Wordsworth's Poetical Works, Volume 2

Composed by the Sea-side, near Calais, August, 1802

Composed August, 1802.—Published 1807

One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."—Ed.

The Poem

text	variant	footnote	line number
Fair Star of evening, Splendour of the west, Star of my Country!—on the horizon's brink Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest, Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I think, Should'st be my Country's emblem; and should'st wink, Bright Star! with laughter on her banners, drest In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky spot Beneath thee, that is England; there she lies. Blessings be on you both! one hope, one lot, One life, one glory!—I, with many a fear For my dear Country, many heartfelt sighs, Among men who do not love her, linger here. Note Contents 1802 Main Contents	1		5 10

Variant 1:

1837
... it is England; there it lies.	1807

return

Note:

This sonnet, and the seven that follow it, were written during Wordsworth's residence at Calais, in the month of August, 1802. The following extract from his sister's Journal illustrates it:

"We arrived at Calais at four o'clock on Sunday morning the 31st of July. We had delightful walks after the heat of the day was passed—seeing far off in the west the coast of England, like a cloud, crested with Dover Castle, the evening Star, and the glory of the sky; the reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself; purple waves brighter than precious stones, for ever melting away upon the sands."

Ed.

Contents 1802
Main Contents

Calais, August, 1802

Composed August 7, 1802—Published 1807 ^A

One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."—Ed.

The Poem

text	variant	footnote	line number
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind, Or what is it that ye go forth to see? Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind, Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee In France, before the new-born Majesty. 'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, A seemly reverence may be paid to power; But that's a loyal virtue, never sown In haste, nor springing with a transient shower: When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown, What hardship had it been to wait an hour? Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone! Contents 1802 Main Contents	1		5 10

Variant 1:

1807
Thus fares it ever. Men of prostrate mind!	1803

return

Footnote A:

This sonnet was first published in The Morning Post, Jan. 29, 1803, under the signature W. L. D., along with the one beginning, "I grieved for Buonaparté, with a vain," and was afterwards printed in the 1807 edition of the Poems. Mr. T. Hutchinson (Dublin) suggests that the W. L. D. stood either for Wordsworthius Libertatis Defensor, or (more likely) Wordsworthii Libertati Dedicatunt (carmen).—Ed.

return to footnote mark

Contents 1802
Main Contents

Composed near Calais, on the Road leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802 ^A

Composed August, 1802.—Published 1807

One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."—Ed.

The Poem

text	variant	footnote	line number
Jones! as from Calais southward you and I Went pacing side by side, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: A homeless sound of joy was in the sky: From hour to hour the antiquated Earth, Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth, Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh! And now, sole register that these things were, Two solitary greetings have I heard, "Good morrow, Citizen!" a hollow word, As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair Touches me not, though pensive as a bird Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare. Note Contents 1802 Main Contents	1 2 3 4 5	B	5 10

Variant 1:

1837
... when ...	1807
... while ...	1820

return

Variant 2:

1837
Travell'd on foot together; then this Way, Which I am pacing now, was like the May With festivals of new-born Liberty:	1807
Where I am walking now ...	MS.
Urged our accordant steps, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty:	1820

return

Variant 3:

1845
The antiquated Earth, as one might say,	1807
The antiquated Earth, hopeful and gay,	1837

return

Variant 4:

1845
... garlands, play,	1807

return

Variant 5:

1827
I feel not: happy am I as a Bird: Fair seasons yet will come, and hopes as fair.	1807
I feel not: jocund as a warbling Bird;	1820

return

Footnote A:

In the editions of 1807 to 1837 this is a sub-title, the chief title being To a Friend. In the editions of 1840-1843, the chief title is retained in the Table of Contents, but is erased in the text.—Ed.

return to footnote mark

Footnote B:

14th July 1790.—W. W. 1820.

p. 208.—Ed.

Note:

This sonnet, originally entitled To a Friend, composed near Calais, on the Road leading to Ardres, August 7th, 1802, was addressed to Robert Jones, of Plas-yn-llan, near Ruthin, Denbighshire, a brother collegian at Cambridge, and afterwards a fellow of St. John's College, and incumbent of Soulderne, near Deddington, in Oxfordshire. It was to him that Wordsworth dedicated his Descriptive Sketches, which record their wanderings together in Switzerland; and it is to the pedestrian tour, undertaken by the two friends in the long vacation of 1790, that he refers in the above sonnet. The character of Jones is sketched in the poem written in 1800, beginning:

'I marvel how Nature could ever find space,'^C

and his parsonage in Oxfordshire is described in the sonnet:

'Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,
Is marked by no distinguishable line.'

The following note on Jones was appended to the edition of 1837:

"This excellent Person, one of my earliest and dearest friends, died in the year 1835. We were under-graduates together of the same year, at the same college; and companions in many a delightful ramble through his own romantic Country of North Wales. Much of the latter part of his life he passed in comparative solitude; which I know was often cheered by remembrance of our youthful adventures, and of the beautiful regions which, at home and abroad, we had visited together. Our long friendship was never subject to a moment's interruption,—and, while revising these volumes for the last time, I have been so often reminded of my loss, with a not unpleasing sadness, that I trust the Reader will excuse this passing mention of a Man who well deserves from me something more than so brief a notice. Let me only add, that during the middle part of his life he resided many years (as Incumbent of the Living) at a Parsonage in Oxfordshire, which is the subject of one of the Miscellaneous Sonnets."

Ed.

Contents 1802
Main Contents

Calais, August 15, 1802

Composed August 15, 1802.—Published 1807 ^A

One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."—Ed.

The Poem

text	variant	footnote	line number
Festivals have I seen that were not names: This is young Buonaparte's natal day, And his is henceforth an established sway— Consul for life. With worship France proclaims Her approbation, and with pomps and games. Heaven grant that other Cities may be gay! Calais is not: and I have bent my way To the sea-coast, noting that each man frames His business as he likes. Far other show My youth here witnessed, in a prouder time; The senselessness of joy was then sublime! Happy is he, who, caring not for Pope, Consul, or King, can sound himself to know The destiny of Man, and live in hope. Contents 1802 Main Contents	1 2		5 10

Variant 1:

1807
... this ...	1803

return

Variant 2:

1827
... Another time That was, when I was here twelve years ago.	1803
... long years ago:	1807
... Far different time That was, which here I witnessed, long ago;	1820

return

Footnote A:

It had appeared in The Morning Post, February 26, 1803, under the initials W. L. D.—Ed.

return to footnote mark

Contents 1802
Main Contents

"It is a beauteous evening, calm and free"

Composed August, 1802.—Published 1807

The Poem

[This was composed on the beach near Calais, in the autumn of 1802.—I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets." In 1807 it was No. 19 of that series.—Ed.

The Poem

text	variant	footnote	line number
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea: Listen! the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder—everlastingly. Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not. Contents 1802 Main Contents	1 2 3 4	A B	5 10

Variant 1:

1807
Air sleeps,—from strife or stir the clouds are free;	1837
A fairer face of evening cannot be;	1840

The text of 1845 returns to that of 1807.

return

Variant 2:

1837
... is on the Sea:	1807

return

Variant 3:

date
But list! ...	1837

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.

return

Variant 4:

1845
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear'st untouch'd by solemn thought,	1807
Dear Child! dear happy Girl! if thou appear Heedless—untouched with awe or serious thought,	1837
Heedless-unawed, untouched with serious thought,	1838

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.

return

Footnote A:

I thought, for some time, that the "girl" referred to was Dorothy Wordsworth. Her brother used to speak, and to write, of her under many names, "Emily," "Louisa," etc.; and to call her a "child" in 1802—a "child of Nature" she was to the end of her days—or a "girl," seemed quite natural. However, a more probable suggestion was made by Mr. T. Hutchinson to Professor Dowden, that it refers to the girl Caroline mentioned in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal.

"We arrived at Calais at four o'clock on Sunday morning, the 3rd of July.... We found out Annette and C., chez Madame Avril dans la rue de la Tête d'or. The weather was very hot. We walked by the shore almost every evening with Annette and Caroline, or William and I alone.... It was beautiful on the calm hot night to see the little boats row out of harbour with wings of fire, and the sail-boats with the fiery track which they cut as they went along, and which closed up after them with a hundred thousand sparkles and streams of glowworm light. Caroline was delighted."

I have been unable to discover who Annette and Caroline were. Dorothy Wordsworth frequently records in her Grasmere Journal that either William, or she, "wrote to Annette," but who she was is unknown to either the Wordsworth or the Hutchinson family. —Ed.

return to footnote mark

Footnote B:

Compare:

'The Child is father of the Man, etc.'

p. 292.

Also S. T. C. in The Friend, iii. p. 46:

'The sacred light of childhood,'

and The Prelude, book v. l. 507. Ed.

return

Contents 1802
Main Contents