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The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8) cover

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)

Chapter 347: Transcriber's Notes:
By William Wordsworth
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British LiteratureHistory - ReligiousPoetryReligion/Spirituality

About This Book

A sustained sequence of sonnets presents a chronological sketch of the Church of the poet's country, following its arrival, institutional growth, monastic and missionary activity, ascendancy, and later struggles and reforms. Organized in parts, the poems combine historical narration, moral critique of abuses, and lyrical meditation on ritual, scripture, and spiritual renewal. Brief notes and documentary allusions accompany many sonnets, and the voice shifts between sober reflection, elegiac regret, and guarded hope, producing a compact poetic history that blends civic memory with devotional concern.

The following version is written in the late Lord Coleridge's copy of the Poems:—

Alas! full soon did man created pure,
 By Angels guarded, deviate from the line
 Of innocence, and woeful forfeiture
 Incur by wilful breach of law divine.
 Even so Christ's church, how prone was she to appear
 Obedient to her Lord, how prompt to twine
 'Mid glorious flowers that shall for aye endure,
 Weeds on whose front the world hath fixed her sign.
 So Man, if with thy trials thus it fares,
 And good can smooth the way to evil choice,
 From hasty censure be the mind kept free.
 He only judges right who weighs, compares,
 And in the sternest sentence, which his voice
 May utter, ne'er abandons Charity.

C.

(2) p. 83. Down a swift stream, etc., l. 14—

The manifold aspects of our sacred theme.

C.

(3) p. 86. Bishops and Priests, etc., l. 1—

... how blessed ...

C.

(4) p. 160, footnote [448]—

The extract is from The Shepherd and the Calm, p. 113, in Miscellany Poems on Several Occasions, written by a Lady, Anne Finch, Countesse of W., 1713.

(5) p. 306. Fancy and Tradition, l. 4—

Ere he took flight; the Sage in this alcove

MS.

(6) p. 307. Fancy and Tradition, l. 12—

There is an ampler page from which to quote,

MS.

(7) p. 342. Adieu, Rydalian Laurels, etc., l. 2—

As if not ignorant that days would come

MS.

(8) p. 358. Stanzas suggested in a Steam-boat, ll. 156-9—

Would merge, Idolatress of formal skill,
 In her own systems, God's eternal will,
 To her, despising faith in things unseen,
 Matter and spirit are in one machine.

C.

END OF VOL. VII

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

Transcriber's Notes:

Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were corrected.

Punctuation normalized.

Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed.