50
A woman rules my prison's key;
A sister Queen,[298] against the bent
Of law and holiest sympathy,
Detains me, doubtful of the event;
Great God, who feel'st for my distress,[299]
55
My thoughts are all that I possess,
O keep them innocent!

IX

Farewell desire of[300] human aid,
Which abject mortals vainly[301] court!
By friends deceived, by foes betrayed,
60
Of fears the prey, of hopes the sport;
Nought but the world-redeeming Cross
Is able to supply my loss,
My burthen to support.

X

Hark! the death-note of the year
65
Sounded by the castle-clock!
From her sunk eyes a stagnant tear
Stole forth, unsettled by the shock;
But oft the woods renewed their green,
Ere the tired head of Scotland's Queen
70
Reposed upon the block!

Compare the sonnet entitled Captivity, Mary Queen of Scots, composed and published in 1819 (p. 191); also the sonnet, composed in 1833, entitled Mary Queen of Scots (Landing at the mouth of the Derwent, Workington).—Ed.

VARIANTS:

[290] 1820.

ms.
But .    .    .

[291] 1820.

Meek effluence—that, while I trod
With downcast eye in narrow space,
Did'st vivify the wintry sod,
As if an Angel filled the place
With softened light—thou wert a touch
Even to my heart of hearts—and such
Is every gift of grace.
{Oh }
{Yet } wherefore did it leave the sky,
And wherefore did it seem to speak
Of something bordering all too nigh
{On what I seldom dare }
{Of what full oft I deign } to seek,
A happier order for my doom,
A favoured era when the gloom
ms.
At length will cleave and break.

[292] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . wild .    .    .

[293] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . opening .    .    .

[294] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . forced lone watch to keep,

[295] 1820.

Yet how—for I—if there be truth
In the world's voice was passing fair,
And beauty might have led my youth
To sorrow, such as can impair
The loveliest cheek before its time,
And blanch in any state or clime
The most resplendent hair.
Man's foolish envy is a stream
Where wisdom's eye reflected sees
The fuel of a painful dream,
The incitements of a dire disease.
{A pageantry}
{Ah what     } is life but Powers let loose
ms.
And revelling in their own abuse.

[296] 1820.

ms.
All that could crumble into dust or flee

[297] 1820.

Unblest distinctions—that were mine
Early to lock in hapless chains
A lingering life that may consign
My memory to opprobrious stains
{Yet doth it make me proud—even here }
{Chained as I am that jealous fear }
{Yet faded, fallen, and crushed—even here }
{I can be proud that jealous fear }
With lurking pride that jealous fear
ms.
Of what I was, remains—

[298] 1820.

ms.
A sister Sovereign .    .    .

[299] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . pities my distress,

[300] 1827.

ms. and 1820.
Farewell for ever .    .    .

[301] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . blindly .    .    .

1818

Still fewer than those of 1817 are the poems composed in 1818. They comprise The Pilgrim's Dream, The five Inscriptions, supposed to be found in and near a Hermit's Cell, and the stanzas Composed upon an Evening of extraordinary Splendour and Beauty, etc. They were all written at or near Rydal Mount; and their local allusions are all Rydalian.

THE PILGRIM'S DREAM;

Or, the Star and the Glow-worm

Composed 1818.—Published 1820

[I distinctly recollect the evening when these verses were suggested in 1818. It was on the road between Rydal and Grasmere, where Glow-worms abound.[DB] A Star was shining above the ridge of Loughrigg Fell, just opposite. I remember a critic, in some review or other, crying out against this piece. "What so monstrous," said he, "as to make a star talk to a glow-worm!" Poor fellow! we know from this sage observation what the "primrose on the river's brim" was to him.—I. F.]

One of the "Poems of the Fancy."—Ed.

A pilgrim, when the summer day
Had closed upon his weary way,
A lodging begged beneath a castle's roof;
But him the haughty Warder spurned;
5
And from the gate the Pilgrim turned,[302]
To seek such covert as the field
Or heath-besprinkled copse might yield,
Or lofty[303] wood, shower-proof.
He paced along; and, pensively,
10
Halting beneath a shady tree,
Whose moss-grown root might serve for couch or seat,
Fixed on a Star his upward eye;
Then, from the tenant of the sky
He turned, and watched with kindred look,
15
A Glow-worm, in a dusky nook,
Apparent at his feet.
The murmur of a neighbouring stream
Induced a soft and slumbrous dream,
A pregnant dream, within whose shadowy bounds
20
He recognised the earth-born Star,
And That which glittered from afar;[304]
And (strange to witness!) from the frame
Of the ethereal Orb, there came
Intelligible sounds.
25
Much did it taunt the humble Light[305]
That now, when day was fled, and night
Hushed the dark earth, fast closing weary eyes,[306]
A very reptile could presume
To show her taper in the gloom,
30
As if in rivalship with One
Who sate a ruler on his throne
Erected in the skies.
"Exalted Star!" the Worm replied,
"Abate this unbecoming pride,
35
Or with a less uneasy lustre shine;
Thou shrink'st as momently thy rays
Are mastered by the breathing haze;
While neither mist, nor thickest cloud
That shapes in heaven its murky shroud,
40
Hath power to injure mine.
But[307] not for this do I aspire
To match the spark of local fire,
That at my will burns on the dewy lawn,
With thy acknowledged glories;—No!
45
Yet, thus upbraided, I may show[308]
What favours do attend me here,
Till, like thyself, I disappear
Before the purple dawn."
When this in modest guise was said,
50
Across the welkin seemed to spread
A boding sound—for aught but sleep unfit!
Hills quaked, the rivers backward ran;
That Star, so proud of late, looked wan;
And reeled with visionary stir
55
In the blue depth, like Lucifer
Cast headlong to the pit!
Cast headlong to the pit!
Fire raged: and, when the spangled floor
Of ancient ether was no more,
New heavens succeeded, by the dream brought forth:
60
And all the happy Souls that rode
Transfigured through that fresh[309] abode
Had heretofore, in humble trust,
Shone meekly 'mid their native dust,
The Glow-worms of the earth!
65
This knowledge, from an Angel's voice
Proceeding, made the heart rejoice
Of Him who slept upon the open lea:
Waking at morn he murmured not;
And, till life's journey closed, the spot
70
Was to the Pilgrim's soul endeared,
Where by that[310] dream he had been cheered
Beneath the shady tree.

VARIANTS:

[302] 1820.

.    .    . Convent's roof;
But him the haughty Abbot spurned,
ms.
And from the sumptuous gate he turned

[303] 1820.

The heath or rocky holt might yield,
ms.
Or leafy .    .    .

[304] 1827.

1820.
And That whose radiance gleamed from far;
ms.
.    .    . streamed .    .    .

[305] 1845.

1820.
.    .    . the humbler Light

[306] 1820.

That now, while sleep to solemn Night
ms.
Was offering gifts of duteous sacrifice,

[307] 1827.

ms. and 1820.
Yet .    .    .

[308] 1827.

ms. and 1820.
But it behoves that thou shouldst know

[309] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . fair abode

[310] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . this .    .    .

FOOTNOTE:

[DB] Compare The Primrose of the Rock composed in 1831. The rock which the Wordsworth family were in the habit of calling "Glow-worm Rock" is on the right hand side of the road, as you ascend from Rydal, by the middle path, over White Moss Common to Grasmere.—Ed.

INSCRIPTIONS SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND IN AND NEAR A HERMIT'S CELL

1818

Composed 1818.—Published 1820

The five poems which follow were placed among the "Inscriptions," from 1820 onwards.—Ed.

I

"Hopes, what are they?—Beads of Morning"

Hopes, what are they?—Beads of morning
Strung on slender[311] blades of grass;
Or a spider's web adorning
In a strait and treacherous pass.[312]
5
What are fears but voices airy?
Whispering harm[313] where harm is not;
And deluding the unwary[314]
Till the fatal bolt is shot!
What is glory?—in the socket
10
See how dying tapers fare!
What is pride?—a whizzing rocket
That would emulate a star.
What is friendship?—do not trust her,
Nor the vows which she has made;
15
Diamonds dart their brightest lustre
From a palsy-shaken head.
What is truth?—a staff rejected;[315]
Duty?—an unwelcome clog;
Joy?—a moon by fits reflected[316]
20
In a swamp or watery bog;[317]
Bright, as if through ether steering,[318]
To the Traveller's eye it shone:
He hath hailed it re-appearing—
And as quickly it is gone;
25
Such is Joy—as quickly hidden,[319]
Or mis-shapen to the sight,
And by sullen weeds forbidden
To resume its native light.[320]
What is youth?—a dancing billow,
30
(Winds behind, and rocks before!)[321]
Age?—a drooping, tottering willow
On a flat and lazy shore.[322]
What is peace?—when pain is over,
And love ceases to rebel,
35
Let the last faint sigh discover
That precedes the passing knell!

Compare Carlyle's Cui Bono—

What is Hope? A smiling rainbow
Children follow through the wet;
'Tis not here, still yonder, yonder:
Never urchin found it yet.
What is Life? A thawing iceboard
On a sea with sunny shore;—
Gay we sail; it melts beneath us;
We are sunk, and seen no more.
What is Man? A foolish baby,
Vainly strives, and fights, and frets;
Demanding all, deserving nothing;—
One small grave is what he gets.

See his Miscellaneous Essays, vol. i. p. 352 (edition 1857).—Ed.

II

Inscribed upon a Rock

[The monument of ice here spoken of I observed while ascending the middle road of the three ways that lead from Rydal to Grasmere.[DC] It was on my right hand, and my eyes were upon it when it fell, as told in these lines.—I. F.]

Pause, Traveller! whosoe'er thou be
Whom chance may lead to this retreat,
Where silence yields reluctantly
Even to the fleecy straggler's bleat;
5
Give voice to what my hand shall trace,
And fear not lest an idle sound
Of words unsuited to the place
Disturb its solitude profound.
I saw this Rock, while vernal air
10
Blew softly o'er the russet heath,
Uphold a Monument as fair
As church or abbey furnisheth.
Unsullied did it meet the day,
Like marble, white, like ether, pure;
15
As if, beneath, some hero lay,
Honoured with costliest sepulture.
My fancy kindled as I gazed;
And, ever as the sun shone forth,
The flattered structure glistened, blazed,
20
And seemed the proudest thing on earth.
But frost had reared the gorgeous Pile
Unsound as those which Fortune builds—
To undermine with secret guile,
Sapped by the very beam that gilds.
25
And, while I gazed, with sudden shock
Fell the whole Fabric to the ground;
And naked left this dripping Rock,
With shapeless ruin spread around!

III

"Hast thou seen, with Flash incessant"

[Where the second quarry now is, as you pass from Rydal to Grasmere, there was formerly a length of smooth rock that sloped towards the road on the right hand. I used to call it Tadpole Slope, from having frequently observed there the water-bubbles gliding under the ice, exactly in the shape of that creature.—I. F.]

Hast thou seen, with flash incessant,[323]
Bubbles gliding under ice,
Bodied forth and evanescent,
No one knows by what device?
5
Such are thoughts!—a wind-swept meadow[324]
Mimicking a troubled sea,
Such is life; and death a shadow
From the rock eternity![325]

IV

Near the Spring of the Hermitage

Troubled long with warring notions
Long impatient of thy rod,
I resign my soul's emotions
Unto Thee, mysterious God!
5
What avails the kindly shelter
Yielded by this craggy rent,
If my spirit toss and welter
On the waves of discontent?
Parching Summer hath no warrant
10
To consume this crystal Well;
Rains, that make each rill a torrent,
Neither sully it nor swell.
Thus, dishonouring not her station,
Would my Life present to Thee,
15
Gracious God, the pure oblation
Of divine tranquillity!

It is impossible to say where the "spring of the Hermitage" was, or was supposed by Wordsworth to be. It may refer to some Rydalian retreat. There is no spring or "crystal well" on St. Herbert's Island, Derwentwater; but Inscription XIII. in the edition of 1820 is entitled "For the Spot where the Hermitage stood on St. Herbert's Island, Derwentwater."—Ed.

V

"Not seldom, clad in Radiant Vest"

Not seldom, clad in radiant vest,
Deceitfully goes forth the Morn;
Not seldom Evening in the west
Sinks smilingly forsworn.
5
The smoothest seas will sometimes prove,
To the confiding Bark, untrue;
And, if she trust the stars above,
They can be treacherous too.
The umbrageous Oak, in pomp outspread,
10
Full oft, when storms the welkin rend,
Draws lightning down upon the head
It promised to defend.
But Thou art true, incarnate Lord,
Who didst vouchsafe for man to die;
15
Thy smile is sure, thy plighted word
No change can falsify!
I bent before thy gracious throne,
And asked for peace on suppliant knee;[326]
And peace was given,—nor peace alone,
20
But faith sublimed to ecstasy![327]

VARIANTS:

[311] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . tender .    .    .

[312] 1820.

ms.
In some strait and dangerous pass.

[313] 1820.

ms.
Haunting Man .    .    .

[314] 1820.

ms.
But when danger meets the unwary

[315] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . a pearl rejected;

[316] 1827.

1820.
Joy?—a dazzling moon reflected

[317] 1820.

ms.
.    .    . plashing bog;

[318] 1820.

c.
Bright, and in a moment hidden,

[319] 1837.

1820.
Gone, as if for ever hidden,

[320] 1820.

Bright, as if through ether steering,
Not a moment past it shone;
Can we trust its re-appearing?
ms.
No, 'tis dim, mis-shapen, gone.
c.
.    .    . its dazzling light.

[321] 1820.

.    .    . a sparkling billow
ms.
Shaped and instantly no more;

[322] 1820.

ms.
On a melancholy shore.

[323] 1820.
4 vol. edition.

1820.
.    .    . with train incessant,
1 vol. edition.

[324] 1820.

ms.
See yon undulating meadow

[325] In a MS. this stanza follows the second last one in the Inscription beginning, "Hopes, what are they?"

[326] 1827.

1820.
.    .    . with suppliant knee;

[327] 1827.

1820.
But faith, and hope, and extacy!

FOOTNOTE:

[DC] And therefore not far from the Glow-worm Rock, if not upon it. See the note to The Pilgrim's Dream, p. 167.—Ed.

COMPOSED UPON AN EVENING OF EXTRAORDINARY
SPLENDOUR AND BEAUTY[DD]

Composed 1818.—Published 1820

[Felt, and in a great measure composed, upon the little mount in front of our abode at Rydal. In concluding my notices of this class of poems, it may be as well to observe that among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets" are a few alluding to morning impressions, which might be read with mutual benefit, in connection with these "Evening Voluntaries." See, for example, that one on Westminster Bridge, that composed on a May Morning, the one on the Song of the Thrush, and that beginning—"While beams of orient light shoot wide and high."—I. F.]

In 1820 this was one of the "Poems of the Imagination." In 1837 it was transferred to the "Evening Voluntaries."—Ed.

I

Had this effulgence disappeared
With flying haste, I might have sent,
Among the speechless clouds, a look
Of blank astonishment;
5
But 'tis endued with power to stay,
And sanctify[328] one closing day,
That frail Mortality may see—
What is?—ah no, but what can be!
Time was when field and watery cove
10
With modulated echoes rang,
While choirs of fervent Angels sang
Their vespers in the grove;[329]
Or, crowning, star-like, each some sovereign height,[330]
Warbled, for heaven above and earth below,
15
Strains, suitable to both.—Such holy rite,
Methinks, if audibly repeated now
From hill or valley, could not move[331]
Sublimer transport, purer[332] love,
Than doth this silent spectacle—the gleam—
20
The shadow—and the peace supreme!

II