why this
comfortless
despair?
William Wordsworth
The . . . 1819. ]
[Variant 77:
1836.
How blank! --but whence this rustling sound
Which, all too long, the pair hath chased!
--A dancing leaf is close behind, 1819.
But whence that faintly-rustling sound 1820.
But whence this faintly rustling sound
By which the pair have long been chased? c. ]
[Variant 78:
1836.
When Peter spies the withered leaf,
It yields no cure to his distress--1819. ]
[Variant 79:
1836.
Ha!
why this comfortless despair? 1819. ]
[Variant 80:
1819.
. . . the Creature's head; 1827.
The text of 1845 returns to that of 1819. ]
[Variant 81:
1836.
. . . those darting pains,
As meteors shoot through heaven's wide plains,
Pass through his bosom--and repass! 1819. ]
[Variant 82:
1827.
Reading, as you or I might read
At night in any pious book, 1819.
