1829

THE Poems of 1829 were few; and were, for the most part, suggested by incidents or occurrences at Rydal Mount.—ĒD.

GOLD AND SILVER FISHES IN A VASE

Composed 1829.—Published 1835

[They were a present from Miss Jewsbury, of whom mention is made in the note at the end of the next poem. The fish were healthy to all appearance in their confinement for a long time, but at last, for some cause we could not make out, they languished, and, one of them being all but dead, they were taken to the pool under the old pollard-oak. The apparently dying one lay on its side unable to move. I used to watch it, and about the tenth day it began to right itself, and in a few days more was able to swim about with its companions. For many months they continued to prosper in their new place of abode; but one night by an unusually great flood they were swept out of the pool, and perished to our great regret.—I. F.] One of the "Miscellaneous Poems."-ED.

THE soaring lark is blest as proud
When at heaven's gate she sings;

The roving bee proclaims aloud
Her flight by vocal wings;

*

* Compare Cymbeline, act II. scene iii. l. 21.-ED.

GOLD AND SILVER FISHES IN A VASE

215

While Ye, in lasting durance pent,

Your silent lives employ

For something more than dull content,
Though haply less than joy.*

Yet might your glassy prison seem

A place where joy is known, Where golden flash and silver gleam Have meanings of their own; While, high and low, and all about, Your motions, glittering Elves! Ye weave-no danger from without, And peace among yourselves.

Type of a sunny human breast

Is your transparent cell;

Where Fear is but a transient guest,

No sullen Humours dwell;

Where, sensitive of every ray

That smites this tiny sea,

5

ΙΟ

15

20

Your scaly panoplies repay

The loan with usury.

For mutual pleasure glide;

And sometimes, not without your will,

Are dwarfed, or magnified?

Fays, Genii of gigantic size!
And now, in twilight dim,
Clustering like constellated eyes,
In wings of Cherubim,

* See note to p. 160.-ED.

30

35

When the fierce orbs abate their glare ;—1
Whate'er your forms express,
Whate'er ye seem, whate'er ye are―
All leads to gentleness.

Cold though your nature be, 'tis pure;

40

Your birthright is a fence

From all that haughtier kinds endure

Through tyranny of sense.

Ah! not alone by colours bright

Are Ye to heaven allied,

When, like essential Forms of light,
Ye mingle, or divide.

For day-dreams soft as e'er beguiled
Day-thoughts while limbs repose;
For moonlight fascinations mild,

Your gift, ere shutters close—

Accept, mute Captives! thanks and praise;

And may this tribute prove

That gentle admirations raise

Delight resembling love.

45

50

55

LIBERTY

(SEQUEL TO THE ABOVE) 2

[ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND; THE GOLD AND SILVER FISHES

HAVING BEEN REMOVED TO A POOL IN THE PLEASURE

GROUND OF RYDAL MOUNT.]

Composed 1829.-Published 1835

"The liberty of a people consists in being governed by laws which they have made for themselves, under whatever form it be of government. The liberty of a private man, in

The text of 1857 returns to that of 1835.

being master of his own time and actions, as far as may consist with the laws of God and of his country. Of this latter we are here to discourse."-COWLEY.

One of the "Miscellaneous Poems."-ED.

THOSE breathing Tokens of your kind regard,
(Suspect not, Anna,* that their fate is hard;
Not soon does aught to which mild fancies cling
In lonely spots, become a slighted thing ;)
Those silent Inmates now no longer share,
Nor do they need, our hospitable care,
Removed in kindness from their glassy Cell
To the fresh waters of a living Well—†
An elfin pool so sheltered that its rest

No winds disturb; ‡ the mirror of whose breast
Is smooth as clear, save where with dimples small1
A fly may settle, or a blossom fall.2

-There swims, of blazing sun and beating shower
Fearless (but how obscured!) the golden Power,
That from his bauble prison used to cast
Gleams by the richest jewel unsurpast;
And near him, darkling like a sullen Gnome,
The silver Tenant of the crystal dome;
Dissevered both from all the mysteries

Of hue and altering shape that charmed all eyes.

1

1845.

Well ;

That spreads into an elfin pool opaque

Of which close boughs a glimmering mirror make,
On whose smooth breast with dimples light and small

2 1845.
The fly may settle, leaf or blossom fall.

1835.

1835.

The fly may settle, or the blossom fall.

1837.

While Anna's peers and early playmates tread.

ED.

ED.

* See the Sonnet (p. 168) beginning

† See The Faerie Queene, book i. canto 2, stanza 43—

Till we be bathed in a living well.

This "elfin pool," to which the gold and silver fishes were removed, still exists beneath the pollard oak tree in "Dora's Field," at Rydal Mount. The field is now the property of Mr. Gordon Wordsworth.--ED.

25

Alas! they pined,1 they languished while they shone;
And, if not so, what matters beauty gone
And admiration lost, by change of place
That brings to the inward creature no disgrace?
But if the change restore his birth-right, then,
Whate'er the difference, boundless is the gain.
Who can divine what impulses from God
Reach the caged lark, within a town-abode,
From his poor inch or two of daisied sod?
O yield him back his privilege !—No sea
Swells like the bosom of a man set free;
A wilderness is rich with liberty.

30

Roll on, ye spouting whales, who die or keep
Your independence in the fathomless Deep!
Spread, tiny nautilus, the living sail;

35

Dive, at thy choice, or brave the freshening gale!
If unreproved the ambitious eagle mount
Sunward to seek the daylight in its fount,*
Bays, gulfs, and ocean's Indian width, shall be,
Till the world perishes, a field for thee!

While musing here I sit in shadow cool,
And watch these mute Companions, in the pool,
(Among reflected boughs of leafy trees)
By glimpses caught-disporting at their ease,
Enlivened, braced, by hardy luxuries,

I ask what warrant fixed them (like a spell
Of witchcraft fixed them) in the crystal cell;

To wheel with languid motion round and round,
Beautiful, yet in mournful durance bound.

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45

Their peace, perhaps, our lightest footfall marred; 50
On their quick sense our sweetest music jarred ;
And whither could they dart, if seized with fear?

1 1845.

They pined, perhaps,

1835.

* See the reference to the Eagle in The Power of Sound (p. 212), and in the "Poems composed or suggested during a Tour in the Summer of 1833," The Dunolly Eagle.-ED.