MISCELLANEOUS SONNETS

Trust, angry Bard! a knowing Sprite,
Nor think the Harp her lot deplores ;
Though 'mid the stars the Lyre shine1 bright,
Love stoops as fondly as he soars.” 2

MISCELLANEOUS SONNETS

159

40

DEDICATION

Composed 1827.-Published 1827

[In the cottage, Town-end, Grasmere, one afternoon in 1801, my Sister read to me the Sonnets of Milton. I had long been well acquainted with them, but I was particularly struck on that occasion by the dignified simplicity and majestic harmony that runs through most of them,—in character so totally different from the Italian, and still more so from Shakespeare's fine Sonnets. I took fire, if I may be allowed to say so, and produced three Sonnets the same afternoon, the first I ever wrote except an irregular one at school. Of these three, the only one I distinctly remember is "I grieved for Buonaparté." One was never written down: the third, which was, I believe, preserved, I cannot particularise.—I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

HAPPY the feeling from the bosom thrown

In perfect shape (whose beauty Time shall spare

*This dedicatory sonnet may possibly have been inscribed to his sister, whose reading of Milton's sonnets in 1801 first led him (as the Fenwick note tells us) to write sonnets.-Ed.

Though a breath made it) like a bubble blown
For summer pastime into wanton air;

Happy the thought best likened to a stone

Of the sea-beach, when, polished with nice care,
Veins it discovers exquisite and rare,

Which for the loss of that moist gleam atone
That tempted first to gather it. That here,

O chief of Friends!* such feelings I present,

To thy regard, with thoughts so fortunate,
Were a vain notion; but the hope is dear,1
That thou, if not with partial joy elate,

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Wilt smile upon this gift with 2 more than mild content! †

"HER ONLY PILOT THE SOFT BREEZE, THE BOAT"

Composed 1827.-Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

HER only pilot the soft breeze, the boat
Lingers, but Fancy is well satisfied;

With keen-eyed Hope, with Memory, at her side,
And the glad Muse at liberty to note

All that to each is precious, as we float
Gently along; regardless who shall chide

If the heavens smile, and leave us free to glide,

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1

1837.

gather it. O chief

Of Friends! such feelings if I here present,
Such thoughts, with others mixed less fortunate;
Then smile into my heart a fond belief

"Something less than joy, but more than dull content." COUNTESS OF WINCHELSEA.-W. W. 1837.

WHY THESE UNTUNEFUL MURMURINGS 161

Happy Associates breathing air remote

From trivial cares. But, Fancy and the Muse,
Why have I crowded this small bark with you
And others of your kind, ideal crew!

While here sits One whose brightness owes its hues
To flesh and blood; no Goddess from above,

No fleeting Spirit, but my own true Love? *

IO

"WHY, MINSTREL, THESE UNTUNEFUL MURMURINGS"

Composed 1827.-Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-Ed.

“WHY, Minstrel, these untuneful murmurings-
Dull, flagging notes that with each other jar?"
“Think, gentle Lady, of a Harp so far
From its own country, and forgive the strings."
A simple answer! but even so forth springs,
From the Castalian fountain of the heart,†
The Poetry of Life, and all that Art
Divine of words quickening insensate things.
From the submissive necks of guiltless men
Stretched on the block, the glittering axe recoils;
Sun, moon, and stars, all struggle in the toils
Of mortal sympathy; what wonder then
That1 the poor Harp distempered music yields
To its sad Lord, far from his native fields?

1 1837.

If

1827.

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* The reminiscence of a day spent on Grasmere Lake with Mrs. Wordsworth. Compare Robert Browning's lines

No angel, but a dearer being

All dipt in angel instincts.

ED.

+ Castaly (Castalius fons), a fountain near Parnassus sacred to the Muses. See Virgil, Georgics, iii. 293.-ED.

VOL. VII

M

TO S. H.*

Composed 1827.-Published 1827

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

EXCUSE is needless when with love sincere

Of occupation, not by fashion led,

Thou turn'st the Wheel that slept with dust o'erspread;
My nerves from no such murmur shrink,—tho' near,
Soft as the Dorhawk's to a distant ear,

When twilight shades darken 1 the mountain's head.†
Even She who toils to spin 2 our vital thread ‡
Might smile on work, O Lady, once so dear 3
To household virtues. Venerable Art,

Torn from the Poor!§ yet shall kind Heaven protect
Its own; though Rulers, with undue respect,

Trusting to crowded factory and mart ||

And 4 proud discoveries of the intellect,

Heed not the pillage of man's ancient heart.

1 1837.

2 1840.

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Might smile, O Lady! on a task once dear

1827.

* Sarah Hutchinson, Mrs. Wordsworth's sister.-ED. Either Wansfell, or Loughrigg.-ED.

Lachesis, the second of the three Parcæ, who was supposed to spin out

the actions of our life.

Clotho colum retinet, Lachesis net, et Atropos occat.

ED.

§ Referring to the introduction of steam-looms, which displaced the handloom spinning of a previous generation.-ED.

Compare The Excursion, book viii. ll. 165-185.-ED.

SCORN NOT THE SONNET

163

DECAY OF PIETY

Composed 1827.-Published 1827

[Attendance at church on prayer-days, Wednesdays and Fridays and Holidays, received a shock at the Revolution. It is now, however, happily reviving. The ancient people described in this Sonnet were among the last of that pious class. May we hope that the practice, now in some degree renewed, will continue to spread.-I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-Ed.

OFT have I seen, ere Time had ploughed my cheek,
Matrons and Sires-who, punctual to the call

Of their loved Church, on fast or festival

Through the long year the House of Prayer would seek:
By Christmas snows, by visitation bleak

Of Easter winds, unscared, from hut or hall
They came to lowly bench or sculptured stall,
But with one fervour of devotion meek.
I see the places where they once were known,
And ask, surrounded even by kneeling crowds,
Is ancient Piety for ever flown?

Alas! even then they seemed like fleecy clouds
That, struggling through the western sky, have won
Their pensive light from a departed sun!

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"SCORN NOT THE SONNET; CRITIC, YOU HAVE FROWNED "

Composed 1827.-Published 1827

[Composed, almost extempore, in a short walk on the western side of Rydal Lake.-I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

SCORN not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned,
Mindless of its just honours; with this key