The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Ii Part 23

[Variant 11:

1845.

... while the distant hills 1809.]

[Variant 12:

1827.

To cut across the image ... 1809.

To cross the bright reflection ... 1820.]

[Variant 13:

1820.

That gleam'd upon the ice; and oftentimes 1809.

(This line occupied the place of lines 51-52 of the final text.)

That fled, and, flying still before me, gleamed Upon the gla.s.sy plain; and oftentimes, 'The Prelude', 1850.]

[Variant 14:

1809.

... as a dreamless sleep. 'The Prelude', 1850.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The t.i.tle of the fragment, as it appeared in 'The Friend', No. 19, (Dec. 28, 1809,) was 'Growth of Genius from the Influences of Natural Objects on the Imagination, in Boyhood and Early Youth'. It first appeared in Wordsworth's Poems in the edition of 1815. It was afterwards included in the first book of 'The Prelude', l. 401.

The lake referred to with its "silent bays" and "shadowy banks" is that of Esthwaite; the village clock is that of Hawkshead (see the footnotes to 'The Prelude'). The only physical accomplishment in which Wordsworth thought he excelled was skating, an accomplishment in which his brother poet and acquaintance, Klopstock, also excelled.--Ed.]

THE SIMPLON Pa.s.s [A]

Composed 1799.--Published 1845

Included among the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

--Brook and road Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pa.s.s, [1]

And with them did we journey several hours At a slow step. [2] The immeasurable height Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, 5 The stationary blasts of waterfalls, And in the narrow rent, at every turn, Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn, The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky, The rocks that muttered close upon our ears, 10 Black drizzling crags that spake by the wayside As if a voice were in them, the sick sight And giddy prospect of the raving stream, The unfettered clouds and region of the heavens, Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light--15 Were all like workings of one mind, the features Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree, Characters of the great Apocalypse, The types and symbols of Eternity, Of first, and last, and midst, and without end. 20

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1845.

... gloomy strait, 'The Prelude', 1850.]

[Variant 2:

1845.

... pace ... 'The Prelude', 1850.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: This is an extract from the sixth book of 'The Prelude', l.

621. It refers to Wordsworth's first experience of Switzerland, when he crossed the Alps by the Simplon route, in 1790, in company with his friend Robert Jones.--Ed.]