Bent
oftentimes
to flee from home,
And hide my head where wild beasts roam.
And hide my head where wild beasts roam.
Wordsworth - 1
1798.
]
[Variant 7:
1836.
. . . upon the mountain . . . 1798. ]
[Variant 8:
1827.
They dwindled one by one away;
For me it was a woeful day. 1798. ]
[Variant 9:
1836.
Oft-times I thought to run away;
For me it was a woeful day. 1798.
Bent oftentimes to flee from home,
And hide my head where wild beasts roam. 1827. ]
* * * * *
THE IDIOT BOY
Composed 1798. --Published 1798.
[Alfoxden, 1798. The last stanza, 'The cocks did crow to-whoo,
to-whoo, and the sun did shine so cold,' was the foundation of the
whole. The words were reported to me by my dear friend Thomas Poole;
but I have since heard the same repeated of other idiots. Let me add,
that this long poem was composed in the groves of Alfoxden, almost
extempore; not a word, I believe, being corrected, though one stanza
was omitted. I mention this in gratitude to those happy moments, for,
in truth, I never wrote anything with so much glee. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems founded on the Affections. "--Ed.
* * * * *
THE POEM
'Tis eight o'clock,--a clear March night,
The moon is up,--the sky is blue,
The owlet, in the moonlight air,
Shouts from [1] nobody knows where;
He lengthens out his lonely shout, 5
Halloo! halloo! a long halloo!
[Variant 7:
1836.
. . . upon the mountain . . . 1798. ]
[Variant 8:
1827.
They dwindled one by one away;
For me it was a woeful day. 1798. ]
[Variant 9:
1836.
Oft-times I thought to run away;
For me it was a woeful day. 1798.
Bent oftentimes to flee from home,
And hide my head where wild beasts roam. 1827. ]
* * * * *
THE IDIOT BOY
Composed 1798. --Published 1798.
[Alfoxden, 1798. The last stanza, 'The cocks did crow to-whoo,
to-whoo, and the sun did shine so cold,' was the foundation of the
whole. The words were reported to me by my dear friend Thomas Poole;
but I have since heard the same repeated of other idiots. Let me add,
that this long poem was composed in the groves of Alfoxden, almost
extempore; not a word, I believe, being corrected, though one stanza
was omitted. I mention this in gratitude to those happy moments, for,
in truth, I never wrote anything with so much glee. --I. F. ]
One of the "Poems founded on the Affections. "--Ed.
* * * * *
THE POEM
'Tis eight o'clock,--a clear March night,
The moon is up,--the sky is blue,
The owlet, in the moonlight air,
Shouts from [1] nobody knows where;
He lengthens out his lonely shout, 5
Halloo! halloo! a long halloo!
