The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Iii Part 14

[Variant 2:

But ... MS.]

[Variant 3:

1815.

the soul ... 1807.]

[Variant 4:

1832.

Up with me, up with me, high and high, ... 1807.]

[Variant 5: This and the previous stanza were omitted in the edition of 1827, but restored in that of 1832.]

[Variant 6:

1827.

Joy and jollity be with us both!

Hearing thee, or else some other, As merry a Brother, I on the earth will go plodding on, By myself, chearfully, till the day is done. 1807.

What though my course be rugged and uneven, To p.r.i.c.kly moors and dusty ways confined, Yet, hearing thee, or others of thy kind, As full of gladness and as free of heaven, I on the earth will go plodding on, By myself, cheerfully, till the day is done. 1820.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: So it is printed in the 'Prose Works of Wordsworth' (1876); but the date was 1805.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: In a MS. copy this series is called "Poems composed 'for amus.e.m.e.nt' during a Tour, chiefly on foot."--Ed.]

Compare this poem with Sh.e.l.ley's 'Skylark', and with Wordsworth's poem, on the same subject, written in the year 1825, and the last five stanzas of his 'Morning Exercise' written in 1827; also with William Watson's 'First Skylark of Spring', 1895.--Ed.

FIDELITY

Composed 1805.--Published 1807

[The young man whose death gave occasion to this poem was named Charles Gough, and had come early in the spring to Patterdale for the sake of angling. While attempting to cross over Helvellyn to Grasmere he slipped from a steep part of the rock where the ice was not thawed, and perished. His body was discovered as described in this poem. Walter Scott heard of the accident, and both he and I, without either of us knowing that the other had taken up the subject, each wrote a poem in admiration of the dog's fidelity. His contains a most beautiful stanza:

"How long did'st thou think that his silence was slumber!

When the wind waved his garment how oft did'st thou start!"

I will add that the sentiment in the last four lines of the last stanza of my verses was uttered by a shepherd with such exactness, that a traveller, who afterwards reported his account in print, was induced to question the man whether he had read them, which he had not.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--Ed.

A barking sound the Shepherd hears, A cry as of a dog or fox; He halts--and searches with his eyes Among the scattered rocks: And now at distance can discern 5 A stirring in a brake of fern; And instantly a dog is seen, Glancing through that covert green. [1]

The Dog is not of mountain breed; Its motions, too, are wild and shy; 10 With something, as the Shepherd thinks, Unusual in its cry: Nor is there any one in sight All round, in hollow or on height; Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear; 15 What is the creature doing here?

It was a cove, a huge recess, That keeps, till June, December's snow; A lofty precipice in front, A silent tarn [A] below! [B] 20 Far in the bosom of Helvellyn, Remote from public road or dwelling, Pathway, or cultivated land; From trace of human foot or hand.

There sometimes doth [2] a leaping fish 25 Send through the tarn a lonely cheer; The crags repeat the raven's croak, [C]

In symphony austere; Thither the rainbow comes--the cloud-- And mists that spread the flying shroud; 30 And sunbeams; and the sounding blast, That, if it could, would hurry past; But that enormous barrier holds [3] it fast.

Not free from boding thoughts, [4] a while The Shepherd stood; then makes his way 35 O'er rocks and stones, following the Dog [5]

As quickly as he may; Nor far had gone before he found A human skeleton on the ground; The appalled Discoverer with a sigh [6] 40 Looks round, to learn the history.

From those abrupt and perilous rocks The Man had fallen, that place of fear!

At length upon the Shepherd's mind It breaks, and all is clear: 45 He instantly recalled the name, [7]

And who he was, and whence he came; Remembered, too, the very day On which the Traveller pa.s.sed this way.

But hear a wonder, for whose sake 50 This lamentable tale I tell! [8]

A lasting monument of words This wonder merits well.

The Dog, which still was hovering nigh, Repeating the same timid cry, 55 This Dog, had been through three months' s.p.a.ce A dweller in that savage place.

Yes, proof was plain that, since the day When this ill-fated Traveller died, [9]

The Dog had watched about the spot, 60 Or by his master's side: How nourished here through such long time He knows, who gave that love sublime; And gave that strength of feeling, great Above all human estimate! 65