which
His flock had need. 'Tis not forgotten yet
The pity which was then in every heart
For the old Man--and 'tis believed by all
That many and many a day he thither went, 465
And never lifted up a single stone.
There by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was he seen
Sitting alone, or with his faithful Dog,
Then old, beside him, lying at his feet.
The length of full seven years, from time to time 570
He at the building of this Sheep-fold wrought,
And left the work unfinished when he died.
Three years, or little more, did Isabel
Survive her Husband; at her death the estate
Was sold, and went into a stranger's hand. 475
The Cottage which was named the EVENING STAR
Is gone,--the ploughshare has been through the ground
On which it stood; great changes have been wrought
In all the neighborhood:--yet the oak is left,
That grew beside their door; and the remains 480
Of the unfinished Sheep-fold may be seen
Beside the boisterous brook of Green-head Ghyll.
2. GREEN-HEAD GHYLL. Near Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home at Grasmere.
GHYLL. A short, steep, and narrow valley with a stream running through
it.
5. THE PASTORAL MOUNTAINS. In Professor Knight's _Life of Wordsworth_
are found fragments which the poet intended for _Michael_ and which
were recovered from Dorothy Wordsworth's manuscript book. Among these
are the following lines, which as Professor Dowden suggests, are given
as Wordsworth's answer to the question, "What feeling for external
nature had such a man as Michael?" The lines, which correspond to
lines 62-77 of the poem, are as follows;
"No doubt if you in terms direct had asked
Whether beloved the mountains, true it is
That with blunt repetition of your words
He might have stared at you, and said that they
Were frightful to behold, but had you then
Discoursed with him . . . . . . . .
Of his own business and the goings on
Of earth and sky, then truly had you seen
That in his thoughts there were obscurities,
Wonder and admiration, things that wrought
Not less than a religion of his heart."
17. In Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal for October 11, 1800, we read:
"After dinner, we walked up Greenhead Gill in search of a
sheepfold. . . The sheepfold is falling away. It is built in the form
of a heart unequally divided."
48. THE MEANING OF ALL WINDS. This is not a figurative Statement.
Michael know
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