The elder-bush has long since disappeared;
it hung over the wall near the cottage: and the kitten continued to leap
up, catching the leaves as here described.
it hung over the wall near the cottage: and the kitten continued to leap
up, catching the leaves as here described.
William Wordsworth
full soon 60
Hath this conception, grateful to behold,
Changed countenance, like an object sullied o'er
By breathing mist; and thine appears to be
A mournful labour, while to her is given
Hope, and a renovation without end. 65
--That smile forbids the thought; for on thy face
Smiles are beginning, like the beams of dawn,
To shoot and circulate; smiles have there been seen;
Tranquil assurances that Heaven supports
The feeble motions of thy life, and cheers 70
Thy loneliness: or shall those smiles be called
Feelers of love, put forth as if to explore
This untried world, and to prepare thy way
Through a strait passage intricate and dim?
Such are they; and the same are tokens, signs, 75
Which, when the appointed season hath arrived,
Joy, as her holiest language, shall adopt;
And Reason's godlike Power be proud to own.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: The title from 1815 to 1845 was 'Address to my Infant
Daughter, on being reminded that she was a Month old, on that Day'.
After her death in 1847, her name was added to the title. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: See Dryden's poem, 'To the pious memory of the accomplished
young lady, Mrs. Anne Killigrew', I. l. 15. --Ed. ]
The text of this poem was never altered. --Ed.
* * * * *
THE KITTEN AND FALLING LEAVES [A]
Composed 1804. --Published 1807
[Seen at Town-end, Grasmere.
The elder-bush has long since disappeared;
it hung over the wall near the cottage: and the kitten continued to leap
up, catching the leaves as here described. The Infant was Dora. --J. F. ]
One of the "Poems of the Fancy. " In Henry Crabb Robinson's 'Diary,
etc. ', under date Sept. 10, 1816, we find,
"He" (Wordsworth) "quoted from 'The Kitten and the Falling Leaves' to
show he had connected even the kitten with the great, awful, and
mysterious powers of Nature. "
Ed.
That way look, my Infant, [1] lo!
What a pretty baby-show!
See the Kitten on the wall,
Sporting with the leaves that fall,
Withered leaves--one--two--and three--5
From the lofty elder-tree!
Through the calm and frosty [2] air
Of this morning bright and fair,
Eddying round and round they sink
Softly, slowly: one might think, 10
From the motions that are made,
Every little leaf conveyed
Sylph or Faery hither tending,--
To this lower world descending,
Each invisible and mute, 15
In his wavering parachute.
----But the Kitten, how she starts,
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts! [3]
First at one, and then its fellow
Just as light and just as yellow; 20
There are many now--now one--
Now they stop and there are none:
What intenseness of desire
In her upward eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap half-way 25
Now she meets the coming prey,
Lets it go as fast, and then
Has it in her power again:
Now she works with three or four,
Like an Indian conjurer; 30
Quick as he in feats of art,
Far beyond in joy of heart.
Hath this conception, grateful to behold,
Changed countenance, like an object sullied o'er
By breathing mist; and thine appears to be
A mournful labour, while to her is given
Hope, and a renovation without end. 65
--That smile forbids the thought; for on thy face
Smiles are beginning, like the beams of dawn,
To shoot and circulate; smiles have there been seen;
Tranquil assurances that Heaven supports
The feeble motions of thy life, and cheers 70
Thy loneliness: or shall those smiles be called
Feelers of love, put forth as if to explore
This untried world, and to prepare thy way
Through a strait passage intricate and dim?
Such are they; and the same are tokens, signs, 75
Which, when the appointed season hath arrived,
Joy, as her holiest language, shall adopt;
And Reason's godlike Power be proud to own.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: The title from 1815 to 1845 was 'Address to my Infant
Daughter, on being reminded that she was a Month old, on that Day'.
After her death in 1847, her name was added to the title. --Ed. ]
[Footnote B: See Dryden's poem, 'To the pious memory of the accomplished
young lady, Mrs. Anne Killigrew', I. l. 15. --Ed. ]
The text of this poem was never altered. --Ed.
* * * * *
THE KITTEN AND FALLING LEAVES [A]
Composed 1804. --Published 1807
[Seen at Town-end, Grasmere.
The elder-bush has long since disappeared;
it hung over the wall near the cottage: and the kitten continued to leap
up, catching the leaves as here described. The Infant was Dora. --J. F. ]
One of the "Poems of the Fancy. " In Henry Crabb Robinson's 'Diary,
etc. ', under date Sept. 10, 1816, we find,
"He" (Wordsworth) "quoted from 'The Kitten and the Falling Leaves' to
show he had connected even the kitten with the great, awful, and
mysterious powers of Nature. "
Ed.
That way look, my Infant, [1] lo!
What a pretty baby-show!
See the Kitten on the wall,
Sporting with the leaves that fall,
Withered leaves--one--two--and three--5
From the lofty elder-tree!
Through the calm and frosty [2] air
Of this morning bright and fair,
Eddying round and round they sink
Softly, slowly: one might think, 10
From the motions that are made,
Every little leaf conveyed
Sylph or Faery hither tending,--
To this lower world descending,
Each invisible and mute, 15
In his wavering parachute.
----But the Kitten, how she starts,
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts! [3]
First at one, and then its fellow
Just as light and just as yellow; 20
There are many now--now one--
Now they stop and there are none:
What intenseness of desire
In her upward eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap half-way 25
Now she meets the coming prey,
Lets it go as fast, and then
Has it in her power again:
Now she works with three or four,
Like an Indian conjurer; 30
Quick as he in feats of art,
Far beyond in joy of heart.
