The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. by William Wordsworth

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. by William Wordsworth

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THE POETICAL WORKS

OF

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

EDITED BY

WILLIAM KNIGHT

VOL. II

1896

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CONTENTS

Peter Bell

Lines, composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the Banks

of the Wye during a tour, July 13, 1798

There was a Boy

The Two Thieves; or, the Last Stage of Avarice

Written with a Slate Pencil upon a Stone, the largest of a Heap lying

near a Deserted Quarry, upon one of the Islands at Rydal

1799

Influence of Natural Objects in calling forth and strengthening the

Imagination in Boyhood and Early Youth

The Simplon Pass

Nutting

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Written in Germany, on one of the Coldest Days of the Century

A Poet's Epitaph

"Strange fits of passion have I known"

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways"

"I travelled among unknown men"

"Three years she grew in sun and shower"

"A slumber did my spirit seal"

Address to the Scholars of the Village School of----

Matthew

The Two April Mornings

The Fountain

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To a Sexton

The Danish Boy

Lucy Gray; or, Solitude

Ruth

1800

"On Nature's invitation do I come"

"Bleak season was it, turbulent and bleak"

Ellen Irwin; or, The Braes of Kirtle

Hart-Leap Well

The Idle Shepherd-Boys; or, Dungeon-Ghyll Force

The Pet-Lamb

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The Farmer of Tilsbury Vale

Poems on the Naming of Places:

"It was an April morning: fresh and clear"

To Joanna

"There is an Eminence,--of these our hills"

"A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags"

To M. H.

The Waterfall and the Eglantine

The Oak and the Broom

"'Tis said, that some have died for love"

The Childless Father

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Song for the Wandering Jew

The Brothers

The Seven Sisters; or, The Solitude of Binnorie

Rural Architecture

A Character

Inscription for the spot where the Hermitage stood on St. Herbert's

Island, Derwent-Water

Written with a Pencil upon a Stone in the Wall of the House (an

Out-House), on the Island at Grasmere

Michael

1801

The Sparrow's Nest

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"Pelion and Ossa flourish side by side"

Selections from Chaucer Modernised:

The Prioress' Tale

The Cuckoo and the Nightingale

Troilus and Cresida

1802

The Sailor's Mother

Alice Fell; or, Poverty

Beggars

Sequel to the Foregoing

To a Butterfly

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The Emigrant Mother

To the Cuckoo

"My heart leaps up when I behold"

Written in March, while resting on the Bridge at the Foot of Brothers

Water

The Redbreast chasing the Butterfly

To a Butterfly

Foresight

To the Small Celandine

To the Same Flower

Stanzas written in my Pocket Copy of Thomson's "Castle of Indolence"

Resolution and Independence

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"I grieved for Buonaparte"

A Farewell

"The sun has long been set"

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

Composed by the Sea-side, near Calais, August, 1802

Calais, August, 1802

Composed near Calais, on the Road leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802

Calais, August 15, 1802

"It is a beauteous evening, calm and free"

On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic

The King of Sweden

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To Toussaint L'Ouverture

Composed in the Valley near Dover, on the Day of Landing

September 1, 1802

September, 1802, near Dover

Written in London, September, 1802

London, 1802

"Great men have been among us; hands that penned"

"It is not to be thought of that the Flood"

"When I have borne in memory what has tamed"

Composed after a Journey across the Hambleton Hills, Yorkshire

To H. C.

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To the Daisy

To the Same Flower

To the Daisy

Louisa

To a Young Lady, who had been Reproached for taking Long Walks in the

Country

1803

The Green Linnet

Yew-Trees

"Who fancied what a pretty sight"

"It is no Spirit who from heaven hath flown"

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Memorials of a Tour in Scotland:

Departure from the Vale of Grasmere. August, 1803

At the Grave of Burns, 1803. Seven Years after his Death

Thoughts suggested the Day following, on the Banks of Nith, near the

Poet's Residence

To the Sons of Burns, after Visiting the Grave of their Father

To a Highland Girl

Glen-Almain; or, The Narrow Glen

Stepping Westward

The Solitary Reaper

Address to Kilchurn Castle

Rob Roy's Grave

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Sonnet composed at----Castle

Yarrow Unvisited

The Matron of Jedborough and her Husband

"Fly, some kind Harbinger, to Grasmere-dale"

The Blind Highland Boy

October, 1803

"There is a bondage worse, far worse, to bear"

October, 1803

"England! the time is come when thou should'st wean"

October, 1803

To the Men of Kent. October, 1803

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In the Pass of Killicranky

Anticipation. October, 1803

Lines on the Expected Invasion, 1803

* * * * *

WORDSWORTH'S POETICAL WORKS

* * * * *

PETER BELL: A TALE [A]

Composed 1798. [B]--Published 1819.

'What's in a Name?' [C]

'Brutus will start a Spirit as soon as Caesar!' [D]

To ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ., P.L., ETC., ETC.

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MY DEAR FRIEND--The Tale of 'Peter Bell', which I now introduce to

your notice, and to that of the Public, has, in its Manuscript state,

nearly survived its _minority_:--for it first saw the light in the

summer of 1798. During this long interval, pains have been taken at

different times to make the production less unworthy of a favourable

reception; or, rather, to fit it for filling _permanently_ a station,

however humble, in the Literature of our Country. This has, indeed,

been the aim of all my endeavours in Poetry, which, you know, have

been sufficiently laborious to prove that I deem the Art not lightly

to be approached; and that the attainment of excellence in it, may

laudably be made the principal object of intellectual pursuit by any

man, who, with reasonable consideration of circumstances, has faith in

his own impulses.

The Poem of 'Peter Bell', as the Prologue will show, was composed

under a belief that the Imagination not only does not require for its

exercise the intervention of supernatural agency, but that, though

such agency be excluded, the faculty may be called forth as

imperiously and for kindred results of pleasure, by incidents, within

the compass of poetic probability, in the humblest departments of

daily life. Since that Prologue was written, _you_ have exhibited most

splendid effects of judicious daring, in the opposite and usual

course. Let this acknowledgment make my peace with the lovers of the

supernatural; and I am persuaded it will be admitted, that to you, as

a Master in that province of the art, the following Tale, whether from

contrast or congruity, is not an unappropriate offering. Accept it,

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then, as a public testimony of affectionate admiration from one with

whose name yours has been often coupled (to use your own words) for

evil and for good; and believe me to be, with earnest wishes that life

and health may be granted you to complete the many important works in

which you are engaged, and with high respect, Most faithfully yours,

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

RYDAL MOUNT, April 7, 1819.

[Written at Alfoxden. Founded upon an anecdote which I read in a

newspaper, of an ass being found hanging his head over a canal in a

wretched posture. Upon examination a dead body was found in the water,

and proved to be the body of its master. The countenance, gait, and

figure of Peter were taken from a wild rover with whom I walked from

Builth, on the river Wye, downwards, nearly as far as the town of Hay.

He told me strange stories. It has always been a pleasure to me through

life, to catch at every opportunity that has occurred in my rambles of

becoming acquainted with this class of people. The number of Peter's

wives was taken from the trespasses, in this way, of a lawless creature,

who lived in the county of Durham, and used to be attended by many

women, sometimes not less than half a dozen, as disorderly as himself,

and a story went in the country that he had been heard to say, while

they were quarrelling, "Why can't ye be quiet, there's none so many of

you?" Benon