the same meaning.

Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green,

Cling from the rocks, with pale wood-weeds between; 60
And its own twilight softens the whole scene,

Save where aloft the subtle sunbeams shine
On withered briars that o'er the crags recline;
Save where, with sparkling foam, a small cascade
Illumines, from within, the leafy shade;
Beyond, along the vista of the brook,

Where antique roots its bustling course o'erlook,
The eye reposes on a secret bridge,1

Half grey, half shagged with ivy to its ridge;
There, bending o'er the stream, the listless swain
Lingers behind his disappearing wain.

-Did Sabine grace adorn my living line,

Blandusia's praise, wild stream, should yield to thine!
Never shall ruthless minister of death

'Mid thy soft glooms the glittering steel unsheath;
No goblets shall, for thee, be crowned with flowers,
No kid with piteous outcry thrill thy bowers;

The mystic shapes that by thy margin rove

A more benignant sacrifice approve

A mind that, in a calm angelic mood

Of happy wisdom, meditating good,

Beholds, of all from her high powers required,

Much done, and much designed, and more desired,-
Harmonious thoughts, a soul by truth refined,
Entire affection for all human kind.

Dear Brook, farewell! To-morrow's noon again
Shall hide me, wooing long thy wildwood strain;
But now the sun has gained his western road,
And eve's mild hour invites my steps abroad.

While, near the midway cliff, the silvered kite
In many a whistling circle wheels her flight;
Slant watery lights, from parting clouds, apace
Travel along the precipice's base;

Cheering its naked waste of scattered stone,
By lichens grey, and scanty moss, o'ergrown;
Where scarce the foxglove peeps, or thistle's beard;
And restless stone-chat, all day long, is heard.

How pleasant, as the sun declines, to view
The spacious landscape change in form and hue!

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1 The reader, who has made the tour of this country, will recognise in this description the features which characterise the lower waterfall in the grounds of Rydal.

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