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Or map of the whole world thoughts, link by link,
Enter through ears and eyesight, with such gleam
Of all things, that at last in fear I shrink,
And leap at once from the delicious stream.

"THOSE WORDS WERE UTTERED AS IN

PENSIVE MOOD"

Composed 1806. - Published 1807

-"they are of the sky,

And from our earthly memory fade away.'

"*

Placed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

THOSE 1 words were uttered as in pensive mood 2
We turned, departing from 3 that solemn sight:
A contrast and reproach to 4 gross delight,
And life's unspiritual pleasures daily wooed !
But now upon this thought I cannot brood;
It is unstable as a dream of night ;5
Nor will I praise a cloud, however bright,
Disparaging Man's gifts, and proper food.

5

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* See the sonnet Composed after a Journey across the Hambleton Hills, Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 349.-ED.

Grove, isle, with every shape of sky-built dome,1
Though clad in colours beautiful and pure,
Find in the heart of man no natural home:
The immortal Mind craves objects that endure :
These cleave to it; from these it cannot roam,
Nor they from it: their fellowship is secure.

10

"WITH HOW SAD STEPS, O Moon, Thou CLIMB'ST THE SKY"

Composed 1806.-Published 1807

In the edition of 1815, this was placed among the "Poems of the Fancy." In 1820 it became one of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

WITH how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the sky,
"How silently, and with how wan a face!" *
Where art thou? Thou so often seen on high 2
Running among the clouds a Wood-nymph's race!
Unhappy Nuns, whose common breath's a sigh
Which they would stifle, move at such a pace!
The northern Wind, to call thee to the chase,
Must blow to-night his bugle horn. Had I
The power of Merlin, Goddess! this should be :
And all the stars, fast as the clouds were riven, 3

5

10

1 1827.

The Grove, the sky-built Temple, and the Dome, 1807.

2 1837.

Thou whom I have seen on high 1807.

3 1837.

And all the Stars, now shrouded up in heaven,

1807.

And the keen Stars, fast as the clouds were riven,

1820.

* From a sonnet of Sir Philip Sydney.-W. W. 1807.

Should sally forth, to keep thee company, 1
Hurrying and sparkling through the clear blue heaven ;2
But, Cynthia! should to thee the palm be given,
Queen both for beauty and for majesty.

The sonnet of Sir Philip Sidney's, from which the two first lines are taken, is No. xxxI. in Astrophel and Stella. In the edition of 1807 these lines were printed, not as a sonnet, but as No. 111. in the series of "Poems composed during a Tour, chiefly on foot; " and in 1807 and 1815 the first two lines were placed within quotation marks.-ED.

“THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US; LATE AND SOON"

Composed 1806.-Published 1807

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers :
Little we see in Nature that is ours;

1 1807.

Should sally forth, an emulous Company,

2 1840.

1820. The text of 1837 returns to that of 1807.

What strife would then be yours, fair Creatures, driv'n
Now up, now down, and sparkling in your glee! 1807.
Sparkling, and hurrying through the clear blue heaven;

1820.

All hurrying with thee through the clear blue heaven;

1832.

In that keen sport along the plain of heaven;

1837.

in emulous company

Sparkling, and hurrying through the clear blue heaven;

1838 and C.

Hurrying and sparkling through the clear blue Heaven.

C.

With emulous brightness through the clear blue Heaven.

C.

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This 1 Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers ;
For this, for every thing, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. - Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

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So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,*
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ;
Have sight of Proteus rising 2 from the sea; †
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.‡

The "pleasant lea" referred to in this sonnet is unknown. It may have been on the Cumbrian coast, or in the Isle of Man.

I am indebted to the Rev. Canon Ainger for suggesting an (unconscious) reminiscence of Spenser in the last line of the sonnet. Compare Dr. Arnold's commentary (Miscellaneous Works of Thomas Arnold, p. 311), and that of Sir Henry Taylor in his Notes from Books. —ED.

"WITH SHIPS THE SEA WAS SPRINKLED FAR AND NIGH"

1

Composed 1806. -Published 1807

Placed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED. WITH Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, § Like stars in heaven, and joyously it showed ;

1807.

The

MS.

2 1827.

coming

1807.

* See Spenser's Colin Clout's come Home againe, 1. 283

"A goodly pleasant lea."

ED.

+ Compare Paradise Lost, book iii. 1. 603.

See Colin Clout's come Home againe, II. 244-5

Of them the shepheard which hath charge in chief,

Is Triton, blowing loud his wreathed horne.

ED.

§ Compare The Excursion, book iv. 1. 1197

sea with ships

Sprinkled

:

ED.

Some lying fast at anchor in the road,
Some veering up and down, one knew not why.
A goodly Vessel did I then espy
Come like a giant from a haven broad;
And lustily along the bay she strode,
Her tackling rich, and of apparel high.*
This Ship was nought to me, nor I to her,
Yet I pursued her with a Lover's look;
This Ship to all the rest did I prefer :
When will she turn, and whither? She will brook
No tarrying; where She comes the winds must stir:
On went She, and due north her journey took.†

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"WHERE LIES THE LAND TO WHICH YON SHIP MUST GO?"

Composed 1806. --Published 1807

Classed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

WHERE lies the Land to which yon Ship must go?
Fresh as a lark mounting at break of day,
Festively she puts forth in trim array ;1
Is she for tropic suns, or polar snow ?

1 1837.

Festively she puts forth in trim array;
As vigorous as a Lark at break of day:

1807.

* In the editions of 1815 to 1832 (but not in 1807) this line was printed within inverted commas. The quotation marks were dropped, however, in subsequent editions (as in the quotation from Spenser, in the poem Beggars). In a note at the end of the volumes of 1807, Wordsworth says, "From a passage in Skelton, which I cannot here insert, not having the Book at hand." The passage is as follows

Her takelynge ryche, and of hye apparayle.

Skelton's Bowge of Courte, stanza vi.-ED.

+ See Professor H. Reed's note to the American edition of Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. i. p. 335; and Wordsworth's comment on Mrs. Fermor's criticism of this sonnet in his letter to Lady Beaumont, May 21, 1807.-ED.

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