Sought in the Atlantic Main why should they be Of the individual mind that keeps her own governs all I sing :-“fit audience let me find though few !" 775 So prayed, more gaining than he asked, the Bard In holiest mood. Urania, I shall need Thy guidance, or a greater Muse, if such Descend to earth or dwell in the highest heaven! 780 For I must tread on shadowy ground, must sink Deep — and, aloft ascending, breathe in worlds To which the heaven of heavens is but a veil. All strength — all terror, single or in bands, That ever was put forth in personal form 785 Jehovah — with his thunder, and the choir Of shouting Angels, and the empyreal thrones I pass them unalarmed. Not Chaos, not The darkest pit of lowest Erebus, Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out 790 By help of dreams can breed such fear and awe As fall upon us often when we look Into our minds, into the Mind of Man My haunt, and the main region of my song: Beauty living Presence of the earth, 795 Surpassing the most fair ideal Forms Which craft of delicate spirits hath com posed From earth's materials — waits upon my steps; Pitches her tents before me move, An hourly neighbor. Paradise, and groves 800 Elysian, Fortunate Fields like those of old as 5 Have their authentic comment; that even these Hearing, I be not downcast lorn! When she I loved looked every day, or for 835 840 15 20 Descend, prophetic Spirit! that inspir'st Upon the moon I fixed my eye, The human Soul of universal earth, All over the wide lea; 10 Dreaming on things to come; and dost With quickening pace my horse drew nigh Those paths so dear to me. possess A metropolitan temple in the hearts And now we reached the orchard plot; Of mighty Poets; upon me bestow A gift of genuine insight; that my Song And as we climbed the hill, With star-like virtue in its place may The sinking moon to Lucy's cot Came near and nearer still. shine, Shedding benignant influence, and secure In one of those sweet dreams I slept, Itself from all malevolent effect Kind Nature's gentlest boon! Of those mutations that extend their And all the while my eyes I kept sway 845 On the descending moon. Throughout the nether sphere! - And if with this My horse moved on; hoof after hoof I mix more lowly matter; with the thing He raised, and never stopped: Contemplated, describe the mind and man When down behind the cottage roof, Contemplating, and who and what he At once, the bright moon dropped. The transitory being that beheld What fond and wayward thought will This Vision when and where and how slide he lived; Into a lover's head! - Power! Beside the springs of Dove, Express the image of a better time, A maid whom there were none to praise, More wise desires, and simpler manners: And very few to love. was 850 25 855 30 nurse 60 65 70 Three years she grew in sun and shower, A slumber did my spirit seal; Then Nature said, “A lovelier Aower I had no human fears: 100 On earth was never sown; This child I to myself will take, She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; “Myself will to my darling be She neither hears nor sees; Both law and impulse: and with me Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, 105 The girl, in rock and plain, With rocks, and stones, and trees. LUCY GRAY "She shall be sportive as the fawn OR, SOLITUDE That wild with glee across the lawn (1799) Or up the mountain springs; And hers shall be the breathing balm, Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray: And hers the silence and the calm And, when I crossed the wild, I chanced to see at break of day Of mute insensate things. The solitary child. "The floating clouds their state shall lend No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; To her; for her the willow bend; She dwelt on a wide mour, Nor shall she fail to see The sweetest thing that ever grew Even in the motions of the storm Beside a human door! You yet may spy the fawn at play, The hare upon the green; Will never more be seen. You to the town must go; Your mother through the snow.” 75 5 80 10 85 15 The wretched parents all that night cent 5 11 45 The pastoral mountains front you, face to face, But, courage! for around that boisterous brook The mountains have all opened out them selves, And made a hidden valley of their own. No habitation can be seen; but they Who journey thither find themselves alone With a few sheep, with rocks and stones, and kites That overhead are sailing in the sky. It is in truth an utter solitude; Nor should I have made mention of this dell But for one object which you might pass by, Might see and notice not. Beside the brook Appears a straggling heap of unhewn stones! And to that simple object appertains A story – unenriched with strange events, Yet not unfit, I deem, for the fireside, Or for the summer shade. It was the first 15 20 me!” 25 30 Of those domestic tales that spake to me hills power Of Nature, by the gentle agency Of natural objects, led me on to feel For passions that were not my own, and think (At random and imperfectly indeed) On man, the heart of man, and human life. Therefore, although it be a history Homely and rude, I will relate the 35 For the delight of a few natural hearts; And, with yet fonder feeling, for the sake Of youthful poets, who among these hills Will be my second self when I am gone. "The winds are now devising work for 55 And, truly, at all times, the storm, that drives The traveller to a shelter, summoned him Up to the mountains: he had been alone Amid the heart of many thousand mists, That came to him, and left him, on the heights. 60 So lived he till his eightieth year was past. And grossly that man errs, who should suppose That the green valleys, and the streams and rocks, Were things indifferent to the shepherd's thoughts. Fields, where with cheerful spirits he had breathed The common air; hills, which with vigor ous step He had so often climbed; which had im pressed So many incidents upon his mind Of hardship, skill or courage, joy or fear; Which, like book, preserved the memory Of the dumb animals, whom he had saved, Had fed or sheltered, linking to such acts The certainty of honorable gain; Those fields, those hills—what could they less ? had laid Strong hold on his affections, were to him 75 A pleasurable feeling of blind love, The pleasure which there is in life itself. 65 same a 40 70 was Upon the forest-side in Grasmere Vale There dwelt a shepherd, Michael was his name; An old man, stout of heart, and strong of limb. His bodily frame had been from youth to age Of an unusual strength: his mind was keen, Intense, and frugal, apt for all affairs, 45 And in his shepherd's calling he prompt And watchful more than ordinary men. Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds, Of blasts of every tone; and, oftentimes, When others heeded not, he heard the South Make subterraneous music, like the noise Of bagpipers on distant Highland hills. The shepherd, at such warning, of his flock Bethought him, and he to himself would say, His days had not been passed in single ness. 80 50 His helpmate was a comely matron, old — Though younger than himself full twenty years She was a woman of a stirring life, Whose heart was in her house: two wheels she had Of antique form; this large, for spinning wool; That small, for fax; and if one wheel had rest It was because the other was at work. 85 |