The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Ii Part 31

Composed 1799.--Published 1800

[Written in Germany.--I.F.]

Included among the "Poems of the Imagination." [A]--Ed.

A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force; 5 She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees. [B]

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: It was one of the "Lucy" Poems. In his instructions to the printer in 1807, Wordsworth told him to insert "I travelled among unknown men" after "A slumber did my spirit seal."--Ed.]

[Footnote B: Compare Suckling's 'Fragmenta Aurea' (The Tragedy of Brennoralt), p. 170, edition 1658.

Heavens! shall this fresh ornament of the world, These precious love-lines, pa.s.s with other common things, Amongst the wastes of time? What pity 'twere.

Ed.]

ADDRESS TO THE SCHOLARS OF THE VILLAGE SCHOOL OF--

Composed 1798 or 1799.--Published 1842

[Composed at Goslar, in Germany.--I.F.]

First published in "Poems, chiefly of Early and Late Years," and included, in 1845, among the "Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."--Ed.

I come, ye little noisy Crew, Not long your pastime to prevent; I heard the blessing which to you Our common Friend and Father sent.

I kissed his cheek before he died; 5 And when his breath was fled, I raised, while kneeling by his side, His hand:--it dropped like lead.

Your hands, dear Little-ones, do all That can be done, will never fall 10 Like his till they are dead.

By night or day blow foul or fair, Ne'er will the best of all your train Play with the locks of his white hair, Or stand between his knees again. 15

Here did he sit confined for hours; But he could see the woods and plains, Could hear the wind and mark the showers Come streaming down the streaming panes.

Now stretched beneath his gra.s.s-green mound 20 He rests a prisoner of the ground.

He loved the breathing air, He loved the sun, but if it rise Or set, to him where now he lies, Brings not a moment's care. 25

Alas! what idle words; but take The Dirge which for our Master's sake And yours, love prompted me to make.

The rhymes so homely in attire With learned ears may ill agree, 30 But chanted by your Orphan Quire Will make a touching melody.

DIRGE

Mourn, Shepherd, near thy old grey stone; Thou Angler, by the silent flood; And mourn when thou art all alone, 35 Thou Woodman, in the distant wood!

Thou one blind Sailor, rich in joy Though blind, thy tunes in sadness hum; And mourn, thou poor half-witted Boy!

Born deaf, and living deaf and dumb. 40

Thou drooping sick Man, bless the Guide Who checked or turned thy headstrong youth, As he before had sanctified Thy infancy with heavenly truth.

Ye Striplings, light of heart and gay, 45 Bold settlers on some foreign sh.o.r.e, Give, when your thoughts are turned this way, A sigh to him whom we deplore.

For us who here in funeral strain With one accord our voices raise, 50 Let sorrow overcharged with pain Be lost in thankfulness and praise.

And when our hearts shall feel a sting From ill we meet or good we miss, May touches of his memory bring 55 Fond healing, like a mother's kiss.

BY THE SIDE OF THE GRAVE SOME YEARS AFTER

Long time his pulse hath ceased to beat; But benefits, his gift, we trace-- Expressed in every eye we meet Round this dear Vale, his native place. 60

To stately Hall and Cottage rude Flowed from his life what still they hold, Light pleasures, every day, renewed; And blessings half a century old.

Oh true of heart, of spirit gay, 65 Thy faults, where not already gone From memory, prolong their stay For charity's sweet sake alone.

Such solace find we for our loss; And what beyond this thought we crave 70 Comes in the promise from the Cross, s.h.i.+ning upon thy happy grave.

To this poem, when first published in the "Poems of Early and Late Years" (1842), Wordsworth appended the note, "See, upon the subject of the three foregoing pieces, 'The Fountain' [p. 91], etc. etc. in the fifth volume of the Author's Poems." He thus connects it with the poems referring to Matthew in such a way that it may be said to belong to that series; and, while he a.s.signed it to the year 1798, both in the edition of 1845, and in that of 1849-50, it is quite possible that it was written in 1799. "The village school" was the Grammar School of Hawkshead, where Wordsworth spent his boyhood; and the schoolmaster was the Rev. William Taylor, M. A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who was the third of the four masters who taught in it during Wordsworth's residence there. He was master from 1782 to 1786. Just before his death he sent for the upper boys of the school (amongst whom was Wordsworth), and calling them into his room, took leave of them with a solemn blessing.

This farewell doubtless suggested the lines:

'the blessing which to you Our common Friend and Father sent.'