The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume I Part 95

1820.

Has oftner ... 1798.

Has oftener ... 1805.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Note that the phrase: 'But oh the heavy change,' occurs in Milton's 'Lycidas'. (Professor Dowden.) See 'Lycidas', l. 37.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: Compare Shakspeare's Sonnet, No. x.x.x.:

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past;

and in Spenser's 'An epitaph upon the Right Honourable Sir Phillip Sidney, Knight; Lord governor of Flushing.'

Farewell, self-pleasing thoughts, which quietness brings forth.

Ed.]

[Footnote C: See Appendix VI. to this volume.--Ed.]

LINES WRITTEN IN EARLY SPRING

Composed 1798.--Published 1798.

[Actually composed while I was sitting by the side of the brook that runs down from the 'Comb', in which stands the village of Alford, through the grounds of Alfoxden. It was a chosen resort of mine. The brook ran down a sloping rock, so as to make a waterfall, considerable for that county; and across the pool below had fallen a tree--an ash if I rightly remember--from which rose perpendicularly, boughs in search of the light intercepted by the deep shade above. The boughs bore leaves of green, that for want of sunshine had faded into almost lily-white; and from the underside of this natural sylvan bridge depended long and beautiful tresses of ivy, which waved gently in the breeze, that might, poetically speaking, be called the breath of the waterfall. This motion varied of course in proportion to the power of water in the brook. When, with dear friends, I revisited this spot, after an interval of more than forty years, [A] this interesting feature of the scene was gone. To the owner of the place I could not but regret that the beauty of this retired part of the grounds had not tempted him to make it more accessible by a path, not broad or obtrusive, but sufficient for persons who love such scenes to creep along without difficulty.--I. F.]

These 'Lines' were included among the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--Ed.

THE POEM

I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link 5 The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green [1] bower, The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; 10 And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes. [B]

The birds around me hopped and played, Their thoughts I cannot measure:-- But the least motion which they made, 15 It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can, That there was pleasure there. 20

If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature's holy plan, [2]

Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?

This Alfoxden dell, once known locally as "The Mare's Pool," was a trysting-place of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and their friends. Coleridge thus describes it, in his poem beginning "This Lime-Tree Bower, my Prison," addressed to Charles Lamb:

The roaring dell, o'er-wooded, narrow, deep, And only speckled by the midday sun; Where its slim trunk the ash from rock to rock Flings arching like a bridge;--that branchless ash, Unsunn'd and damp, whose few poor yellow leaves Ne'er tremble in the gale, yet tremble still, Fanned by the waterfall!

Of all the localities around Alfoxden, this grove is the one chiefly a.s.sociated with Wordsworth. There was no path to the waterfall, as suggested by the Poet to the owner of the place, in 1840; but, in 1880, I found the "natural sylvan bridge" restored. An ash tree, having fallen across the glen, reproduced the scene exactly as it is described in the Fenwick note.--Ed.

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1837.

... sweet 1798.]

[Variant 2:

1837.

If I these thoughts may not prevent, If such be of my creed the plan, 1798.

If this belief from Heaven is sent, If such be nature's holy plan, 1820.

From Heaven if this belief be sent, 1827.]