No More Learning

And I can listen to thee yet; 25
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.

O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be 30
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!


* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1845.

While I am lying on the grass,
I hear thy restless shout:
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
About, and all about! 1807.

Thy loud note smites my ear! --
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near! 1815.

Thy loud note smites my ear!
It seems to fill the whole air's space,
At once far off and near! 1820.

Thy twofold shout I hear,
That seems to fill the whole air's space,
As loud far off as near. [a] 1827. ]


[Variant 2:

1827.
To me, no Babbler with a tale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou tellest, Cuckoo! in the vale 1807.

I hear thee babbling to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers;
And unto me thou bring'st a tale 1815.

But unto me . . . . 1820. ]


[Variant 3:

1836.

No Bird; but an invisible Thing, 1807. ]


* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:

"_Vox et praterea nihil_. See Lipsius 'of the Nightingale. '"

Barron Field. --Ed.


* * * * *

SUB-FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Sub-Footnote a: Barron Field remonstrated with Wordsworth about this
reading, and he agreed to restore that of 1820; saying, at the same
time, that he had "made the change to record a fact observed by
himself. "--Ed.