WORDSWORTH'S POETICAL WORKS. EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICIPATION OF LEAVING SCHOOL. In edd., 1815 to 1832, the title is "Composed upon leaving school." It was written at Hawkshead. [The image with which this poem concludes, suggested itself to me while I was resting in a boat along with my companions under the shade of a magnificent row of sycamores, which then extended their branches from the shore of the promontory upon which stands the ancient, and at that time, the more picturesque Hall of Coniston, the seat of the Le Flemings from very early times. The poem of which it was the conclusion, was of many hundred lines, and contained thoughts and images, most of which have been dispersed through my other writings.] DEAR native regions, I foretell, From what I feel at this farewell, That, wheresoe'er my steps may tend, If in that hour a single tie My soul will cast the backward view, The longing look alone on you. Thus, while the Sun sinks down to rest Far in the regions of the west, Though to the vale no parting beam WRITTEN IN VERY EARLY YOUTH. Comp. 1786. (?) Pub. 1807. CALM is all nature as a resting wheel. The kine are couched upon the dewy grass; On the dear mountain-tops where first he rose. 1820. 1845 Is hushed, am I at rest. My Friends! restrain The title of this poem, as first published in 1793, was "An Evening Walk, An epistle in verse, addressed to a young lady from the lakes of the North of England, by W. Wordsworth, B.A., of St John's, Cambridge." Extracts from it were published in all the collective editions of the poems from 1815 onwards, under the general title of "Juvenile Pieces," or "Poems written in Youth." The following prefatory note occurs in the editions 1820 to 1832. "The poems in this class are reprinted with some unimportant alterations that were made very soon after their publication. It would have been easy to amend them in many passages, both as to sentiment and expression, and I have not been altogether able to resist the temptation; but attempts of this kind are made at the risk of injuring their characteristic features, which, after all, will be regarded as the principal recommendations of juvenile poems." To this, Wordsworth added, in 1836, "The above, which was written sometime ago, scarcely applies to the poem, 'Descriptive Sketches,' as it now stands. The corrections, though numerous, are not however such as to prevent its retaining with propriety a place in the class of Juvenile Pieces." The following is the note on this poem, dictated to Miss Fenwick.-ED. [The young Lady to whom this was addressed was my Sister. It was composed at school, and during my first two College vacations. There is not an image in it which I have not observed; and, now in my seventy-third year, I recollect the time and place, when most of them were noticed. I will confine myself to one instance: "Waving his hat, the shepherd from the vale The dog loud barking, 'mid the glittering rocks, Hunts, where his master points, the intercepted flocks." I was an eye-witness of this for the first time while crossing the Pass of Dunmail Raise. Upon second thought, I will mention another image: And, fronting the bright west, yon oak entwines years This is feebly and imperfectly expressed, but I recollect distinctly the very spot where this first struck me. It was on the way between Hawkshead and Ambleside, and gave me extreme pleasure. The moment was important in my poetical history; for I date from it my consciousness of the infinite variety of natural appearances which had been unnoticed by the poets of any age or country, so far as I was acquainted with them; and I made a resolution to supply in some degree the deficiency. I could not have been at that time above fourteen of age. The description of the swans that follows was taken from the daily opportunities I had of observing their habits, not as confined to the gentleman's park, but in a state of nature. There were two pairs of them that divided the lake of Esthwaite, and its in-and-out flowing streams, between them, never trespassing a single yard upon each other's separate domain. They were of the old magnificent species, bearing in beauty and majesty about the same relation to the Thames swan which that does to the goose. It was from the remembrance of those noble creatures, I took, thirty years after, the picture of the swan which I have discarded from the poem of Dion. While I was a schoolboy, the late Mr Curwen introduced a little fleet of these birds, but of the inferior species, to the lake of Windermere. Their principal home was about his own island; but they sailed about into remote parts of the lake, and either from real or imagined injury done to the adjoining fields, they were got rid of at the request of the farmers and proprietors, but to the great regret of all who had become attached to them from noticing their beauty and quiet habits. I will conclude my notice of this poem by observing that the plan of it has not been confined to a particular walk, or an individual place,-a proof (of which I was unconscious at the time) of my unwillingness to submit the poetic spirit to the claims of fact and real circumstance. The country is idealised rather than described in any one of its local aspects.] General Sketch of the Lakes-Author's regret of his Youth which was passed amongst them-Short description of Noon-Cascade-Noontide RetreatPrecipice and sloping Lights-Face of Nature as the Sun declinesMountain Farm and the Cock-Slate quarry-Sunset-Superstition of the Country connected with that moment-Swans-Female BeggarTwilight sounds-Western Lights-Spirits-Night-Moonlight-HopeNight sounds-Conclusion. FAR from my dearest Friend, 'tis mine to rove Through bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral cove; 1 1836. His wizard's course where hoary Derwent takes, |