Thou [1] art so
exquisitely
wild,
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years.
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years.
William Wordsworth
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. But after his marriage to
Mary Hutchinson, on the 4th of October, Wordsworth, his wife, and
sister, recrossed these Hambleton Hills on their way to Grasmere, which
they reached on the evening of the 6th October. The above sonnet was
composed on the evening of the 4th October, as the Fenwick note
indicates. --Ed.
* * * * *
TO H. C.
SIX YEARS OLD
Composed 1802. --Published 1807
One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood. "--Ed.
O thou! whose fancies from afar are brought;
Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel,
And fittest to unutterable thought
The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol;
Thou faery voyager! that dost float 5
In such clear water, that thy boat
May rather seem
To brood on air [A] than on an earthly stream;
Suspended in a stream as clear as sky,
Where earth and heaven do make one imagery; 10
O blessed vision! happy child!
Thou [1] art so exquisitely wild,
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years.
I thought of times when Pain might be thy guest, 15
Lord of thy house and hospitality;
And Grief, uneasy lover! never rest
But when she sate within the touch of thee.
O too industrious folly!
O vain and causeless melancholy! 20
Nature will either end thee quite;
Or, lengthening out thy season of delight,
Preserve for thee, by individual right,
A young lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks.
What hast thou to do with sorrow, 25
Or the injuries of to-morrow?
Thou art a dew-drop, which the morn brings forth,
Ill fitted to sustain [2] unkindly shocks,
Or to be trailed along the soiling earth;
A gem that glitters while it lives, 30
And no forewarning gives;
But, at the touch of wrong, without a strife
Slips in a moment out of life.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1845.
That . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
Not doom'd to jostle with . .
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. But after his marriage to
Mary Hutchinson, on the 4th of October, Wordsworth, his wife, and
sister, recrossed these Hambleton Hills on their way to Grasmere, which
they reached on the evening of the 6th October. The above sonnet was
composed on the evening of the 4th October, as the Fenwick note
indicates. --Ed.
* * * * *
TO H. C.
SIX YEARS OLD
Composed 1802. --Published 1807
One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood. "--Ed.
O thou! whose fancies from afar are brought;
Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel,
And fittest to unutterable thought
The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol;
Thou faery voyager! that dost float 5
In such clear water, that thy boat
May rather seem
To brood on air [A] than on an earthly stream;
Suspended in a stream as clear as sky,
Where earth and heaven do make one imagery; 10
O blessed vision! happy child!
Thou [1] art so exquisitely wild,
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years.
I thought of times when Pain might be thy guest, 15
Lord of thy house and hospitality;
And Grief, uneasy lover! never rest
But when she sate within the touch of thee.
O too industrious folly!
O vain and causeless melancholy! 20
Nature will either end thee quite;
Or, lengthening out thy season of delight,
Preserve for thee, by individual right,
A young lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks.
What hast thou to do with sorrow, 25
Or the injuries of to-morrow?
Thou art a dew-drop, which the morn brings forth,
Ill fitted to sustain [2] unkindly shocks,
Or to be trailed along the soiling earth;
A gem that glitters while it lives, 30
And no forewarning gives;
But, at the touch of wrong, without a strife
Slips in a moment out of life.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1845.
That . . . 1807. ]
[Variant 2:
1827.
Not doom'd to jostle with . .
