* * * * *
THE POEM
Were there, below, a spot of holy ground
Where from distress a refuge might be found,
And solitude prepare the soul for heaven;
Sure, nature's God that spot to man had given [1]
Where falls the purple morning far and wide 5
In flakes of light upon the mountain-side;
Where with loud voice the power of water shakes [2]
The leafy wood, or sleeps in quiet lakes.
THE POEM
Were there, below, a spot of holy ground
Where from distress a refuge might be found,
And solitude prepare the soul for heaven;
Sure, nature's God that spot to man had given [1]
Where falls the purple morning far and wide 5
In flakes of light upon the mountain-side;
Where with loud voice the power of water shakes [2]
The leafy wood, or sleeps in quiet lakes.
William Wordsworth
Nothing that I ever saw in
Nature left a more delightful impression on my mind than that which I
have attempted, alas, how feebly! to convey to others in these lines.
Those two lakes have always interested me especially, from bearing in
their size and other features, a resemblance to those of the North of
England. It is much to be deplored that a district so beautiful should
be so unhealthy as it is. --I. F. ]
As the original text of the 'Descriptive Sketches' is printed in
Appendix I. (p. 309) to this volume--with all the notes to that edition
of 1793--it is not quoted in the footnotes to the final text in the
pages which follow, except in cases which will justify themselves.
Therefore the various readings which follow begin with the edition of
1815, which was, however, a mere fragment of the original text. Almost
the whole of the poem of 1793 was reproduced in 1820, but there were
many alterations of the text in that edition, and in those of 1827,
1832, 1836 and 1845. Wordsworth's own footnotes here reproduced are
those which he retained in the edition of 1849.
'Descriptive Sketches' was ranked among the "Juvenile Pieces" from 1815
onwards: but in 1836 it was put in a class by itself along with the
'Female Vagrant'. [D]--Ed.
'Happiness (if she had been to be found on earth) among the charms of
Nature--Pleasures of the pedestrian Traveller--Author crosses France to
the Alps--Present state of the Grande Chartreuse--Lake of Como--Time,
Sunset--Same Scene, Twilight--Same Scene, Morning; its voluptuous
Character; Old man and forest-cottage music--River Tusa--Via Mala and
Grison Gipsy--Sckellenen-thal--Lake of Uri--Stormy sunset--Chapel of
William Tell--Force of local emotion--Chamois-chaser--View of the higher
Alps--Manner of Life of a Swiss mountaineer, interspersed with views of
the higher Alps--Golden Age of the Alps--Life and views continued--Ranz
des Vaches, famous Swiss Air--Abbey of Einsiedlen and its
pilgrims--Valley of Chamouny--Mont Blanc--Slavery of Savoy--Influence of
liberty on cottage-happiness--France--Wish for the Extirpation of
slavery--Conclusion'.
* * * * *
THE POEM
Were there, below, a spot of holy ground
Where from distress a refuge might be found,
And solitude prepare the soul for heaven;
Sure, nature's God that spot to man had given [1]
Where falls the purple morning far and wide 5
In flakes of light upon the mountain-side;
Where with loud voice the power of water shakes [2]
The leafy wood, or sleeps in quiet lakes.
Yet not unrecompensed the man shall roam,
Who at the call of summer quits his home, 10
And plods through some wide realm o'er vale and height,
Though seeking only holiday delight; [3]
At least, not owning to himself an aim
To which the sage would give a prouder name. [4]
No gains too cheaply earned his fancy cloy, 15
Though every passing zephyr whispers joy;
Brisk toil, alternating with ready ease,
Feeds the clear current of his sympathies. [5]
For him sod-seats the cottage-door adorn;
And peeps the far-off spire, his evening bourn! 20
Dear is the forest frowning o'er his head,
And dear the velvet green-sward to his tread: [6]
Moves there a cloud o'er mid-day's flaming eye?
Upward he looks--"and calls it luxury:" [E]
Kind Nature's charities his steps attend; 25
In every babbling brook he finds a friend;
While [7] chastening thoughts of sweetest use, bestowed
By wisdom, moralise his pensive road.
Host of his welcome inn, the noon-tide bower,
To his spare meal he calls the passing poor; 30
He views the sun uplift his golden fire,
Or sink, with heart alive like Memnon's lyre; [F]
Blesses the moon that comes with kindly ray,
To light him shaken by his rugged way. [8]
Back from his sight no bashful children steal; 35
He sits a brother at the cottage-meal; [9]
His humble looks no shy restraint impart;
Around him plays at will the virgin heart.
While unsuspended wheels the village dance,
The maidens eye him with enquiring glance, 40
Much wondering by what fit of crazing care,
Or desperate love, bewildered, he came there. [10]
A hope, that prudence could not then approve,
That clung to Nature with a truant's love,
O'er Gallia's wastes of corn my footsteps led; 45
Her files of road-elms, high above my head
In long-drawn vista, rustling in the breeze;
Or where her pathways straggle as they please
By lonely farms and secret villages.
But lo! the Alps ascending white in air, [11] 50
Toy with the sun and glitter from afar.
And now, emerging from the forest's gloom,
I greet thee, Chartreuse, while I mourn thy doom.
Whither is fled that Power whose frown severe
Awed sober Reason till she crouched in fear? [12] 55
_That_ Silence, once in deathlike fetters bound,
Chains that were loosened only by the sound
Of holy rites chanted in measured round? [13]
--The voice of blasphemy the fane alarms,
The cloister startles at the gleam of arms.
Nature left a more delightful impression on my mind than that which I
have attempted, alas, how feebly! to convey to others in these lines.
Those two lakes have always interested me especially, from bearing in
their size and other features, a resemblance to those of the North of
England. It is much to be deplored that a district so beautiful should
be so unhealthy as it is. --I. F. ]
As the original text of the 'Descriptive Sketches' is printed in
Appendix I. (p. 309) to this volume--with all the notes to that edition
of 1793--it is not quoted in the footnotes to the final text in the
pages which follow, except in cases which will justify themselves.
Therefore the various readings which follow begin with the edition of
1815, which was, however, a mere fragment of the original text. Almost
the whole of the poem of 1793 was reproduced in 1820, but there were
many alterations of the text in that edition, and in those of 1827,
1832, 1836 and 1845. Wordsworth's own footnotes here reproduced are
those which he retained in the edition of 1849.
'Descriptive Sketches' was ranked among the "Juvenile Pieces" from 1815
onwards: but in 1836 it was put in a class by itself along with the
'Female Vagrant'. [D]--Ed.
'Happiness (if she had been to be found on earth) among the charms of
Nature--Pleasures of the pedestrian Traveller--Author crosses France to
the Alps--Present state of the Grande Chartreuse--Lake of Como--Time,
Sunset--Same Scene, Twilight--Same Scene, Morning; its voluptuous
Character; Old man and forest-cottage music--River Tusa--Via Mala and
Grison Gipsy--Sckellenen-thal--Lake of Uri--Stormy sunset--Chapel of
William Tell--Force of local emotion--Chamois-chaser--View of the higher
Alps--Manner of Life of a Swiss mountaineer, interspersed with views of
the higher Alps--Golden Age of the Alps--Life and views continued--Ranz
des Vaches, famous Swiss Air--Abbey of Einsiedlen and its
pilgrims--Valley of Chamouny--Mont Blanc--Slavery of Savoy--Influence of
liberty on cottage-happiness--France--Wish for the Extirpation of
slavery--Conclusion'.
* * * * *
THE POEM
Were there, below, a spot of holy ground
Where from distress a refuge might be found,
And solitude prepare the soul for heaven;
Sure, nature's God that spot to man had given [1]
Where falls the purple morning far and wide 5
In flakes of light upon the mountain-side;
Where with loud voice the power of water shakes [2]
The leafy wood, or sleeps in quiet lakes.
Yet not unrecompensed the man shall roam,
Who at the call of summer quits his home, 10
And plods through some wide realm o'er vale and height,
Though seeking only holiday delight; [3]
At least, not owning to himself an aim
To which the sage would give a prouder name. [4]
No gains too cheaply earned his fancy cloy, 15
Though every passing zephyr whispers joy;
Brisk toil, alternating with ready ease,
Feeds the clear current of his sympathies. [5]
For him sod-seats the cottage-door adorn;
And peeps the far-off spire, his evening bourn! 20
Dear is the forest frowning o'er his head,
And dear the velvet green-sward to his tread: [6]
Moves there a cloud o'er mid-day's flaming eye?
Upward he looks--"and calls it luxury:" [E]
Kind Nature's charities his steps attend; 25
In every babbling brook he finds a friend;
While [7] chastening thoughts of sweetest use, bestowed
By wisdom, moralise his pensive road.
Host of his welcome inn, the noon-tide bower,
To his spare meal he calls the passing poor; 30
He views the sun uplift his golden fire,
Or sink, with heart alive like Memnon's lyre; [F]
Blesses the moon that comes with kindly ray,
To light him shaken by his rugged way. [8]
Back from his sight no bashful children steal; 35
He sits a brother at the cottage-meal; [9]
His humble looks no shy restraint impart;
Around him plays at will the virgin heart.
While unsuspended wheels the village dance,
The maidens eye him with enquiring glance, 40
Much wondering by what fit of crazing care,
Or desperate love, bewildered, he came there. [10]
A hope, that prudence could not then approve,
That clung to Nature with a truant's love,
O'er Gallia's wastes of corn my footsteps led; 45
Her files of road-elms, high above my head
In long-drawn vista, rustling in the breeze;
Or where her pathways straggle as they please
By lonely farms and secret villages.
But lo! the Alps ascending white in air, [11] 50
Toy with the sun and glitter from afar.
And now, emerging from the forest's gloom,
I greet thee, Chartreuse, while I mourn thy doom.
Whither is fled that Power whose frown severe
Awed sober Reason till she crouched in fear? [12] 55
_That_ Silence, once in deathlike fetters bound,
Chains that were loosened only by the sound
Of holy rites chanted in measured round? [13]
--The voice of blasphemy the fane alarms,
The cloister startles at the gleam of arms.
