She hears a rustling o'er the brook, She springs, she clasps him round the neck, She sobs a thousand hopes and fears, She quenches with her tears. * "My friends with rude ungentle words They scoff and bid me fly to thee! O give me shelter in thy breast! O shield and shelter me! "My Henry, I have given thee much, O Heaven! I gave thee all.” The Knight made answer to the Maid, While to his heart he held her hand, "Nine castles hath my noble sire, None statelier in the land. The fairest one shall be my love's, "Wait only till the hand of eve dark! No! not the The twinkling stars? How, Henry? O God! 'twas in the eye of noon And in the eye of noon my love "But first the nodding minstrels go With music meet for lordly bowers, The children next in snow-white vests, Strewing buds and flowers! **And then my love and I shall pace, My jet black hair in pearly braids, Between our comely bachelors And blushing bridal maids." * 1798. 1834. evermore, Where bright green moss heaves in sepulchral forms Speckled with sunshine; and, but seldom heard, The sweet bird's song became an hollow sound: And the breeze, murmuring indivisibly, Preserved its solemn murmur most distinct From many a note of many a waterfall, And the brook's chatter; 'mid whose islet-stones The dingy kidling with its tinkling bell Leaped frolicsome, or old romantic goat Sat, his white beard slow waving. I moved on In low and languid mood: for I had found That outward forms, the loftiest, still receive Their finer influence from the Life within ; Fair cyphers else: fair, but of import vague Or unconcerning, where the heart not finds History or prophecy of friend, or child, O dear, dear England! how my longing Feeble and dim! Stranger, these impulses Blame thou not lightly; nor will I profane, With hasty judgment or injurious doubt, That man's sublimer spirit, who can feel That God is everywhere! the God who framed Mankind to be one mighty family. Himself our Father, and the World our Home. May 17, 1799. September 17, 1799. ODE TO TRANQUILLITY To thee I gave my early youth, And left the bark, and blest the steadfast shore, Ere yet the tempest rose and scared me with its roar. Who late and lingering seeks thy On him but seldom, Power divine, And Sloth, poor counterfeits of thee, Mock the tired worldling. Idle Hope And dire Remembrance interlope, To vex the feverish slumbers of the mind: The bubble floats before, the spectre stalks behind. But me thy gentle hand will lead And in the sultry summer's heat And breaks the busy moonlight Thou best the thought canst raise, the heart attune, Light as the busy clouds, calm as the gliding moon. The feeling heart, the searching To thee I dedicate the whole ! The present works of present manA wild and dream-like trade of blood and guile. Too foolish for a tear, too wicked for a smile! 1801. December 4, 1801. DEJECTION: AN ODE 1 Late, late yestreen I saw the new Moon, Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence. I WELL! If the Bard was weather-wise, who made The grand old ballad of Sir Patrick This night, so tranquil now, will not Unroused by winds, that ply a busier trade Than those which mould yon cloud in lazy flakes, Or the dull sobbing draft, that moans and rakes Upon the strings of this Æolian lute, Which better far were mute. For lo! the New-moon winter-bright! And overspread with phantom light, (With swimming phantom light o'erspread But rimmed and circled by a silver thread) I see the old Moon in her lap, foretelling The coming-on of rain and squally blast, And oh that even now the gust were swelling, And the slant night-shower driving loud and fast! Those sounds which oft have raised me. whilst they awed, And sent my soul abroad, Might now perhaps their wonted impulse give, Might startle this dull pain, and make it move and live! 1 This Ode was originally written to William Wordsworth, who was addressed as "Edmund" in the poem when first printed, on the day of Wordsworth's marriage, October 4, 1802. In that copy, the name “Edmund" occurs at every point where "Lady" is found in the later versions and also where the name "Otway" occurs, in the seventh stanza: there is a corresponding differ ence of the personal pronouns, and some other slight differences of text, the most important of which is in the conclusion, as noted below. II A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear, A stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief, Which finds no natural outlet, no relief, In word, or sigh, or tear O Lady! in this wan and heartless mood, To other thoughts by yonder throstle woo'd, All this long eve, so balmy and serene, Have I been gazing on the western sky,. And its peculiar tint of yellow green; And still I gaze-and with how blank an eye! And those thin clouds above, in flakes and bars, That give away their motion to the stars: Those stars, that glide behind them or between, Now sparkling, now bedimmed, but al ways seen; Yon crescent Moon, as fixed as if it grew In its own cloudless, starless lake of blue; I see them all so excellently fair, I see, not feel, how beautiful they are! III My genial spirits fail; To lift the smothering weight from off my breast? It were a vain endeavor, Though I should gaze for ever On that green light that lingers in the west; I may not hope from outward forms to win The passion and the life, whose foun tains are within. IV O Lady! we receive but what we give, And in our life alone does Nature live; Ours is her wedding-garment, ours her shroud ! And would we aught behold, of higher worth, Than that inanimate cold world allowed A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud And from the soul itself must there be' sent A sweet and potent voice, of its own birth, Of all sweet sounds the life and element ! There was a time when, though my path was rough, This joy within me dallied with distress, And all misfortunes were but as the stuff Whence Fancy made me dreams of happiness: For hope grew round me, like the twining vine, And fruits, and foliage, not my own, seemed mine. But now afflictions bow me down to earth: Nor care I that they rob me of my mirth; But oh! each visitation Suspends what nature gave me at my birth, My shaping spirit of Imagination. For not to think of what I needs must feel, But to be still and patient, all I can; And haply by abstruse research to steal From my own nature all the natural man This was my sole resource, my only plan; On thy bald awful head, O sovran The Arve and Arveiron at thy base Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, An ebon mass: methinks thou piercest it. As with a wedge! But when I look again, It is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, Thy habitation from eternity! O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee. Till thou, still present to the bodily sense, Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer I worshipped the Invisible alone. Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody, So sweet, we know not we are listening to it. Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my Thought, Yea, with my Life and Life's own secret joy: Till the dilating Soul, enrapt, transfused. Into the mighty vision passing--there As in her natural form, swelled vast to Heaven! Awake. my soul ! not only passive praise Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears, Mute thanks and secret ecstasy! Awake, Voice of sweet song! Awake, my heart, awake! Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my Hymn. Thou first and chief, sole sovereign of the Vale! O struggling with the darkness all the night, And visited all night by troops of stars, Or when they climb the sky or when they sink: Companion of the morning-star at dawn, Thyself Earth's rosy star, and of the dawn Co-herald: wake, O wake, and utter praise! Who sank thy sunless pillars deep in Earth? Ye Ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Adown enormous ravines slope amainTorrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge! Motionless torrents! silent cataracts! Who made you glorious as the Gates of Heaven Beneath the keen full moon? Who bade the sun Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living flowers Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet? GOD! let the torrents, like a shout of nations, Answer! and let the ice-plains echo, GOD! GOD! sing ye meadow-streams with gladsome voice! Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soullike sounds! And they too have a voice, yon piles of snow, And in their perilous fall shall thunder, GOD! Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost! Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest! Ye eagles, play-mates of the mountainstorm! |