No More Learning

Soft o'er the waters mournful measures swell,
Unlocking tender thought's "memorial cell";
Past pleasures are transformed to mortal pains
And poison spreads along the listener's veins. 1820.

While poison . . . 1827. ]


[Variant 141:

1836.

Fair smiling lights the purpled hills illume! 1815. ]


[Variant 142:

1836.

Soft . . . 1815. ]


[Variant 143:

1836.

Soon flies the little joy to man allowed,
And grief before him travels like a cloud: 1815. ]


[Variant 144:

1836. (Expanding four lines into six. )

For come Diseases on, and Penury's rage,
Labour, and Care, and Pain, and dismal Age,
Till, Hope-deserted, long in vain his breath
Implores the dreadful untried sleep of Death. 1815. ]


[Variant 145:

1836.

A Temple stands; which holds an awful shrine, 1815. ]


[Variant 146:

1836.

Pale, dreadful faces round the Shrine appear, 1815. ]


[Variant 147:

1836. After this line the editions of 1815-1832 have the following
couplet:

While strives a secret Power to hush the crowd,
Pain's wild rebellious burst proclaims her rights aloud,

and this is followed by lines 545-6 of the final text. ]


[Variant 148:

1836.

From 1815 to 1832, the following two couplets followed line 546. The
first of these was withdrawn in 1836.

Mid muttering prayers all sounds of torment meet,
Dire clap of hands, distracted chafe of feet;
While loud and dull ascends the weeping cry,
Surely in other thoughts contempt may die. 1815. ]


[Variant 149:

1836.

--The tall Sun, tiptoe . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 150:

1836.

At such an hour there are who love to stray,
And meet the advancing Pilgrims ere the day 1820.

Now let us meet the Pilgrims ere the day
Close on the remnant of their weary way; 1827. ]


[Variant 151:

1836.

For ye are drawing tow'rd that sacred floor,
Where the charmed worm of pain shall gnaw no more. 1820.

While they are drawing toward the sacred floor 1827. ]


[Variant 152:

1827.

. . . for you . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 153:

1836.

--Now with a tearful kiss each other greet,
Nor longer naked be your toil-worn feet, 1820.

There some with tearful kiss each other greet,
And some, with reverence, wash their toil-worn feet. 1827. ]


[Variant 154:

1836.

Yes I will see you when you first behold 1820.

. . . ye . . . 1827. ]


[Variant 155: This couplet was added in 1836. ]


[Variant 156:

1836.

. . . the hands . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 157:

1836.

Last let us turn to where Chamouny shields, 1820. ]


[Variant 158:

1827.

Bosomed in gloomy woods, . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 159:

1836.

Here lawns and shades by breezy rivulets fann'd,
Here all the Seasons revel hand in hand. 1820. ]


[Variant 160:

1836.

--Red stream the cottage-lights; the landscape fades,
Erroneous wavering mid the twilight shades.

Inserted in the editions 1820 to 1832. ]


[Variant 161:

1836.

Alone ascends that Mountain named of white, 1820.

Alone ascends that Hill of matchless height, 1827. ]


[Variant 162:

1836.

. . . amid . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 163:

1836.

Mysterious . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 164:

1836.

. . . 'mid . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 165:

1836.

At such an hour I heaved a pensive sigh,
When roared the sullen Arve in anger by, 1820. ]


[Variant 166:

1836.

. . . delicious . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 167:

1836.

Hard lot! --for no Italian arts are thine
To cheat, or chear, to soften, or refine. 1820.

To soothe or cheer, . . . 1827. ]


[Variant 168:

1836.

Beloved Freedom! were it mine to stray,
With shrill winds roaring . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 169:

1836.

O'er . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 170:

1836.

(Compressing four lines into two. )

. . . o'er Lugano blows;
In the wide ranges of many a varied round,
Fleet as my passage was, I still have found
That where proud courts their blaze of gems display,
The lilies of domestic joy decay, 1820.

That where despotic courts their gems display, 1827. ]


[Variant 171:

1836.

In thy dear . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 172: The previous three lines were added in the edition of 1836. ]


[Variant 173:

1836.

The casement's shed more luscious woodbine binds,
And to the door a neater pathway winds; 1820. ]


[Variant 174:

1836.

(Compressing six lines into two. )

At early morn, the careful housewife, led
To cull her dinner from its garden bed,
Of weedless herbs a healthier prospect sees,
While hum with busier joy her happy bees;
In brighter rows her table wealth aspires,
And laugh with merrier blaze her evening fires; 1820. ]


[Variant 175:

1836.

Her infants' cheeks with fresher roses glow,
And wilder graces sport around their brow; 1820. ]


[Variant 176:

1836.

(Compressing four lines into two. )

By clearer taper lit, a cleanlier board
Receives at supper hour her tempting hoard;
The chamber hearth with fresher boughs is spread,
And whiter is the hospitable bed. 1820. ]


[Variant 177:

1845.

(Compressing four lines into two. )

And oh, fair France! though now along the shade
Where erst at will the grey-clad peasant strayed,
Gleam war's discordant garments through the trees,
And the red banner mocks the froward breeze; 1820.

. . . discordant vestments through the trees,
And the red banner fluctuates in the breeze; 1827.

. . . though in the rural shade
Where at his will, so late, the grey-clad peasant strayed,
Now, clothed in war's discordant garb, he sees
The three-striped banner fluctuate on the breeze; 1836. ]


[Variant 178:

1836.

Though now no more thy maids their voices suit
To the low-warbled breath of twilight lute,
And, heard the pausing village hum between,
No solemn songstress lull the fading green, 1820.

Though martial songs have banish'd songs of love,
And nightingales forsake the village grove, 1827.

(Compressing the four lines of 1820 into two. )]


[Variant 179:

1836.

While, as Night bids the startling uproar die,
Sole sound, the Sourd renews his mournful cry! 1820. ]


[Variant 180:

1836.

Chasing those long long dreams, . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 181:

1845.

. . . fainter pang . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 182:

1836.

A more majestic tide [vi] the water roll'd,
And glowed the sun-gilt groves in richer gold. 1820. ]


[Variant 183:

1836.

(Compressing six lines into four.
)

--Though Liberty shall soon, indignant, raise
Red on the hills his beacon's comet blaze;
Bid from on high his lonely cannon sound,
And on ten thousand hearths his shout rebound;
His larum-bell from village-tower to tower
Swing on the astounded ear its dull undying roar; 1820. ]


[Variant 184:

1836.

Yet, yet rejoice, though Pride's perverted ire
Rouze Hell's own aid, and wrap thy hills on fire!
Lo! from the innocuous flames, a lovely birth,
With its own Virtues springs another earth: 1820. ]


[Variant 185:

1836.

Lines 646-651 were previously

Nature, as in her prime, her virgin reign
Begins, and Love and Truth compose her train;
While, with a pulseless hand, and stedfast gaze,
Unbreathing Justice her still beam surveys. 1820. ]


[Variant 186:

1836.

(Expanding eight lines into nine. )

Oh give, great God, to Freedom's waves to ride
Sublime o'er Conquest, Avarice, and Pride,
To sweep where Pleasure decks her guilty bowers
And dark Oppression builds her thick-ribbed towers!
--Give them, beneath their breast while gladness springs
To brood the nations o'er with Nile-like wings;
And grant that every sceptred Child of clay,
Who cries, presumptuous, "here their tides shall stay," 1820. ]


[Variant 187: This couplet was added in 1836. ]


[Variant 188:

1836.

Swept in their anger from the affrighted shore,
With all his creatures sink--to rise no more! 1820. ]


[Variant 189:

1845.

Be the dead load of mortal ills forgot! 1820

Be fear and joyful hope alike forgot 1836. ]


[Variant 190: This couplet was added in 1827. ]


[Variant 191:

1836.

Renewing, when the rosy summits glow
At morn, our various journey, sad and slow. 1820.

With lighter heart our course we may renew,
The first whose footsteps print the mountain dew. 1827. ]



* * * * *

SUB-VARIANTS


[Sub-Variant 1:

A single taper in the vale profound
Shifts, while the Alps dilated glimmer round; 1832. ]


[Sub-Variant 2:

And, . . . 1832. ]


[Sub-Variant 3:

. . . above yon . . . 1836. ]


[Sub-Variant 4:

By the deep gloom appalled, the Vagrant sighs, 1836. ]


[Sub-Variant 5: This couplet was cancelled in the edition of 1827. ]


[Sub-Variant 6:

Or on her fingers . . . 1836. ]


[Sub-Variant 7: This couplet was withdrawn in 1827. ]


[Sub-Variant 8:

Behind the hill . . . 1836. ]


[Sub-Variant 9:

Near and yet nearer, from the piny gulf
Howls, by the darkness vexed, the famished wolf, 1836. ]


* * * * *


FOOTNOTES


[Footnote A: See note to the "Juvenile Pieces" in the edition of 1836
(p. 1). --Ed. ]


[Footnote B: There is something characteristic in Wordsworth's
addressing an intimate travelling companion in this way. S. T. C. , or
Charles Lamb, would have written, as we do, "My dear Jones"; but
Wordsworth addressed his friend as "Dear Sir," and described his sister
as "a Young Lady," and as a "Female Friend. "--Ed. ]


[Footnote C: In a small pocket copy of the 'Orlando Furioso' of
Ariosto--now in the possession of the poet's grandson, Mr. Gordon
Wordsworth--of which the title-page is torn away, the following is
written on the first page, "My companion in the Alps with Jones. W.
Wordsworth:" also "W. W. to D. W. " (He had given it to his sister
Dorothy. ) On the last page is written, "I carried this Book with me in
my pedestrian tour in the Alps with Jones. W. Wordsworth. " Dorothy
Wordsworth gave this interesting relic to Miss Quillinan, from whose
library it passed to that of its present owner. --Ed. ]


[Footnote D: By an evident error, corrected in the first reprint of this
edition (1840). See p. 79. --Ed. [the end of the introductory text to
'Guilt and Sorrow', the next poem in this text. ]]


[Footnote E: See Addison's 'Cato', Act 1. Scene i. , l. 171:

Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury. --Ed. ]


[Footnote F: The lyre of Memnon is reported to have emitted melancholy
or chearful tones, as it was touched by the sun's evening or morning
rays. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote G: Compare Pope's 'Windsor Forest', ll. 129, 130;

He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye:
Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky:

Ed. ]


[Footnote H: Alluding to crosses seen on the tops of the spiry rocks of
the Chartreuse, which have every appearance of being inaccessible. --W.
W. 1793. ]


[Footnote J: Compare Milton's 'Ode on the Nativity', stanza xx. --Ed. ]


[Footnote K: Names of rivers at the Chartreuse. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote L: Name of one of the valleys of the Chartreuse. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote M: The river along whose banks you descend in crossing the
Alps by the Simplon Pass---W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote N: Most of the bridges among the Alps are of wood and covered:
these bridges have a heavy appearance, and rather injure the effect of
the scenery in some places. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote P: The Catholic religion prevails here; these cells are, as is
well known, very common in the Catholic countries, planted, like the
Roman tombs, along the roadside. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote Q: Crosses commemorative of the deaths of travellers by the
fall of snow and other accidents very common along this dreadful
road. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote R: The houses in the more retired Swiss valleys are all built
of wood. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote S: See Burns's 'Postscript' to his 'Cry and Prayer':

And when he fa's,
His latest draught o' breathin' leaves him
In faint huzzas.

Ed. ]


[Footnote T: For most of the images in the next sixteen verses I am
indebted to M. Raymond's interesting observations annexed to his
translation of Coxe's 'Tour in Switzerland'. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote U: The people of this Canton are supposed to be of a more
melancholy disposition than the other inhabitants of the Alps: this, if
true, may proceed from their living more secluded. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote V: This picture is from the middle region of the Alps. --W. W.
1815. _Chalets_ are summer huts for the Swiss herdsmen. --W. W. 1836. ]


[Footnote W: Sugh, a Scotch word expressive of the sound of the wind
through the trees. --W. W. 1793.

It may be as well to add that, in this Scotch word, the "gh" is
pronounced; so that, as used colloquially, the word could never rhyme
with "blue. "--Ed. ]


[Footnote X: See Smollett's 'Ode to Leven Water' in 'Humphry Clinker',
and compare 'The Italian Itinerant and the Swiss Goatherd', in
"Memorials of a Tour on the Continent" in 1820, part ii. 1. --Ed. ]


[Footnote Y: Alluding to several battles which the Swiss in very small
numbers have gained over their oppressors the house of Austria; and in
particular, to one fought at Naeffels near Glarus, where three hundred
and thirty men defeated an army of between fifteen and twenty thousand
Austrians. Scattered over the valley are to be found eleven stones, with
this inscription, 1388, the year the battle was fought, marking out as I
was told upon the spot, the several places where the Austrians
attempting to make a stand were repulsed anew. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote Z: As Schreck-Horn, the pike of terror. Wetter-Horn, the pike
of storms, etc. , etc. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote Aa: The effect of the famous air called in French Ranz des
Vaches upon the Swiss troops. --W. W. 1793. ]


[Footnote Bb: This shrine is resorted to, from a hope of relief, by
multitudes, from every corner of the Catholick world, labouring under
mental or bodily afflictions. --W. W. 1793. ]

[Footnote Cc: Compare the Stanzas 'Composed in one of the Catholic
Cantons', in the "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent" (1820), which
refer to Einsiedlen. --Ed. ]


[Footnote Dd: Rude fountains built and covered with sheds for the
accommodation of the pilgrims, in their ascent of the mountain. --W. W.
1793. ]


[Footnote Ee: Compare Coleridge's 'Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of
Chamouni':

And you, ye five wild torrents fiercely glad!
. . .
. . . Who, with living flowers
Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet?
. . .
O struggling with the darkness all the night,
And visited all night by troops of stars,
. . .
The Arve and Arveiron at thy base
Rave ceaselessly;

Compare also Shelley's 'Mont Blanc'. --Ed. ]


[Footnote Ff: See note on Coleridge's 'Hymn before Sun-rise' on previous
page. --Ed. [in Footnote Ff directly above]]


[Footnote Gg: An insect so called, which emits a short, melancholy cry,
heard, at the close of the summer evenings, on the banks of the
Loire. --W. W, 1793. ]


[Footnote Hh: The duties upon many parts of the French rivers were so
exorbitant that the poorer people, deprived of the benefit of water
carriage, were obliged to transport their goods by land. --W. W. 1793. ]


* * * * *

SUB-FOOTNOTES


[Sub-Footnote i: In the edition of 1815, the 28 lines, from "No sad
vacuities" to "a wanderer came there," are entitled "Pleasures of the
Pedestrian. "--Ed. ]


[Sub-Footnote ii: See 'Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude', l.