II.

AN EVENING VOLUNTARY.

youth we love the darksome lawn rush'd by the owlet's wing;

en Twilight is preferr'd to Dawn, nd Autumn to the Spring.

d fancies do we then affect, luxury of disrespect

> our own prodigal excess too familiar happiness.coris, (if such name befit

ee, thee my life's celestial sign!)
hen Nature marks the year's decline,
> ours to welcome it;

eased with the harvest hope that runs
efore the path of milder suns;
eased while the sylvan world displays
› ripeness to the feeding gaze;
eased when the sullen winds resound
the knell

the resplendent miracle.

III.

at something whispers to my heart
at, as we downward tend,
-coris! life requires an art
which our souls must bend;
skill, to balance and supply;
d, ere the flowing fount be dry,
soon it must, a sense to sip,
drink, with no fastidious lip.
en welcome, above all, the Guest

hose smiles, diffused o'er land and sea,
em to recal the Deity
youth into the breast:

y pensive Autumn ne'er present
-laim to her disparagement!

ile blossoms and the budding spray pire us in our own decay,

1, as we nearer draw to life's dark goal, hopeful Spring the favourite of the

Soul! 5

AN EVENING VOLUNTARY,

109

COMPOSED ON AN EVENING OF EXTRAOR-
DINARY SPLENDOUR AND BEAUTY.

I.

HAD this effulgence disappear'd
With flying haste, I might have sent,
Among the speechless clouds, a look
Of blank astonishment;

But 'tis endued with power to stay,
And sanctify one closing day,
That frail Mortality may see-
What is ?-ah no, but what can be!
Time was when field and watery cove
With modulated echoes rang,
While choirs of fervent Angels sang
Their vespers in the grove;

Or, crowning, star-like, each some sover-
eign height,
[low,

Warbled, for Heaven above and Earth be-
Strains suitable to both. Such holy rite,

Methinks, if audibly repeated now
From hill or valley, could not move
Sublimer transport, purer love,
Than doth this silent spectacle-the gleam,
The shadow, and the peace supreme!

And solemn harmony pervades
The hollow vale from steep to steep,
And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh,
Call'd forth by wondrous potency
Of beamy radiance, that imbues
Whate'er it strikes, with gem-like hues!
In vision exquisitely clear,
Herds range along the mountain side;
And glistening antlers are descried;
And gilded flocks appear.—
Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish, or hope divine,
Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe

coris, which-with some readers who
k mythology and classical allusion
far-fetched, and therefore more or less
atural and affected-will tend to un-
ize the sentiment that pervades these One day a stranger, having walked round
ses. But surely one who has written the garden and grounds of Rydal Mount,
nuch in verse as I have done may be asked of one of the female servants, who
wed to retrace his steps in the regions happened to be at the door, permission to
ancy which delighted him in his boy- see her master's study. This,' said she,
d, when he first became acquainted leading him forward, is my master's lib-
the Greek and Latin Poets.-Au-rary, where he keeps his books; but his
's Notes.
study is out of doors.' After a long ab-
In his notes on this poem, the author sence from home, it has more than once
the following: "Nine tenths of my happened that some one of my cottage
es have been murmured out in the neighbours has said, 'Well, there he is:
n air. And here let me repeat what I we are glad to hear him booing about

That this magnificence is wholly thine!
From worlds not quicken'd by the Sun
A portion of the gift is won; [spread
An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is
On ground which British shepherds tread!

III.

And, if there be whom broken ties
Afflict, or injuries assail,

Yon hazy ridges to their eyes
Present a glorious scale,
Climbing suffused with sunny air,
To stop-no record hath told where!
And tempting Fancy to ascend,
And with immortal Spirits blend!-
Wings at my shoulders seem to play;
But, rooted here, I stand and gaze
On those bright steps that heaven-ward
Their practicable way."-

[raise

Appears to shine, by miracle restored:
My soul, though yet confined to Earth,
Rejoices in a second birth! -
"Tis past, the visionary splendour fades;
And night approaches with her shades.7

THE SOMNAMBULIST.

LIST, ye who pass by Lyulph's Tower
At eve; how softly then
Doth Aira-force,8 that torrent hoarse,

Speak from the woody glen!

Fit music for a solemn vale!

And holier seems the ground
To him who catches on the gale
The spirit of a mournful tale,
Embodied in the sound.

Not far from that fair site whereon

Come forth, ye drooping old men, look The Pleasure-house is rear'd,

[bound!

abroad,
And see to what fair countries ye are
And if some traveller, weary of his road,
Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy
Ye Genii, to his covert speed; [ground,

And wake him with such gentle heed
As may attune his soul to meet the dower
Bestow'd on this transcendent hour!

IV.

Such hues from their celestial Urn
Were wont to stream before mine eye,
Where'er it wander'd in the morn
Of blissful infancy.

This glimpse of glory, why renew'd?
Nay, rather speak with gratitude;
For, if a vestige of those gleams
Survived, 'twas only in my dreams. [serve
Dread Power! whom peace and calmness
No less than Nature's threatening voice,
If aught unworthy be my choice,
From THEE if I would swerve;
O, let Thy grace remind me of the light
Full early lost, and fruitlessly deplored;
Which, at this moment, on mywaking sight

As story says, in antique days

A stern-brow'd house appear'd;
Foil to a Jewel rich in light

There set, and guarded well;
Cage for a Bird of plumage bright,
Sweet-voiced, nor wishing for a flight
Beyond her native dell.

To win this bright Bird from her cage,
To make this Gem their own,
Came Barons bold, with store of gold,
And Knights of high renown:
But one She prized, and only one;

Sir Eglamore was he:-
Full happy season, when was known,
Ye Dales and Hills! to you alone

Their mutual loyalty;

Known chiefly, Aira! to thy glen,
Thy brook, and bowers of holly;
Where Passion caught what Nature
That all but love is folly; [taught,
Where Fact with Fancy stoop'd to play;
Doubt came not, nor regret,

7 In his Notes, the author tells us that 6 The multiplication of mountain-ridg- this poem was "felt and in a great meas es, here described as a kind of Jacob's-ure composed upon the little mount in Ladder, leading to Heaven, is produced front of our abode at Rydal."-The last either by watery vapours, or sunny haze; in the present instance by the latter cause. -The author says that in these lines he is "under obligation to the exquisite picture of Jacob's-Dream," by our American artist, Washington Allston. Wordsworth regards Allston as "a man of genius," and the two were warm friends.

stanza is fraught with allusions to the Poet's celebrated Ode on Immortality, which is given in a subsequent part of this volume.

8 Lyulph's Tower is a pleasure-house situated upon the banks of Ullswater.Force is used in the Lake District for wa ter-fall.

THE SOMNAMBULIST.

And the Stream whirl'd her down the dell Blithe Flora from her couch upstarts, Along its foaming bed.

In plunged the Knight! When on firm ground

The rescued Maiden lay,

Her eyes grew bright with blissful light,
Confusion pass'd away;

She heard, ere to the throne of grace
Her faithful Spirit flew,

His voice, beheld his speaking face;
And, dying, from his own embrace

She felt that he was true.

So he was reconciled to life:

Brief words may speak the rest:
Within the dell he built a cell,

And there was Sorrow's guest;
In hermit's weeds repose he found,
From vain temptations free;
Beside the torrent dwelling,-bound
By one deep heart-controlling sound,
And awed to piety.

Wild stream of Aira, hold thy course,
Nor fear memorial lays,
[shade,
Where clouds, that spread in solemn
Are edged with golden rays!
Dear art thou to the light of heaven,

Though minister of sorrow;
Sweet is thy voice at pensive even;
And thou, in lovers' hearts forgiven,
Shalt take thy place with Yarrow!9

ODE,

COMPOSED ON MAY MORNING.

[1833.

WHILE from the purpling East departs
The star that led the dawn,

For May is on the lawn.

A quickening hope, a freshening glee,
Foreran th' expected Power, [tree,
Whose first-drawn breath, from bush and
Shakes off that pearly shower.1

All Nature welcomes Her whose sway
Tempers the year's extremes;
Who scattereth lustres o'er noon-day,
Like morning's dewy gleams;
While mellow warble, sprightly trill,
The tremulous heart excite;
And hums the balmy air to still
The balance of delight.

Time was, blest Power! when youths and
At peep of dawn would rise,
[maids
And wander forth, in forest glades
Thy birth to solemnize.
Though mute the song,-to grace the rite
Untouch'd the hawthorn bough,
Thy Spirit triumphs o'er the slight;
Man changes, but not Thou!

Thy feather'd Lieges bill and wings
In love's disport employ;

Warm'd by thy influence, creeping things

Awake to silent joy:

Queen art thou still for each gay plant
Where the slim wild deer roves; 2
And served in depths where fishes haunt
Their own mysterious groves.

Cloud-piercing peak and trackless heath
Instinctive homage pay;

Nor wants the dim-lit cave a wreath
To honour thee, sweet May!
Where cities fann'd by thy brisk airs
Behold a smokeless sky,

Their puniest flower-pot-nursling dares
To open a bright eye.

9 This delectable poem, so steeped in the purest grace of romance, shows what the author could do at the age of sixtythree. For the story of it, he had a slight hint, related in his notes as follows: "While we were making an excursion in 1 The meaning here is somewhat hidthis part of the Lake District, we heard den. The "freshening glee," I take it, is that Mr. Glover, the artist, while lodging a heavy dew or a rain, which impearled at Lyulph's Tower, had been disturbed "bush and tree" with drops of water. by a loud shriek, and upon rising he had The "expected Power" is May-Day dawn; learnt that it had come from a young and the "first-drawn breath "is the breeze woman in the house who was in the habit which, started by the rising Sun, shakes of walking in her sleep. In that state she off those drops of dew or rain. had gone down stairs, and, while attempt- 2 The poet is here illustrating the ubiing to open the outer door, either from quitous virtue of May: her revivifying some difficulty or the effect of the cold efficacy penetrates the deepest and thickstone upon her feet, had uttered the cry est forests, where the shyest and timidest which alarmed him. It seemed to us all animals seek to hide themselves.-Observe that this might serve as a hint for a poem," how the clogged expression of this line, &c.-The persons here included under owing to the two spondees, "Slim wild the pronoun we were Sir George Beau-deer roves," images the difficulty of mov. mont and Rogers the poet. ing in a dense and tangled forest.

TO MAY.

where Love nestles thou canst teach Since thy return, through days and weeks