Variant 1:
 
1827
... which, ...
1807
And in MS. letter from Coleridge to Sir George Beaumont, 1802
a
.

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Variant 2:
 
1820
... singing ...
1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 3:
 
1807
... happy ...
MS. 1802.
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Variant 4:
 
1807
And they who lived in genial faith found nought
that grew more willingly than genial good;
MS. 1802.
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Variant 5:
 
1815
... who perished in his pride;
MS. 1802.
... that perished in its pride;
 1807
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Variant 6:
 
1820
Behind his plough, upon the mountain-side:
 1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 7:
 
1836
... comes ...
1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 8:
 
1807
... was ...
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 9:
 
1807
... that ...
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 10:
 
1820
When up and down my fancy thus was driven,
And I with these untoward thoughts had striven,

1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 11:
 
1807
I spied ...
MS. 1802.
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Variant 12:
 
date
My course I stopped as soon as I espied
The Old Man in that naked wilderness:
Close by a Pond, upon the further side,i
He stood alone: a minute's space I guess
I watch'd him, he continuing motionless:
To the Pool's further margin then I drew;
He being all the while before me full in view.ii





1807
This stanza, which appeared in the editions of 1807 and 1815, was, on Coleridge's advice, omitted from subsequent ones.

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Variant 13:
 
1807
... that ...
MS. 1802.
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Variant 14:
 
1820
... which ...
1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 15:
 
1820
... in their pilgrimage
 And MS. 1802.
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Variant 16:
 
1807
... his age ...
MS. 1802.
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Variant 17:
 
1836
Himself he propp'd, both body, limbs, and face,
 MS. 1802.
... his body, ...
1807
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Variant 18:
 
1820
Beside the little pond or moorish flood
 1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 19:
 
date
... moves ...
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 20:
 
He wore a Cloak the same as women wear
As one whose blood did needful comfort lack;
His face look'd pale as if it had grown fair;
And, furthermore he had upon his back,
Beneath his cloak, a round and bulky Pack;
A load of wool or raiment as might seem.
That on his shoulders lay as if it clave to him.





This stanza appeared only in MS. 1802.
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Variant 21:
 
1820
And now such freedom as I could I took;
 1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 22:
 
1820
"What kind of work is that which you pursue?
 1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 23:
 
1807
... for such as ...
MS.
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Variant 24:
 
1836
He answer'd me with pleasure and surprize;
And there was, while he spake, a fire about his eyes.

1807 and MS. 1802
He answered, while a flash of mild surprise
Broke from the sable orbs of his yet-vivid eyes.
1820
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Variant 25:
 
1820
Yet ...
 1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 26:
 
1807
... pompous ....
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 27:
 
1807
...words ...
MS.
...beyond ...
MS. 1802.
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Variant 28:
 
1827
He told me that he to the pond had come
 MS. 1802.
... this pond ...
 1807
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Variant 29:
 
1807
This was his calling, better far than some,
Though he had ...
MS. 1802.
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Variant 30:
 
1807
But soon ...
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 31:
 
1827
... and strong admonishment.
 1807
... by strong admonishment.
 1820
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Variant 32:
 
1815
The ...
 1807
And MS. 1802.

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Variant 33:
 
1820
And now, not knowing what the Old Man had said,
1807 and MS. 1802
But now, perplex'd by what the Old Man had said,
1815
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Variant 34:
 
1807
... live? what is it that you do?"
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 35:
 
1827
And said, that wheresoe'er they might be spied
He gather'd Leeches, stirring at his feet
The waters in the Ponds ...


MS. 1802
And said, that, gathering Leeches, far and wide
He travelled; stirring thus about his feet
The waters of the Ponds ...
1807
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Variant 36:
 
1807
Once he could meet with them on every side;
But fewer they became from day to day,
And so his means of life before him died away.


MS. 1802.
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Variant 37:
 
1807
And now ...
 MS. 1802.
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Variant 38:
 
1807
Which he delivered with demeanour kind,
Yet stately ...

MS. 1802.
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Sub-Variant i:
 
... hither side,
 MS. 1802.
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Sub-Variant ii:
 
He all the while before me being full in view.
MS. 1802.
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Footnote A:
 
Some have thought that Wordsworth had S.T.C. in his mind, in writing this stanza. I cannot agree with this. The value and interest of the poem would be lessened by our imagining that Wordsworth's heart never failed him; and that, when he appears to moralise at his own expense, he was doing so at Coleridge's. Besides, the date of this poem, taken in connection with entries in the Grasmere Journal of Dorothy Wordsworth, makes it all but certain that Coleridge was not referred to.—Ed.

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Footnote B:
 
Compare in The Matron of Jedborough and her Husband, p. 417, ll. 66-69:
'Some inward trouble suddenly
Broke from the Matron's strong black eye—
A remnant of uneasy light,
A flash of something over-bright!'
Ed.

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Sub-Footnote a:
 
Additional variants obtained from this source are inserted as "MS. 1802."—Ed.

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Note:
 
The late Bishop of Lincoln, in the Memoirs of his uncle (vol. i. pp. 172, 173), quotes from a letter, written by Wordsworth "to some friends, which has much interest as bearing on this poemC. The following are extracts from it:
"It is not a matter of indifference whether you are pleased with his figure and employment, it may be comparatively whether you are pleased with this Poem; but it is of the utmost importance that you should have had pleasure in contemplating the fortitude, independence, persevering spirit, and the general moral dignity of this old man's character." Again, "I will explain to you, in prose, my feelings in writing that poem.... I describe myself as having been exalted to the highest pitch of delight by the joyousness and beauty of nature; and then as depressed, even in the midst of those beautiful objects, to the lowest dejection and despair. A young poet in the midst of the happiness of nature is described as overwhelmed by the thoughts of the miserable reverses which have befallen the happiest of all men, viz. poets. I think of this till I am so deeply impressed with it, that I consider the manner in which I was rescued from my dejection and despair almost as an interposition of Providence. A person reading the poem with feelings like mine will have been awed and controlled, expecting something spiritual or supernatural. What is brought forward? A lonely place, 'a pond, by which an old man was, far from all house or home:' not stood, nor sat, but was—the figure presented in the most naked simplicity possible. This feeling of spirituality or supernaturalness is again referred to as being strong in my mind in this passage. How came he here? thought I, or what can he be doing? I then describe him, whether ill or well is not for me to judge with perfect confidence; but this I can confidently affirm, that though I believe God has given me a strong imagination, I cannot conceive a figure more impressive than that of an old man like this, the survivor of a wife and ten children, travelling alone among the mountains and all lonely places, carrying with him his own fortitude and the necessities which an unjust state of society has laid upon him. You speak of his speech as tedious. Every thing is tedious when one does not read with the feelings of the author. The Thorn is tedious to hundreds; and so is The Idiot Boy to hundreds. It is in the character of the old man to tell his story, which an impatient reader must feel tedious. But, good heavens! such a figure, in such a place; a pious, self-respecting, miserably infirm and pleased old man telling such a tale!"
Ed.