--Published 1815
[Suggested to her, while beside my sleeping children.
[Suggested to her, while beside my sleeping children.
William Wordsworth
.
this dream-like sight
Of solemn loveliness,'
is now much interfered with by the new larch plantations immediately
below the firs. It must have been very different in Wordsworth's time,
and is constantly referred to in his sister's Journal as a favourite
retreat, resorted to
'when cloudless suns
Shone hot, or wind blew troublesome and strong. '
In the absence of contrary testimony, it might be supposed that "the
track" which the brother had "worn,"
'By pacing here, unwearied and alone,'
faced Silver-How and the Grasmere Island, and that the single beech tree
was nearer the lower than the upper wall. But Miss Cookson's testimony
is explicit. Only a few fir trees survive at this part of the grove,
which is now open and desolate, not as it was in those earlier days,
when
'the trees
Had been so thickly planted, and had thriven
With such perplexed and intricate array,
That vainly did I seek, beneath their stems
A length of open space . . . '
Dr. Cradock remarks,
"As to there being more than one beech, Wordsworth would not have
hesitated to sacrifice servile exactness to poetical effect. " He had a
fancy for "one"--
'Fair as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky;'
"'One' abode, no more;" Grasmere's "one green island;" "one green
field. "
Since the above note was printed, new light has been cast on the
"Inscription of the Pathway," for which see volume viii. of this
edition. --Ed.
* * * * *
THE COTTAGER TO HER INFANT
BY MY SISTER
Composed 1805.
--Published 1815
[Suggested to her, while beside my sleeping children. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems founded on the Affections. "--Ed.
The days are cold, the nights are long,
The north-wind sings a doleful song;
Then hush again upon my breast;
All merry things are now at rest,
Save thee, my pretty Love! 5
The kitten sleeps upon the hearth,
The crickets long have ceased their mirth;
There's nothing stirring in the house
Save one _wee_, hungry, nibbling mouse,
Then why so busy thou? 10
Nay! start not at that sparkling light;
'Tis but the moon that shines so bright
On the window pane bedropped with rain:
Then, little Darling! sleep again,
And wake when it is day. 15
This poem underwent no change in successive editions. The title in all
the earlier ones (1815 to 1843) was 'The Cottager to her Infant. By a
Female Friend'; and in the preface to the edition of 1815, Wordsworth
wrote,
"Three short pieces (now first published) are the work of a Female
Friend; . . . if any one regard them with dislike, or be disposed to
condemn them, let the censure fall upon him, who, trusting in his own
sense of their merit, and their fitness for the place which they
occupy, _extorted_ them from the Authoress.
Of solemn loveliness,'
is now much interfered with by the new larch plantations immediately
below the firs. It must have been very different in Wordsworth's time,
and is constantly referred to in his sister's Journal as a favourite
retreat, resorted to
'when cloudless suns
Shone hot, or wind blew troublesome and strong. '
In the absence of contrary testimony, it might be supposed that "the
track" which the brother had "worn,"
'By pacing here, unwearied and alone,'
faced Silver-How and the Grasmere Island, and that the single beech tree
was nearer the lower than the upper wall. But Miss Cookson's testimony
is explicit. Only a few fir trees survive at this part of the grove,
which is now open and desolate, not as it was in those earlier days,
when
'the trees
Had been so thickly planted, and had thriven
With such perplexed and intricate array,
That vainly did I seek, beneath their stems
A length of open space . . . '
Dr. Cradock remarks,
"As to there being more than one beech, Wordsworth would not have
hesitated to sacrifice servile exactness to poetical effect. " He had a
fancy for "one"--
'Fair as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky;'
"'One' abode, no more;" Grasmere's "one green island;" "one green
field. "
Since the above note was printed, new light has been cast on the
"Inscription of the Pathway," for which see volume viii. of this
edition. --Ed.
* * * * *
THE COTTAGER TO HER INFANT
BY MY SISTER
Composed 1805.
--Published 1815
[Suggested to her, while beside my sleeping children. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems founded on the Affections. "--Ed.
The days are cold, the nights are long,
The north-wind sings a doleful song;
Then hush again upon my breast;
All merry things are now at rest,
Save thee, my pretty Love! 5
The kitten sleeps upon the hearth,
The crickets long have ceased their mirth;
There's nothing stirring in the house
Save one _wee_, hungry, nibbling mouse,
Then why so busy thou? 10
Nay! start not at that sparkling light;
'Tis but the moon that shines so bright
On the window pane bedropped with rain:
Then, little Darling! sleep again,
And wake when it is day. 15
This poem underwent no change in successive editions. The title in all
the earlier ones (1815 to 1843) was 'The Cottager to her Infant. By a
Female Friend'; and in the preface to the edition of 1815, Wordsworth
wrote,
"Three short pieces (now first published) are the work of a Female
Friend; . . . if any one regard them with dislike, or be disposed to
condemn them, let the censure fall upon him, who, trusting in his own
sense of their merit, and their fitness for the place which they
occupy, _extorted_ them from the Authoress.
