The purpose of this edition is to collect all of the earliest complete reading texts collected from the twenty-one volumes in the series. In the first, the poet-traveller prefers his imagined Yarrow - the Yarrow of Scots balladeers Nicol Burne, John Logan and William Hamilton - to the physical one. And the third pays homage to his friend and fellow poet Walter Scott, with whom he toured the Yarrow Valley before the ailing Scott left for Italy: in this time of "change and change" he prays that the valley retains its strength to restore "clarity" to "the deep valley of the soul".
All of them are acknowledged by name, and their work is cited in the editor's notes. In the case of The Prelude, each of the three versions that stood is presented as complete. A gap in the source, either left by the poet, or caused by a damaged manuscript.
A double full line used by the editor to mark a break in text. Sustain us, cherish us, and make Our noisy years moments in the being of Eternal Silence: truths that are awakening,.
The Prelude (1805–1806)
Pour out my soul that day in measured tension, Even in the very words I recorded here: to the open fields I told. Spontaneous, and clothed in priestly garb My spirit, as singled out, as it may seem, For holy services: great hope was mine;. Two hours fell to the west, a day With silver clouds, and sunshine on the grass And, in the sheltered grove where I lay on a couch, A perfect stillness.
So long I lay Chear'd by the earth's genial pillow Beneath my head, soothed by a sense of touch. While most are filled in—or the surrounding revised—in the later texts, WW's intent at the time the AB manuscripts were written remains unclear. For an explanation of each gap, see the notes on the relevant point in Reed's edition of The Thirteen-Book "Prelude".
Soon it was tricked and the host of harmony dispersed with sharp sounds and, finally, in complete silence. I spare to speak, my friend, of what followed, admiration and love, life.
And make them captives in the hearts of the people who live now, or will live in the future. Sometimes, more sternly moved, I told how the vanquished Mithridates went north, and, hidden in the cloud of years, who became Odin, father of a race by whom. Sometimes it suits me better to shape some story from my own heart, more related to my own passions and ordinary thoughts, in general, a varied story.
Like a false Steward who received much And returned nothing.—Was it loved for this That one, fairest of all Rivers. Then, after leaving his mountains, came to the towers of Cockermouth that beautiful river, he passed behind my father's house, near,. Basked in the sun, and dipped, and basked again, Altering all a summer's day, or course.
Over the sandy fields, leaping through clumps of yellow grub, or when crags and hills. We were tanned with a deep radiance, standing alone under the sky, as if I had been born.
Shorter Poems (1807–1820)
Ecclesiastical Sketches (1822)
But all must come true;-the Julian spear 10 A way first opened; and with Roman chains. And where the boatman of the western isles eases his course — To mark the sacred piles which yet survive On the shore of gloomy Iona. Some pierced beneath the inaccessible shield of the holy home; - with pomp and splendor others are gor'd And terrible respite.
Alban's must have been an object of great interest to the fancy of the venerable Bede, who thus describes it with a delicate feeling delightful to meet. Battle of the British against the Barbarians Rise! About heaps of slain; - from Cambrian wood and moss descend 10 druids, auxiliaries of the cross;.
And at the Acquittal of the Seven Bishops I did little more than give a vivid description of that Event in the Memoirs of the first Lord Lonsdale." WW. The depicted Saviour!—By Augustin led They come—and travel on without fear, With barbarous ears singing a tuneful prayer,. Rich conquest awaits them:-the stormy sea 10 Of Ignorance, which ran so rough and high,.
2 "See the original of this discourse in Bede. The conversion of Edwin, as related by him, is most interesting - and the dissolution of this council was attended by an event so striking and characteristic, that I am tempted to to tell of it at length. a translation. The place is shown where those idols used to stand, not far from York, at the source of the River Derwent, and is called today Gormund Gaham.'" WW. He served in folly.— Woden falls - and Thor 5. Is overthrown, the Mace, raised into battle.
So we could dream) until the Victory was achieved, the Drops — and God himself was no longer visible. To hear near the fresh streams, — and thousands rejoicing in the new rite — promises of holiness,. The soul to purer worlds: and who will draw the line, determines the limits of power, Which still imperfect faith gives Man.
Index of titles, first lines and series titles Volumes I, II, III
