THE

POETICAL WORKS

OF

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

WITH A MEMOIR

SEVEN VOLUMES IN THREE

VOL. I.

NEW YORK

PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON
BOSTON: H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge

1878

The Riverside Press, Cambridge:

Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company.

Ir thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven,
Then, to the measure of that heaven-born light,
Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content.
The stars pre-eminent in magnitude,

And they that from the zenith dart their beams.
(Visible though they be to half the earth,

Though half a sphere be conscious of their brightness,)

Are yet of no diviner origin,

No purer essence, than the one that burns,

Like an untended watch-fire, on the ridge

Of some dark mountain; or than those which seem
Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps,
Among the branches of the leafless trees;
All are the undying offspring of one Sire:
Then, to the measure of the light vouchsafed,
Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content.