am lying on the grass,
I hear thy restless shout:
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
About, and all about! 1807.

Thy loud note smites my ear!--
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near! 1815.

Thy loud note smites my ear!
It seems to fill the whole air's space,
At once far off and near! 1820.

Thy twofold shout I hear,
That seems to fill the whole air's space,
As loud far off as near. [a] 1827.]

[Variant 2:

1827.

To me, no Babbler with a tale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou tellest, Cuckoo! in the vale 1807.

I hear thee babbling to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers;
And unto me thou bring'st a tale 1815.

But unto me .... 1820.]

[Variant 3:

1836.

No Bird; but an invisible Thing, 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:

"_Vox et praterea nihil_. See Lipsius 'of the Nightingale.'"

Barron Field.--Ed.

* * * * *

SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Sub-Footnote a: Barron Field remonstrated with Wordsworth about this
reading, and he agreed to restore that of 1820; saying, at the same
time, that he had "made the change to record a fact observed by
himself."--Ed.]

In the chronological lists of his poems, published in 1815 and 1820,
Wordsworth left a blank opposite this one, in the column containing the
year of composition. From 1836 to 1849, the date assigned by him was
1804. But in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal the following occurs under
date Tuesday, 22nd March 1802:

"A mild morning. William worked at the Cuckoo poem.... At the closing
in of day, went to sit in the orchard. William came to me, and walked
backwards and forwards. W. repeated the poem to me. I left him there;
and in 20 minutes he came in, rather tired with attempting to write."

"Friday (March 25).--A beautiful morning. William worked at 'The
Cuckoo'."

It is therefore evident that it belongs to the year 1802; although it
may have been altered and readjusted in 1804. The connection of the
seventh stanza of this poem with the first of that which follows it, "My
heart leaps up," etc., and of both with the 'Ode, Intimations of
Immortality' (vol. viii.), is obvious.--Ed.

* * * * *

"MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD"

Composed March 26, 1802.--Publ