--Published 1807 [A]
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty.
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty.
William Wordsworth
"
The "little Nook of mountain-ground" is in much the same condition now,
as it was in 1802. The "flowering shrubs" and the "rocky well" still
exist, and "the steep rock's breast" is "thronged with primroses" in
spring. The "bower" is gone; but, where it used to be, a seat is now
erected.
The Dove Cottage orchard is excellently characterised in Mr. Stopford
Brooke's pamphlet describing it (1890). See also 'The Green Linnet', p.
367, with the note appended to it, and Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere
Journal, _passim_. --Ed.
* * * * *
"THE SUN HAS LONG BEEN SET"
Composed June 8, 1802. --Published 1807
[This _Impromptu_ appeared, many years ago, among the Author's poems,
from which, in subsequent editions, it was excluded. [A] It is
reprinted, at the request of the Friend in whose presence the lines were
thrown off. --I. F. ]
One of the "Evening Voluntaries. "--Ed.
The sun has long been set,
The stars are out by twos and threes,
The little birds are piping yet
Among the bushes and trees; [1]
There's a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes, 5
And a far-off wind that rushes,
And a sound of water that gushes, [2]
And the cuckoo's sovereign cry
Fills all the hollow of the sky.
Who would go "parading" 10
In London, "and masquerading," [B]
On such a night of June
With that beautiful soft half-moon,
And all these innocent blisses?
On such a night as this is! 15
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . and the trees; 1836.
The edition of 1837 returns to the text of 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1835.
And a noise of wind that rushes,
With a noise of water that gushes; 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: It appeared in 1807 as No. II. of "Moods of my own Mind,"
and not again till the publication of "Yarrow Revisited" in 1835. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: Compare:
'At operas and plays parading,
Mortgaging, gambling, masquerading. '
Burns, 'The Two Dogs, a Tale', II. 124-5. --Ed. ]
"June 8th (1802). --After tea William came out and walked, and wrote
that poem, 'The sun has long been set,' etc. He walked on our own
path, and wrote the lines; he called me into the orchard and there
repeated them to me. "
(Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal. ) The "Friend in whose presence the lines
were thrown off," was his sister. --Ed.
* * * * *
COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, SEPTEMBER 3, 1802
Composed July 31, 1802. --Published 1807
[Written on the roof of a coach, on my way to France. --I. F. ]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets. "--Ed.
Earth has not any thing to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul [1] who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, 5
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; 10
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . heart . . . MS. ]
The date which Wordsworth gave to this sonnet on its first publication
in 1807, viz. September 3, 1803,--and which he retained in all
subsequent editions of his works till 1836,--is inaccurate. He left
London for Dover, on his way to Calais, on the 31st of July 1802. The
sonnet was written that morning as he travelled towards Dover. The
following record of the journey is preserved in his sister's Journal:
"July 30. [A]--Left London between five and six o'clock of the morning
outside the Dover coach. A beautiful morning. The city, St. Paul's,
with the river--a multitude of little boats, made a beautiful sight as
we crossed _Westminster Bridge_; the houses not overhung by their
clouds of smoke, and were hung out endlessly; yet the sun shone so
brightly, with such a pure light, that there was something like the
purity of one of Nature's own grand spectacles. "
This sonnet underwent no change in successive editions.
In illustration of it, an anecdote of the late Bishop of St. David's may
be given, as reported by Lord Coleridge.
"In the great debate on the abolition of the Irish Establishment in
1869, the Bishop of St. David's, Dr. Thirlwall, had made a very
remarkable speech, and had been kept till past daybreak in the House
of Lords, before the division was over, and he was able to walk home.
He was then an old man, and in failing health. Some time after, he was
asked whether he had not run some risk to his health, and whether he
did not feel much exhausted. 'Yes,' he said, 'perhaps so; but I was
more than repaid by walking out upon Westminster Bridge after the
division, seeing London in the morning light as Wordsworth saw it, and
repeating to myself his noble sonnet as I walked home. '"
This anecdote was told to the Wordsworth Society, at its meeting on the
3rd of May 1882, after a letter had been read by the Secretary, from Mr.
Robert Spence Watson, recording the following similar experience:
". . . As confirming the perfect truth of Wordsworth's description of
the external aspects of a scene, and the way in which he reached its
inmost soul, I may tell you what happened to me, and may have happened
to many others. Many years ago, I think it was in 1859, I chanced to
be passing (in a pained and depressed state of mind, occasioned by the
death of a friend) over Waterloo Bridge at half-past three on a lovely
June morning. It was broad daylight, and I was alone. Never when alone
in the remotest recesses of the Alps, with nothing around me but the
mountains, or upon the plains of Africa, alone with the wonderful
glory of the southern night, have I seen anything to approach the
solemnity--the soothing solemnity--of the city, sleeping under the
early sun:
'Earth has not any thing to show more fair. '
"How simply, yet how perfectly, Wordsworth has interpreted it! It was
a happy thing for us that the Dover coach left at so untimely an hour.
It was this sonnet, I think, that first opened my eyes to Wordsworth's
greatness as a poet. Perhaps nothing that he has written shows more
strikingly the vast sympathy which is his peculiar dower. "
Ed.
[Footnote A: This is an error of date. Saturday, the day of their
departure from London, was the 31st of July. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Fair Star of evening, Splendour of the west,
Star of my Country! --on the horizon's brink
Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink
On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest,
Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest 5
Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I think,
Should'st be my Country's emblem; and should'st wink,
Bright Star! with laughter on her banners, drest
In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky spot
Beneath thee, that is England; there she lies. [1] 10
Blessings be on you both! one hope, one lot,
One life, one glory! --I, with many a fear
For my dear Country, many heartfelt sighs,
Among men who do not love her, linger here.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1837.
. . . it is England; there it lies. 1807. ]
This sonnet, and the seven that follow it, were written during
Wordsworth's residence at Calais, in the month of August, 1802. The
following extract from his sister's Journal illustrates it:
"We arrived at _Calais_ at four o'clock on Sunday morning the 31st of
July. We had delightful walks after the heat of the day was
passed--seeing far off in the west the coast of England, like a cloud,
crested with Dover Castle, the evening Star, and the glory of the sky;
the reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself;
purple waves brighter than precious stones, for ever melting away upon
the sands. "
Ed.
* * * * *
CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802
Composed August 7, 1802--Published 1807 [A]
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind,
Or what is it that ye go forth to see?
Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree,
Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind,
Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, 5
With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee
In France, before the new-born Majesty.
'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, [1]
A seemly reverence may be paid to power;
But that's a loyal virtue, never sown 10
In haste, nor springing with a transient shower:
When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown,
What hardship had it been to wait an hour?
Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
Thus fares it ever. Men of prostrate mind! 1803. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: This sonnet was first published in 'The Morning Post', Jan.
29, 1803, under the signature W. L. D. , along with the one beginning, "I
grieved for Buonaparte, with a vain," and was afterwards printed in the
1807 edition of the Poems. Mr. T. Hutchinson (Dublin) suggests that the
W. L. D. stood either for _Wordsworthius Libertatis Defensor_, or (more
likely) _Wordsworthii Libertati Dedicatunt_ (carmen). --Ed. ]
* * * * *
COMPOSED NEAR CALAIS, ON THE ROAD LEADING TO ARDRES, AUGUST 7, 1802 [A]
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Jones! as [1] from Calais southward you and I
Went pacing side by side, this public Way
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, [B]
When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: [2]
A homeless sound of joy was in the sky: 5
From hour to hour the antiquated Earth, [3]
Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth, [4]
Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh!
And now, sole register that these things were,
Two solitary greetings have I heard, 10
"_Good morrow, Citizen! _" a hollow word,
As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair
Touches me not, though pensive as a bird
Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare. [5]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1837.
. . . when . . . 1807.
. . . while . . . 1820. ]
[Variant 2:
1837.
Travell'd on foot together; then this Way,
Which I am pacing now, was like the May
With festivals of new-born Liberty: 1807.
Where I am walking now . . . MS.
Urged our accordant steps, this public Way
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day,
When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: 1820. ]
[Variant 3:
1845.
The antiquated Earth, as one might say, 1807.
The antiquated Earth, hopeful and gay, 1837. ]
[Variant 4:
1845.
. . . garlands, play, 1807. ]
[Variant 5:
1827.
I feel not: happy am I as a Bird:
Fair seasons yet will come, and hopes as fair. 1807.
I feel not: jocund as a warbling Bird; 1820. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: In the editions of 1807 to 1837 this is a sub-title, the
chief title being 'To a Friend'. In the editions of 1840-1843, the chief
title is retained in the Table of Contents, but is erased in the
text. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: 14th July 1790. --W. W. 1820. ]
This sonnet, originally entitled 'To a Friend, composed near Calais, on
the Road leading to Ardres, August 7th, 1802', was addressed to Robert
Jones, of Plas-yn-llan, near Ruthin, Denbighshire, a brother collegian
at Cambridge, and afterwards a fellow of St. John's College, and
incumbent of Soulderne, near Deddington, in Oxfordshire. It was to him
that Wordsworth dedicated his 'Descriptive Sketches', which record their
wanderings together in Switzerland; and it is to the pedestrian tour,
undertaken by the two friends in the long vacation of 1790, that he
refers in the above sonnet. The character of Jones is sketched in the
poem written in 1800, beginning:
'I marvel how Nature could ever find space,' [A]
and his parsonage in Oxfordshire is described in the sonnet--
'Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,
Is marked by no distinguishable line. '
The following note on Jones was appended to the edition of
1837:
"This excellent Person, one of my earliest and dearest friends, died
in the year 1835. We were under-graduates together of the same year,
at the same college; and companions in many a delightful ramble
through his own romantic Country of North Wales. Much of the latter
part of his life he passed in comparative solitude; which I know was
often cheered by remembrance of our youthful adventures, and of the
beautiful regions which, at home and abroad, we had visited together.
Our long friendship was never subject to a moment's
interruption,--and, while revising these volumes for the last time, I
have been so often reminded of my loss, with a not unpleasing sadness,
that I trust the Reader will excuse this passing mention of a Man who
well deserves from me something more than so brief a notice. Let me
only add, that during the middle part of his life he resided many
years (as Incumbent of the Living) at a Parsonage in Oxfordshire,
which is the subject of one of the 'Miscellaneous Sonnets. '"
Ed.
[Footnote A: See p. 208 ['A Character']. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
CALAIS, AUGUST 15, 1802
Composed August 15, 1802.
--Published 1807 [A]
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Festivals have I seen that were not names:
This is young Buonaparte's natal day,
And his is henceforth an established sway--
Consul for life. With worship France proclaims
Her approbation, and with pomps and games. 5
Heaven grant that other Cities may be gay!
Calais is not: and I have bent my way
To the [1] sea-coast, noting that each man frames
His business as he likes. Far other show
My youth here witnessed, in a prouder time; [2] 10
The senselessness of joy was then sublime!
Happy is he, who, caring not for Pope,
Consul, or King, can sound himself to know
The destiny of Man, and live in hope.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . this . . . 1803. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
. . . Another time
That was, when I was here twelve years ago. 1803.
. . . long years ago: 1807.
. . . Far different time
That was, which here I witnessed, long ago; 1820. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: It had appeared in 'The Morning Post', February 26, 1803,
under the initials W. L. D. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
"IT IS A BEAUTEOUS EVENING, CALM AND FREE"
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
[This was composed on the beach near Calais, in the autumn of 1802. --I.
F. ]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets. " In 1807 it was No. 19 of that
series. --Ed.
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, [1]
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea: [2] 5
Listen! [3] the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, [A]
If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, [4] 10
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not. [B]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
Air sleeps,--from strife or stir the clouds are free; 1837.
A fairer face of evening cannot be; 1840.
The text of 1845 returns to that of 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1837.
. . . is on the Sea: 1807. ]
[Variant 3:
1807.
But list! . . . 1837.
The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807. ]
[Variant 4:
1845.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear'st untouch'd by solemn thought, 1807.
Dear Child! dear happy Girl! if thou appear
Heedless--untouched with awe or serious thought, 1837.
Heedless-unawed, untouched with serious thought, 1838.
The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: I thought, for some time, that the "girl" referred to was
Dorothy Wordsworth. Her brother used to speak, and to write, of her
under many names, "Emily," "Louisa," etc. ; and to call her a "child" in
1802--a "child of Nature" she was to the end of her days--or a "girl,"
seemed quite natural. However, a more probable suggestion was made by
Mr. T. Hutchinson to Professor Dowden, that it refers to the girl
Caroline mentioned in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal.
"We arrived at Calais at four o'clock on Sunday morning, the 3rd of
July. . . . We found out Annette and C. , chez Madame Avril dans la rue de
la Tete d'or. The weather was very hot. We walked by the shore almost
every evening with Annette and Caroline, or William and I alone. . . . It
was beautiful on the calm hot night to see the little boats row out of
harbour with wings of fire, and the sail-boats with the fiery track
which they cut as they went along, and which closed up after them with
a hundred thousand sparkles and streams of glowworm light. Caroline
was delighted. "
I have been unable to discover who Annette and Caroline were. Dorothy
Wordsworth frequently records in her Grasmere Journal that either
William, or she, "wrote to Annette," but who she was is unknown to
either the Wordsworth or the Hutchinson family. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: Compare:
'The Child is father of the Man, etc. '
p. 292.
Also S. T. C. in 'The Friend', iii. p. 46:
'The sacred light of childhood,'
and 'The Prelude', book v. l. 507. Ed. ]
* * * * *
ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
This and the following ten sonnets were included among the "Sonnets
dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National
Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Once did She hold the gorgeous east in fee;
And was the safeguard of the west: the worth
Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice, the eldest Child of Liberty.
She was a maiden City, bright and free; 5
No guile seduced, no force could violate;
And, when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea. [A]
And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay; 10
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
When her long life hath reached its final day:
Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade
Of that which once was great, is passed away.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: Compare 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' (canto iv. II):
'The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord. '
Ed. ]
"Once did She hold the gorgeous east in fee. "
The special glory of Venice dates from the conquest of Constantinople by
the Latins in 1202. The fourth Crusade--in which the French and
Venetians alone took part--started from Venice, in October 1202, under
the command of the Doge, Henry Dandolo. Its aim, however, was not the
recovery of Palestine, but the conquest of Constantinople. At the close
of the crusade, Venice received the Morea, part of Thessaly, the
Cyclades, many of the Byzantine cities, and the coasts of the
Hellespont, with three-eighths of the city of Constantinople itself, the
Doge taking the curious title of Duke of three-eighths of the Roman
Empire.
"And was the safeguard of the west. "
This may refer to the prominent part which Venice took in the Crusades,
or to the development of her naval power, which made her mistress of the
Mediterranean for many years, and an effective bulwark against invasions
from the East.
"The eldest Child of Liberty. "
The origin of the Venetian State was the flight of many of
the inhabitants of the mainland--on the invasion of Italy by
Attila--to the chain of islands that lie at the head of the
Adriatic.
"In the midst of the waters, free, indigent, laborious, and
inaccessible, they gradually coalesced into a republic: the first
foundations of Venice were laid in the island of Rialto. . . . On the
verge of the two empires the Venetians exult in the belief of
primitive and perpetual independence. "
Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', chap. lx.
"And, when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea. "
In 1177, Pope Alexander III. appealed to the Venetian Republic for
protection against the German Emperor. The Venetians were successful in
a naval battle at Saboro, against Otho, the son of Frederick Barbarossa.
In return, the Pope presented the Doge Liani with a ring, with which he
told him to wed the Adriatic, that posterity might know that the sea was
subject to Venice, "as a bride is to her husband. "
In September 1796, nearly six years before this sonnet was written, the
fate of the old Venetian Republic was sealed by the treaty of Campo
Formio. The French army under Napoleon had subdued Italy, and, having
crossed the Alps, threatened Vienna. To avert impending disaster, the
Emperor Francis arranged a treaty which extinguished the Venetian
Republic. He divided its territory between himself and Napoleon, Austria
retaining Istria, Dalmatia, and the left bank of the Adige in the
Venetian State, with the "maiden city" itself; France receiving the rest
of the territory and the Ionian Islands. Since the date of that treaty
the city has twice been annexed to Italy. --Ed.
* * * * *
THE KING OF SWEDEN
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
The Voice of song from distant lands shall call
To that great [1] King; shall hail the crowned Youth
Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth,
By one example hath set forth to all
How they with dignity may stand; or fall, 5
If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend?
And what to him and his shall be the end?
That thought is one which neither can appal
Nor cheer him; for the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be; is raised _above_ [2] 10
All consequences: work he hath begun
Of fortitude, and piety, and love,
Which all his glorious ancestors approve:
The heroes bless him, him their rightful son.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . bold . . . In 1838 only. ]
[Variant 2:
1845.
. . . He stands _above_ 1807. ]
The following is Wordsworth's note to this sonnet, added in 1837:
"In this and a succeeding Sonnet on the same subject, let me be
understood as a Poet availing himself of the situation which the King
of Sweden occupied, and of the principles AVOWED IN HIS MANIFESTOS; as
laying hold of these advantages for the purpose of embodying moral
truths. This remark might, perhaps, as well have been suppressed; for
to those who may be in sympathy with the course of these Poems, it
will be superfluous; and will, I fear, be thrown away upon that other
class, whose besotted admiration of the intoxicated despot hereafter
placed [A] in contrast with him, is the most melancholy evidence of
degradation in British feeling and intellect which the times have
furnished. "
The king referred to is Gustavus IV. , who was born in 1778, proclaimed
king in 1792, and died in 1837. His first public act after his accession
was to join in the coalition against Napoleon, and dislike of Napoleon
was the main-spring of his policy. It is to this that Wordsworth refers
in the sonnet:
'. . . the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be . . . '
It made him unpopular, however, and gave rise to a conspiracy against
him, and to his consequent abdication in 1809. He "died forgotten and in
poverty. "--Ed.
[Footnote A: See the sonnet beginning "Call not the royal Swede
unfortunate," vol. iv. p. 224. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807 [A]
Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men! [B]
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den;--[1]
O miserable Chieftain! where and when 5
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. [2] Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies; 10
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind. [C]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1827.
Whether the rural milk-maid by her cow
Sing in thy hearing, or thou liest now
Alone in some deep dungeon's earless den, 1803.
Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den, 1815.
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or Thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den;--1820. ]
[Variant 2:
1807.
. . . Yet die not; be thou
Life to thyself in death; with chearful brow
Live, loving death, nor let one thought in ten
Be painful to thee . . . 1803. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: But previously printed in 'The Morning Post' of February 2,
1803, under the signature W. L. D. --Ed.
The "little Nook of mountain-ground" is in much the same condition now,
as it was in 1802. The "flowering shrubs" and the "rocky well" still
exist, and "the steep rock's breast" is "thronged with primroses" in
spring. The "bower" is gone; but, where it used to be, a seat is now
erected.
The Dove Cottage orchard is excellently characterised in Mr. Stopford
Brooke's pamphlet describing it (1890). See also 'The Green Linnet', p.
367, with the note appended to it, and Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere
Journal, _passim_. --Ed.
* * * * *
"THE SUN HAS LONG BEEN SET"
Composed June 8, 1802. --Published 1807
[This _Impromptu_ appeared, many years ago, among the Author's poems,
from which, in subsequent editions, it was excluded. [A] It is
reprinted, at the request of the Friend in whose presence the lines were
thrown off. --I. F. ]
One of the "Evening Voluntaries. "--Ed.
The sun has long been set,
The stars are out by twos and threes,
The little birds are piping yet
Among the bushes and trees; [1]
There's a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes, 5
And a far-off wind that rushes,
And a sound of water that gushes, [2]
And the cuckoo's sovereign cry
Fills all the hollow of the sky.
Who would go "parading" 10
In London, "and masquerading," [B]
On such a night of June
With that beautiful soft half-moon,
And all these innocent blisses?
On such a night as this is! 15
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . and the trees; 1836.
The edition of 1837 returns to the text of 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1835.
And a noise of wind that rushes,
With a noise of water that gushes; 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: It appeared in 1807 as No. II. of "Moods of my own Mind,"
and not again till the publication of "Yarrow Revisited" in 1835. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: Compare:
'At operas and plays parading,
Mortgaging, gambling, masquerading. '
Burns, 'The Two Dogs, a Tale', II. 124-5. --Ed. ]
"June 8th (1802). --After tea William came out and walked, and wrote
that poem, 'The sun has long been set,' etc. He walked on our own
path, and wrote the lines; he called me into the orchard and there
repeated them to me. "
(Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal. ) The "Friend in whose presence the lines
were thrown off," was his sister. --Ed.
* * * * *
COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, SEPTEMBER 3, 1802
Composed July 31, 1802. --Published 1807
[Written on the roof of a coach, on my way to France. --I. F. ]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets. "--Ed.
Earth has not any thing to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul [1] who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, 5
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; 10
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . heart . . . MS. ]
The date which Wordsworth gave to this sonnet on its first publication
in 1807, viz. September 3, 1803,--and which he retained in all
subsequent editions of his works till 1836,--is inaccurate. He left
London for Dover, on his way to Calais, on the 31st of July 1802. The
sonnet was written that morning as he travelled towards Dover. The
following record of the journey is preserved in his sister's Journal:
"July 30. [A]--Left London between five and six o'clock of the morning
outside the Dover coach. A beautiful morning. The city, St. Paul's,
with the river--a multitude of little boats, made a beautiful sight as
we crossed _Westminster Bridge_; the houses not overhung by their
clouds of smoke, and were hung out endlessly; yet the sun shone so
brightly, with such a pure light, that there was something like the
purity of one of Nature's own grand spectacles. "
This sonnet underwent no change in successive editions.
In illustration of it, an anecdote of the late Bishop of St. David's may
be given, as reported by Lord Coleridge.
"In the great debate on the abolition of the Irish Establishment in
1869, the Bishop of St. David's, Dr. Thirlwall, had made a very
remarkable speech, and had been kept till past daybreak in the House
of Lords, before the division was over, and he was able to walk home.
He was then an old man, and in failing health. Some time after, he was
asked whether he had not run some risk to his health, and whether he
did not feel much exhausted. 'Yes,' he said, 'perhaps so; but I was
more than repaid by walking out upon Westminster Bridge after the
division, seeing London in the morning light as Wordsworth saw it, and
repeating to myself his noble sonnet as I walked home. '"
This anecdote was told to the Wordsworth Society, at its meeting on the
3rd of May 1882, after a letter had been read by the Secretary, from Mr.
Robert Spence Watson, recording the following similar experience:
". . . As confirming the perfect truth of Wordsworth's description of
the external aspects of a scene, and the way in which he reached its
inmost soul, I may tell you what happened to me, and may have happened
to many others. Many years ago, I think it was in 1859, I chanced to
be passing (in a pained and depressed state of mind, occasioned by the
death of a friend) over Waterloo Bridge at half-past three on a lovely
June morning. It was broad daylight, and I was alone. Never when alone
in the remotest recesses of the Alps, with nothing around me but the
mountains, or upon the plains of Africa, alone with the wonderful
glory of the southern night, have I seen anything to approach the
solemnity--the soothing solemnity--of the city, sleeping under the
early sun:
'Earth has not any thing to show more fair. '
"How simply, yet how perfectly, Wordsworth has interpreted it! It was
a happy thing for us that the Dover coach left at so untimely an hour.
It was this sonnet, I think, that first opened my eyes to Wordsworth's
greatness as a poet. Perhaps nothing that he has written shows more
strikingly the vast sympathy which is his peculiar dower. "
Ed.
[Footnote A: This is an error of date. Saturday, the day of their
departure from London, was the 31st of July. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Fair Star of evening, Splendour of the west,
Star of my Country! --on the horizon's brink
Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink
On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest,
Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest 5
Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I think,
Should'st be my Country's emblem; and should'st wink,
Bright Star! with laughter on her banners, drest
In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky spot
Beneath thee, that is England; there she lies. [1] 10
Blessings be on you both! one hope, one lot,
One life, one glory! --I, with many a fear
For my dear Country, many heartfelt sighs,
Among men who do not love her, linger here.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1837.
. . . it is England; there it lies. 1807. ]
This sonnet, and the seven that follow it, were written during
Wordsworth's residence at Calais, in the month of August, 1802. The
following extract from his sister's Journal illustrates it:
"We arrived at _Calais_ at four o'clock on Sunday morning the 31st of
July. We had delightful walks after the heat of the day was
passed--seeing far off in the west the coast of England, like a cloud,
crested with Dover Castle, the evening Star, and the glory of the sky;
the reflections in the water were more beautiful than the sky itself;
purple waves brighter than precious stones, for ever melting away upon
the sands. "
Ed.
* * * * *
CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802
Composed August 7, 1802--Published 1807 [A]
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind,
Or what is it that ye go forth to see?
Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree,
Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind,
Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, 5
With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee
In France, before the new-born Majesty.
'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, [1]
A seemly reverence may be paid to power;
But that's a loyal virtue, never sown 10
In haste, nor springing with a transient shower:
When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown,
What hardship had it been to wait an hour?
Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
Thus fares it ever. Men of prostrate mind! 1803. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: This sonnet was first published in 'The Morning Post', Jan.
29, 1803, under the signature W. L. D. , along with the one beginning, "I
grieved for Buonaparte, with a vain," and was afterwards printed in the
1807 edition of the Poems. Mr. T. Hutchinson (Dublin) suggests that the
W. L. D. stood either for _Wordsworthius Libertatis Defensor_, or (more
likely) _Wordsworthii Libertati Dedicatunt_ (carmen). --Ed. ]
* * * * *
COMPOSED NEAR CALAIS, ON THE ROAD LEADING TO ARDRES, AUGUST 7, 1802 [A]
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Jones! as [1] from Calais southward you and I
Went pacing side by side, this public Way
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, [B]
When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: [2]
A homeless sound of joy was in the sky: 5
From hour to hour the antiquated Earth, [3]
Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth, [4]
Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh!
And now, sole register that these things were,
Two solitary greetings have I heard, 10
"_Good morrow, Citizen! _" a hollow word,
As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair
Touches me not, though pensive as a bird
Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare. [5]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1837.
. . . when . . . 1807.
. . . while . . . 1820. ]
[Variant 2:
1837.
Travell'd on foot together; then this Way,
Which I am pacing now, was like the May
With festivals of new-born Liberty: 1807.
Where I am walking now . . . MS.
Urged our accordant steps, this public Way
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day,
When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: 1820. ]
[Variant 3:
1845.
The antiquated Earth, as one might say, 1807.
The antiquated Earth, hopeful and gay, 1837. ]
[Variant 4:
1845.
. . . garlands, play, 1807. ]
[Variant 5:
1827.
I feel not: happy am I as a Bird:
Fair seasons yet will come, and hopes as fair. 1807.
I feel not: jocund as a warbling Bird; 1820. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: In the editions of 1807 to 1837 this is a sub-title, the
chief title being 'To a Friend'. In the editions of 1840-1843, the chief
title is retained in the Table of Contents, but is erased in the
text. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: 14th July 1790. --W. W. 1820. ]
This sonnet, originally entitled 'To a Friend, composed near Calais, on
the Road leading to Ardres, August 7th, 1802', was addressed to Robert
Jones, of Plas-yn-llan, near Ruthin, Denbighshire, a brother collegian
at Cambridge, and afterwards a fellow of St. John's College, and
incumbent of Soulderne, near Deddington, in Oxfordshire. It was to him
that Wordsworth dedicated his 'Descriptive Sketches', which record their
wanderings together in Switzerland; and it is to the pedestrian tour,
undertaken by the two friends in the long vacation of 1790, that he
refers in the above sonnet. The character of Jones is sketched in the
poem written in 1800, beginning:
'I marvel how Nature could ever find space,' [A]
and his parsonage in Oxfordshire is described in the sonnet--
'Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,
Is marked by no distinguishable line. '
The following note on Jones was appended to the edition of
1837:
"This excellent Person, one of my earliest and dearest friends, died
in the year 1835. We were under-graduates together of the same year,
at the same college; and companions in many a delightful ramble
through his own romantic Country of North Wales. Much of the latter
part of his life he passed in comparative solitude; which I know was
often cheered by remembrance of our youthful adventures, and of the
beautiful regions which, at home and abroad, we had visited together.
Our long friendship was never subject to a moment's
interruption,--and, while revising these volumes for the last time, I
have been so often reminded of my loss, with a not unpleasing sadness,
that I trust the Reader will excuse this passing mention of a Man who
well deserves from me something more than so brief a notice. Let me
only add, that during the middle part of his life he resided many
years (as Incumbent of the Living) at a Parsonage in Oxfordshire,
which is the subject of one of the 'Miscellaneous Sonnets. '"
Ed.
[Footnote A: See p. 208 ['A Character']. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
CALAIS, AUGUST 15, 1802
Composed August 15, 1802.
--Published 1807 [A]
One of the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems
dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Festivals have I seen that were not names:
This is young Buonaparte's natal day,
And his is henceforth an established sway--
Consul for life. With worship France proclaims
Her approbation, and with pomps and games. 5
Heaven grant that other Cities may be gay!
Calais is not: and I have bent my way
To the [1] sea-coast, noting that each man frames
His business as he likes. Far other show
My youth here witnessed, in a prouder time; [2] 10
The senselessness of joy was then sublime!
Happy is he, who, caring not for Pope,
Consul, or King, can sound himself to know
The destiny of Man, and live in hope.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . this . . . 1803. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
. . . Another time
That was, when I was here twelve years ago. 1803.
. . . long years ago: 1807.
. . . Far different time
That was, which here I witnessed, long ago; 1820. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: It had appeared in 'The Morning Post', February 26, 1803,
under the initials W. L. D. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
"IT IS A BEAUTEOUS EVENING, CALM AND FREE"
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
[This was composed on the beach near Calais, in the autumn of 1802. --I.
F. ]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets. " In 1807 it was No. 19 of that
series. --Ed.
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, [1]
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea: [2] 5
Listen! [3] the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, [A]
If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, [4] 10
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not. [B]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
Air sleeps,--from strife or stir the clouds are free; 1837.
A fairer face of evening cannot be; 1840.
The text of 1845 returns to that of 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1837.
. . . is on the Sea: 1807. ]
[Variant 3:
1807.
But list! . . . 1837.
The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807. ]
[Variant 4:
1845.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear'st untouch'd by solemn thought, 1807.
Dear Child! dear happy Girl! if thou appear
Heedless--untouched with awe or serious thought, 1837.
Heedless-unawed, untouched with serious thought, 1838.
The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: I thought, for some time, that the "girl" referred to was
Dorothy Wordsworth. Her brother used to speak, and to write, of her
under many names, "Emily," "Louisa," etc. ; and to call her a "child" in
1802--a "child of Nature" she was to the end of her days--or a "girl,"
seemed quite natural. However, a more probable suggestion was made by
Mr. T. Hutchinson to Professor Dowden, that it refers to the girl
Caroline mentioned in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal.
"We arrived at Calais at four o'clock on Sunday morning, the 3rd of
July. . . . We found out Annette and C. , chez Madame Avril dans la rue de
la Tete d'or. The weather was very hot. We walked by the shore almost
every evening with Annette and Caroline, or William and I alone. . . . It
was beautiful on the calm hot night to see the little boats row out of
harbour with wings of fire, and the sail-boats with the fiery track
which they cut as they went along, and which closed up after them with
a hundred thousand sparkles and streams of glowworm light. Caroline
was delighted. "
I have been unable to discover who Annette and Caroline were. Dorothy
Wordsworth frequently records in her Grasmere Journal that either
William, or she, "wrote to Annette," but who she was is unknown to
either the Wordsworth or the Hutchinson family. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: Compare:
'The Child is father of the Man, etc. '
p. 292.
Also S. T. C. in 'The Friend', iii. p. 46:
'The sacred light of childhood,'
and 'The Prelude', book v. l. 507. Ed. ]
* * * * *
ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
This and the following ten sonnets were included among the "Sonnets
dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National
Independence and Liberty. "--Ed.
Once did She hold the gorgeous east in fee;
And was the safeguard of the west: the worth
Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice, the eldest Child of Liberty.
She was a maiden City, bright and free; 5
No guile seduced, no force could violate;
And, when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea. [A]
And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay; 10
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
When her long life hath reached its final day:
Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade
Of that which once was great, is passed away.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: Compare 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' (canto iv. II):
'The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord. '
Ed. ]
"Once did She hold the gorgeous east in fee. "
The special glory of Venice dates from the conquest of Constantinople by
the Latins in 1202. The fourth Crusade--in which the French and
Venetians alone took part--started from Venice, in October 1202, under
the command of the Doge, Henry Dandolo. Its aim, however, was not the
recovery of Palestine, but the conquest of Constantinople. At the close
of the crusade, Venice received the Morea, part of Thessaly, the
Cyclades, many of the Byzantine cities, and the coasts of the
Hellespont, with three-eighths of the city of Constantinople itself, the
Doge taking the curious title of Duke of three-eighths of the Roman
Empire.
"And was the safeguard of the west. "
This may refer to the prominent part which Venice took in the Crusades,
or to the development of her naval power, which made her mistress of the
Mediterranean for many years, and an effective bulwark against invasions
from the East.
"The eldest Child of Liberty. "
The origin of the Venetian State was the flight of many of
the inhabitants of the mainland--on the invasion of Italy by
Attila--to the chain of islands that lie at the head of the
Adriatic.
"In the midst of the waters, free, indigent, laborious, and
inaccessible, they gradually coalesced into a republic: the first
foundations of Venice were laid in the island of Rialto. . . . On the
verge of the two empires the Venetians exult in the belief of
primitive and perpetual independence. "
Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', chap. lx.
"And, when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea. "
In 1177, Pope Alexander III. appealed to the Venetian Republic for
protection against the German Emperor. The Venetians were successful in
a naval battle at Saboro, against Otho, the son of Frederick Barbarossa.
In return, the Pope presented the Doge Liani with a ring, with which he
told him to wed the Adriatic, that posterity might know that the sea was
subject to Venice, "as a bride is to her husband. "
In September 1796, nearly six years before this sonnet was written, the
fate of the old Venetian Republic was sealed by the treaty of Campo
Formio. The French army under Napoleon had subdued Italy, and, having
crossed the Alps, threatened Vienna. To avert impending disaster, the
Emperor Francis arranged a treaty which extinguished the Venetian
Republic. He divided its territory between himself and Napoleon, Austria
retaining Istria, Dalmatia, and the left bank of the Adige in the
Venetian State, with the "maiden city" itself; France receiving the rest
of the territory and the Ionian Islands. Since the date of that treaty
the city has twice been annexed to Italy. --Ed.
* * * * *
THE KING OF SWEDEN
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807
The Voice of song from distant lands shall call
To that great [1] King; shall hail the crowned Youth
Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth,
By one example hath set forth to all
How they with dignity may stand; or fall, 5
If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend?
And what to him and his shall be the end?
That thought is one which neither can appal
Nor cheer him; for the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be; is raised _above_ [2] 10
All consequences: work he hath begun
Of fortitude, and piety, and love,
Which all his glorious ancestors approve:
The heroes bless him, him their rightful son.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1807.
. . . bold . . . In 1838 only. ]
[Variant 2:
1845.
. . . He stands _above_ 1807. ]
The following is Wordsworth's note to this sonnet, added in 1837:
"In this and a succeeding Sonnet on the same subject, let me be
understood as a Poet availing himself of the situation which the King
of Sweden occupied, and of the principles AVOWED IN HIS MANIFESTOS; as
laying hold of these advantages for the purpose of embodying moral
truths. This remark might, perhaps, as well have been suppressed; for
to those who may be in sympathy with the course of these Poems, it
will be superfluous; and will, I fear, be thrown away upon that other
class, whose besotted admiration of the intoxicated despot hereafter
placed [A] in contrast with him, is the most melancholy evidence of
degradation in British feeling and intellect which the times have
furnished. "
The king referred to is Gustavus IV. , who was born in 1778, proclaimed
king in 1792, and died in 1837. His first public act after his accession
was to join in the coalition against Napoleon, and dislike of Napoleon
was the main-spring of his policy. It is to this that Wordsworth refers
in the sonnet:
'. . . the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be . . . '
It made him unpopular, however, and gave rise to a conspiracy against
him, and to his consequent abdication in 1809. He "died forgotten and in
poverty. "--Ed.
[Footnote A: See the sonnet beginning "Call not the royal Swede
unfortunate," vol. iv. p. 224. --Ed. ]
* * * * *
TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE
Composed August, 1802. --Published 1807 [A]
Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men! [B]
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den;--[1]
O miserable Chieftain! where and when 5
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. [2] Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies; 10
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind. [C]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1827.
Whether the rural milk-maid by her cow
Sing in thy hearing, or thou liest now
Alone in some deep dungeon's earless den, 1803.
Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den, 1815.
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or Thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den;--1820. ]
[Variant 2:
1807.
. . . Yet die not; be thou
Life to thyself in death; with chearful brow
Live, loving death, nor let one thought in ten
Be painful to thee . . . 1803. ]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: But previously printed in 'The Morning Post' of February 2,
1803, under the signature W. L. D. --Ed.
