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Full Title
The complete poetical works of William Wordsworth: together with a description of the country of the lakes in the north of England, now first published with his works ... / edited by Henry Reed.
Author
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850. Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.
Date Added
8 January 2014
Language
English
Publish Date
1839
Publisher
Philadelphia: J. Kay, Jun. and brother; Boston: J. Munroe and Co.; [etc., etc.]
Source
Woodstock Theological Center Library, Georgetown University.
Topic
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850. Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. English poetry.
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OCR
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POEMS OF THE
IMAGINATION. 259
Tokens, once-kept as boasted wealth,
If saved at all, are saved by stealth.
Lo! ships, from seas by nature barred,
Mount along ways by man prepared ;
And in far-stretching vales, whose streams
Seek other seas, their canvas gleams,
Lo! busy towns spring up, on coasts
Thronged yesterday, by airy.ghosts;
Soon, like a lingering star forlorn
Among the novelties of morn,
While young delights on old encroach,
Will vanish the last Highland Broach.
But when, from out their viewless bed,
Like vapours, years have rolled and spread;
And this poor verse, and worthier lays,
Shall yield no light of love or praise,
Then, by the spade, or cleaving plough,
Or torrent from.the mountain’s brow,
Or whirlwind, reckless what his might
Entombs, or forces into light,
Blind Chance, a volunteer ally, .
That oft befriends Antiquity,
And clears Oblivion from reproach,
May render back the Highland Broach.
SONNETS
COMPOSED OR SUGGESTED DURING A TOUR IN SCOTLAND,
IN THE SUMMER OF 1833.
Taving been prevented by the lateness of the season, in 1831,
from visiting Staffa and Jona, the author made these the princi-
pal objects of a short tour in the summer of 1833, of which the
following series of sonnets is a Memorial. The course pursued
was down the Cumberland river Derwent, and to Whitehaven;
thence (by the Isle of Man, where a few days were past) up the
Frith of Clyde to Greenock, then to Oban, Staffa, Jona; and
back towards England, by Loch Awe, Inverary, Loch Goil-head,
Greenock, and through parts of Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, and
Dumtfries-shire to Carlisle, and thence up the river Eden, and
homewards by Ullswater.
L
Avrev, Rydalian Laurels! that have grown
And spread as if ye knew that days might come
When ye would shelter in a happy home,
On this fair Mount, a Poet of your own,
One who ne’er ventured for a Delphic crown
To sue the God; but, haunting your green shade
All seasons through, is humbly pleased to braid
Ground-flowers, beneath. your guardianship, self-sown.
Farewell! no Minstrels now with Harp new-strung
For summer wandering quit their household bowers;
Yet not for this wants Poesy a tongue
To cheer the Itinerant on whom she pours
Her spirit, while he crosses lonely moors,
Or musing sits forsaken halls among.
———_
Il.
Wnr should the Enthusiast, journeying through this |
Isle,
Repine as if his hour were come too late?
Not unprotected in her mouldering state,
Antiquity salutes him with a smile,
*Mid fruitful fields that ring with jocund toil,
And pleasure-grounds where Taste, refined Co-mate
Of Truth and Beauty, strives to imitate,
Far as she may, primeval Nature’s style.
Fair land! by Time’s parental love made free,
By social Order’s watchful arms embraced,
With unexampled union meet in thee,
For eye and mind, the present and the past;
With golden prospect for futurity,
If what is rightly reverenced may last.
TIT.
Turey called Thee merry England, in old time;
A happy people won for thee that name
With envy heard in many a distant clime;
And, spite of change, for me thou keep’st the same
Endearing title, a responsive chime
To the heart’s fond belief, though some there are
Whose sterner judgments deem that word a snare
For inattentive Fancy, like the lime .-
Which foolish birds are caught with. Can, I ask,
This face of rural beauty be a mask
For discontent, and poverty, and crime; _
These spreading towns a cloak for lawless will;
Forbid it, Heaven! — that “ merry England” still
May be thy rightful name, in prose and rhyme!
Iv.
TO THE RIVER GRETA, NEAR KESWICK.
Grera, what fearful listening! when huge stones
Rumble along thy bed, block after block :
Or, whirling with reiterated shock,
Combat, while darkness aggravates the groans:
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