507) beginning:
'Our childhood sits.
'Our childhood sits.
William Wordsworth
but thou art good; So 80
Thine eyes are on me--they would speak,
I think, to help me if they could. [11]
Blessings upon that soft, warm face, [12]
My heart again is in its place!
VIII
"While thou art mine, my little Love, 85
This cannot be a sorrowful grove;
Contentment, hope, and mother's glee, [13]
I seem to find them all in thee: [14]
Here's grass to play with, here are flowers;
I'll call thee by my darling's name; 90
Thou hast, I think, a look of ours,
Thy features seem to me the same;
His little sister thou shalt be;
And, when once more my home I see,
I'll tell him many tales of Thee. " 95
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
This Mother . . . MS. ]
[Variant 2:
1845.
. . . English . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 3:
1827.
. . . did . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 4:
1845.
Once did I see her clasp the Child about,
And take it to herself; and I, next day,
Wish'd in my native tongue to fashion out
Such things as she unto this Child might say: 1807.
Once did I see her take with fond embrace
This Infant to herself; and I, next day,
Endeavoured in my native tongue to trace
Such things as she unto the Child might say: 1820.
Once, having seen her take with fond embrace
This Infant to herself, I framed a lay,
Endeavouring, in my native tongue, to trace 1827. ]
[Variant 5:
1845.
And thus, from what I knew, had heard, and guess'd, 1807. ]
[Variant 6:
1820.
'Tis gone--forgotten--let me do
My best--there was a smile or two, 1807. ]
[Variant 7:
1827.
. . . sweet . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 8:
1836.
For they confound me: as it is,
I have forgot those smiles of his. 1807.
For they bewilder me--even now
_His_ smiles are lost,--I know not how! 1820.
By those bewildering glances crost
In which the light of his is lost. [a] 1827. ]
[Variant 9:
1827.
From France across the Ocean came; 1807. ]
[Variant 10:
1845.
My Darling, she is not to me
What thou art! though I love her well: 1807.
But to my heart she cannot be 1836. ]
[Variant 11:
1807.
And I grow happy while I speak,
Kiss, kiss me, Baby, thou art good. MS. ]
[Variant 12:
1820.
. . . that quiet face, 1807. ]
[Variant 13:
1807.
A Joy, a Comforter thou art;
Sunshine and pleasure to my heart;
And love and hope and mother's glee, MS. ]
[Variant 14:
1807.
My yearnings are allayed by thee,
My heaviness is turned to glee. MS. ]
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: In a letter to Barron Field (24th Oct. 1828),
Wordsworth says that his substitution of the text of 1827 for that of
1807, was due to the objections of Coleridge. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
TO THE CUCKOO
Composed 1802. --Published 1807
[Composed in the Orchard at Town-end, 1804. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems of the Imagination. "--Ed.
O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice? [A]
While I am lying on the grass 5
Thy twofold shout I hear,
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near. [1]
Though babbling only to the Vale,
Of sunshine and of flowers, 10
Thou bringest unto me a tale [2]
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing, [3] 15
A voice, a mystery;
The same whom in my school-boy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky. 20
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.
And I can listen to thee yet; 25
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be 30
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1845.
While I am lying on the grass,
I hear thy restless shout:
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
About, and all about! 1807.
Thy loud note smites my ear! --
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near! 1815.
Thy loud note smites my ear!
It seems to fill the whole air's space,
At once far off and near! 1820.
Thy twofold shout I hear,
That seems to fill the whole air's space,
As loud far off as near. [a] 1827. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
To me, no Babbler with a tale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou tellest, Cuckoo! in the vale 1807.
I hear thee babbling to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers;
And unto me thou bring'st a tale 1815.
But unto me . . . . 1820. ]
[Variant 3:
1836.
No Bird; but an invisible Thing, 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A:
"_Vox et praterea nihil_. See Lipsius 'of the Nightingale. '"
Barron Field. --Ed.
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: Barron Field remonstrated with Wordsworth about this
reading, and he agreed to restore that of 1820; saying, at the same
time, that he had "made the change to record a fact observed by
himself. "--Ed. ]
In the chronological lists of his poems, published in 1815 and 1820,
Wordsworth left a blank opposite this one, in the column containing the
year of composition. From 1836 to 1849, the date assigned by him was
1804. But in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal the following occurs under
date Tuesday, 22nd March 1802:
"A mild morning. William worked at the Cuckoo poem. . . . At the closing
in of day, went to sit in the orchard. William came to me, and walked
backwards and forwards. W. repeated the poem to me. I left him there;
and in 20 minutes he came in, rather tired with attempting to write. "
"Friday (March 25). --A beautiful morning. William worked at 'The
Cuckoo'. "
It is therefore evident that it belongs to the year 1802; although it
may have been altered and readjusted in 1804. The connection of the
seventh stanza of this poem with the first of that which follows it, "My
heart leaps up," etc. , and of both with the 'Ode, Intimations of
Immortality' (vol. viii. ), is obvious. --Ed.
* * * * *
"MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD"
Composed March 26, 1802. --Published 1807
[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood. " In 1807 it was
No. 4 of the series called "Moods of my own Mind. "--Ed.
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old, 5
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man; [A]
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: Compare Milton's phrase in 'Paradise Regained' (book iv. l.
220):
'The childhood shews the man,
As morning shews the day. '
Dryden's 'All for Love', act IV. scene I:
'Men are but children of a larger growth. '
And Pope's 'Essay on Man', Ep. iv. l. 175:
'The boy and man an individual makes. '
Also Chatterton's 'Fragment' (Aldine edition, vol. 1. p. 132):
'Nature in the infant marked the man. '
Ed. ]
"March 26, 1802. --While I was getting into bed he" (W. ) "wrote 'The
Rainbow. '"
"May 14th. --. . . William very nervous. After he was in bed, haunted
with altering 'The Rainbow. '"
(Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal. ) This poem was known familiarly
in the household as "The Rainbow," although not printed under that
title. The text was never changed.
In 'The Friend', vol. i. p. 58 (ed. 1818), Coleridge writes:
"Men laugh at the falsehoods imposed on them during their childhood,
because they are not good and wise enough to contemplate the past in
the present, and so to produce that continuity in their
self-consciousness, which Nature has made the law of their animal
life. Men are ungrateful to others, only when they have ceased to look
back on their former selves with joy and tenderness. They exist in
fragments. "
He then quotes the above poem, and adds:
"I am informed that these lines have been cited as a specimen of
despicable puerility. So much the worse for the citer; not willingly
in _his_ presence would I behold the sun setting behind our
mountains. . . . But let the dead bury their dead! The poet sang for the
living. . . . I was always pleased with the motto placed under the figure
of the rosemary in old herbals:
'Sus, apage! Haud tibi spiro. '"
Compare the passage in 'The Excursion' (book ix. l. 36) beginning:
'. . . Ah! why in age
Do we revert so fondly, etc. '
also that in 'The Prelude' (book v. l.
507) beginning:
'Our childhood sits. '
* * * * *
WRITTEN IN MARCH, WHILE RESTING ON THE BRIDGE AT THE FOOT OF BROTHERS
WATER
Composed April 16, 1802. --Published 1807
[Extempore. This little poem was a favourite with Joanna Baillie. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems of the Imagination. "--Ed.
The Cock is crowing,
The stream is flowing,
The small birds twitter,
The lake doth glitter,
The green field sleeps in the sun; 5
The oldest and youngest
Are at work with the strongest;
The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising;
There are forty feeding like one! 10
Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill
On the top of the bare hill;
The Ploughboy is whooping--anon--anon: [A] 15
There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;
The rain is over and gone! 20
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: This line was an afterthought. --Ed. ]
The text of this poem was never altered. It was not "written in March"
(as the title states), but on the 16th of April (Good Friday) 1802. The
bridge referred to crosses Goldrill Beck, a little below Hartsop in
Patterdale. The following, from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, records
the walk from Ullswater, over Kirkstone Pass, to Ambleside:
"Friday, 16th April (Good Friday). --. . . When we came to the foot of
Brothers Water, I left William sitting on the bridge, and went along
the path on the right side of the lake through the wood. I was
delighted with what I saw: the water under the boughs of the bare old
trees, the simplicity of the mountains, and the exquisite beauty of
the path. There was one grey cottage. I repeated 'The Glowworm' as I
walked along. I hung over the gate, and thought I could have stayed
for ever. When I returned, I found William writing a poem descriptive
of the sights and sounds we saw and heard. There was the gentle
flowing of the stream, the glittering lively lake, green fields,
without a living creature to be seen on them; behind us, a flat
pasture with forty-two cattle feeding; to our left, the road leading
to the hamlet. No smoke there, the sun shone on the bare roofs. The
people were at work, ploughing, harrowing, and sowing; lasses working;
a dog barking now and then; cocks crowing, birds twittering; the snow
in patches at the top of the highest hills; yellow palms, purple and
green twigs on the birches, ashes with their glittering stems quite
bare. The hawthorn a bright green, with black stems under the oak. The
moss of the oaks glossy. . . . As we went up the vale of Brothers Water,
more and more cattle feeding, a hundred of them. William finished his
poem before we got to the foot of Kirkstone. There were hundreds of
cattle in the vale. . . . The walk up Kirkstone was very interesting. The
becks among the rocks were all alive. William shewed me the little
mossy streamlet which he had before loved, when he saw its bright
green track in the snow. The view above Ambleside very beautiful.
There we sate, and looked down on the green vale. We watched the crows
at a little distance from us become white as silver, as they flew in
the sunshine; and, when they went still farther, they looked like
shapes of water passing over the green fields. "
Ed.
* * * * *
THE REDBREAST CHASING THE BUTTERFLY [A]
Composed April 18, 1802. --Published 1807
[Observed, as described, in the then beautiful orchard, Town-end,
Grasmere. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems of the Fancy. "
In some editions this poem is assigned to the year 1806; but, in Dorothy
Wordsworth's Journal the following occurs, under date "Sunday, 18th"
(April 1802):
"A mild grey morning with rising vapours. We sate in the orchard.
William wrote the poem on the Robin and the Butterfly. . . . W. met me at
Rydal with the conclusion of the poem to the Robin. I read it to him
in bed. We left out some lines. "
Ed.
Art thou the bird whom Man loves best,
The pious bird [B] with the scarlet breast,
Our little English Robin;
The bird that comes about our doors
When Autumn-winds are sobbing? 5
Art thou the Peter of Norway Boors?
Their Thomas in Finland,
And Russia far inland?
The bird, that [1] by some name or other
All men who know thee call their brother, 10
The darling of children and men?
Could Father Adam [C] open his eyes
And see this sight beneath the skies,
He'd wish to close them again.
--If the Butterfly knew but his friend, 15
Hither his flight he would bend;
And find his way to me,
Under the branches of the tree:
In and out, he darts about;
Can this be the bird, to man so good, 20
That, after their bewildering, [2]
Covered [3] with leaves the little children,
So painfully in the wood?
What ailed thee, Robin, that thou could'st pursue
A beautiful creature, 25
That is gentle by nature?
Beneath the summer sky
From flower to flower let him fly;
'Tis all that he wishes to do.
The cheerer Thou of our in-door sadness, 30
He is the friend of our summer gladness:
What hinders, then, that ye should be
Playmates in the sunny weather,
And fly about in the air together!
His beautiful wings in crimson are drest, 35
A crimson as bright as thine own: [4]
Would'st thou be [5] happy in thy nest,
O pious Bird! whom man loves best,
Love him, or leave him alone!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1849.
. . . whom . . . 1807.
. . . who . . . 1827. ]
[Variant 2:
1815.
In and out, he darts about;
His little heart is throbbing:
Can this be the Bird, to man so good,
Our consecrated Robin!
That, after . . . 1807.
. . . Robin! Robin!
His little heart is throbbing;
Can this . . . MS. ]
[Variant 3:
1832.
Did cover . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 4:
1815.
. . . Like thine own breast
His beautiful wings in crimson are drest,
As if he were bone of thy bone. MS.
Like the hues of thy breast
His beautiful wings in crimson are drest,
A brother he seems of thine own: 1807.
. . . in the air together!
His beautiful bosom is drest,
In crimson as bright as thine own: 1832.
The edition of 1836 resumes the text of 1815. ]
[Variant 5:
1836.
If thou would'st be . . . 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: The title, in the editions 1807 to 1820, was 'The Redbreast
and the Butterfly'. In the editions 1827 to 1843 it was 'The Redbreast
and Butterfly'. The final title was given in 1845. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: Compare Cowley:
'And Robin Redbreasts whom men praise,
For pious birds. '
Ed. ]
[Footnote C: See 'Paradise Lost', book XI. , where Adam points out to Eve
the ominous sign of the Eagle chasing "two Birds of gayest plume," and
the gentle Hart and Hind pursued by their enemy. --W. W. 1815.
The passage in book XI. of 'Paradise Lost' includes lines 185-90. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
TO A BUTTERFLY (#2)
Composed April 20, 1802. --Published 1807
[Written at the same time and place. The Orchard, Grasmere Town-end,
1801. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems founded on the Affections. "--Ed.
I've watch'd you now a full [1] half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! --not frozen seas 5
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours; 10
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary! [2]
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough! 15
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . short . . . 1836.
The text of 1845 reverts to the reading of 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1815.
Stop here whenever you are weary,
And rest as in a sanctuary! 1807.
And feed . . . MS. ]
Wordsworth's date, as given to Miss Fenwick, is incorrect. In her
Journal, April 20, 1802, Dorothy Wordsworth writes:
"William wrote a conclusion to the poem of 'The Butterfly', 'I've
watch'd you now a full half-hour. '"
This, and the structure of the two poems, makes it probable that the
latter was originally meant to be a sort of conclusion to the former (p.
283); but they were always printed as separate poems.
Many of the "flowers" in the orchard at Dove Cottage were planted by
Dorothy Wordsworth, and some of the "trees" by William. The "summer
days" of childhood are referred to in the previous poem, 'To a
Butterfly', written on the 14th of March 1802. --Ed.
* * * * *
FORESIGHT
Composed April 28, 1802. --Published 1807
[Also composed in the Orchard, Town-end, Grasmere. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood. "--Ed.
That is work of waste and ruin--[1]
Do as Charles and I are doing!
Strawberry-blossoms, one and all,
We must spare them--here are many:
Look at it--the flower is small, 5
Small and low, though fair as any:
Do not touch it! summers two
I am older, Anne, than you.
Pull the primrose, sister Anne!
Pull as many as you can. 10
--Here are daisies, take your fill;
Pansies, and the cuckoo-flower:
Of the lofty daffodil
Make your bed, or [2] make your bower;
Fill your lap, and fill your bosom; 15
Only spare the strawberry-blossom!
Primroses, the Spring may love them--
Summer knows but little of them:
Violets, a barren kind,
Withered on the ground must lie; 20
Daisies leave no fruit behind
When the pretty flowerets die;
Pluck them, and another year
As many will be blowing here. [3]
God has given a kindlier power [4] 25
To the favoured strawberry-flower.
Hither soon as spring is fled
You and Charles and I will walk; [5]
Lurking berries, ripe and red,
Then will hang on every stalk, 30
Each within its leafy bower;
And for that promise spare the flower!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1815.
That is work which I am rueing--1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1836.
. . . and . .
Thine eyes are on me--they would speak,
I think, to help me if they could. [11]
Blessings upon that soft, warm face, [12]
My heart again is in its place!
VIII
"While thou art mine, my little Love, 85
This cannot be a sorrowful grove;
Contentment, hope, and mother's glee, [13]
I seem to find them all in thee: [14]
Here's grass to play with, here are flowers;
I'll call thee by my darling's name; 90
Thou hast, I think, a look of ours,
Thy features seem to me the same;
His little sister thou shalt be;
And, when once more my home I see,
I'll tell him many tales of Thee. " 95
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
This Mother . . . MS. ]
[Variant 2:
1845.
. . . English . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 3:
1827.
. . . did . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 4:
1845.
Once did I see her clasp the Child about,
And take it to herself; and I, next day,
Wish'd in my native tongue to fashion out
Such things as she unto this Child might say: 1807.
Once did I see her take with fond embrace
This Infant to herself; and I, next day,
Endeavoured in my native tongue to trace
Such things as she unto the Child might say: 1820.
Once, having seen her take with fond embrace
This Infant to herself, I framed a lay,
Endeavouring, in my native tongue, to trace 1827. ]
[Variant 5:
1845.
And thus, from what I knew, had heard, and guess'd, 1807. ]
[Variant 6:
1820.
'Tis gone--forgotten--let me do
My best--there was a smile or two, 1807. ]
[Variant 7:
1827.
. . . sweet . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 8:
1836.
For they confound me: as it is,
I have forgot those smiles of his. 1807.
For they bewilder me--even now
_His_ smiles are lost,--I know not how! 1820.
By those bewildering glances crost
In which the light of his is lost. [a] 1827. ]
[Variant 9:
1827.
From France across the Ocean came; 1807. ]
[Variant 10:
1845.
My Darling, she is not to me
What thou art! though I love her well: 1807.
But to my heart she cannot be 1836. ]
[Variant 11:
1807.
And I grow happy while I speak,
Kiss, kiss me, Baby, thou art good. MS. ]
[Variant 12:
1820.
. . . that quiet face, 1807. ]
[Variant 13:
1807.
A Joy, a Comforter thou art;
Sunshine and pleasure to my heart;
And love and hope and mother's glee, MS. ]
[Variant 14:
1807.
My yearnings are allayed by thee,
My heaviness is turned to glee. MS. ]
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: In a letter to Barron Field (24th Oct. 1828),
Wordsworth says that his substitution of the text of 1827 for that of
1807, was due to the objections of Coleridge. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
TO THE CUCKOO
Composed 1802. --Published 1807
[Composed in the Orchard at Town-end, 1804. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems of the Imagination. "--Ed.
O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice? [A]
While I am lying on the grass 5
Thy twofold shout I hear,
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near. [1]
Though babbling only to the Vale,
Of sunshine and of flowers, 10
Thou bringest unto me a tale [2]
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing, [3] 15
A voice, a mystery;
The same whom in my school-boy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky. 20
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.
And I can listen to thee yet; 25
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be 30
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1845.
While I am lying on the grass,
I hear thy restless shout:
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
About, and all about! 1807.
Thy loud note smites my ear! --
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near! 1815.
Thy loud note smites my ear!
It seems to fill the whole air's space,
At once far off and near! 1820.
Thy twofold shout I hear,
That seems to fill the whole air's space,
As loud far off as near. [a] 1827. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
To me, no Babbler with a tale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou tellest, Cuckoo! in the vale 1807.
I hear thee babbling to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers;
And unto me thou bring'st a tale 1815.
But unto me . . . . 1820. ]
[Variant 3:
1836.
No Bird; but an invisible Thing, 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A:
"_Vox et praterea nihil_. See Lipsius 'of the Nightingale. '"
Barron Field. --Ed.
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: Barron Field remonstrated with Wordsworth about this
reading, and he agreed to restore that of 1820; saying, at the same
time, that he had "made the change to record a fact observed by
himself. "--Ed. ]
In the chronological lists of his poems, published in 1815 and 1820,
Wordsworth left a blank opposite this one, in the column containing the
year of composition. From 1836 to 1849, the date assigned by him was
1804. But in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal the following occurs under
date Tuesday, 22nd March 1802:
"A mild morning. William worked at the Cuckoo poem. . . . At the closing
in of day, went to sit in the orchard. William came to me, and walked
backwards and forwards. W. repeated the poem to me. I left him there;
and in 20 minutes he came in, rather tired with attempting to write. "
"Friday (March 25). --A beautiful morning. William worked at 'The
Cuckoo'. "
It is therefore evident that it belongs to the year 1802; although it
may have been altered and readjusted in 1804. The connection of the
seventh stanza of this poem with the first of that which follows it, "My
heart leaps up," etc. , and of both with the 'Ode, Intimations of
Immortality' (vol. viii. ), is obvious. --Ed.
* * * * *
"MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD"
Composed March 26, 1802. --Published 1807
[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood. " In 1807 it was
No. 4 of the series called "Moods of my own Mind. "--Ed.
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old, 5
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man; [A]
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: Compare Milton's phrase in 'Paradise Regained' (book iv. l.
220):
'The childhood shews the man,
As morning shews the day. '
Dryden's 'All for Love', act IV. scene I:
'Men are but children of a larger growth. '
And Pope's 'Essay on Man', Ep. iv. l. 175:
'The boy and man an individual makes. '
Also Chatterton's 'Fragment' (Aldine edition, vol. 1. p. 132):
'Nature in the infant marked the man. '
Ed. ]
"March 26, 1802. --While I was getting into bed he" (W. ) "wrote 'The
Rainbow. '"
"May 14th. --. . . William very nervous. After he was in bed, haunted
with altering 'The Rainbow. '"
(Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal. ) This poem was known familiarly
in the household as "The Rainbow," although not printed under that
title. The text was never changed.
In 'The Friend', vol. i. p. 58 (ed. 1818), Coleridge writes:
"Men laugh at the falsehoods imposed on them during their childhood,
because they are not good and wise enough to contemplate the past in
the present, and so to produce that continuity in their
self-consciousness, which Nature has made the law of their animal
life. Men are ungrateful to others, only when they have ceased to look
back on their former selves with joy and tenderness. They exist in
fragments. "
He then quotes the above poem, and adds:
"I am informed that these lines have been cited as a specimen of
despicable puerility. So much the worse for the citer; not willingly
in _his_ presence would I behold the sun setting behind our
mountains. . . . But let the dead bury their dead! The poet sang for the
living. . . . I was always pleased with the motto placed under the figure
of the rosemary in old herbals:
'Sus, apage! Haud tibi spiro. '"
Compare the passage in 'The Excursion' (book ix. l. 36) beginning:
'. . . Ah! why in age
Do we revert so fondly, etc. '
also that in 'The Prelude' (book v. l.
507) beginning:
'Our childhood sits. '
* * * * *
WRITTEN IN MARCH, WHILE RESTING ON THE BRIDGE AT THE FOOT OF BROTHERS
WATER
Composed April 16, 1802. --Published 1807
[Extempore. This little poem was a favourite with Joanna Baillie. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems of the Imagination. "--Ed.
The Cock is crowing,
The stream is flowing,
The small birds twitter,
The lake doth glitter,
The green field sleeps in the sun; 5
The oldest and youngest
Are at work with the strongest;
The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising;
There are forty feeding like one! 10
Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill
On the top of the bare hill;
The Ploughboy is whooping--anon--anon: [A] 15
There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;
The rain is over and gone! 20
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: This line was an afterthought. --Ed. ]
The text of this poem was never altered. It was not "written in March"
(as the title states), but on the 16th of April (Good Friday) 1802. The
bridge referred to crosses Goldrill Beck, a little below Hartsop in
Patterdale. The following, from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, records
the walk from Ullswater, over Kirkstone Pass, to Ambleside:
"Friday, 16th April (Good Friday). --. . . When we came to the foot of
Brothers Water, I left William sitting on the bridge, and went along
the path on the right side of the lake through the wood. I was
delighted with what I saw: the water under the boughs of the bare old
trees, the simplicity of the mountains, and the exquisite beauty of
the path. There was one grey cottage. I repeated 'The Glowworm' as I
walked along. I hung over the gate, and thought I could have stayed
for ever. When I returned, I found William writing a poem descriptive
of the sights and sounds we saw and heard. There was the gentle
flowing of the stream, the glittering lively lake, green fields,
without a living creature to be seen on them; behind us, a flat
pasture with forty-two cattle feeding; to our left, the road leading
to the hamlet. No smoke there, the sun shone on the bare roofs. The
people were at work, ploughing, harrowing, and sowing; lasses working;
a dog barking now and then; cocks crowing, birds twittering; the snow
in patches at the top of the highest hills; yellow palms, purple and
green twigs on the birches, ashes with their glittering stems quite
bare. The hawthorn a bright green, with black stems under the oak. The
moss of the oaks glossy. . . . As we went up the vale of Brothers Water,
more and more cattle feeding, a hundred of them. William finished his
poem before we got to the foot of Kirkstone. There were hundreds of
cattle in the vale. . . . The walk up Kirkstone was very interesting. The
becks among the rocks were all alive. William shewed me the little
mossy streamlet which he had before loved, when he saw its bright
green track in the snow. The view above Ambleside very beautiful.
There we sate, and looked down on the green vale. We watched the crows
at a little distance from us become white as silver, as they flew in
the sunshine; and, when they went still farther, they looked like
shapes of water passing over the green fields. "
Ed.
* * * * *
THE REDBREAST CHASING THE BUTTERFLY [A]
Composed April 18, 1802. --Published 1807
[Observed, as described, in the then beautiful orchard, Town-end,
Grasmere. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems of the Fancy. "
In some editions this poem is assigned to the year 1806; but, in Dorothy
Wordsworth's Journal the following occurs, under date "Sunday, 18th"
(April 1802):
"A mild grey morning with rising vapours. We sate in the orchard.
William wrote the poem on the Robin and the Butterfly. . . . W. met me at
Rydal with the conclusion of the poem to the Robin. I read it to him
in bed. We left out some lines. "
Ed.
Art thou the bird whom Man loves best,
The pious bird [B] with the scarlet breast,
Our little English Robin;
The bird that comes about our doors
When Autumn-winds are sobbing? 5
Art thou the Peter of Norway Boors?
Their Thomas in Finland,
And Russia far inland?
The bird, that [1] by some name or other
All men who know thee call their brother, 10
The darling of children and men?
Could Father Adam [C] open his eyes
And see this sight beneath the skies,
He'd wish to close them again.
--If the Butterfly knew but his friend, 15
Hither his flight he would bend;
And find his way to me,
Under the branches of the tree:
In and out, he darts about;
Can this be the bird, to man so good, 20
That, after their bewildering, [2]
Covered [3] with leaves the little children,
So painfully in the wood?
What ailed thee, Robin, that thou could'st pursue
A beautiful creature, 25
That is gentle by nature?
Beneath the summer sky
From flower to flower let him fly;
'Tis all that he wishes to do.
The cheerer Thou of our in-door sadness, 30
He is the friend of our summer gladness:
What hinders, then, that ye should be
Playmates in the sunny weather,
And fly about in the air together!
His beautiful wings in crimson are drest, 35
A crimson as bright as thine own: [4]
Would'st thou be [5] happy in thy nest,
O pious Bird! whom man loves best,
Love him, or leave him alone!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1849.
. . . whom . . . 1807.
. . . who . . . 1827. ]
[Variant 2:
1815.
In and out, he darts about;
His little heart is throbbing:
Can this be the Bird, to man so good,
Our consecrated Robin!
That, after . . . 1807.
. . . Robin! Robin!
His little heart is throbbing;
Can this . . . MS. ]
[Variant 3:
1832.
Did cover . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 4:
1815.
. . . Like thine own breast
His beautiful wings in crimson are drest,
As if he were bone of thy bone. MS.
Like the hues of thy breast
His beautiful wings in crimson are drest,
A brother he seems of thine own: 1807.
. . . in the air together!
His beautiful bosom is drest,
In crimson as bright as thine own: 1832.
The edition of 1836 resumes the text of 1815. ]
[Variant 5:
1836.
If thou would'st be . . . 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: The title, in the editions 1807 to 1820, was 'The Redbreast
and the Butterfly'. In the editions 1827 to 1843 it was 'The Redbreast
and Butterfly'. The final title was given in 1845. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: Compare Cowley:
'And Robin Redbreasts whom men praise,
For pious birds. '
Ed. ]
[Footnote C: See 'Paradise Lost', book XI. , where Adam points out to Eve
the ominous sign of the Eagle chasing "two Birds of gayest plume," and
the gentle Hart and Hind pursued by their enemy. --W. W. 1815.
The passage in book XI. of 'Paradise Lost' includes lines 185-90. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
TO A BUTTERFLY (#2)
Composed April 20, 1802. --Published 1807
[Written at the same time and place. The Orchard, Grasmere Town-end,
1801. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems founded on the Affections. "--Ed.
I've watch'd you now a full [1] half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! --not frozen seas 5
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours; 10
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary! [2]
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough! 15
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . short . . . 1836.
The text of 1845 reverts to the reading of 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1815.
Stop here whenever you are weary,
And rest as in a sanctuary! 1807.
And feed . . . MS. ]
Wordsworth's date, as given to Miss Fenwick, is incorrect. In her
Journal, April 20, 1802, Dorothy Wordsworth writes:
"William wrote a conclusion to the poem of 'The Butterfly', 'I've
watch'd you now a full half-hour. '"
This, and the structure of the two poems, makes it probable that the
latter was originally meant to be a sort of conclusion to the former (p.
283); but they were always printed as separate poems.
Many of the "flowers" in the orchard at Dove Cottage were planted by
Dorothy Wordsworth, and some of the "trees" by William. The "summer
days" of childhood are referred to in the previous poem, 'To a
Butterfly', written on the 14th of March 1802. --Ed.
* * * * *
FORESIGHT
Composed April 28, 1802. --Published 1807
[Also composed in the Orchard, Town-end, Grasmere. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood. "--Ed.
That is work of waste and ruin--[1]
Do as Charles and I are doing!
Strawberry-blossoms, one and all,
We must spare them--here are many:
Look at it--the flower is small, 5
Small and low, though fair as any:
Do not touch it! summers two
I am older, Anne, than you.
Pull the primrose, sister Anne!
Pull as many as you can. 10
--Here are daisies, take your fill;
Pansies, and the cuckoo-flower:
Of the lofty daffodil
Make your bed, or [2] make your bower;
Fill your lap, and fill your bosom; 15
Only spare the strawberry-blossom!
Primroses, the Spring may love them--
Summer knows but little of them:
Violets, a barren kind,
Withered on the ground must lie; 20
Daisies leave no fruit behind
When the pretty flowerets die;
Pluck them, and another year
As many will be blowing here. [3]
God has given a kindlier power [4] 25
To the favoured strawberry-flower.
Hither soon as spring is fled
You and Charles and I will walk; [5]
Lurking berries, ripe and red,
Then will hang on every stalk, 30
Each within its leafy bower;
And for that promise spare the flower!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1815.
That is work which I am rueing--1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1836.
. . . and . .
