,
called me to the window of our Cottage, saying, "Look how beautiful is
yon star!
called me to the window of our Cottage, saying, "Look how beautiful is
yon star!
William Wordsworth
.
.
1807.
]
[Variant 2:
1827.
. . . or . . . 1807. ]
* * * * *
"IT IS NO SPIRIT WHO FROM HEAVEN HATH FLOWN"
Composed 1803. --Published 1807
[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. I remember the instant my sister S. H.
,
called me to the window of our Cottage, saying, "Look how beautiful is
yon star! It has the sky all to itself. " I composed the verses
immediately. --I. F. ]
This was No. XIII. of "Moods of my own Mind," in the edition of 1807. It
was afterwards included among the "Poems of the Imagination. "--Ed.
It is no Spirit who from heaven hath flown,
And is descending on his embassy;
Nor Traveller gone from earth the heavens to espy!
'Tis Hesperus--there he stands with glittering crown,
First admonition that the sun is down! 5
For yet it is broad day-light: clouds pass by;
A few are near him still--and now the sky,
He hath it to himself--'tis all his own.
O most ambitious Star! an inquest wrought
Within me when I recognised thy light; 10
A moment I was startled at the sight:
And, while I gazed, there came to me a thought
That I might step beyond my natural race
As thou seem'st now to do; might one day trace [1]
Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength above, 15
My Soul, an Apparition in the place,
Tread there with steps that no one shall reprove! [A]
* * * * *
VARIANT ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1: 1807.
[Variant 2:
1827.
. . . or . . . 1807. ]
* * * * *
"IT IS NO SPIRIT WHO FROM HEAVEN HATH FLOWN"
Composed 1803. --Published 1807
[Written at Town-end, Grasmere. I remember the instant my sister S. H.
,
called me to the window of our Cottage, saying, "Look how beautiful is
yon star! It has the sky all to itself. " I composed the verses
immediately. --I. F. ]
This was No. XIII. of "Moods of my own Mind," in the edition of 1807. It
was afterwards included among the "Poems of the Imagination. "--Ed.
It is no Spirit who from heaven hath flown,
And is descending on his embassy;
Nor Traveller gone from earth the heavens to espy!
'Tis Hesperus--there he stands with glittering crown,
First admonition that the sun is down! 5
For yet it is broad day-light: clouds pass by;
A few are near him still--and now the sky,
He hath it to himself--'tis all his own.
O most ambitious Star! an inquest wrought
Within me when I recognised thy light; 10
A moment I was startled at the sight:
And, while I gazed, there came to me a thought
That I might step beyond my natural race
As thou seem'st now to do; might one day trace [1]
Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength above, 15
My Soul, an Apparition in the place,
Tread there with steps that no one shall reprove! [A]
* * * * *
VARIANT ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1: 1807.
