...lines Of curling mist, or from the level plain Of waters colour'd by the steady clouds. 1850 even then, I held unconscious intercourse with beauty Old as...level plain Of waters coloured by impending clouds. But the superiority of 1805 is clearest in the change from 'the lines / Of curling mist' to 'the silver...

...poet, and here as reader, is always gathering evidence to modify that pain. When ten years old, he "held unconscious intercourse with beauty / Old as...creation, drinking in a pure / Organic pleasure" from the clouds and mists. Books, as a feeding source, also assuage the separation of looking and consuming:...

...disposition, were evidently fostered and developed in no inconsiderable degree by his early environment. " He held unconscious intercourse with beauty Old as creation,...Of curling mist, or from the level plain Of waters covered by impending clouds." Thus did Nature people his mind with forms "sublime or fair." The sense...