To Sir George Howland Beaumont, Bart From the South-West Coast Or Cumberland 1811 by William Wordsworth
FAR from our home by Grasmere’s quiet Lake, From the Vale’s peace which all her fields partake, Here on the bleakest point of Cumbria’s shore We sojourn stunned by Ocean’s ceaseless roar; While, day by day, grim neighbour! huge Black Comb Frowns deepening visibly his native gloom, Unless, perchance rejecting in despite What on the […]
To Joanna by William Wordsworth
AMID the smoke of cities did you pass The time of early youth; and there you learned, From years of quiet industry, to love The living Beings by your own fireside, With such a strong devotion, that your heart Is slow to meet the sympathies of them Who look upon the hills with tenderness, And […]
To a Sky-Lark by William Wordsworth
Up with me! up with me into the clouds! For thy song, Lark, is strong; Up with me, up with me into the clouds! Singing, singing, With clouds and sky about thee ringing, Lift me, guide me till I find That spot which seems so to thy mind! I have walked through wildernesses dreary And […]
The Vaudois by William Wordsworth
BUT whence came they who for the Saviour Lord Have long borne witness as the Scriptures teach?– Ages ere Valdo raised his voice to preach In Gallic ears the unadulterate Word, Their fugitive Progenitors explored Subalpine vales, in quest of safe retreats Where that pure Church survives, though summer heats Open a passage to the […]
The Two Thieves; Or, The Last Stage Of Avarice by William Wordsworth
O NOW that the genius of Bewick were mine, And the skill which he learned on the banks of the Tyne. Then the Muses might deal with me just as they chose, For I’d take my last leave both of verse and of prose. What feats would I work with my magical hand! Book-learning and […]
The Two April Mornings by William Wordsworth
We walked along, while bright and red Uprose the morning sun; And Matthew stopped, he looked, and said `The will of God be done!’ A village schoolmaster was he, With hair of glittering grey; As blithe a man as you could see On a spring holiday. And on that morning, through the grass And by […]
The Thorn by William Wordsworth
I. There is a thorn; it looks so old, In truth you’d find it hard to say, How it could ever have been young, It looks so old and grey. Not higher than a two-year’s child, It stands erect this aged thorn; No leaves it has, no thorny points; It is a mass of knotted […]
The Tables Turned by William Wordsworth
. Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you’ll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble? The sun above the mountain’s head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow. Books! ’tis a dull […]
The Stars Are Mansions Built By Nature’s Hand by William Wordsworth
The stars are mansions built by Nature’s hand, And, haply, there the spirits of the blest Dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest; Huge Ocean shows, within his yellow strand, A habitation marvellously planned, For life to occupy in love and rest; All that we see–is dome, or vault, or nest, Or fortress, reared at […]
The Sparrow’s Nest by William Wordsworth
BEHOLD, within the leafy shade, Those bright blue eggs together laid! On me the chance-discovered sight Gleamed like a vision of delight. I started–seeming to espy The home and sheltered bed, The Sparrow’s dwelling, which, hard by My Father’ house, in wet or dry My sister Emmeline and I Together visited. She looked at it […]
The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth
Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass! Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain; O listen! for the Vale profound Is […]
The Simplon Pass by William Wordsworth
. -Brook and road Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass, And with them did we journey several hours At a slow step. The immeasurable height Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, The stationary blasts of waterfalls, And in the narrow rent, at every turn, Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn, The torrents shooting from […]
The Shepherd, Looking Eastward, Softly Said by William Wordsworth
The Shepherd, looking eastward, softly said “Bright is thy veil, O Moon, as thou art bright!” Forthwith, that little cloud, in ether spread And penetrated all with tender light, She cast away, and showed her fulgent head Uncovered; dazzling the Beholder’s sight As if to vindicate her beauty’s right Her beauty thoughtlessly disparaged. Meanwhile that […]
The Seven Sisters by William Wordsworth
Or, The Solitude Of Binnorie SEVEN Daughter had Lord Archibald, All children of one mother: You could not say in one short day What love they bore each other. A garland, of seven lilies, wrought! Seven sisters that together dwell; But he, bold Knight as ever fought, Their Father, took of them no thought, He […]
The Sailor’s Mother by William Wordsworth
. ONE morning (raw it was and wet– A foggy day in winter time) A Woman on the road I met, Not old, though something past her prime: Majestic in her person, tall and straight; And like a Roman matron’s was her mien and gait. The ancient spirit is not dead; Old times, thought I, […]
The Reverie of Poor Susan by William Wordsworth
At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears, Hangs a Thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years: Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard In the silence of morning the song of the Bird. ‘Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees A mountain ascending, a […]
The Redbreast Chasing The Butterfly by William Wordsworth
ART thou the bird whom Man loves best, The pious bird with the scarlet breast, Our little English Robin; The bird that comes about our doors When Autumn-winds are sobbing? Art thou the Peter of Norway Boors? Their Thomas in Finland, And Russia far inland? The bird, that by some name or other All men […]
The Primrose of the Rock by William Wordsworth
A Rock there is whose homely front The passing traveller slights; Yet there the glow-worms hang their lamps, Like stars, at various heights; And one coy Primrose to that Rock The vernal breeze invites. What hideous warfare hath been waged, What kingdoms overthrown, Since first I spied that Primrose-tuft And marked it for my own; […]
The Power of Armies is a Visible Thing by William Wordsworth
The power of Armies is a visible thing, Formal and circumscribed in time and space; But who the limits of that power shall trace Which a brave People into light can bring Or hide, at will,-for freedom combating By just revenge inflamed? No foot may chase, No eye can follow, to a fatal place That […]
The Pet-Lamb by William Wordsworth
A PASTORAL THE dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink; I heard a voice; it said, “Drink, pretty creature, drink!” And, looking o’er the hedge, before me I espied A snow-white mountain-lamb with a Maiden at its side. Nor sheep nor kine were near; the lamb was all alone, And by a slender […]
The Passing of the Elder Bards by William Wordsworth
THE MIGHTY Minstrel breathes no longer, Mid mouldering ruins low he lies; And death upon the braes of Yarrow Has closed the Shepherd-poet’s eyes: Nor has the rolling year twice measured, From sign to sign, its steadfast course, Since every mortal power of Coleridge Was frozen at its marvellous source; The ‘rapt One, of the […]
The Old Cumberland Beggar by William Wordsworth
. I saw an aged Beggar in my walk; And he was seated, by the highway side, On a low structure of rude masonry Built at the foot of a huge hill, that they Who lead their horses down the steep rough road May thence remount at ease. The aged Man Had placed his staff […]
The Oak Of Guernica Supposed Address To The Same by William Wordsworth
OAK of Guernica! Tree of holier power Than that which in Dodona did enshrine (So faith too fondly deemed) a voice divine Heard from the depths of its aerial bower– How canst thou flourish at this blighting hour? What hope, what joy can sunshine bring to thee, Or the soft breezes from the Atlantic sea, […]
The King Of Sweden by William Wordsworth
THE Voice of song from distant lands shall call To that great King; shall hail the crowned Youth Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth, By one example hath set forth to all How they with dignity may stand; or fall, If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend? And what to him and his […]
The Idle Shepherd Boys by William Wordsworth
The valley rings with mirth and joy; Among the hills the echoes play A never never ending song, To welcome in the May. The magpie chatters with delight; The mountain raven’s youngling brood Have left the mother and the nest; And they go rambling east and west In search of their own food; Or through […]
The Horn Of Egremont Castle by William Wordsworth
ERE the Brothers through the gateway Issued forth with old and young, To the Horn Sir Eustace pointed Which for ages there had hung. Horn it was which none could sound, No one upon living ground, Save He who came as rightful Heir To Egremont’s Domains and Castle fair. Heirs from times of earliest record […]
The Highland Broach by William Wordsworth
If to Tradition faith be due, And echoes from old verse speak true, Ere the meek Saint, Columba, bore Glad tidings to Iona’s shore, No common light of nature blessed The mountain region of the west, A land where gentle manners ruled O’er men in dauntless virtues schooled, That raised, for centuries, a bar Impervious […]
The Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth
‘Tis, finally, the man, who, lifted high, Conspicuous object in a nation’s eye, Or left unthought of in obscurity, Who, with a toward or untoward lot, Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not,– Plays, in the many games of life, that one Where what he most doth value must be won; Whom neither shape […]
The Green Linnet by William Wordsworth
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 To sit upon my orchard-seat! And birds and flowers once more to greet, My last year’s friends together. One have I marked, the happiest guest In all […]
The Germans On The Heighs Of Hochheim by William Wordsworth
ABRUPTLY paused the strife;–the field throughout Resting upon his arms each warrior stood, Checked in the very act and deed of blood, With breath suspended, like a listening scout. O Silence! thou wert mother of a shout That through the texture of yon azure dome Cleaves its glad way, a cry of harvest home Uttered […]
The French Revolution as it appeared to Enthusiasts by William Wordsworth
. Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood Upon our side, we who were strong in love! Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!-Oh! times, In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways Of custom, law, and statute, took […]
The French Army In Russia, 1812-13 by William Wordsworth
HUMANITY, delighting to behold A fond reflection of her own decay, Hath painted Winter like a traveller old, Propped on a staff, and, through the sullen day, In hooded mantle, limping o’er the plain, As though his weakness were disturbed by pain: Or, if a juster fancy should allow An undisputed symbol of command, The […]
The French And the Spanish Guerillas by William Wordsworth
HUNGER, and sultry heat, and nipping blast From bleak hill-top, and length of march by night Through heavy swamp, or over snow-clad height– These hardships ill-sustained, these dangers past, The roving Spanish Bands are reached at last, Charged, and dispersed like foam: but as a flight Of scattered quails by signs do reunite, So these,–and, […]
The Fountain by William Wordsworth
A Conversation We talked with open heart, and tongue Affectionate and true, A pair of friends, though I was young, And Matthew seventy-two. We lay beneath a spreading oak, Beside a mossy seat; And from the turf a fountain broke And gurgled at our feet. `Now, Matthew!’ said I, `let us match This water’s pleasant […]
The Forsaken by William Wordsworth
The peace which others seek they find; The heaviest storms not longest last; Heaven grants even to the guiltiest mind An amnesty for what is past; When will my sentence be reversed? I only pray to know the worst; And wish as if my heart would burst. O weary struggle! silent year Tell seemingly no […]
The Force Of Prayer, Or, The Founding Of Bolton, A Tradition by William Wordsworth
“What is good for a bootless bene?” With these dark words begins my Tale; And their meaning is, whence can comfort spring When Prayer is of no avail? “What is good for a bootless bene?” The Falconer to the Lady said; And she made answer “ENDLESS SORROW!” For she knew that her Son was dead. […]
The Fairest, Brightest, Hues Of Ether Fade by William Wordsworth
The fairest, brightest, hues of ether fade; The sweetest notes must terminate and die; O Friend! thy flute has breathed a harmony Softly resounded through this rocky glade; Such strains of rapture as the Genius played In his still haunt on Bagdad’s summit high; He who stood visible to Mirza’s eye, Never before to human […]
The Eagle and the Dove by William Wordsworth
SHADE of Caractacus, if spirits love The cause they fought for in their earthly home To see the Eagle ruffled by the Dove May soothe thy memory of the chains of Rome. These children claim thee for their sire; the breath Of thy renown, from Cambrian mountains, fans A flame within them that despises death […]
The Danish Boy by William Wordsworth
I BETWEEN two sister moorland rills There is a spot that seems to lie Sacred to flowerets of the hills, And sacred to the sky. And in this smooth and open dell There is a tempest-stricken tree; A corner-stone by lightning cut, The last stone of a lonely hut; And in this dell you see […]
The Cottager To Her Infant by William Wordsworth
THE days are cold, the nights are long, The north-wind sings a doleful song; Then hush again upon my breast; All merry things are now at rest, Save thee, my pretty Love! The kitten sleeps upon the hearth, The crickets long have ceased their mirth; There’s nothing stirring in the house Save one ‘wee’, hungry, […]