The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Iii Part 13

'An Englishman in chartered freedom born.'

Ed.]

[Footnote D: Compare in 'Sartor Resartus',

"Happy he for whom a kind of heavenly sun brightens it [Necessity]

into a ring of Duty, and plays round it with beautiful prismatic refractions."

Ed.]

[Footnote E: Compare Persius, 'Satura', ii. l. 38:

'Quidquic calcaverit hic, rosa fiat.'

And Ben Jonson, in 'The Sad Shepherd', act I. scene i. ll. 8, 9:

'And where she went, the flowers took thickest root, As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot.'

Also, a similar reference to Aphrodite in Hesiod, 'Theogony', vv. 192 'seq.'--Ed.]

[Footnote F: Compare S. T. C. in 'The Friend' (edition 1818), vol. iii.

p. 64.--Ed.]

Mr. J. R. Tutin has supplied me with the text of a proof copy of the sheets of the edition of 1807, which was cancelled by Wordsworth, in which the following stanzas take the place of the first four of that edition:

'There are who tread a blameless way In purity, and love, and truth, Though resting on no better stay Than on the genial sense of youth: Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot; Who do the right, and know it not: May joy be theirs while life shall last And may a genial sense remain, when youth is past.

Serene would be our days and bright; And happy would our nature be; If Love were an unerring light; And Joy its own security.

And bless'd are they who in the main, This creed, even now, do entertain, Do in this spirit live; yet know That Man hath other hopes; strength which elsewhere must grow.

I, loving freedom, and untried; No sport of every random gust, Yet being to myself a guide, Too blindly have reposed my trust; Resolv'd that nothing e'er should press Upon my present happiness, I shov'd unwelcome tasks away: But henceforth I would serve; and strictly if I may.

O Power of DUTY! sent from G.o.d To enforce on earth his high behest, And keep us faithful to the road Which conscience hath p.r.o.nounc'd the best: Thou, who art Victory and Law When empty terrors overawe; From vain temptations dost set free, From Strife, and from Despair, a glorious Ministry! [G]'

Ed.

[Footnote G: In the original MS. sent to the printer, I find that this stanza was transcribed by Coleridge.--Ed.]

TO A SKY-LARK

Composed 1805.--Published 1807

[Rydal Mount, 1825. [A]--I. F.]

In pencil opposite,

"Where there are no skylarks; but the poet is everywhere."

In the edition of 1807 this is No. 2 of the "Poems, composed during a Tour, chiefly on foot." [B] In 1815 it became one of the "Poems of the Fancy."--Ed.

Up with me! up with me into the clouds!

For thy song, Lark, is strong; Up with me, up with me into the clouds!

Singing, singing, With clouds and sky [1] about thee ringing, 5 Lift me, guide me till I find That spot which seems so to thy mind!

I have walked through wildernesses dreary, And [2] to-day my heart is weary; Had I now the wings [3] of a Faery, 10 Up to thee would I fly.

There is madness about thee, and joy divine In that song of thine; Lift me, guide me high and high [4]

To thy banqueting-place in the sky. 15

Joyous as morning, [5]

Thou art laughing and scorning; Thou hast a nest for thy love and thy rest, And, though little troubled with sloth, Drunken Lark! thou would'st be loth 20 To be such a traveller as I.

Happy, happy Liver, With a soul as strong as a mountain river Pouring out praise to the almighty Giver, Joy and jollity be with us both! 25

Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven, Through p.r.i.c.kly moors or dusty ways must wind; But hearing thee, or others of thy kind, As full of gladness and as free of heaven, I, with my fate contented, will plod on, 30 And hope for higher raptures, when life's day is done. [6]

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1827.

With all the heav'ns ... 1807]