FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52  
53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   >>   >|  
eet;[B] Whose mind is but the mind of his own eyes, He is a Slave; the meanest we can meet![C] III Wings have we,--and as far as we can go We may find pleasure: wilderness and wood, 30 Blank ocean and mere sky, support that mood Which with the lofty sanctifies the low. Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good: Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow. 36 There find I personal themes, a plenteous store, Matter wherein right voluble I am, To which I listen with a ready ear; Two shall be named, pre-eminently dear,--[3] 40 The gentle Lady married to the Moor;[D] And heavenly Una with her milk-white Lamb. IV Nor can I not believe but that hereby Great gains are mine; for thus I live remote From evil-speaking; rancour, never sought, 45 Comes to me not; malignant truth, or lie. Hence have I genial seasons, hence have I Smooth passions, smooth discourse, and joyous thought: And thus from day to day my little boat Rocks in its harbour, lodging peaceably. 50 Blessings be with them--and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves, and nobler cares-- The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays! Oh! might my name be numbered among theirs, 55 Then gladly would I end my mortal days. The text of the poem was little altered, and was fixed in 1827. It had no title in 1807 and 1815. The reading of 1807, my half-kitchen my half-parlour fire, was a reminiscence of Dove Cottage, which we regret to lose in the later editions. In the Baptistery of Westminster Abbey, there is a statue of Wordsworth by Frederick Thrupp of great merit, placed there by the late Dean Stanley, beside busts of Keble, Maurice, and Kingsley. Underneath the statue of Wordsworth are the four lines from _Personal Talk_-- Blessings be with them--and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves, and nobler cares-- The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays! Dean Stanley found it difficult to select from Wordsworth's poems the lines most appropriate for inscr
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52  
53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
nobler
 

heavenly

 

Wordsworth

 

delight

 

praise

 
Stanley
 
Blessings
 

statue

 

eternal

 

discourse


passions

 
smooth
 

numbered

 

peaceably

 

lodging

 

harbour

 

thought

 

joyous

 

Maurice

 

Westminster


Frederick
 

Thrupp

 

Kingsley

 
Underneath
 
select
 
difficult
 
Personal
 

Baptistery

 

Smooth

 

altered


mortal

 
regret
 

Cottage

 

editions

 

reminiscence

 
reading
 

kitchen

 

parlour

 

gladly

 
substantial

sanctifies

 

Dreams

 

tendrils

 
personal
 

happiness

 

strong

 

pastime

 

support

 

meanest

 
wilderness