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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;
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.‡

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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"

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 ;

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* 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, 11. 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

Sprinkled:

sea with ships

ED.

1

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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10

"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.

What boots the inquiry? - Neither friend nor foe
She cares for; let her travel where she may,
She finds familiar names, a beaten way
Ever before her, and a wind to blow.
Yet still I ask, what haven is her mark ?
And, almost as it was when ships were rare,
(From time to time, like Pilgrims, here and there
Crossing the waters) doubt, and something dark,
Of the old Sea some reverential fear,
Is with me at thy farewell, joyous Bark!

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10

TO SLEEP

Composed 1806.-Published 1807

Placed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

O GENTLE SLEEP! do they belong to thee,
These twinklings of oblivion? Thou dost love
To sit in meekness, like the brooding Dove,
A captive never wishing to be free.
This tiresome night, O Sleep! thou art to me
A Fly, that up and down himself doth shove
Upon a fretful rivulet, now above
Now on the water vexed with mockery.

I have no pain that calls for patience, no; *
Hence am 11 cross and peevish as a child :
Am 2 pleased by fits to have thee for my foe,

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1 1807.

I am

1815.

2 1807.

*

And

The text of 1827 returns to that of 1807. 1815. The text of 1827 returns to that of 1807.

Compare"Et c'est encore ce qui me fâche, de n'etre pas même en

droit de.

fâcher."-Rousseau, La Nouvelle Héloise.
"Vixque tenet lacrymas; quia nil lacrymabile cernit."

Ovid, Metamorphoses, lib. ii. 1. 796.-ED.

Yet ever willing to be reconciled :
O gentle Creature ! do not use me so,
But once and deeply let me be beguiled.

TO SLEEP

Composed 1806. —Published 1807

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

FOND words have oft been spoken to thee, Sleep!
And thou hast had thy store of tenderest names;
The very sweetest, Fancy culls or frames, 1
When thankfulness of heart is strong and deep !
Dear Bosom-child we call thee, that dost steep
In rich reward all suffering; Balm that tames
All anguish; Saint that evil thoughts and aims
Takest away, and into souls dost creep,

Like to a breeze from heaven. Shall I alone,
I surely not a man ungently made,
Call thee worst Tyrant by which Flesh is crost?
Perverse, self-willed to own and to disown,
Mere slave of them who never for thee prayed,
Still last to come where thou art wanted most!

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TO SLEEP

Composed 1806. - Published 1807

Classed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets. "-ED.

A FLOCK of sheep that leisurely pass by,
One after one; the sound of rain, and bees
Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds and seas,
Smooth fields, white sheets of water, and pure sky;

1 1837.

The very sweetest words that fancy frames

1807.

I have thought of all by turns, and yet do lie 1
Sleepless *! and soon the small birds' melodies
Must hear, first uttered from my orchard trees;
And the first cuckoo's melancholy cry.
Even thus last night, and two nights more, I lay,
And could not win thee, Sleep! by any stealth :
So do not let me wear to-night away:
Without Thee what is all the morning's wealth?
Come, blessed barrier between 2 day and day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health !

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10

Compare Ovid, Metamorphoses, book xi. 1. 623; Macbeth, act II. scene ii. 1. 39; King Henry IV., Part II., act III. scene i. 1.5; Midsummer Night's Dream, act III. scene ii. 1. 435.-ED.

TO THE MEMORY OF RAISLEY CALVERT

Composed 1806. - Published 1807

[This young man, Raisley Calvert, to whom I was so much indebted, died at Penrith, 1795.-I. F.]

Classed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."-ED.

CALVERT! it must not be unheard by them
Who may respect my name, that I to thee
Owed many years of early liberty.

1 1845.

I've thought of all by turns; and still I lie
By turns have all been thought of; yet I lie
I thought of all by turns, and yet I lie

1807.

1827.

1837.

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* Compare The Faërie Queene, book 1. canto i. stanza 41-
And more to lulle him in his slumber soft,

A trickling streame from high rock tumbling downe,
And ever-drizling raine upon the loft,
Mixt with a murmuring winde, much like the sowne
Of swarming Bees, did cast him in a swowne.

ED.

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