Expostulation and Reply by William Wordsworth
Why, William, on that old gray stone, Thus for the length of half a day, Why, William, sit you thus alone, And dream your time away? “Where are your books? – that light bequeathed To Beings else forlorn and blind! Up! up! and drink the spirit breathed From dead men to their kind. “You look […]
Even As A Dragon’s Eye That Feels The Stress by William Wordsworth
EVEN as a dragon’s eye that feels the stress Of a bedimming sleep, or as a lamp Suddenly glaring through sepulchral damp, So burns yon Taper ‘mid a black recess Of mountains, silent, dreary, motionless: The lake below reflects it not; the sky, Muffled in clouds, affords no company To mitigate and cheer its loneliness. […]
Epitaphs Translated From Chiabrera by William Wordsworth
I WEEP not, beloved Friends! nor let the air For me with sighs be troubled. Not from life Have I been taken; this is genuine life And this alone–the life which now I live In peace eternal; where desire and joy Together move in fellowship without end.– Francesco Ceni willed that, after death, His tombstone […]
England! The Time Is Come When Thou Should’st Wean by William Wordsworth
ENGLAND! the time is come when thou should’st wean Thy heart from its emasculating food; The truth should now be better understood; Old things have been unsettled; we have seen Fair seed-time, better harvest might have been But for thy trespasses; and, at this day, If for Greece, Egypt, India, Africa, Aught good were destined, […]
Emperors And Kings, How Oft Have Temples Rung by William Wordsworth
EMPERORS and Kings, how oft have temples rung With impious thanksgiving, the Almighty’s scorn! How oft above their altars have been hung Trophies that led the good and wise to mourn Triumphant wrong, battle of battle born, And sorrow that to fruitless sorrow clung! Now, from Heaven-sanctioned victory, Peace is sprung; In this firm hour […]
Ellen Irwin Or The Braes Of Kirtle by William Wordsworth
FAIR Ellen Irwin, when she sate Upon the braes of Kirtle, Was lovely as a Grecian maid Adorned with wreaths of myrtle; Young Adam Bruce beside her lay, And there did they beguile the day With love and gentle speeches, Beneath the budding beeches. From many knights and many squires The Bruce had been selected; […]
Elegiac Stanzas Suggested By A Picture Of Peele Castle by William Wordsworth
I was thy neighbour once, thou rugged Pile! Four summer weeks I dwelt in sight of thee: I saw thee every day; and all the while Thy Form was sleeping on a glassy sea. So pure the sky, so quiet was the air! So like, so very like, was day to day! Whene’er I looked, […]
Dion [See Plutarch] by William Wordsworth
Serene, and fitted to embrace, Where’er he turned, a swan-like grace Of haughtiness without pretence, And to unfold a still magnificence, Was princely Dion, in the power And beauty of his happier hour. And what pure homage then did wait On Dion’s virtues, while the lunar beam Of Plato’s genius, from its lofty sphere, Fell […]
Crusaders by William Wordsworth
FURL we the sails, and pass with tardy oars Through these bright regions, casting many a glance Upon the dream-like issues–the romance Of many-coloured life that Fortune pours Round the Crusaders, till on distant shores Their labours end; or they return to lie, The vow performed, in cross-legged effigy, Devoutly stretched upon their chancel floors. […]
Composed While The Author Was Engaged In Writing A Tract Occasioned By The Convention Of Cintra by William Wordsworth
NOT ‘mid the world’s vain objects that enslave The free-born Soul–that World whose vaunted skill In selfish interest perverts the will, Whose factions lead astray the wise and brave– Not there; but in dark wood and rocky cave, And hollow vale which foaming torrents fill With omnipresent murmur as they rave Down their steep beds, […]
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth
Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; […]
Composed on The Eve Of The Marriage Of A Friend In The Vale Of Grasmere by William Wordsworth
WHAT need of clamorous bells, or ribands gay, These humble nuptials to proclaim or grace? Angels of love, look down upon the place; Shed on the chosen vale a sun-bright day! Yet no proud gladness would the Bride display Even for such promise:–serious is her face, Modest her mien; and she, whose thoughts keep pace […]
Composed Near Calais, On The Road Leading To Ardres, August 7, 1802 by William Wordsworth
JONES! as from Calais southward you and I Went pacing side by side, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: A homeless sound of joy was in the sky: From hour to hour the antiquated Earth Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, […]
Composed In The Valley Near Dover, On The Day Of Landing by William Wordsworth
HERE, on our native soil, we breathe once more. The cock that crows, the smoke that curls, that sound Of bells; those boys who in yon meadow-ground In white-sleeved shirts are playing; and the roar Of the waves breaking on the chalky shore;– All, all are English. Oft have I looked round With joy in […]
Composed During A Storm by William Wordsworth
One who was suffering tumult in his soul, Yet failed to seek the sure relief of prayer, Went forth-his course surrendering to the care Of the fierce wind, while mid-day lightnings prowl Insidiously, untimely thunders growl; While trees, dim-seen, in frenzied numbers, tear The lingering remnant of their yellow hair, And shivering wolves, surprised with […]
Composed By The Side Of Grasmere Lake 1806 by William Wordsworth
CLOUDS, lingering yet, extend in solid bars Through the grey west; and lo! these waters, steeled By breezeless air to smoothest polish, yield A vivid repetition of the stars; Jove, Venus, and the ruddy crest of Mars Amid his fellows beauteously revealed At happy distance from earth’s groaning field, Where ruthless mortals wage incessant wars. […]
Composed By The Sea-Side, Near Calais, August 1802 by William Wordsworth
FAIR Star of evening, Splendour of the west, Star of my Country!–on the horizon’s brink Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink On England’s bosom; yet well pleased to rest, Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I think, Should’st be my Country’s emblem; and should’st wink, Bright […]
Composed At The Same Time And On The Same Occasion by William Wordsworth
I DROPPED my pen; and listened to the Wind That sang of trees uptorn and vessels tost– A midnight harmony; and wholly lost To the general sense of men by chains confined Of business, care, or pleasure; or resigned To timely sleep. Thought I, the impassioned strain, Which, without aid of numbers, I sustain, Like […]
Composed After A Journey Across The Hambleton Hills, Yorkshire by William Wordsworth
DARK and more dark the shades of evening fell; The wished-for point was reached–but at an hour When little could be gained from that rich dower Of prospect, whereof many thousands tell. Yet did the glowing west with marvellous power Salute us; there stood Indian citadel, Temple of Greece, and minster with its tower Substantially […]
Characteristics Of A Child Three Years Old by William Wordsworth
LOVING she is, and tractable, though wild; And Innocence hath privilege in her To dignify arch looks and laughing eyes; And feats of cunning; and the pretty round Of trespasses, affected to provoke Mock-chastisement and partnership in play. And, as a faggot sparkles on the hearth, Not less if unattended and alone Than when both […]
Character Of The Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be? -It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought: Whose high endeavours are an inward light That makes the path before him always […]
Calm is all Nature as a Resting Wheel. by William Wordsworth
Calm 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, […]
“Call Not The Royal Swede Unfortunate” by William Wordsworth
CALL not the royal Swede unfortunate, Who never did to Fortune bend the knee; Who slighted fear; rejected steadfastly Temptation; and whose kingly name and state Have “perished by his choice, and not his fate!” Hence lives He, to his inner self endeared; And hence, wherever virtue is revered, He sits a more exalted Potentate, […]
Calais, August 1802 by William Wordsworth
IS it a reed that’s shaken by the wind, Or what is it that ye go forth to see? Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind, Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee In France, before the […]
Calais, August 15, 1802 by William Wordsworth
FESTIVALS have I seen that were not names: This is young Buonaparte’s natal day, And his is henceforth an established sway- Consul for life. With worship France proclaims Her approbation, and with pomps and games. Heaven grant that other Cities may be gay! Calais is not: and I have bent my way To the sea-coast, […]
By The Side Of The Grave Some Years After by William Wordsworth
LONG time his pulse hath ceased to beat But benefits, his gift, we trace– Expressed in every eye we meet Round this dear Vale, his native place. To stately Hall and Cottage rude Flowed from his life what still they hold, Light pleasures, every day, renewed; And blessings half a century old. Oh true of […]
By The Seaside by William Wordsworth
The sun is couched, the sea-fowl gone to rest, And the wild storm hath somewhere found a nest; Air slumbers-wave with wave no longer strives, Only a heaving of the deep survives, A tell-tale motion! soon will it be laid, And by the tide alone the water swayed. Stealthy withdrawings, interminglings mild Of light with […]
“By Moscow Self-Devoted To A Blaze” by William Wordsworth
By Moscow self-devoted to a blaze Of dreadful sacrifice, by Russian blood Lavished in fight with desperate hardihood; The unfeeling Elements no claim shall raise To rob our Human-nature of just praise For what she did and suffered. Pledges sure Of a deliverance absolute and pure She gave, if Faith might tread the beaten ways […]
“Brook! Whose Society The Poet Seeks” by William Wordsworth
Brook! whose society the Poet seeks, Intent his wasted spirits to renew; And whom the curious Painter doth pursue Through rocky passes, among flowery creeks, And tracks thee dancing down thy water-breaks; If wish were mine some type of thee to view, Thee, and not thee thyself, I would not do Like Grecian Artists, give […]
British Freedom by William Wordsworth
It is not to be thought of that the Flood Of British freedom, which, to the open sea Of the world’s praise, from dark antiquity Hath flowed, “with pomp of waters, unwithstood,” Roused though it be full often to a mood Which spurns the check of salutary bands, That this most famous Stream in bogs […]
“Brave Schill! By Death Delivered” by William Wordsworth
BRAVE Schill! by death delivered, take thy flight From Prussia’s timid region. Go, and rest With heroes, ‘mid the islands of the Blest, Or in the fields of empyrean light. A meteor wert thou crossing a dark night: Yet shall thy name, conspicuous and sublime, Stand in the spacious firmament of time, Fixed as a […]
Bothwell Castle by William Wordsworth
Immured in Bothwell’s Towers, at times the Brave (So beautiful is the Clyde) forgot to mourn The liberty they lost at Bannockburn. Once on those steeps I roamed at large, and have In mind the landscape, as if still in sight; The river glides, the woods before me wave; But, by occasion tempted, now I […]
Book Twelfth [Imagination And Taste, How Impaired And Restored ] by William Wordsworth
LONG time have human ignorance and guilt Detained us, on what spectacles of woe Compelled to look, and inwardly oppressed With sorrow, disappointment, vexing thoughts, Confusion of the judgment, zeal decayed, And, lastly, utter loss of hope itself And things to hope for! Not with these began Our song, and not with these our song […]
Book Thirteenth [Imagination And Taste, How Impaired And Restored Concluded] by William Wordsworth
FROM Nature doth emotion come, and moods Of calmness equally are Nature’s gift: This is her glory; these two attributes Are sister horns that constitute her strength. Hence Genius, born to thrive by interchange Of peace and excitation, finds in her His best and purest friend; from her receives That energy by which he seeks […]
Book Third [Residence at Cambridge] by William Wordsworth
IT was a dreary morning when the wheels Rolled over a wide plain o’erhung with clouds, And nothing cheered our way till first we saw The long-roofed chapel of King’s College lift Turrets and pinnacles in answering files, Extended high above a dusky grove. Advancing, we espied upon the road A student clothed in gown […]
Book Tenth {Residence in France continued] by William Wordsworth
IT was a beautiful and silent day That overspread the countenance of earth, Then fading with unusual quietness,– A day as beautiful as e’er was given To soothe regret, though deepening what it soothed, When by the gliding Loire I paused, and cast Upon his rich domains, vineyard and tilth, Green meadow-ground, and many-coloured woods, […]
Book Sixth [Cambridge and the Alps] by William Wordsworth
THE leaves were fading when to Esthwaite’s banks And the simplicities of cottage life I bade farewell; and, one among the youth Who, summoned by that season, reunite As scattered birds troop to the fowler’s lure, Went back to Granta’s cloisters, not so prompt Or eager, though as gay and undepressed In mind, as when […]
Book Seventh [Residence in London] by William Wordsworth
SIX changeful years have vanished since I first Poured out (saluted by that quickening breeze Which met me issuing from the City’s walls) A glad preamble to this Verse: I sang Aloud, with fervour irresistible Of short-lived transport, like a torrent bursting, From a black thunder-cloud, down Scafell’s side To rush and disappear. But soon […]
Book Second [School-Time Continued] by William Wordsworth
THUS far, O Friend! have we, though leaving much Unvisited, endeavoured to retrace The simple ways in which my childhood walked; Those chiefly that first led me to the love Of rivers, woods, and fields. The passion yet Was in its birth, sustained as might befall By nourishment that came unsought; for still From week […]
Book Ninth [Residence in France] by William Wordsworth
EVEN as a river,–partly (it might seem) Yielding to old remembrances, and swayed In part by fear to shape a way direct, That would engulph him soon in the ravenous sea– Turns, and will measure back his course, far back, Seeking the very regions which he crossed In his first outset; so have we, my […]