No More Learning

"--Ed.




Dark and more dark the shades of evening fell;
The wished-for point was reached--but at an hour
When little could be gained from that rich dower [1]
Of prospect, whereof many thousands tell.
Yet did the glowing west with marvellous power 5
Salute us; there stood Indian citadel,
Temple of Greece, and minster with its tower
Substantially expressed--a place for bell
Or clock to toll from! Many a tempting isle,
With groves that never were imagined, lay 10
'Mid seas how steadfast! objects all for the eye
Of silent rapture; but we felt the while [2]
We should forget them; they are of the sky,
And from our earthly memory fade away.


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VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1837.

Ere we had reach'd the wish'd-for place, night fell:
We were too late at least by one dark hour,
And nothing could we see of all that power
Of prospect, . . . 1807.

Dark, and more dark, the shades of Evening fell;
The wish'd-for point was reach'd--but late the hour;
And little could we see of all that power 1815.

And little could be gained from all that dower 1827. ]


[Variant 2:

1837.

The western sky did recompence us well
With Grecian Temple, Minaret, and Bower;
And, in one part, a Minster with its Tower
Substantially distinct, a place for Bell
Or Clock to toll from. Many a glorious pile
Did we behold, sights that might well repay
All disappointment!
and, as such, the eye
Delighted in them; but we felt, the while, 1807.

Substantially expressed--. . . 1815.

Did we behold, fair sights that might repay 1815.

Yet did the glowing west in all its power 1827.

The text of 1827 is otherwise identical with that of 1837. ]


* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Called by Wordsworth, "The Hamilton Hills" in the editions
from 1807 to 1827. --Ed. ]


The following extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal indicates, as
fully as any other passage in it, the use which her brother occasionally
made of it. We have the "Grecian Temple," and the "Minster with its
Tower":

"Before we had crossed the Hambleton Hill and reached the point
overlooking Yorkshire it was quite dark. We had not wanted, however,
fair prospects before us, as we drove along the flat plain of the high
hill; far, far off from us, in the western sky, we saw shapes of
castles, ruins among groves--a great, spreading wood, rocks, and
single trees--a Minster with its Tower unusually distinct, Minarets in
another quarter, and a round Grecian Temple also; the colours of the
sky of a bright grey, and the forms of a sober grey, with a dome. As
we descended the hill there was no distinct view, but of a great
space, only near us, we saw the wild (and as the people say)
bottomless Tarn in the hollow at the side of the hill. It seemed to be
made visible to us only by its own light, for all the hill about us
was dark. "

Wordsworth and his sister crossed over the Hambleton (or Hamilton)
Hills, on their way from Westmoreland to Gallow Hill, Yorkshire, to
visit the Hutchinsons, before they went south to London and Calais,
where they spent the month of August, 1802.