“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 […]
Beggars by William Wordsworth
She had a tall man’s height or more; Her face from summer’s noontide heat No bonnet shaded, but she wore A mantle, to her very feet Descending with a graceful flow, And on her head a cap as white as new-fallen snow. Her skin was of Egyptian brown: Haughty, as if her eye had seen […]
“Avaunt All Specious Pliancy Of Mind” by William Wordsworth
AVAUNT all specious pliancy of mind In men of low degree, all smooth pretence! I better like a blunt indifference, And self-respecting slowness, disinclined To win me at first sight: and be there joined Patience and temperance with this high reserve, Honour that knows the path and will not swerve; Affections, which, if put to […]
” As faith thus sanctified the warrior’s crest” by William Wordsworth
As faith thus sanctified the warrior’s crest While from the Papal Unity there came, What feebler means had failed to give, one aim Diffused thro’ all the regions of the West; So does her Unity its power attest By works of Art, that shed, on the outward frame Of worship, glory and grace, which who […]
Anticipation, October 1803 by William Wordsworth
SHOUT, for a mighty Victory is won! On British ground the Invaders are laid low; The breath of Heaven has drifted them like snow, And left them lying in the silent sun, Never to rise again!-the work is done. Come forth, ye old men, now in peaceful show And greet your sons! drums beat and […]
Animal Tranquility And Decay by William Wordsworth
The little hedgerow birds, That peck along the roads, regard him not. He travels on, and in his face, his step, His gait, is one expression: every limb, His look and bending figure, all bespeak A man who does not move with pain, but moves With thought.-He is insensibly subdued To settled quiet: he is […]
“And Is It Among Rude Untutored Dales” by William Wordsworth
AND is it among rude untutored Dales, There, and there only, that the heart is true? And, rising to repel or to subdue, Is it by rocks and woods that man prevails? Ah no! though Nature’s dread protection fails, There is a bulwark in the soul. This knew Iberian Burghers when the sword they drew […]
Alice Fell, Or Poverty by William Wordsworth
THE post-boy drove with fierce career, For threatening clouds the moon had drowned; When, as we hurried on, my ear Was smitten with a startling sound. As if the wind blew many ways, I heard the sound,-and more and more; It seemed to follow with the chaise, And still I heard it as before. At […]
“Advance – Come Forth From Thy Tyrolean Ground” by William Wordsworth
ADVANCE-come forth from thy Tyrolean ground, Dear Liberty! stern Nymph of soul untamed; Sweet Nymph, O rightly of the mountains named! Through the long chain of Alps from mound to mound And o’er the eternal snows, like Echo, bound; Like Echo, when the hunter train at dawn Have roused her from her sleep: and forest-lawn, […]
Address To Kilchurn Castle, Upon Loch Awe by William Wordsworth
CHILD of loud-throated War! the mountain Stream Roars in thy hearing; but thy hour of rest Is come, and thou art silent in thy age; Save when the wind sweeps by and sounds are caught Ambiguous, neither wholly thine nor theirs. Oh! there is life that breathes not; Powers there are That touch each other […]
Address To A Child During A Boisterous Winter By My Sister by William Wordsworth
WHAT way does the wind come? What way does he go? He rides over the water, and over the snow, Through wood, and through vale; and, o’er rocky height Which the goat cannot climb, takes his sounding flight; He tosses about in every bare tree, As, if you look up, you plainly may see; But […]
A Whirl-Blast From Behind The Hill by William Wordsworth
A Whirl-Blast from behind the hill Rushed o’er the wood with startling sound; Then-all at once the air was still, And showers of hailstones pattered round. Where leafless oaks towered high above, I sat within an undergrove Of tallest hollies, tall and green; A fairer bower was never seen. From year to year the spacious […]
A Prophecy. February 1807 by William Wordsworth
HIGH deeds, O Germans, are to come from you! Thus in your books the record shall be found, “A watchword was pronounced, a potent sound– ARMINIUS!–all the people quaked like dew Stirred by the breeze; they rose, a Nation, true, True to herself–the mighty Germany, She of the Danube and the Northern Sea, She rose, […]
A Night Thought by William Wordsworth
Lo! where the Moon along the sky Sails with her happy destiny; Oft is she hid from mortal eye Or dimly seen, But when the clouds asunder fly How bright her mien! Far different we-a froward race, Thousands though rich in Fortune’s grace With cherished sullenness of pace Their way pursue, Ingrates who wear a […]
A Night-Piece by William Wordsworth
—The sky is overcast With a continuous cloud of texture close, Heavy and wan, all whitened by the Moon, Which through that veil is indistinctly seen, A dull, contracted circle, yielding light So feebly spread, that not a shadow falls, Chequering the ground-from rock, plant, tree, or tower. At length a pleasant instantaneous gleam Startles […]
A Character by William Wordsworth
I marvel how Nature could ever find space For so many strange contrasts in one human face: There’s thought and no thought, and there’s paleness and bloom And bustle and sluggishness, pleasure and gloom. There’s weakness, and strength both redundant and vain; Such strength as, if ever affliction and pain Could pierce through a temper […]