No More Learning

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THE TABLES TURNED

AN EVENING SCENE ON THE SAME SUBJECT


Composed 1798. --Published 1798


Included among the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection. "--Ed.


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THE POEM


Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble? [1]

The sun, above the mountain's head, 5
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet, 10
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is [2] no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things, 15
Let Nature be your Teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless--
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness. 20

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can. [A]

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; 25
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:--
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those [3] barren leaves; 30
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.


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VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1820.

Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks,
Why all this toil and trouble?
Up! up! my friend, and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double. 1798. ]


[Variant 2:

1815.

And he is . . .