Now wild, to bend its arms in
circling
shade, 1798.
Wordsworth - 1
Instructed that true knowledge leads to love; 60
True dignity abides with him alone
Who, in the silent hour of inward thought,
Can still suspect, and still revere himself,
In lowliness of heart.
* * * * *
The place where this Yew-tree stood may be found without difficulty. It
was about three-quarters of a mile from Hawkshead, on the eastern shore
of the lake, a little to the left above the present highway, as one goes
towards Sawrey. Mr. Bowman, the son of Wordsworth's last teacher at the
grammar-school of Hawkshead, told me that it stood about forty yards
nearer the village than the yew which is now on the roadside, and is
sometimes called "Wordsworth's Yew. " In the poet's school-days the road
passed right through the unenclosed common, and the tree was a
conspicuous object. It was removed, he says, owing to the popular belief
that its leaves were poisonous, and might injure the cattle grazing in
the common. The present tree is erroneously called "Wordsworth's Yew. "
Its proximity to the place where the tree of the poem stood has given
rise to the local tradition. --Ed.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1832.
What if these barren boughs the bee not loves; 1798. ]
[Variant 2:
1836.
First covered o'er, and taught this aged tree, 1798. ]
[Variant 3:
1800.
Now wild, to bend its arms in circling shade, 1798. ]
[Variant 4:
1802.
. . . In youth, by genius nurs'd,
And big with lofty views, he to the world
Went forth, pure in his heart, against the taint
Of dissolute tongues, 'gainst jealousy, and hate,
And scorn, against all enemies prepared,
All but neglect: and so, his spirit damped
At once, with rash disdain he turned away, 1798.
. . . The world, for so it thought,
Owed him no service: he was like a plant
Fair to the sun, the darling of the winds,
But hung with fruit which no one, that passed by,
Regarded, and, his spirit damped at once,
With indignation did he turn away 1800. ]
[Variant 5:
1798.
The stone-chat, or the sand-lark, restless Bird
Piping along the margin of the lake; 1815.
The text of 1820 returned to that of 1798. [i]]
[Variant 6:
1820.
And on these barren rocks, with juniper,
And heath, and thistle, thinly sprinkled o'er. 1798.
