I cannot express to you the
enchanting effect produced by this Arabian scene of colour as the wind
blew aside the great waterfall behind which we stood, and alternately
hid and revealed each of these fairy cataracts in irregular
succession, or displayed them with various gradations of distinctness
as the intervening spray was thickened or dispersed.
enchanting effect produced by this Arabian scene of colour as the wind
blew aside the great waterfall behind which we stood, and alternately
hid and revealed each of these fairy cataracts in irregular
succession, or displayed them with various gradations of distinctness
as the intervening spray was thickened or dispersed.
William Wordsworth
--Ed.
]
[Footnote B:
"The tall aspiring Gordonia lacianthus . . . gradually changing colour,
from green to golden yellow, from that to a scarlet, from scarlet to
crimson, and lastly to a brownish purple, . . . so that it may be said
to change and renew its garments every morning throughout the year. "
See 'Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida,
the Cherokee Country', etc. , by William Bartram (1791), pp. 159,
160. --Ed. ]
[Footnote C:
"Its thick foliage of a dark green colour is flowered over with large
milk-white, fragrant blossoms, . . . renewed every morning, and that in
such incredible profusion that the tree appears silvered over with
them, and the ground beneath covered with the fallen flowers. It, at
the same time, continually pushes forth new twigs, with young buds on
them. "
(Bartram's 'Travels', etc. , p. 159. )--Ed. ]
[Footnote D: Magnolia grandiflora. --W. W. 1800; and Bartram's 'Travels',
p. 8. --Ed. ]
[Footnote E:
"The Cypressus distichia stands in the first order of North American
trees. Its majestic stature, lifting its cumbrous top towards the
skies, and casting a wide shade upon the ground, as a dark intervening
cloud," etc.
(Bartram's 'Travels', p. 88). --Ed. ]
[Footnote F: The splendid appearance of these scarlet flowers, which are
scattered with such profusion over the Hills in the Southern parts of
North America is frequently mentioned by Bartram in his 'Travels'. --W.
W. 1800. ]
[Footnote G: Mr. Ernest Coleridge tells me he
"has traced, to a note-book of Coleridge's in the British Museum, the
source from which Wordsworth derived his description of Georgian
scenery in 'Ruth'. He does, I know, refer to Bartram, but the whole
passage is a poetical rendering, and a pretty close one, of Bartram's
poetical narrative. I have a portrait--the frontispiece of Bartram's
'Travels'--of Mico Chlucco, king of the Seminoles, whose feathers nod
in the breeze just as did the military casque of the 'youth from
Georgia's shore. '"
Ed. ]
[Footnote H:
"North and south almost endless green plains and meadows, embellished
with islets and projecting promontories of high dark forests, where
the pyramidal Magnolia grandiflora . . . conspicuously towers. "
(Bartram's 'Travels', p. 145). --Ed. ]
[Footnote I: The Tone is a River of Somersetshire, at no great distance
from the Quantock Hills. These Hills, which are alluded to a few stanzas
below, are extremely beautiful, and in most places richly covered with
Coppice woods. W. W. 1800. ]
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: The edition of 1805 substitutes the stanzas beginning,
'It was a fresh and glorious world'
for stanzas 2, 3, and 4 of the above six in this note, but it inserts
these omitted stanzas later on as Nos. 27, 28, 29. --Ed. ]
[Sub-Footnote b: Wordsworth wrote to Barren Field in 1828 that this stanza
"was altered, Lamb having observed that it was not English. I like it
better myself;'
(i. e. the version of 1800)
"but certainly to carouse cups--that is to empty them--is the genuine
English. "
Ed. ]
* * * * *
1800
Towards the close of December 1799, Wordsworth came to live at Dove
Cottage, Town-end, Grasmere. The poems written during the following year
(1800), are more particularly associated with that district of the
Lakes. Two of them were fragments of a canto of 'The Recluse', entitled
"Home at Grasmere," referring to his settlement at Dove Cottage. Others,
such as 'Michael', and 'The Brothers'--classed by him afterwards among
the "Poems founded on the Affections,"--deal with incidents in the rural
life of the dalesmen of Westmoreland and Cumberland. Most of the "Poems
on the Naming of Places" were written during this year; and the "Places"
are all in the neighbourhood of Grasmere. To these were added several
"Pastoral Poems"--such as 'The Idle Shepherd Boys; or, Dungeon-Ghyll
Force'--sundry "Poems of the Fancy," and one or two "Inscriptions. " In
all, twenty-five poems were written in the year 1800; and, with the
exception of the two fragments of 'The Recluse', they were published
during the same year in the second volume of the second edition of
"Lyrical Ballads. " It is impossible to fix the precise date of the
composition of the fragments of 'The Recluse'; but, as they refer to the
settlement at Dove Cottage--where Wordsworth went to reside with his
sister, on the 21st of December 1799--they may fitly introduce the poems
belonging to the year 1800. They were first published in 1851 in the
'Memoirs of Wordsworth' (vol. i. pp. 157 and 155 respectively), by the
poet's nephew, the late Bishop of Lincoln. The entire canto of 'The
Recluse', entitled "Home at Grasmere," will be included in this edition.
The first two poems which follow, as belonging to the year 1800, are
parts of 'The Recluse', viz. "On Nature's invitation do I come," (which
is ll. 71-97, and 110-125), and "Bleak season was it, turbulent and
bleak," (which is ll. 152-167). They are not reprinted from the
'Memoirs' of 1851, because the text there given was, in several
instances, inaccurately reproduced from the original MS. , which has been
re-examined. They were printed here, in 'The Recluse '(1888), and in my
'Life of Wordsworth' (vol. i. 1889). --Ed.
* * * * *
"ON NATURE'S INVITATION DO I COME"
Composed (probably) in 1800. --Published 1851
On Nature's invitation do I come,
By Reason sanctioned. Can the choice mislead,
That made the calmest, fairest spot of earth,
With all its unappropriated good,
My own, and not mine only, for with me 5
Entrenched--say rather peacefully embowered--
Under yon orchard, in yon humble cot,
A younger orphan of a home extinct,
The only daughter of my parents dwells:
Aye, think on that, my heart, and cease to stir; 10
Pause upon that, and let the breathing frame
No longer breathe, but all be satisfied.
Oh, if such silence be not thanks to God
For what hath been bestowed, then where, where then
Shall gratitude find rest? Mine eyes did ne'er 15
Fix on a lovely object, nor my mind
Take pleasure in the midst of happy thoughts,
But either she, whom now I have, who now
Divides with me this loved abode, was there,
Or not far off. Where'er my footsteps turned, 20
Her voice was like a hidden bird that sang;
The thought of her was like a flash of light
Or an unseen companionship, a breath
Or fragrance independent of the wind.
In all my goings, in the new and old 25
Of all my meditations, and in this
Favourite of all, in this the most of all. . . .
Embrace me then, ye hills, and close me in.
Now in the clear and open day I feel
Your guardianship: I take it to my heart; 30
'Tis like the solemn shelter of the night.
But I would call thee beautiful; for mild,
And soft, and gay, and beautiful thou art,
Dear valley, having in thy face a smile,
Though peaceful, full of gladness. Thou art pleased, 35
Pleased with thy crags, and woody steeps, thy lake,
Its one green island, and its winding shores,
The multitude of little rocky hills,
Thy church, and cottages of mountain-stone
Clustered like stars some few, but single most, 40
And lurking dimly in their shy retreats,
Or glancing at each other cheerful looks,
Like separated stars with clouds between.
This Grasmere cottage is identified, much more than Rydal Mount, with
Wordsworth's "poetic prime. " It had once been a public-house, bearing
the sign of the Dove and Olive Bough--and as such is referred to in 'The
Waggoner'--from which circumstance it was for a long time, and is now
usually, called "Dove Cottage. " A small two storied house, it is
described somewhat minutely--as it was in Wordsworth's time--by De
Quincey, in his 'Recollections of the Lakes', and by the late Bishop of
Lincoln, in the 'Memoirs' of his uncle.
"The front of it faces the lake; behind is a small plot of orchard and
garden ground, in which there is a spring and rocks; the enclosure
shelves upwards towards the woody sides of the mountains above it. "
[A]
The following is De Quincey's description of it, as he saw it in the
summer of 1807.
"A white cottage, with two yew trees breaking the glare of its white
walls" (these yews still stand on the eastern side of the cottage). "A
little semi-vestibule between two doors prefaced the entrance into
what might be considered the principal room of the cottage. It was an
oblong square, not above eight and a half feet high, sixteen feet
long, and twelve broad; wainscoted from floor to ceiling with dark
polished oak, slightly embellished with carving. One window there
was--a perfect and unpretending cottage window, with little diamond
panes, embowered at almost every season of the year with roses; and,
in the summer and autumn, with a profusion of jasmine, and other
fragrant shrubs. . . . I was ushered up a little flight of stairs,
fourteen in all, to a little drawing-room, or whatever the reader
chooses to call it. Wordsworth himself has described the fireplace of
this room as his
'Half-kitchen and half-parlour fire. '
It was not fully seven feet six inches high, and in other respects
pretty nearly of the same dimensions as the rustic hall below. There
was, however, in a small recess, a library of perhaps three hundred
volumes, which seemed to consecrate the room as the poet's study and
composing room, and such occasionally it was. But far oftener he both
studied, as I found, and composed on the high road. " [B]
Other poems of later years refer, much more fully than the above, to
this cottage, and its orchard ground, where so many of Wordsworth's
lyrics were composed.
The "orchard ground," which was for the most part in grass, sloped
upwards; but a considerable portion of the natural rock was exposed; and
on its face, some rough stone steps were cut by Wordsworth, helped by a
near neighbour of his--John Fisher--so as more conveniently to reach the
upper terrace, where the poet built for himself a small arbour. All this
garden and orchard ground is not much altered since 1800. The short
terrace walk is curved, with a sloping bank of grass above, shaded by
apple trees, hazel, holly, laburnum, laurel, and mountain ash. Below the
terrace is the well, which supplied the cottage in Wordsworth's time;
and there large leaved primroses still grow, doubtless the successors of
those planted by his own and his sister's hands. Above, and amongst the
rocks, are the daffodils, which they also brought to their
"garden-ground;" the Christmas roses, which they planted near the well,
were removed to the eastern side of the garden, where they flourished
luxuriantly in 1882; but have now, alas! disappeared. The box-wood
planted by the poet grows close to the cottage. The arbour is now gone;
but, in the place where it stood, a seat is erected. The hidden brook
still sings its under-song, as it used to do, "its quiet soul on all
bestowing," and the green linnet may doubtless be seen now, as it used
to be in 1803. The allusions to the garden ground at Dove Cottage, in
the poems which follow, will be noted as they occur. --Ed.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: See the 'Memoirs of Wordsworth', vol. i. p. 156. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: See 'Recollections of the Lakes', etc. , pp. 130-137, Works,
vol. ii. , edition of 1862. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
"BLEAK SEASON WAS IT, TURBULENT AND BLEAK" [A]
Composed (probably) in 1800. --Published 1851
Bleak season was it, turbulent and bleak,
When hitherward we journeyed, side by side,
Through burst of sunshine and through flying showers,
Paced the long vales, how long they were, and yet
How fast that length of way was left behind, 5
Wensley's rich vale and Sedbergh's naked heights.
The frosty wind, as if to make amends
For its keen breath, was aiding to our steps,
And drove us onward like two ships at sea;
Or, like two birds, companions in mid-air, 10
Parted and reunited by the blast.
Stern was the face of nature; we rejoiced
In that stern countenance; for our souls thence drew
A feeling of their strength. The naked trees,
The icy brooks, as on we passed, appeared 15
To question us, "Whence come ye? To what end? "
This poem refers to a winter journey on foot, which Wordsworth and his
sister took from Sockburn to Grasmere, by Wensleydale and Askrigg; and,
since he has left us an account of this journey, in a letter to
Coleridge, written a few days after their arrival at Grasmere--a letter
in which his characterisation of Nature is almost as happy as it is in
his best poems--some extracts from it may here be appended.
"We left Sockburn last Tuesday morning. We crossed the Tees by
moonlight in the Sockburn fields, and after ten good miles riding came
in sight of the Swale. It is there a beautiful river, with its green
banks and flat holms scattered over with trees. Four miles further
brought us to Richmond, with its huge ivied castle, its friarage
steeple, its castle tower resembling a huge steeple. . . . We were now in
Wensleydale, and D. and I set off side by side to foot it as far as
Kendal. . . . We reached Askrigg, twelve miles, before six in the
evening, having been obliged to walk the last two miles over hard
frozen roads. . . . Next morning the earth was thinly covered with snow,
enough to make the road soft and prevent its being slippery. On
leaving Askrigg we turned aside to see another waterfall. It was a
beautiful morning, with driving snow showers, which disappeared by
fits, and unveiled the east, which was all one delicious pale orange
colour. After walking through two small fields we came to a mill,
which we passed, and in a moment a sweet little valley opened before
us, with an area of grassy ground, and a stream dashing over various
laminae of black rocks close under a bank covered with firs; the bank
and stream on our left, another woody bank on our right, and the flat
meadow in front, from which, as at Buttermere, the stream had retired,
as it were, to hide itself under the shade. As we walked up this
delightful valley we were tempted to look back perpetually on the
stream, which reflected the orange lights of the morning among the
gloomy rocks, with a brightness varying with the agitation of the
current. The steeple of Askrigg was between us and the east, at the
bottom of the valley; it was not a quarter of a mile distant. . . . The
two banks seemed to join before us with a facing of rock common to
them both. When we reached this bottom the valley opened out again;
two rocky banks on each side, which, hung with ivy and moss, and
fringed luxuriantly with brushwood, ran directly parallel to each
other, and then approaching with a gentle curve at their point of
union, presented a lofty waterfall, the termination of the valley. It
was a keen frosty morning, showers of snow threatening us, but the sun
bright and active. We had a task of twenty-one miles to perform in a
short winter's day. . . . On a nearer approach the waters seemed to fall
down a tall arch or niche that had shaped itself by insensible
moulderings in the wall of an old castle. We left this spot with
reluctance, but highly exhilarated. . . . It was bitter cold, the wind
driving the snow behind us in the best style of a mountain storm. We
soon reached an inn at a place called Hardrane, and descending from
our vehicles, after warming ourselves by the cottage fire, we walked
up the brook-side to take a view of a third waterfall. We had not
walked above a few hundred yards between two winding rocky banks
before we came full upon the waterfall, which seemed to throw itself
in a narrow line from a lofty wall of rock, the water, which shot
manifestly to some distance from the rock, seeming to be dispersed
into a thin shower scarcely visible before it reached the bason. We
were disappointed in the cascade itself, though the introductory and
accompanying banks were an exquisite mixture of grandeur and
beauty. . . . After cautiously sounding our way over stones of all
colours and sizes, encased in the clearest water formed by the spray
of the fall, we found the rock, which before had appeared like a wall,
extending itself over our heads, like the ceiling of a huge cave, from
the summit of which the waters shot directly over our heads into a
bason, and among fragments wrinkled over with masses of ice as white
as snow, or rather, as Dorothy says, like congealed froth. The water
fell at least ten yards from us, and we stood directly behind it, the
excavation not so deep in the rock as to impress any feeling of
darkness, but lofty and magnificent; but in connection with the
adjoining banks excluding as much of the sky as could well be spared
from a scene so exquisitely beautiful. The spot where we stood was as
dry as the chamber in which I am now sitting, and the incumbent rock,
of which the groundwork was limestone, veined and dappled with colours
which melted into each other with every possible variety of colour. On
the summit of the cave were three festoons, or rather wrinkles, in the
rock, run up parallel like the folds of a curtain when it is drawn up.
Each of these was hung with icicles of various length, and nearly in
the middle of the festoon, in the deepest valley of the waves that ran
parallel to each other, the stream shot from the rows of icicles in
irregular fits of strength, and with a body of water that varied every
moment. Sometimes the stream shot into the bason in one continued
current; sometimes it was interrupted almost in the midst of its fall,
and was blown towards part of the waterfall at no great distance from
our feet like the heaviest thunder shower. In such a situation you
have at every moment a feeling of the presence of the sky. Large
fleecy clouds drove over our heads above the rush of the water, and
the sky appeared of a blue more than usually brilliant. The rocks on
each side, which, joining with the side of this cave, formed the vista
of the brook, were chequered with three diminutive waterfalls, or
rather courses of water. Each of these was a miniature of all that
summer and winter can produce of delicate beauty. The rock in the
centre of the falls, where the water was most abundant, a deep black,
the adjoining parts yellow, white, purple, and dove colour, covered
with water--plants of the most vivid green, and hung with streaming
icicles, that in some places seem to conceal the verdure of the plants
and the violet and yellow variegation of the rocks; and in some places
render the colours more brilliant.
I cannot express to you the
enchanting effect produced by this Arabian scene of colour as the wind
blew aside the great waterfall behind which we stood, and alternately
hid and revealed each of these fairy cataracts in irregular
succession, or displayed them with various gradations of distinctness
as the intervening spray was thickened or dispersed. What a scene too
in summer! In the luxury of our imagination we could not help feeding
upon the pleasure which this cave, in the heat of a July noon, would
spread through a frame exquisitely sensible. That huge rock on the
right, the bank winding round on the left with all its living foliage,
and the breeze stealing up the valley, and bedewing the cavern with
the freshest imaginable spray. And then the murmur of the water, the
quiet, the seclusion, and a long summer day. "
Ed.
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT:
[Footnote A: This is a fragment of 'The Recluse', ll. 152-167; but it
was originally published in the 'Memoirs of Wordsworth' by his nephew
(1851). --Ed. ]
* * * * *
ELLEN IRWIN; OR, THE BRAES OF KIRTLE [A]
Composed 1800. --Published 1800
[It may be worth while to observe that as there are Scotch Poems on this
subject in simple ballad strain, I thought it would be both presumptuous
and superfluous to attempt treating it in the same way; and,
accordingly, I chose a construction of stanza quite new in our language;
in fact, the same as that of Burger's 'Leonora', except that the first
and third lines do not, in my stanzas, rhyme. At the outset I threw out
a classical image to prepare the reader for the style in which I meant
to treat the story, and so to preclude all comparison. --I. F. ]
In the editions of 1815 and 1820 this was included among the "Poems
founded on the Affections. " In 1827 it was placed in the "Memorials of a
Tour in Scotland, 1803. "--Ed.
Fair Ellen Irwin, when she sate
Upon the braes of Kirtle,
Was lovely as a Grecian maid
Adorned with wreaths of myrtle;
Young Adam Bruce beside her lay, 5
And there did they beguile the day
With love and gentle speeches,
Beneath the budding beeches.
From many knights and many squires
The Bruce had been selected; 10
And Gordon, fairest of them all,
By Ellen was rejected.
Sad tidings to that noble Youth!
For it may be proclaimed with truth,
If Bruce hath loved sincerely, 15
That Gordon [1] loves as dearly.
But what are Gordon's form and face,
His shattered hopes and crosses,
To them, 'mid Kirtle's pleasant braes,
Reclined on flowers and mosses? [2] 20
Alas that ever he was born!
The Gordon, couched behind a thorn,
Sees them and their caressing;
Beholds them blest and blessing.
Proud Gordon, maddened by the thoughts [3] 25
That through his brain are travelling,
Rushed forth, and at the heart of Bruce [4]
He launched a deadly javelin!
Fair Ellen saw it as it came,
And, starting up to meet the same, [5] 30
Did with her body cover
The Youth, her chosen lover.
And, falling into Bruce's arms,
Thus died the beauteous Ellen,
Thus, from the heart of her True-love, 35
The mortal spear repelling.
And Bruce, as soon as he had slain
The Gordon, sailed away to Spain;
And fought with rage incessant
Against the Moorish crescent. 40
But many days, and many months,
And many years ensuing,
This wretched Knight did vainly seek
The death that he was wooing.
So, coming his last help to crave, 45
Heart-broken, upon Ellen's grave [6]
His body he extended,
And there his sorrow ended.
Now ye, who willingly have heard
The tale I have been telling, 50
May in Kirkonnel churchyard view
The grave of lovely Ellen:
By Ellen's side the Bruce is laid;
And, for the stone upon his head,
May no rude hand deface it, 55
And its forlorn Hic jacet.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1815.
The Gordon . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 2:
1837.
But what is Gordon's beauteous face?
And what are Gordon's crosses
To them who sit by Kirtle's Braes
Upon the verdant mosses? 1800. ]
[Variant 3:
1837.
Proud Gordon cannot bear the thoughts 1800. ]
[Variant 4:
1837.
And, starting up, to Bruce's heart 1800. ]
[Variant 5:
1837.
Fair Ellen saw it when it came,
And, stepping forth . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 6:
1827.
So coming back across the wave,
Without a groan on Ellen's grave 1800.
And coming back . . . 1802. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE:
[Footnote A: The Kirtle is a River in the Southern part of Scotland, on
whose banks the events here related took place. --W. W. 1800. ]
No Scottish ballad is superior in pathos to 'Helen of Kirkconnell'. It
is based on a traditionary tale--the date of the event being lost--but
the locality, in the parish of Kirkpatrick-Fleming in Dumfriesshire, is
known; and there the graves of "Burd Helen" and her lover are still
pointed out.
The following is Sir Walter Scott's account of the story:
"A lady of the name of Helen Irving, or Bell (for this is disputed by
the two clans), daughter of the laird of Kirkconnell in Dumfriesshire,
and celebrated for her beauty, was beloved by two gentlemen in the
neighbourhood. The name of the favoured suitor was Adam Fleming of
Kirkpatrick: that of the other has escaped tradition, although it has
been alleged he was a Bell of Blackel-house. The addresses of the
latter were, however, favoured by the friends of the lady, and the
lovers were therefore obliged to meet in secret, and by night, in the
Churchyard of Kirkconnell, a romantic spot, surrounded by the river
Kirtle. During one of their private interviews, the jealous and
despised lover suddenly appeared on the opposite bank of the stream,
and levelled his carbine at the breast of his rival. Helen threw
herself before her lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and died
in his arms. A desperate and mortal combat ensued between Fleming and
the murderer, in which the latter was cut to pieces. "
See 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border', vol. ii. p. 317.
The original ballad--well known though it is--may be quoted as an
admirable illustration of the different types of poetic genius in
dealing with the same, or a kindred, theme.
I wish I were where Helen lies!
Night and day on me she cries;
O that I were where Helen lies,
On fair Kirkconnell lee!
Cursed be the heart that thought the thought,
And curst the hand that fired the shot,
When in my arms burd Helen dropt,
And died to succour me!
Oh think ye na my heart was sair,
When my love dropt down and spake nae mair!
There did she swoon wi' meikle care,
On fair Kirkconnell lee.
As I went down the water side,
None but my foe to be my guide,
None but my foe to be my guide,
On fair Kirkconnell lee--
I lighted down, my sword did draw,
I hacked him in pieces sma',
I hacked him in pieces sma',
For her sake that died for me.
Oh, Helen fair, beyond compare!
I'll weave a garland of thy hair
Shall bind my heart for evermair,
Until the day I dee!
Oh that I were where Helen lies!
Day and night on me she cries;
Out of my bed she bids me rise,
Says, "Haste, and come to me! "
O Helen fair! O Helen chaste!
Were I with thee I would be blest,
Where thou lies low and takes thy rest,
On fair Kirkconnell lee.
I wish my grave were growing green,
A winding sheet drawn o'er my e'en,
And I in Helen's arms lying
On fair Kirkconnell lee.
I wish I were where Helen lies!
Night and day on me she cries,
And I am weary of the skies,
For her sake that died for me!
Ed.
* * * * *
HART-LEAP WELL
Composed 1800. --Published 1800
Hart-Leap Well is a small spring of water, about five miles from
Richmond in Yorkshire, and near the side of the road which leads from
Richmond to Askrigg. Its name is derived from a remarkable chace, the
memory of which is preserved by the monuments spoken of in the second
Part of the following Poem, which monuments do now exist as I have there
described them. --W. W. 1800.
[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. The first eight stanzas were composed
extempore one winter evening in the cottage, when, after having tired
myself with labouring at an awkward passage in 'The Brothers', I started
with a sudden impulse to this to get rid of the other, and finished it
in a day or two. My sister and I had passed the place a few weeks before
in our wild winter journey from Sockburn on the banks of the Tees to
Grasmere. A peasant whom we met near the spot told us the story so far
as concerned the name of the Well, and the Hart, and pointed out the
Stones. Both the stones and the well are objects that may easily be
missed. The tradition by this time may be extinct in the neighbourhood.
The man who related it to us was very old. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems of the Imagination,"--Ed.
The Knight had ridden down from Wensley Moor
With the slow motion of a summer's cloud
And now, as he approached a vassal's door,
"Bring forth another horse! " he cried aloud. [1]
"Another horse! "--That shout the vassal heard 5
And saddled his best Steed, a comely grey;
Sir Walter mounted him; he was the third
Which he had mounted on that glorious day.
Joy sparkled in the prancing courser's eyes;
The horse and horseman are a happy pair; 10
But, though Sir Walter like a falcon flies,
There is a doleful silence in the air.
A rout this morning left Sir Walter's Hall,
That as they galloped made the echoes roar;
But horse and man are vanished, one and all; 15
Such race, I think, was never seen before.
Sir Walter, restless as a veering wind,
Calls to the few tired dogs that yet remain:
Blanch, [2] Swift, and Music, noblest of their kind,
Follow, and up the weary mountain strain. 20
The Knight hallooed, he cheered and chid them on [3]
With suppliant gestures [4] and upbraidings stern;
But breath and eyesight fail; and, one by one,
The dogs are stretched among the mountain fern.
Where is the throng, the tumult of the race? [5] 25
The bugles that so joyfully were blown?
--This chase it looks not like an earthly chase; [6]
Sir Walter and the Hart are left alone.
The poor Hart toils along the mountain-side;
I will not stop to tell how far he fled, 30
Nor will I mention by what death he died;
But now the Knight beholds him lying dead.
Dismounting, then, he leaned against a thorn;
He had no follower, dog, nor man, nor boy:
He neither cracked [7] his whip, nor blew his horn, 35
But gazed upon the spoil with silent joy.
Close to the thorn on which Sir Walter leaned,
Stood his dumb partner in this glorious feat; [8]
Weak as a lamb the hour that it is yeaned;
And white with foam as if with cleaving sleet. [9] 40
Upon his side the Hart was lying stretched:
His nostril touched [10] a spring beneath a hill,
And with the last deep groan his breath had fetched
The waters of the spring were trembling still.
And now, too happy for repose or rest, 45
(Never had living man such joyful lot! ) [11]
Sir Walter walked all round, north, south, and west,
And gazed and gazed upon that darling spot. [12]
And climbing [13] up the hill--(it was at least
Four [14] roods of sheer ascent) Sir Walter found 50
Three several hoof-marks which the hunted Beast [15]
Had left imprinted on the grassy [16] ground.
Sir Walter wiped his face, and cried, "Till now
Such sight was never seen by human [17] eyes:
Three leaps have borne him from this lofty brow, 55
Down to the very fountain where he lies.
"I'll build a pleasure-house upon this spot,
And a small arbour, made for rural joy;
'Twill be the traveller's shed, the pilgrim's cot,
A place of love for damsels that are coy. 60
"A cunning artist will I have to frame
A basin for that fountain in the dell!
And they who do make mention of the same,
From this day forth, shall call it HART-LEAP WELL.
"And, gallant Stag! [18] to make thy praises known, 65
Another monument shall here be raised;
Three several pillars, each a rough-hewn stone,
And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazed.
"And, in the summer-time when days are long,
I will come hither with my Paramour; 70
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song
We will make merry in that pleasant bower.
"Till the foundations of the mountains fail
My mansion with its arbour shall endure;--
The joy of them who till the fields of Swale, 75
And them who dwell among the woods of Ure! "
Then home he went, and left the Hart, stone-dead,
With breathless nostrils stretched above the spring.
--Soon did the Knight perform what he had said;
And far and wide the fame thereof did ring. [19] 80
Ere thrice the Moon into her port had steered,
A cup of stone received the living well;
Three pillars of rude stone Sir Walter reared,
And built a house of pleasure in the dell.
And near the fountain, flowers of stature tall 85
With trailing plants and trees were intertwined,--
Which soon composed a little sylvan hall,
A leafy shelter from the sun and wind.
And thither, when the summer days were long
Sir Walter led his wondering Paramour; [20] 90
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song
Made merriment within that pleasant bower.
The Knight, Sir Walter, died in course of time,
And his bones lie in his paternal vale. --
But there is matter for a second rhyme, 95
And I to this would add another tale.
PART SECOND
The moving accident [A] is not my trade;
To freeze the blood I have no ready arts:
'Tis my delight, alone in summer shade,
To pipe a simple song for [21] thinking hearts. 100
As I from Hawes to Richmond did repair,
It chanced that I saw standing in a dell
Three aspens at three corners of a square;
And one, not four yards distant, near a well.
What this imported I could ill divine: 105
And, pulling now the rein my horse to stop,
I saw three pillars standing in a line,--
The last stone-pillar on a dark hill-top.
The trees were grey, with neither arms nor head:
Half wasted the square mound of tawny green; 110
So that you just might say, as then I said,
"Here in old time the hand of man hath [22] been. "
I looked upon the hill [23] both far and near,
More doleful place did never eye survey;
It seemed as if the spring-time came not here, 115
And Nature here were willing to decay.
I stood in various thoughts and fancies lost, [B]
When one, who was in shepherd's garb attired,
Came up the hollow:--him did I accost,
And what this place might be I then inquired. 120
The Shepherd stopped, and that same story told
Which in my former rhyme I have rehearsed.
"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old!
But something ails it now: the spot is curst.
"You see these lifeless stumps of aspen wood--125
Some say that they are beeches, others elms--
These were the bower; and here a mansion stood,
The finest palace of a hundred realms!
"The arbour does its own condition tell;
You see the stones, the fountain, and the stream; 130
But as to the great Lodge! you might as well
Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream.
"There's neither dog nor heifer, horse nor sheep,
Will wet his lips within that cup of stone;
And oftentimes, when all are fast asleep, 135
This water doth send forth a dolorous groan.
"Some say that here a murder has been done,
And blood cries out for blood: but, for my part,
I've guessed, when I've been sitting in the sun,
That it was all for that unhappy Hart. 140
"What thoughts must through the creature's brain have past!
Even from the topmost stone, upon the steep, [24]
Are but three bounds--and look, Sir, at this last--
O Master! it has been a cruel leap.
"For thirteen hours he ran a desperate race; 145
And in my simple mind we cannot tell
What cause the Hart might have to love this place,
And come and make his death-bed near the well.
"Here on the grass perhaps asleep he sank,
Lulled by the [25] fountain in the summer tide; 150
This water was perhaps the first he drank
When he had wandered from his mother's side.
"In April here beneath the flowering [26] thorn
He heard the birds their morning carols sing;
And he, perhaps, for aught we know, was born 155
Not half a furlong from that self-same spring.
"Now, here is [27] neither grass nor pleasant shade;
The sun on drearier hollow never shone;
So will it be, as I have often said,
Till trees, and stones, and fountain, all are gone. " 160
"Grey-headed Shepherd, thou hast spoken well;
Small difference lies between thy creed and mine:
This Beast not unobserved by Nature fell;
His death was mourned by sympathy divine.
"The Being, that is in the clouds and air, 165
That is in the green leaves among the groves,
Maintains a deep and reverential care
For the unoffending creatures [28] whom he loves.
"The pleasure-house is dust:--behind, before,
This is no common waste, no common gloom; 170
But Nature, in due course of time, once more
Shall here put on her beauty and her bloom.
"She leaves these objects to a slow decay,
That what we are, and have been, may be known;
But at the coming of the milder day, 175
These monuments shall all be overgrown.
"One lesson, Shepherd, let us two divide,
Taught both by what she shows, and what conceals; [C]
Never to blend our pleasure or our pride
With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels. " 180
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1836.
He turn'd aside towards a Vassal's door,
And, "Bring another Horse! " he cried aloud. 1800. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
Brach, . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 3:
1827.
. . . he chid and cheer'd them on 1800. ]
[Variant 4:
1800.
With fawning kindness . . . MS. ]
[Variant 5:
1802.
. . . of the chace? 1800. ]
[Variant 6:
1802.
This race it looks not like an earthly race; 1800. ]
[Variant 7:
1820.
. . . smack'd . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 8:
1820.
.
[Footnote B:
"The tall aspiring Gordonia lacianthus . . . gradually changing colour,
from green to golden yellow, from that to a scarlet, from scarlet to
crimson, and lastly to a brownish purple, . . . so that it may be said
to change and renew its garments every morning throughout the year. "
See 'Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida,
the Cherokee Country', etc. , by William Bartram (1791), pp. 159,
160. --Ed. ]
[Footnote C:
"Its thick foliage of a dark green colour is flowered over with large
milk-white, fragrant blossoms, . . . renewed every morning, and that in
such incredible profusion that the tree appears silvered over with
them, and the ground beneath covered with the fallen flowers. It, at
the same time, continually pushes forth new twigs, with young buds on
them. "
(Bartram's 'Travels', etc. , p. 159. )--Ed. ]
[Footnote D: Magnolia grandiflora. --W. W. 1800; and Bartram's 'Travels',
p. 8. --Ed. ]
[Footnote E:
"The Cypressus distichia stands in the first order of North American
trees. Its majestic stature, lifting its cumbrous top towards the
skies, and casting a wide shade upon the ground, as a dark intervening
cloud," etc.
(Bartram's 'Travels', p. 88). --Ed. ]
[Footnote F: The splendid appearance of these scarlet flowers, which are
scattered with such profusion over the Hills in the Southern parts of
North America is frequently mentioned by Bartram in his 'Travels'. --W.
W. 1800. ]
[Footnote G: Mr. Ernest Coleridge tells me he
"has traced, to a note-book of Coleridge's in the British Museum, the
source from which Wordsworth derived his description of Georgian
scenery in 'Ruth'. He does, I know, refer to Bartram, but the whole
passage is a poetical rendering, and a pretty close one, of Bartram's
poetical narrative. I have a portrait--the frontispiece of Bartram's
'Travels'--of Mico Chlucco, king of the Seminoles, whose feathers nod
in the breeze just as did the military casque of the 'youth from
Georgia's shore. '"
Ed. ]
[Footnote H:
"North and south almost endless green plains and meadows, embellished
with islets and projecting promontories of high dark forests, where
the pyramidal Magnolia grandiflora . . . conspicuously towers. "
(Bartram's 'Travels', p. 145). --Ed. ]
[Footnote I: The Tone is a River of Somersetshire, at no great distance
from the Quantock Hills. These Hills, which are alluded to a few stanzas
below, are extremely beautiful, and in most places richly covered with
Coppice woods. W. W. 1800. ]
* * * * *
SUB-FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Sub-Footnote a: The edition of 1805 substitutes the stanzas beginning,
'It was a fresh and glorious world'
for stanzas 2, 3, and 4 of the above six in this note, but it inserts
these omitted stanzas later on as Nos. 27, 28, 29. --Ed. ]
[Sub-Footnote b: Wordsworth wrote to Barren Field in 1828 that this stanza
"was altered, Lamb having observed that it was not English. I like it
better myself;'
(i. e. the version of 1800)
"but certainly to carouse cups--that is to empty them--is the genuine
English. "
Ed. ]
* * * * *
1800
Towards the close of December 1799, Wordsworth came to live at Dove
Cottage, Town-end, Grasmere. The poems written during the following year
(1800), are more particularly associated with that district of the
Lakes. Two of them were fragments of a canto of 'The Recluse', entitled
"Home at Grasmere," referring to his settlement at Dove Cottage. Others,
such as 'Michael', and 'The Brothers'--classed by him afterwards among
the "Poems founded on the Affections,"--deal with incidents in the rural
life of the dalesmen of Westmoreland and Cumberland. Most of the "Poems
on the Naming of Places" were written during this year; and the "Places"
are all in the neighbourhood of Grasmere. To these were added several
"Pastoral Poems"--such as 'The Idle Shepherd Boys; or, Dungeon-Ghyll
Force'--sundry "Poems of the Fancy," and one or two "Inscriptions. " In
all, twenty-five poems were written in the year 1800; and, with the
exception of the two fragments of 'The Recluse', they were published
during the same year in the second volume of the second edition of
"Lyrical Ballads. " It is impossible to fix the precise date of the
composition of the fragments of 'The Recluse'; but, as they refer to the
settlement at Dove Cottage--where Wordsworth went to reside with his
sister, on the 21st of December 1799--they may fitly introduce the poems
belonging to the year 1800. They were first published in 1851 in the
'Memoirs of Wordsworth' (vol. i. pp. 157 and 155 respectively), by the
poet's nephew, the late Bishop of Lincoln. The entire canto of 'The
Recluse', entitled "Home at Grasmere," will be included in this edition.
The first two poems which follow, as belonging to the year 1800, are
parts of 'The Recluse', viz. "On Nature's invitation do I come," (which
is ll. 71-97, and 110-125), and "Bleak season was it, turbulent and
bleak," (which is ll. 152-167). They are not reprinted from the
'Memoirs' of 1851, because the text there given was, in several
instances, inaccurately reproduced from the original MS. , which has been
re-examined. They were printed here, in 'The Recluse '(1888), and in my
'Life of Wordsworth' (vol. i. 1889). --Ed.
* * * * *
"ON NATURE'S INVITATION DO I COME"
Composed (probably) in 1800. --Published 1851
On Nature's invitation do I come,
By Reason sanctioned. Can the choice mislead,
That made the calmest, fairest spot of earth,
With all its unappropriated good,
My own, and not mine only, for with me 5
Entrenched--say rather peacefully embowered--
Under yon orchard, in yon humble cot,
A younger orphan of a home extinct,
The only daughter of my parents dwells:
Aye, think on that, my heart, and cease to stir; 10
Pause upon that, and let the breathing frame
No longer breathe, but all be satisfied.
Oh, if such silence be not thanks to God
For what hath been bestowed, then where, where then
Shall gratitude find rest? Mine eyes did ne'er 15
Fix on a lovely object, nor my mind
Take pleasure in the midst of happy thoughts,
But either she, whom now I have, who now
Divides with me this loved abode, was there,
Or not far off. Where'er my footsteps turned, 20
Her voice was like a hidden bird that sang;
The thought of her was like a flash of light
Or an unseen companionship, a breath
Or fragrance independent of the wind.
In all my goings, in the new and old 25
Of all my meditations, and in this
Favourite of all, in this the most of all. . . .
Embrace me then, ye hills, and close me in.
Now in the clear and open day I feel
Your guardianship: I take it to my heart; 30
'Tis like the solemn shelter of the night.
But I would call thee beautiful; for mild,
And soft, and gay, and beautiful thou art,
Dear valley, having in thy face a smile,
Though peaceful, full of gladness. Thou art pleased, 35
Pleased with thy crags, and woody steeps, thy lake,
Its one green island, and its winding shores,
The multitude of little rocky hills,
Thy church, and cottages of mountain-stone
Clustered like stars some few, but single most, 40
And lurking dimly in their shy retreats,
Or glancing at each other cheerful looks,
Like separated stars with clouds between.
This Grasmere cottage is identified, much more than Rydal Mount, with
Wordsworth's "poetic prime. " It had once been a public-house, bearing
the sign of the Dove and Olive Bough--and as such is referred to in 'The
Waggoner'--from which circumstance it was for a long time, and is now
usually, called "Dove Cottage. " A small two storied house, it is
described somewhat minutely--as it was in Wordsworth's time--by De
Quincey, in his 'Recollections of the Lakes', and by the late Bishop of
Lincoln, in the 'Memoirs' of his uncle.
"The front of it faces the lake; behind is a small plot of orchard and
garden ground, in which there is a spring and rocks; the enclosure
shelves upwards towards the woody sides of the mountains above it. "
[A]
The following is De Quincey's description of it, as he saw it in the
summer of 1807.
"A white cottage, with two yew trees breaking the glare of its white
walls" (these yews still stand on the eastern side of the cottage). "A
little semi-vestibule between two doors prefaced the entrance into
what might be considered the principal room of the cottage. It was an
oblong square, not above eight and a half feet high, sixteen feet
long, and twelve broad; wainscoted from floor to ceiling with dark
polished oak, slightly embellished with carving. One window there
was--a perfect and unpretending cottage window, with little diamond
panes, embowered at almost every season of the year with roses; and,
in the summer and autumn, with a profusion of jasmine, and other
fragrant shrubs. . . . I was ushered up a little flight of stairs,
fourteen in all, to a little drawing-room, or whatever the reader
chooses to call it. Wordsworth himself has described the fireplace of
this room as his
'Half-kitchen and half-parlour fire. '
It was not fully seven feet six inches high, and in other respects
pretty nearly of the same dimensions as the rustic hall below. There
was, however, in a small recess, a library of perhaps three hundred
volumes, which seemed to consecrate the room as the poet's study and
composing room, and such occasionally it was. But far oftener he both
studied, as I found, and composed on the high road. " [B]
Other poems of later years refer, much more fully than the above, to
this cottage, and its orchard ground, where so many of Wordsworth's
lyrics were composed.
The "orchard ground," which was for the most part in grass, sloped
upwards; but a considerable portion of the natural rock was exposed; and
on its face, some rough stone steps were cut by Wordsworth, helped by a
near neighbour of his--John Fisher--so as more conveniently to reach the
upper terrace, where the poet built for himself a small arbour. All this
garden and orchard ground is not much altered since 1800. The short
terrace walk is curved, with a sloping bank of grass above, shaded by
apple trees, hazel, holly, laburnum, laurel, and mountain ash. Below the
terrace is the well, which supplied the cottage in Wordsworth's time;
and there large leaved primroses still grow, doubtless the successors of
those planted by his own and his sister's hands. Above, and amongst the
rocks, are the daffodils, which they also brought to their
"garden-ground;" the Christmas roses, which they planted near the well,
were removed to the eastern side of the garden, where they flourished
luxuriantly in 1882; but have now, alas! disappeared. The box-wood
planted by the poet grows close to the cottage. The arbour is now gone;
but, in the place where it stood, a seat is erected. The hidden brook
still sings its under-song, as it used to do, "its quiet soul on all
bestowing," and the green linnet may doubtless be seen now, as it used
to be in 1803. The allusions to the garden ground at Dove Cottage, in
the poems which follow, will be noted as they occur. --Ed.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: See the 'Memoirs of Wordsworth', vol. i. p. 156. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: See 'Recollections of the Lakes', etc. , pp. 130-137, Works,
vol. ii. , edition of 1862. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
"BLEAK SEASON WAS IT, TURBULENT AND BLEAK" [A]
Composed (probably) in 1800. --Published 1851
Bleak season was it, turbulent and bleak,
When hitherward we journeyed, side by side,
Through burst of sunshine and through flying showers,
Paced the long vales, how long they were, and yet
How fast that length of way was left behind, 5
Wensley's rich vale and Sedbergh's naked heights.
The frosty wind, as if to make amends
For its keen breath, was aiding to our steps,
And drove us onward like two ships at sea;
Or, like two birds, companions in mid-air, 10
Parted and reunited by the blast.
Stern was the face of nature; we rejoiced
In that stern countenance; for our souls thence drew
A feeling of their strength. The naked trees,
The icy brooks, as on we passed, appeared 15
To question us, "Whence come ye? To what end? "
This poem refers to a winter journey on foot, which Wordsworth and his
sister took from Sockburn to Grasmere, by Wensleydale and Askrigg; and,
since he has left us an account of this journey, in a letter to
Coleridge, written a few days after their arrival at Grasmere--a letter
in which his characterisation of Nature is almost as happy as it is in
his best poems--some extracts from it may here be appended.
"We left Sockburn last Tuesday morning. We crossed the Tees by
moonlight in the Sockburn fields, and after ten good miles riding came
in sight of the Swale. It is there a beautiful river, with its green
banks and flat holms scattered over with trees. Four miles further
brought us to Richmond, with its huge ivied castle, its friarage
steeple, its castle tower resembling a huge steeple. . . . We were now in
Wensleydale, and D. and I set off side by side to foot it as far as
Kendal. . . . We reached Askrigg, twelve miles, before six in the
evening, having been obliged to walk the last two miles over hard
frozen roads. . . . Next morning the earth was thinly covered with snow,
enough to make the road soft and prevent its being slippery. On
leaving Askrigg we turned aside to see another waterfall. It was a
beautiful morning, with driving snow showers, which disappeared by
fits, and unveiled the east, which was all one delicious pale orange
colour. After walking through two small fields we came to a mill,
which we passed, and in a moment a sweet little valley opened before
us, with an area of grassy ground, and a stream dashing over various
laminae of black rocks close under a bank covered with firs; the bank
and stream on our left, another woody bank on our right, and the flat
meadow in front, from which, as at Buttermere, the stream had retired,
as it were, to hide itself under the shade. As we walked up this
delightful valley we were tempted to look back perpetually on the
stream, which reflected the orange lights of the morning among the
gloomy rocks, with a brightness varying with the agitation of the
current. The steeple of Askrigg was between us and the east, at the
bottom of the valley; it was not a quarter of a mile distant. . . . The
two banks seemed to join before us with a facing of rock common to
them both. When we reached this bottom the valley opened out again;
two rocky banks on each side, which, hung with ivy and moss, and
fringed luxuriantly with brushwood, ran directly parallel to each
other, and then approaching with a gentle curve at their point of
union, presented a lofty waterfall, the termination of the valley. It
was a keen frosty morning, showers of snow threatening us, but the sun
bright and active. We had a task of twenty-one miles to perform in a
short winter's day. . . . On a nearer approach the waters seemed to fall
down a tall arch or niche that had shaped itself by insensible
moulderings in the wall of an old castle. We left this spot with
reluctance, but highly exhilarated. . . . It was bitter cold, the wind
driving the snow behind us in the best style of a mountain storm. We
soon reached an inn at a place called Hardrane, and descending from
our vehicles, after warming ourselves by the cottage fire, we walked
up the brook-side to take a view of a third waterfall. We had not
walked above a few hundred yards between two winding rocky banks
before we came full upon the waterfall, which seemed to throw itself
in a narrow line from a lofty wall of rock, the water, which shot
manifestly to some distance from the rock, seeming to be dispersed
into a thin shower scarcely visible before it reached the bason. We
were disappointed in the cascade itself, though the introductory and
accompanying banks were an exquisite mixture of grandeur and
beauty. . . . After cautiously sounding our way over stones of all
colours and sizes, encased in the clearest water formed by the spray
of the fall, we found the rock, which before had appeared like a wall,
extending itself over our heads, like the ceiling of a huge cave, from
the summit of which the waters shot directly over our heads into a
bason, and among fragments wrinkled over with masses of ice as white
as snow, or rather, as Dorothy says, like congealed froth. The water
fell at least ten yards from us, and we stood directly behind it, the
excavation not so deep in the rock as to impress any feeling of
darkness, but lofty and magnificent; but in connection with the
adjoining banks excluding as much of the sky as could well be spared
from a scene so exquisitely beautiful. The spot where we stood was as
dry as the chamber in which I am now sitting, and the incumbent rock,
of which the groundwork was limestone, veined and dappled with colours
which melted into each other with every possible variety of colour. On
the summit of the cave were three festoons, or rather wrinkles, in the
rock, run up parallel like the folds of a curtain when it is drawn up.
Each of these was hung with icicles of various length, and nearly in
the middle of the festoon, in the deepest valley of the waves that ran
parallel to each other, the stream shot from the rows of icicles in
irregular fits of strength, and with a body of water that varied every
moment. Sometimes the stream shot into the bason in one continued
current; sometimes it was interrupted almost in the midst of its fall,
and was blown towards part of the waterfall at no great distance from
our feet like the heaviest thunder shower. In such a situation you
have at every moment a feeling of the presence of the sky. Large
fleecy clouds drove over our heads above the rush of the water, and
the sky appeared of a blue more than usually brilliant. The rocks on
each side, which, joining with the side of this cave, formed the vista
of the brook, were chequered with three diminutive waterfalls, or
rather courses of water. Each of these was a miniature of all that
summer and winter can produce of delicate beauty. The rock in the
centre of the falls, where the water was most abundant, a deep black,
the adjoining parts yellow, white, purple, and dove colour, covered
with water--plants of the most vivid green, and hung with streaming
icicles, that in some places seem to conceal the verdure of the plants
and the violet and yellow variegation of the rocks; and in some places
render the colours more brilliant.
I cannot express to you the
enchanting effect produced by this Arabian scene of colour as the wind
blew aside the great waterfall behind which we stood, and alternately
hid and revealed each of these fairy cataracts in irregular
succession, or displayed them with various gradations of distinctness
as the intervening spray was thickened or dispersed. What a scene too
in summer! In the luxury of our imagination we could not help feeding
upon the pleasure which this cave, in the heat of a July noon, would
spread through a frame exquisitely sensible. That huge rock on the
right, the bank winding round on the left with all its living foliage,
and the breeze stealing up the valley, and bedewing the cavern with
the freshest imaginable spray. And then the murmur of the water, the
quiet, the seclusion, and a long summer day. "
Ed.
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT:
[Footnote A: This is a fragment of 'The Recluse', ll. 152-167; but it
was originally published in the 'Memoirs of Wordsworth' by his nephew
(1851). --Ed. ]
* * * * *
ELLEN IRWIN; OR, THE BRAES OF KIRTLE [A]
Composed 1800. --Published 1800
[It may be worth while to observe that as there are Scotch Poems on this
subject in simple ballad strain, I thought it would be both presumptuous
and superfluous to attempt treating it in the same way; and,
accordingly, I chose a construction of stanza quite new in our language;
in fact, the same as that of Burger's 'Leonora', except that the first
and third lines do not, in my stanzas, rhyme. At the outset I threw out
a classical image to prepare the reader for the style in which I meant
to treat the story, and so to preclude all comparison. --I. F. ]
In the editions of 1815 and 1820 this was included among the "Poems
founded on the Affections. " In 1827 it was placed in the "Memorials of a
Tour in Scotland, 1803. "--Ed.
Fair Ellen Irwin, when she sate
Upon the braes of Kirtle,
Was lovely as a Grecian maid
Adorned with wreaths of myrtle;
Young Adam Bruce beside her lay, 5
And there did they beguile the day
With love and gentle speeches,
Beneath the budding beeches.
From many knights and many squires
The Bruce had been selected; 10
And Gordon, fairest of them all,
By Ellen was rejected.
Sad tidings to that noble Youth!
For it may be proclaimed with truth,
If Bruce hath loved sincerely, 15
That Gordon [1] loves as dearly.
But what are Gordon's form and face,
His shattered hopes and crosses,
To them, 'mid Kirtle's pleasant braes,
Reclined on flowers and mosses? [2] 20
Alas that ever he was born!
The Gordon, couched behind a thorn,
Sees them and their caressing;
Beholds them blest and blessing.
Proud Gordon, maddened by the thoughts [3] 25
That through his brain are travelling,
Rushed forth, and at the heart of Bruce [4]
He launched a deadly javelin!
Fair Ellen saw it as it came,
And, starting up to meet the same, [5] 30
Did with her body cover
The Youth, her chosen lover.
And, falling into Bruce's arms,
Thus died the beauteous Ellen,
Thus, from the heart of her True-love, 35
The mortal spear repelling.
And Bruce, as soon as he had slain
The Gordon, sailed away to Spain;
And fought with rage incessant
Against the Moorish crescent. 40
But many days, and many months,
And many years ensuing,
This wretched Knight did vainly seek
The death that he was wooing.
So, coming his last help to crave, 45
Heart-broken, upon Ellen's grave [6]
His body he extended,
And there his sorrow ended.
Now ye, who willingly have heard
The tale I have been telling, 50
May in Kirkonnel churchyard view
The grave of lovely Ellen:
By Ellen's side the Bruce is laid;
And, for the stone upon his head,
May no rude hand deface it, 55
And its forlorn Hic jacet.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1815.
The Gordon . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 2:
1837.
But what is Gordon's beauteous face?
And what are Gordon's crosses
To them who sit by Kirtle's Braes
Upon the verdant mosses? 1800. ]
[Variant 3:
1837.
Proud Gordon cannot bear the thoughts 1800. ]
[Variant 4:
1837.
And, starting up, to Bruce's heart 1800. ]
[Variant 5:
1837.
Fair Ellen saw it when it came,
And, stepping forth . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 6:
1827.
So coming back across the wave,
Without a groan on Ellen's grave 1800.
And coming back . . . 1802. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE:
[Footnote A: The Kirtle is a River in the Southern part of Scotland, on
whose banks the events here related took place. --W. W. 1800. ]
No Scottish ballad is superior in pathos to 'Helen of Kirkconnell'. It
is based on a traditionary tale--the date of the event being lost--but
the locality, in the parish of Kirkpatrick-Fleming in Dumfriesshire, is
known; and there the graves of "Burd Helen" and her lover are still
pointed out.
The following is Sir Walter Scott's account of the story:
"A lady of the name of Helen Irving, or Bell (for this is disputed by
the two clans), daughter of the laird of Kirkconnell in Dumfriesshire,
and celebrated for her beauty, was beloved by two gentlemen in the
neighbourhood. The name of the favoured suitor was Adam Fleming of
Kirkpatrick: that of the other has escaped tradition, although it has
been alleged he was a Bell of Blackel-house. The addresses of the
latter were, however, favoured by the friends of the lady, and the
lovers were therefore obliged to meet in secret, and by night, in the
Churchyard of Kirkconnell, a romantic spot, surrounded by the river
Kirtle. During one of their private interviews, the jealous and
despised lover suddenly appeared on the opposite bank of the stream,
and levelled his carbine at the breast of his rival. Helen threw
herself before her lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and died
in his arms. A desperate and mortal combat ensued between Fleming and
the murderer, in which the latter was cut to pieces. "
See 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border', vol. ii. p. 317.
The original ballad--well known though it is--may be quoted as an
admirable illustration of the different types of poetic genius in
dealing with the same, or a kindred, theme.
I wish I were where Helen lies!
Night and day on me she cries;
O that I were where Helen lies,
On fair Kirkconnell lee!
Cursed be the heart that thought the thought,
And curst the hand that fired the shot,
When in my arms burd Helen dropt,
And died to succour me!
Oh think ye na my heart was sair,
When my love dropt down and spake nae mair!
There did she swoon wi' meikle care,
On fair Kirkconnell lee.
As I went down the water side,
None but my foe to be my guide,
None but my foe to be my guide,
On fair Kirkconnell lee--
I lighted down, my sword did draw,
I hacked him in pieces sma',
I hacked him in pieces sma',
For her sake that died for me.
Oh, Helen fair, beyond compare!
I'll weave a garland of thy hair
Shall bind my heart for evermair,
Until the day I dee!
Oh that I were where Helen lies!
Day and night on me she cries;
Out of my bed she bids me rise,
Says, "Haste, and come to me! "
O Helen fair! O Helen chaste!
Were I with thee I would be blest,
Where thou lies low and takes thy rest,
On fair Kirkconnell lee.
I wish my grave were growing green,
A winding sheet drawn o'er my e'en,
And I in Helen's arms lying
On fair Kirkconnell lee.
I wish I were where Helen lies!
Night and day on me she cries,
And I am weary of the skies,
For her sake that died for me!
Ed.
* * * * *
HART-LEAP WELL
Composed 1800. --Published 1800
Hart-Leap Well is a small spring of water, about five miles from
Richmond in Yorkshire, and near the side of the road which leads from
Richmond to Askrigg. Its name is derived from a remarkable chace, the
memory of which is preserved by the monuments spoken of in the second
Part of the following Poem, which monuments do now exist as I have there
described them. --W. W. 1800.
[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. The first eight stanzas were composed
extempore one winter evening in the cottage, when, after having tired
myself with labouring at an awkward passage in 'The Brothers', I started
with a sudden impulse to this to get rid of the other, and finished it
in a day or two. My sister and I had passed the place a few weeks before
in our wild winter journey from Sockburn on the banks of the Tees to
Grasmere. A peasant whom we met near the spot told us the story so far
as concerned the name of the Well, and the Hart, and pointed out the
Stones. Both the stones and the well are objects that may easily be
missed. The tradition by this time may be extinct in the neighbourhood.
The man who related it to us was very old. --I. F. ]
Included among the "Poems of the Imagination,"--Ed.
The Knight had ridden down from Wensley Moor
With the slow motion of a summer's cloud
And now, as he approached a vassal's door,
"Bring forth another horse! " he cried aloud. [1]
"Another horse! "--That shout the vassal heard 5
And saddled his best Steed, a comely grey;
Sir Walter mounted him; he was the third
Which he had mounted on that glorious day.
Joy sparkled in the prancing courser's eyes;
The horse and horseman are a happy pair; 10
But, though Sir Walter like a falcon flies,
There is a doleful silence in the air.
A rout this morning left Sir Walter's Hall,
That as they galloped made the echoes roar;
But horse and man are vanished, one and all; 15
Such race, I think, was never seen before.
Sir Walter, restless as a veering wind,
Calls to the few tired dogs that yet remain:
Blanch, [2] Swift, and Music, noblest of their kind,
Follow, and up the weary mountain strain. 20
The Knight hallooed, he cheered and chid them on [3]
With suppliant gestures [4] and upbraidings stern;
But breath and eyesight fail; and, one by one,
The dogs are stretched among the mountain fern.
Where is the throng, the tumult of the race? [5] 25
The bugles that so joyfully were blown?
--This chase it looks not like an earthly chase; [6]
Sir Walter and the Hart are left alone.
The poor Hart toils along the mountain-side;
I will not stop to tell how far he fled, 30
Nor will I mention by what death he died;
But now the Knight beholds him lying dead.
Dismounting, then, he leaned against a thorn;
He had no follower, dog, nor man, nor boy:
He neither cracked [7] his whip, nor blew his horn, 35
But gazed upon the spoil with silent joy.
Close to the thorn on which Sir Walter leaned,
Stood his dumb partner in this glorious feat; [8]
Weak as a lamb the hour that it is yeaned;
And white with foam as if with cleaving sleet. [9] 40
Upon his side the Hart was lying stretched:
His nostril touched [10] a spring beneath a hill,
And with the last deep groan his breath had fetched
The waters of the spring were trembling still.
And now, too happy for repose or rest, 45
(Never had living man such joyful lot! ) [11]
Sir Walter walked all round, north, south, and west,
And gazed and gazed upon that darling spot. [12]
And climbing [13] up the hill--(it was at least
Four [14] roods of sheer ascent) Sir Walter found 50
Three several hoof-marks which the hunted Beast [15]
Had left imprinted on the grassy [16] ground.
Sir Walter wiped his face, and cried, "Till now
Such sight was never seen by human [17] eyes:
Three leaps have borne him from this lofty brow, 55
Down to the very fountain where he lies.
"I'll build a pleasure-house upon this spot,
And a small arbour, made for rural joy;
'Twill be the traveller's shed, the pilgrim's cot,
A place of love for damsels that are coy. 60
"A cunning artist will I have to frame
A basin for that fountain in the dell!
And they who do make mention of the same,
From this day forth, shall call it HART-LEAP WELL.
"And, gallant Stag! [18] to make thy praises known, 65
Another monument shall here be raised;
Three several pillars, each a rough-hewn stone,
And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazed.
"And, in the summer-time when days are long,
I will come hither with my Paramour; 70
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song
We will make merry in that pleasant bower.
"Till the foundations of the mountains fail
My mansion with its arbour shall endure;--
The joy of them who till the fields of Swale, 75
And them who dwell among the woods of Ure! "
Then home he went, and left the Hart, stone-dead,
With breathless nostrils stretched above the spring.
--Soon did the Knight perform what he had said;
And far and wide the fame thereof did ring. [19] 80
Ere thrice the Moon into her port had steered,
A cup of stone received the living well;
Three pillars of rude stone Sir Walter reared,
And built a house of pleasure in the dell.
And near the fountain, flowers of stature tall 85
With trailing plants and trees were intertwined,--
Which soon composed a little sylvan hall,
A leafy shelter from the sun and wind.
And thither, when the summer days were long
Sir Walter led his wondering Paramour; [20] 90
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song
Made merriment within that pleasant bower.
The Knight, Sir Walter, died in course of time,
And his bones lie in his paternal vale. --
But there is matter for a second rhyme, 95
And I to this would add another tale.
PART SECOND
The moving accident [A] is not my trade;
To freeze the blood I have no ready arts:
'Tis my delight, alone in summer shade,
To pipe a simple song for [21] thinking hearts. 100
As I from Hawes to Richmond did repair,
It chanced that I saw standing in a dell
Three aspens at three corners of a square;
And one, not four yards distant, near a well.
What this imported I could ill divine: 105
And, pulling now the rein my horse to stop,
I saw three pillars standing in a line,--
The last stone-pillar on a dark hill-top.
The trees were grey, with neither arms nor head:
Half wasted the square mound of tawny green; 110
So that you just might say, as then I said,
"Here in old time the hand of man hath [22] been. "
I looked upon the hill [23] both far and near,
More doleful place did never eye survey;
It seemed as if the spring-time came not here, 115
And Nature here were willing to decay.
I stood in various thoughts and fancies lost, [B]
When one, who was in shepherd's garb attired,
Came up the hollow:--him did I accost,
And what this place might be I then inquired. 120
The Shepherd stopped, and that same story told
Which in my former rhyme I have rehearsed.
"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old!
But something ails it now: the spot is curst.
"You see these lifeless stumps of aspen wood--125
Some say that they are beeches, others elms--
These were the bower; and here a mansion stood,
The finest palace of a hundred realms!
"The arbour does its own condition tell;
You see the stones, the fountain, and the stream; 130
But as to the great Lodge! you might as well
Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream.
"There's neither dog nor heifer, horse nor sheep,
Will wet his lips within that cup of stone;
And oftentimes, when all are fast asleep, 135
This water doth send forth a dolorous groan.
"Some say that here a murder has been done,
And blood cries out for blood: but, for my part,
I've guessed, when I've been sitting in the sun,
That it was all for that unhappy Hart. 140
"What thoughts must through the creature's brain have past!
Even from the topmost stone, upon the steep, [24]
Are but three bounds--and look, Sir, at this last--
O Master! it has been a cruel leap.
"For thirteen hours he ran a desperate race; 145
And in my simple mind we cannot tell
What cause the Hart might have to love this place,
And come and make his death-bed near the well.
"Here on the grass perhaps asleep he sank,
Lulled by the [25] fountain in the summer tide; 150
This water was perhaps the first he drank
When he had wandered from his mother's side.
"In April here beneath the flowering [26] thorn
He heard the birds their morning carols sing;
And he, perhaps, for aught we know, was born 155
Not half a furlong from that self-same spring.
"Now, here is [27] neither grass nor pleasant shade;
The sun on drearier hollow never shone;
So will it be, as I have often said,
Till trees, and stones, and fountain, all are gone. " 160
"Grey-headed Shepherd, thou hast spoken well;
Small difference lies between thy creed and mine:
This Beast not unobserved by Nature fell;
His death was mourned by sympathy divine.
"The Being, that is in the clouds and air, 165
That is in the green leaves among the groves,
Maintains a deep and reverential care
For the unoffending creatures [28] whom he loves.
"The pleasure-house is dust:--behind, before,
This is no common waste, no common gloom; 170
But Nature, in due course of time, once more
Shall here put on her beauty and her bloom.
"She leaves these objects to a slow decay,
That what we are, and have been, may be known;
But at the coming of the milder day, 175
These monuments shall all be overgrown.
"One lesson, Shepherd, let us two divide,
Taught both by what she shows, and what conceals; [C]
Never to blend our pleasure or our pride
With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels. " 180
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1836.
He turn'd aside towards a Vassal's door,
And, "Bring another Horse! " he cried aloud. 1800. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
Brach, . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 3:
1827.
. . . he chid and cheer'd them on 1800. ]
[Variant 4:
1800.
With fawning kindness . . . MS. ]
[Variant 5:
1802.
. . . of the chace? 1800. ]
[Variant 6:
1802.
This race it looks not like an earthly race; 1800. ]
[Variant 7:
1820.
. . . smack'd . . . 1800. ]
[Variant 8:
1820.
.
