Lay bedded, changing oftentimes its form Like an uneasy snake. From hour to hour We sate and sate, wondering as if the night Had been ensnared by witchcraft. On the rock At last we stretched our weary limbs for sleep, But could not sleep, tormented by the stings Of insects, which, with noise like that of noon, Filled all the woods: the cry of unknown birds; The mountains more by blackness visible And their own size, than any outward light; The breathless wilderness of clouds; the clock That told, with unintelligible voice,
The widely parted hours; the noise of streams, And sometimes rustling motions nigh at hand, That did not leave us free from personal fear; And, lastly, the withdrawing moon, that set Before us, while she still was high in heaven;- These were our food; and such a summer's night Followed that pair of golden days that shed On Como's Lake, and all that round it lay, Their fairest, softest, happiest influence.
But here I must break off, and bid farewell To days, each offering some new sight, or fraught With some untried adventure, in a course Prolonged till sprinklings of autumnal snow Checked our unwearied steps. Let this alone Be mentioned as a parting word, that not In hollow exultation, dealing out.
Hyperboles of praise comparative;
Not rich one moment to be poor for ever; Not prostrate, overborne, as if the mind
Herself were nothing, a mere pensioner On outward forms-did we in presence stand Of that magnificent region. On the front Of this whole Song is written that my heart Must, in such Temple, needs have offered up A different worship. Finally, whate'er I saw, or heard, or felt, was but a stream That flowed into a kindred stream; a gale, Confederate with the current of the soul, To speed my voyage; every sound or sight, In its degree of power, administered To grandeur or to tenderness,-to the one Directly, but to tender thoughts by means Less often instantaneous in effect;
Led me to these by paths that, in the main, Were more circuitous, but not less sure Duly to reach the point marked out by Heaven.
Oh, most beloved Friend! a glorious time, A happy time that was; triumphant looks Were then the common language of all eyes; As if awaked from sleep, the Nations hailed Their great expectancy: the fife of war Was then a spirit-stirring sound indeed, A blackbird's whistle in a budding grove.
We left the Swiss exulting in the fate
Of their near neighbours; and, when shortening fast Our pilgrimage, nor distant far from home,
We crossed the Brabant armies on the fret *
For battle in the cause of Liberty.
A stripling, scarcely of the household then
They reached Cologne on the 28th September, having floated down the Rhine in a small boat; and from Cologne went to Calais, through Belgium. -ED.
Of social life, I looked upon these things As from a distance; heard, and saw, and felt, Was touched, but with no intimate concern ; I seemed to move along them, as a bird Moves through the air, or as a fish pursues Its sport, or feeds in its proper element; I wanted not that joy, I did not need Such help; the ever-living universe,
Turn where I might, was opening out its glories, And the independent spirit of pure youth
Called forth, at every season, new delights
Spread round my steps like sunshine o'er green fields.
Book Seventh.
RESIDENCE IN LONDON.
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 broke forth (So willed the Muse) a less impetuous stream, That flowed awhile with unabating strength, Then stopped for years; not audible again Before last primrose-time. Beloved Friend!
The assurance which then cheered some heavy thoughts
* Goslar, February 10th, 1799; see introductory note to The Prelude, pp. 120-122.-ED.
+ The first two paragraphs of Book I. -ED.
April, 1804: See the reference in Book VI., p. 231, &c., of this volume.-ED.
On thy departure to a foreign land *
Has failed; too slowly moves the promised work. Through the whole summer have I been at rest,f Partly from voluntary holiday,
And part through outward hindrance. After the hour of sunset yester-even,
Sitting within doors between light and dark, A choir of red-breasts gathered somewhere near My threshold,-minstrels from the distant woods Sent in on Winter's service, to announce, With preparation artful and benign,
That the rough lord had left the surly North On his accustomed journey. The delight, Due to this timely notice, unawares
Smote me, and, listening, I in whispers said, "Ye heartsome Choristers, ye and I will be Associates, and, unscared by blustering winds, Will chant together." Thereafter, as the shades Of twilight deepened, going forth, I spied A glow-worm underneath a dusky plume Or canopy of yet unwithered fern,
Clear-shining, like a hermit's taper seen
Through a thick forest. Silence touched me here No less than sound had done before; the child Of Summer, lingering, shining, by herself, The voiceless worm on the unfrequented hills, Seemed sent on the same errand with the choir
Of Winter that had warbled at my door,
And the whole year breathed tenderness and love
The last night's genial feeling overflowed
* Before he left for Malta, Coleridge had urged Wordsworth to complete this work.-ED.
Upon this morning, and my favourite grove, Tossing in sunshine its dark boughs aloft,* As if to make the strong wind visible, Wakes in me agitations like its own, A spirit friendly to the Poet's task,
Which we will now resume with lively hope, Nor checked by aught of tamer argument That lies before us, needful to be told.
Returned from that excursion,† soon I bade Farewell for ever to the sheltered seats Of gowned students, quitted hall and bower, And every comfort of that privileged ground, Well pleased to pitch a vagrant tent among The unfenced regions of society.
Yet, undetermined to what course of life I should adhere, and seeming to possess A little space of intermediate time
At full command, to London first I turned,§
* Doubtless John's Grove, below White Moss Common. On Nov. 24, 1801, Dorothy Wordsworth wrote, "As we were going along, we were stopped at once, at the distance perhaps of fifty yards from our favourite birch tree. It was yielding to the gusty wind with all its tender twigs. The sun shone upon it, and it glanced in the wind like a flying sunshiny shower. It was a tree in shape, with stem and branches, but it was like a spirit of water. The sun went in, and it resumed its purplish appearance, the twigs still yielding to the wind, but not so visibly to us. The other birch trees that were near it looked bright and cheerful, but, it was a Creation by itself amongst them." This does not refer to John's Grove, but it may be interesting to compare the sister's description of a birch tree "tossing in sunshine," with the brother's account of a grove of fir trees similarly moved. -ED.
+ The visit to Switzerland with Jones in 1790, described in the previous Book.-ED.
He took his B.A. degree in Jan. 1791, and immediately afterwards left Cambridge.-Ed.
§ Going to Forncett Rectory, near Norwich, he spent six weeks with his sister, and then went to London, where he stayed for four months.-ED.
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