The Excursion - Book First - The Wanderer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGBHBIBJBKLMNBO PQRST UBVWXBBYBZA2B LSB2JC2BBBNBBD2E2W F2BBG2H2I2J2K2BL2M2B BBPN2O2BH2BBP2BQ2B LR2S2RT2U2V2W2X2BBY2 L2Z2A3BBBBBLB3G2C3BR D3E3BBF3 G3H3BBI3J3BBBB K3N2F3BBL3BBM3N2LBW2 N3 BBL2MBJ2O3BK2H2P3BBQ 3R3BF2C3ABLBG3C3C3AG 3BC3BPBF2EC3S3MC3C3G 3BBC3BC3MBBF2C3C3T3B G3G3BBU3H2C3C3MBV3BB V3 T2W3G3BX3BBBG3Y3Z3A4 B4C4MBBBC3C3MU3 C3BBBBC3BD4H2C4BC3BC 3X2C3BBBBBBBBU3 G3C3BC3C3TBC4G3BW2C3 BBBF2QBC4BBMC3C3C3T2 C3C3G3BTTC3C3Z3M BBBBE4F4C3YG3U3C3BBG 3BBH2G3C3UB BBG4F4BBC4C3C3BC3B3G 3BZ3 C3C3C3C3H4E4G3Z3BBBG 3C3BBC3BBBC4BC3BC3C3 G3C3C3BC4C3C3C3BH2G3 C3BBU3C3BC3BI4G3BC3B 4BJ4C3BC3MX2K4C4C3TB C3G3L4X3G3C3C3BBBC3C 3M4M3C3BBH2BBC4 C3BN4BYC3BC3C3T2BC3B C3BBO4X3C3P4TF2BTQ4B G3TC3C3TBC3BBN4R4J3 C4B2C3C3BBU3BBC3BP4C 3C3BC3BL2BBC3BC3C3E4 H2C3H4G3BBZBH2H2H2BB X3G3BC3C3G3TC3H2H2X3 BBS4BG3BE4BTBF4BC3C3 C3G3H2BBH2C3G3X2BBBB J3 TT4BU3OH2TC3C3BBBBVB TBC3BBBBOG3 TX2BBH2BC3C3K4H2BBBB C3R4BC3BBYG3L2BC3BBH 2C3BC3 TC3BC3C4C3TTU4BC3TG3 C3BBG3C3C3C3C3OC3 C3 BC3G3C3BC3H2TBBBC3V4 C3 G3C3BBBBC3BG3BH2BTBC 3BG3BBTB BBC3BC3BBBBC3BBC4BTB W4C3C3BBG3BX4BBH2BBH 2X2I4TBTBBG3BBY4BBBB BB BBBBE4BBBT C3H2TBBC3BOTC3BZ4BC3 C3 BBBH2BC3C3C3G3BBBC3B BBG3H2BBBBBBBBBC3C3B BC3C3X3H2C3BH2G3G3BB C3C3BBBH2E4X2C3BBC3B BTBBG3BTC3BH3V3BC3C3 BBTBC3BBBC3 BBH2C3BTBC3BG3BTH2G3 BH2BBBBBBC3BG3H2H2X2 J3BBBH2G3E4BBG3H2TBB BX2C3C3C3H2C3C3BI4BC 3I4BC3BC3BC3W4BE4C3B G3 C3BBBVTB2H2G3BBBE4BJ 4OL2BBBBTG3Y4BG3C3C3 BG3BBBBZBC3Z4G3BE4BB BQ4BC3BBBBX4BH2BBBBC 3BG3G3C3BBBC3BBBBC3 BBH2BBBU3I4BBBC3C3BB G3H2G3BBC3G3BBH2C3BH 2BBBBH2I4BG3BC3BC3 BG3C3BG3C3C3H2G3B2TB BC3

'Twas summer and the sun had mounted high	A
Southward the landscape indistinctly glared	B
Through a pale steam but all the northern downs	C
In clearest air ascending showed far off	D
A surface dappled o'er with shadows flung	E
From brooding clouds shadows that lay in spots	F
Determined and unmoved with steady beams	G
Of bright and pleasant sunshine interposed	B
To him most pleasant who on soft cool moss	H
Extends his careless limbs along the front	B
Of some huge cave whose rocky ceiling casts	I
A twilight of its own an ample shade	B
Where the wren warbles while the dreaming man	J
Half conscious of the soothing melody	B
With side long eye looks out upon the scene	K
By power of that impending covert thrown	L
To finer distance Mine was at that hour	M
Far other lot yet with good hope that soon	N
Under a shade as grateful I should find	B
Rest and be welcomed there to livelier joy	O
Across a bare wide Common I was toiling	P
With languid steps that by the slippery turf	Q
Were baffled nor could my weak arm disperse	R
The host of insects gathering round my face	S
And ever with me as I paced along	T
	-
Upon that open moorland stood a grove	U
The wished for port to which my course was bound	B
Thither I came and there amid the gloom	V
Spread by a brotherhood of lofty elms	W
Appeared a roofless Hut four naked walls	X
That stared upon each other I looked round	B
And to my wish and to my hope espied	B
The Friend I sought a Man of reverend age	Y
But stout and hale for travel unimpaired	B
There was he seen upon the cottage bench	Z
Recumbent in the shade as if asleep	A2
An iron pointed staff lay at his side	B
	-
Him had I marked the day before alone	L
And stationed in the public way with face	S
Turned toward the sun then setting while that staff	B2
Afforded to the figure of the man	J
Detained for contemplation or repose	C2
Graceful support his countenance as he stood	B
Was hidden from my view and he remained	B
Unrecognised but stricken by the sight	B
With slackened footsteps I advanced and soon	N
A glad congratulation we exchanged	B
At such unthought of meeting For the night	B
We parted nothing willingly and now	D2
He by appointment waited for me here	E2
Under the covert of these clustering elms	W
	-
We were tried Friends amid a pleasant vale	F2
In the antique market village where was passed	B
My school time an apartment he had owned	B
To which at intervals the Wanderer drew	G2
And found a kind of home or harbour there	H2
He loved me from a swarm of rosy boys	I2
Singled out me as he in sport would say	J2
For my grave looks too thoughtful for my years	K2
As I grew up it was my best delight	B
To be his chosen comrade Many a time	L2
On holidays we rambled through the woods	M2
We sate we walked he pleased me with report	B
Of things which he had seen and often touched	B
Abstrusest matter reasonings of the mind	B
Turned inward or at my request would sing	P
Old songs the product of his native hills	N2
A skilful distribution of sweet sounds	O2
Feeding the soul and eagerly imbibed	B
As cool refreshing water by the care	H2
Of the industrious husbandman diffused	B
Through a parched meadow ground in time of drought	B
Still deeper welcome found his pure discourse	P2
How precious when in riper days I learned	B
To weigh with care his words and to rejoice	Q2
In the plain presence of his dignity	B
	-
Oh many are the Poets that are sown	L
By Nature men endowed with highest gifts	R2
The vision and the faculty divine	S2
Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse	R
Which in the docile season of their youth	T2
It was denied them to acquire through lack	U2
Of culture and the inspiring aid of books	V2
Or haply by a temper too severe	W2
Or a nice backwardness afraid of shame	X2
Nor having e'er as life advanced been led	B
By circumstance to take unto the height	B
The measure of themselves these favoured Beings	Y2
All but a scattered few live out their time	L2
Husbanding that which they possess within	Z2
And go to the grave unthought of Strongest minds	A3
Are often those of whom the noisy world	B
Hears least else surely this Man had not left	B
His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed	B
But as the mind was filled with inward light	B
So not without distinction had he lived	B
Beloved and honoured far as he was known	L
And some small portion of his eloquent speech	B3
And something that may serve to set in view	G2
The feeling pleasures of his loneliness	C3
His observations and the thoughts his mind	B
Had dealt with I will here record in verse	R
Which if with truth it correspond and sink	D3
Or rise as venerable Nature leads	E3
The high and tender Muses shall accept	B
With gracious smile deliberately pleased	B
And listening Time reward with sacred praise	F3
	-
Among the hills of Athol he was born	G3
Where on a small hereditary farm	H3
An unproductive slip of rugged ground	B
His Parents with their numerous offspring dwelt	B
A virtuous household though exceeding poor	I3
Pure livers were they all austere and grave	J3
And fearing God the very children taught	B
Stern self respect a reverence for God's word	B
And an habitual piety maintained	B
With strictness scarcely known on English ground	B
	-
From his sixth year the Boy of whom I speak	K3
In summer tended cattle on the hills	N2
But through the inclement and the perilous days	F3
Of long continuing winter he repaired	B
Equipped with satchel to a school that stood	B
Sole building on a mountain's dreary edge	L3
Remote from view of city spire or sound	B
Of minster clock From that bleak tenement	B
He many an evening to his distant home	M3
In solitude returning saw the hills	N2
Grow larger in the darkness all alone	L
Beheld the stars come out above his head	B
And travelled through the wood with no one near	W2
To whom he might confess the things he saw	N3
	-
So the foundations of his mind were laid	B
In such communion not from terror free	B
While yet a child and long before his time	L2
Had he perceived the presence and the power	M
Of greatness and deep feelings had impressed	B
So vividly great objects that they lay	J2
Upon his mind like substances whose presence	O3
Perplexed the bodily sense He had received	B
A precious gift for as he grew in years	K2
With these impressions would he still compare	H2
All his remembrances thoughts shapes and forms	P3
And being still unsatisfied with aught	B
Of dimmer character he thence attained	B
An active power to fasten images	Q3
Upon his brain and on their pictured lines	R3
Intensely brooded even till they acquired	B
The liveliness of dreams Nor did he fail	F2
While yet a child with a child's eagerness	C3
Incessantly to turn his ear and eye	A
On all things which the moving seasons brought	B
To feed such appetite nor this alone	L
Appeased his yearning in the after day	B
Of boyhood many an hour in caves forlorn	G3
And 'mid the hollow depths of naked crags	C3
He sate and even in their fixed lineaments	C3
Or from the power of a peculiar eye	A
Or by creative feeling overborne	G3
Or by predominance of thought oppressed	B
Even in their fixed and steady lineaments	C3
He traced an ebbing and a flowing mind	B
Expression ever varying	P
Thus informed	B
He had small need of books for many a tale	F2
Traditionary round the mountains hung	E
And many a legend peopling the dark woods	C3
Nourished Imagination in her growth	S3
And gave the Mind that apprehensive power	M
By which she is made quick to recognise	C3
The moral properties and scope of things	C3
But eagerly he read and read again	G3
Whate'er the minister's old shelf supplied	B
The life and death of martyrs who sustained	B
With will inflexible those fearful pangs	C3
Triumphantly displayed in records left	B
Of persecution and the Covenant times	C3
Whose echo rings through Scotland to this hour	M
And there by lucky hap had been preserved	B
A straggling volume torn and incomplete	B
That left half told the preternatural tale	F2
Romance of giants chronicle of fiends	C3
Profuse in garniture of wooden cuts	C3
Strange and uncouth dire faces figures dire	T3
Sharp kneed sharp elbowed and lean ankled too	B
With long and ghostly shanks forms which once seen	G3
Could never be forgotten	G3
In his heart	B
Where Fear sate thus a cherished visitant	B
Was wanting yet the pure delight of love	U3
By sound diffused or by the breathing air	H2
Or by the silent looks of happy things	C3
Or flowing from the universal face	C3
Of earth and sky But he had felt the power	M
Of Nature and already was prepared	B
By his intense conceptions to receive	V3
Deeply the lesson deep of love which he	B
Whom Nature by whatever means has taught	B
To feel intensely cannot but receive	V3
	-
Such was the Boy but for the growing Youth	T2
What soul was his when from the naked top	W3
Of some bold headland he beheld the sun	G3
Rise up and bathe the world in light He looked	B
Ocean and earth the solid frame of earth	X3
And ocean's liquid mass in gladness lay	B
Beneath him Far and wide the clouds were touched	B
And in their silent faces could he read	B
Unutterable love Sound needed none	G3
Nor any voice of joy his spirit drank	Y3
The spectacle sensation soul and form	Z3
All melted into him they swallowed up	A4
His animal being in them did he live	B4
And by them did he live they were his life	C4
In such access of mind in such high hour	M
Of visitation from the living God	B
Thought was not in enjoyment it expired	B
No thanks he breathed he proffered no request	B
Rapt into still communion that transcends	C3
The imperfect offices of prayer and praise	C3
His mind was a thanksgiving to the power	M
That made him it was blessedness and love	U3
	-
A Herdsman on the lonely mountain tops	C3
Such intercourse was his and in this sort	B
Was his existence oftentimes 'possessed'	B
O then how beautiful how bright appeared	B
The written promise Early had he learned	B
To reverence the volume that displays	C3
The mystery the life which cannot die	B
But in the mountains did he 'feel' his faith	D4
All things responsive to the writing there	H2
Breathed immortality revolving life	C4
And greatness still revolving infinite	B
There littleness was not the least of things	C3
Seemed infinite and there his spirit shaped	B
Her prospects nor did he believe he 'saw'	C3
What wonder if his being thus became	X2
Sublime and comprehensive Low desires	C3
Low thoughts had there no place yet was his heart	B
Lowly for he was meek in gratitude	B
Oft as he called those ecstasies to mind	B
And whence they flowed and from them he acquired	B
Wisdom which works through patience thence he learned	B
In oft recurring hours of sober thought	B
To look on Nature with a humble heart	B
Self questioned where it did not understand	B
And with a superstitious eye of love	U3
	-
So passed the time yet to the nearest town	G3
He duly went with what small overplus	C3
His earnings might supply and brought away	B
The book that most had tempted his desires	C3
While at the stall he read Among the hills	C3
He gazed upon that mighty orb of song	T
The divine Milton Lore of different kind	B
The annual savings of a toilsome life	C4
His Schoolmaster supplied books that explain	G3
The purer elements of truth involved	B
In lines and numbers and by charm severe	W2
Especially perceived where nature droops	C3
And feeling is suppressed preserve the mind	B
Busy in solitude and poverty	B
These occupations oftentimes deceived	B
The listless hours while in the hollow vale	F2
Hollow and green he lay on the green turf	Q
In pensive idleness What could he do	B
Thus daily thirsting in that lonesome life	C4
With blind endeavours Yet still uppermost	B
Nature was at his heart as if he felt	B
Though yet he knew not how a wasting power	M
In all things that from her sweet influence	C3
Might tend to wean him Therefore with her hues	C3
Her forms and with the spirit of her forms	C3
He clothed the nakedness of austere truth	T2
While yet he lingered in the rudiments	C3
Of science and among her simplest laws	C3
His triangles they were the stars of heaven	G3
The silent stars Oft did he take delight	B
To measure the altitude of some tall crag	T
That is the eagle's birth place or some peak	T
Familiar with forgotten years that shows	C3
Inscribed upon its visionary sides	C3
The history of many a winter storm	Z3
Or obscure records of the path of fire	M
	-
And thus before his eighteenth year was told	B
Accumulated feelings pressed his heart	B
With still increasing weight he was o'er powered	B
By Nature by the turbulence subdued	B
Of his own mind by mystery and hope	E4
And the first virgin passion of a soul	F4
Communing with the glorious universe	C3
Full often wished he that the winds might rage	Y
When they were silent far more fondly now	G3
Than in his earlier season did he love	U3
Tempestuous nights the conflict and the sounds	C3
That live in darkness From his intellect	B
And from the stillness of abstracted thought	B
He asked repose and failing oft to win	G3
The peace required he scanned the laws of light	B
Amid the roar of torrents where they send	B
From hollow clefts up to the clearer air	H2
A cloud of mist that smitten by the sun	G3
Varies its rainbow hues But vainly thus	C3
And vainly by all other means he strove	U
To mitigate the fever of his heart	B
	-
In dreams in study and in ardent thought	B
Thus was he reared much wanting to assist	B
The growth of intellect yet gaining more	G4
And every moral feeling of his soul	F4
Strengthened and braced by breathing in content	B
The keen the wholesome air of poverty	B
And drinking from the well of homely life	C4
But from past liberty and tried restraints	C3
He now was summoned to select the course	C3
Of humble industry that promised best	B
To yield him no unworthy maintenance	C3
Urged by his Mother he essayed to teach	B3
A village school but wandering thoughts were then	G3
A misery to him and the Youth resigned	B
A task he was unable to perform	Z3
	-
That stern yet kindly Spirit who constrains	C3
The Savoyard to quit his naked rocks	C3
The free born Swiss to leave his narrow vales	C3
Spirit attached to regions mountainous	C3
Like their own stedfast clouds did now impel	H4
His restless mind to look abroad with hope	E4
An irksome drudgery seems it to plod on	G3
Through hot and dusty ways or pelting storm	Z3
A vagrant Merchant under a heavy load	B
Bent as he moves and needing frequent rest	B
Yet do such travellers find their own delight	B
And their hard service deemed debasing now	G3
Gained merited respect in simpler times	C3
When squire and priest and they who round them dwelt	B
In rustic sequestration all dependent	B
Upon the PEDLAR'S toil supplied their wants	C3
Or pleased their fancies with the wares he brought	B
Not ignorant was the Youth that still no few	B
Of his adventurous countrymen were led	B
By perseverance in this track of life	C4
To competence and ease to him it offered	B
Attractions manifold and this he chose	C3
His Parents on the enterprise bestowed	B
Their farewell benediction but with hearts	C3
Foreboding evil From his native hills	C3
He wandered far much did he see of men	G3
Their manners their enjoyments and pursuits	C3
Their passions and their feelings chiefly those	C3
Essential and eternal in the heart	B
That 'mid the simpler forms of rural life	C4
Exist more simple in their elements	C3
And speak a plainer language In the woods	C3
A lone Enthusiast and among the fields	C3
Itinerant in this labour he had passed	B
The better portion of his time and there	H2
Spontaneously had his affections thriven	G3
Amid the bounties of the year the peace	C3
And liberty of nature there he kept	B
In solitude and solitary thought	B
His mind in a just equipoise of love	U3
Serene it was unclouded by the cares	C3
Of ordinary life unvexed unwarped	B
By partial bondage In his steady course	C3
No piteous revolutions had he felt	B
No wild varieties of joy and grief	I4
Unoccupied by sorrow of its own	G3
His heart lay open and by nature tuned	B
And constant disposition of his thoughts	C3
To sympathy with man he was alive	B4
To all that was enjoyed where'er he went	B
And all that was endured for in himself	J4
Happy and quiet in his cheerfulness	C3
He had no painful pressure from without	B
That made him turn aside from wretchedness	C3
With coward fears He could 'afford' to suffer	M
With those whom he saw suffer Hence it came	X2
That in our best experience he was rich	K4
And in the wisdom of our daily life	C4
For hence minutely in his various rounds	C3
He had observed the progress and decay	T
Of many minds of minds and bodies too	B
The history of many families	C3
How they had prospered how they were o'erthrown	G3
By passion or mischance or such misrule	L4
Among the unthinking masters of the earth	X3
As makes the nations groan	G3
This active course	C3
He followed till provision for his wants	C3
Had been obtained the Wanderer then resolved	B
To pass the remnant of his days untasked	B
With needless services from hardship free	B
His calling laid aside he lived at ease	C3
But still he loved to pace the public roads	C3
And the wild paths and by the summer's warmth	M4
Invited often would he leave his home	M3
And journey far revisiting the scenes	C3
That to his memory were most endeared	B
Vigorous in health of hopeful spirits undamped	B
By worldly mindedness or anxious care	H2
Observant studious thoughtful and refreshed	B
By knowledge gathered up from day to day	B
Thus had he lived a long and innocent life	C4
	-
The Scottish Church both on himself and those	C3
With whom from childhood he grew up had held	B
The strong hand of her purity and still	N4
Had watched him with an unrelenting eye	B
This he remembered in his riper age	Y
With gratitude and reverential thoughts	C3
But by the native vigour of his mind	B
By his habitual wanderings out of doors	C3
By loneliness and goodness and kind works	C3
Whate'er in docile childhood or in youth	T2
He had imbibed of fear or darker thought	B
Was melted all away so true was this	C3
That sometimes his religion seemed to me	B
Self taught as of a dreamer in the woods	C3
Who to the model of his own pure heart	B
Shaped his belief as grace divine inspired	B
And human reason dictated with awe	O4
And surely never did there live on earth	X3
A man of kindlier nature The rough sports	C3
And teasing ways of children vexed not him	P4
Indulgent listener was he to the tongue	T
Of garrulous age nor did the sick man's tale	F2
To his fraternal sympathy addressed	B
Obtain reluctant hearing	T
Plain his garb	Q4
Such as might suit a rustic Sire prepared	B
For sabbath duties yet he was a man	G3
Whom no one could have passed without remark	T
Active and nervous was his gait his limbs	C3
And his whole figure breathed intelligence	C3
Time had compressed the freshness of his cheek	T
Into a narrower circle of deep red	B
But had not tamed his eye that under brows	C3
Shaggy and grey had meanings which it brought	B
From years of youth which like a Being made	B
Of many Beings he had wondrous skill	N4
To blend with knowledge of the years to come	R4
Human or such as lie beyond the grave	J3
	-
	-
So was He framed and such his course of life	C4
Who now with no appendage but a staff	B2
The prized memorial of relinquished toils	C3
Upon that cottage bench reposed his limbs	C3
Screened from the sun Supine the Wanderer lay	B
His eyes as if in drowsiness half shut	B
The shadows of the breezy elms above	U3
Dappling his face He had not heard the sound	B
Of my approaching steps and in the shade	B
Unnoticed did I stand some minutes' space	C3
At length I hailed him seeing that his hat	B
Was moist with water drops as if the brim	P4
Had newly scooped a running stream He rose	C3
And ere our lively greeting into peace	C3
Had settled 'Tis said I a burning day	B
My lips are parched with thirst but you it seems	C3
Have somewhere found relief He at the word	B
Pointing towards a sweet briar bade me climb	L2
The fence where that aspiring shrub looked out	B
Upon the public way It was a plot	B
Of garden ground run wild its matted weeds	C3
Marked with the steps of those whom as they passed	B
The gooseberry trees that shot in long lank slips	C3
Or currants hanging from their leafless stems	C3
In scanty strings had tempted to o'erleap	E4
The broken wall I looked around and there	H2
Where two tall hedge rows of thick alder boughs	C3
Joined in a cold damp nook espied a well	H4
Shrouded with willow flowers and plumy fern	G3
My thirst I slaked and from the cheerless spot	B
Withdrawing straightway to the shade returned	B
Where sate the old Man on the cottage bench	Z
And while beside him with uncovered head	B
I yet was standing freely to respire	H2
And cool my temples in the fanning air	H2
Thus did he speak I see around me here	H2
Things which you cannot see we die my Friend	B
Nor we alone but that which each man loved	B
And prized in his peculiar nook of earth	X3
Dies with him or is changed and very soon	G3
Even of the good is no memorial left	B
The Poets in their elegies and songs	C3
Lamenting the departed call the groves	C3
They call upon the hills and streams to mourn	G3
And senseless rocks nor idly for they speak	T
In these their invocations with a voice	C3
Obedient to the strong creative power	H2
Of human passion Sympathies there are	H2
More tranquil yet perhaps of kindred birth	X3
That steal upon the meditative mind	B
And grow with thought Beside yon spring I stood	B
And eyed its waters till we seemed to feel	S4
One sadness they and I For them a bond	B
Of brotherhood is broken time has been	G3
When every day the touch of human hand	B
Dislodged the natural sleep that binds them up	E4
In mortal stillness and they ministered	B
To human comfort Stooping down to drink	T
Upon the slimy foot stone I espied	B
The useless fragment of a wooden bowl	F4
Green with the moss of years and subject only	B
To the soft handling of the elements	C3
There let it lie how foolish are such thoughts	C3
Forgive them never never did my steps	C3
Approach this door but she who dwelt within	G3
A daughter's welcome gave me and I loved her	H2
As my own child Oh Sir the good die first	B
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust	B
Burn to the socket Many a passenger	H2
Hath blessed poor Margaret for her gentle looks	C3
When she upheld the cool refreshment drawn	G3
From that forsaken spring and no one came	X2
But he was welcome no one went away	B
But that it seemed she loved him She is dead	B
The light extinguished of her lonely hut	B
The hut itself abandoned to decay	B
And she forgotten in the quiet grave	J3
	-
I speak continued he of One whose stock	T
Of virtues bloomed beneath this lonely roof	T4
She was a Woman of a steady mind	B
Tender and deep in her excess of love	U3
Not speaking much pleased rather with the joy	O
Of her own thoughts by some especial care	H2
Her temper had been framed as if to make	T
A Being who by adding love to peace	C3
Might live on earth a life of happiness	C3
Her wedded Partner lacked not on his side	B
The humble worth that satisfied her heart	B
Frugal affectionate sober and withal	B
Keenly industrious She with pride would tell	B
That he was often seated at his loom	V
In summer ere the mower was abroad	B
Among the dewy grass in early spring	T
Ere the last star had vanished They who passed	B
At evening from behind the garden fence	C3
Might hear his busy spade which he would ply	B
After his daily work until the light	B
Had failed and every leaf and flower were lost	B
In the dark hedges So their days were spent	B
In peace and comfort and a pretty boy	O
Was their best hope next to the God in heaven	G3
	-
Not twenty years ago but you I think	T
Can scarcely bear it now in mind there came	X2
Two blighting seasons when the fields were left	B
With half a harvest It pleased Heaven to add	B
A worse affliction in the plague of war	H2
This happy Land was stricken to the heart	B
A Wanderer then among the cottages	C3
I with my freight of winter raiment saw	C3
The hardships of that season many rich	K4
Sank down as in a dream among the poor	H2
And of the poor did many cease to be	B
And their place knew them not Meanwhile abridged	B
Of daily comforts gladly reconciled	B
To numerous self denials Margaret	B
Went struggling on through those calamitous years	C3
With cheerful hope until the second autumn	R4
When her life's Helpmate on a sick bed lay	B
Smitten with perilous fever In disease	C3
He lingered long and when his strength returned	B
He found the little he had stored to meet	B
The hour of accident or crippling age	Y
Was all consumed A second infant now	G3
Was added to the troubles of a time	L2
Laden for them and all of their degree	B
With care and sorrow shoals of artisans	C3
From ill requited labour turned adrift	B
Sought daily bread from public charity	B
They and their wives and children happier far	H2
Could they have lived as do the little birds	C3
That peck along the hedge rows or the kite	B
That makes her dwelling on the mountain rocks	C3
	-
A sad reverse it was for him who long	T
Had filled with plenty and possessed in peace	C3
This lonely Cottage At the door he stood	B
And whistled many a snatch of merry tunes	C3
That had no mirth in them or with his knife	C4
Carved uncouth figures on the heads of sticks	C3
Then not less idly sought through every nook	T
In house or garden any casual work	T
Of use or ornament and with a strange	U4
Amusing yet uneasy novelty	B
He mingled where he might the various tasks	C3
Of summer autumn winter and of spring	T
But this endured not his good humour soon	G3
Became a weight in which no pleasure was	C3
And poverty brought on a petted mood	B
And a sore temper day by day he drooped	B
And he would leave his work and to the town	G3
Would turn without an errand his slack steps	C3
Or wander here and there among the fields	C3
One while he would speak lightly of his babes	C3
And with a cruel tongue at other times	C3
He tossed them with a false unnatural joy	O
And 'twas a rueful thing to see the looks	C3
Of the poor innocent children 'Every smile '	-
Said Margaret to me here beneath these trees	C3
'Made my heart bleed '	-
At this the Wanderer paused	B
And looking up to those enormous elms	C3
He said 'Tis now the hour of deepest noon	G3
At this still season of repose and peace	C3
This hour when all things which are not at rest	B
Are cheerful while this multitude of flies	C3
With tuneful hum is filling all the air	H2
Why should a tear be on an old Man's cheek	T
Why should we thus with an untoward mind	B
And in the weakness of humanity	B
From natural wisdom turn our hearts away	B
To natural comfort shut our eyes and ears	C3
And feeding on disquiet thus disturb	V4
The calm of nature with our restless thoughts	C3
	-
	-
HE spake with somewhat of a solemn tone	G3
But when he ended there was in his face	C3
Such easy cheerfulness a look so mild	B
That for a little time it stole away	B
All recollection and that simple tale	B
Passed from my mind like a forgotten sound	B
A while on trivial things we held discourse	C3
To me soon tasteless In my own despite	B
I thought of that poor Woman as of one	G3
Whom I had known and loved He had rehearsed	B
Her homely tale with such familiar power	H2
With such an active countenance an eye	B
So busy that the things of which he spake	T
Seemed present and attention now relaxed	B
A heart felt chillness crept along my veins	C3
I rose and having left the breezy shade	B
Stood drinking comfort from the warmer sun	G3
That had not cheered me long ere looking round	B
Upon that tranquil Ruin I returned	B
And begged of the old Man that for my sake	T
He would resume his story	B
	-
He replied	B
It were a wantonness and would demand	B
Severe reproof if we were men whose hearts	C3
Could hold vain dalliance with the misery	B
Even of the dead contented thence to draw	C3
A momentary pleasure never marked	B
By reason barren of all future good	B
But we have known that there is often found	B
In mournful thoughts and always might be found	B
A power to virtue friendly were't not so	C3
I am a dreamer among men indeed	B
An idle dreamer 'Tis a common tale	B
An ordinary sorrow of man's life	C4
A tale of silent suffering hardly clothed	B
In bodily form But without further bidding	T
I will proceed	B
While thus it fared with them	W4
To whom this cottage till those hapless years	C3
Had been a blessed home it was my chance	C3
To travel in a country far remote	B
And when these lofty elms once more appeared	B
What pleasant expectations lured me on	G3
O'er the flat Common With quick step I reached	B
The threshold lifted with light hand the latch	X4
But when I entered Margaret looked at me	B
A little while then turned her head away	B
Speechless and sitting down upon a chair	H2
Wept bitterly I wist not what to do	B
Nor how to speak to her Poor Wretch at last	B
She rose from off her seat and then O Sir	H2
I cannot 'tell' how she pronounced my name	X2
With fervent love and with a face of grief	I4
Unutterably helpless and a look	T
That seemed to cling upon me she enquired	B
If I had seen her husband As she spake	T
A strange surprise and fear came to my heart	B
Nor had I power to answer ere she told	B
That he had disappeared not two months gone	G3
He left his house two wretched days had past	B
And on the third as wistfully she raised	B
Her head from off her pillow to look forth	Y4
Like one in trouble for returning light	B
Within her chamber casement she espied	B
A folded paper lying as if placed	B
To meet her waking eyes This tremblingly	B
She opened found no writing but beheld	B
Pieces of money carefully enclosed	B
Silver and gold 'I shuddered at the sight '	-
Said Margaret 'for I knew it was his hand	B
That must have placed it there and ere that day	B
Was ended that long anxious day I learned	B
From one who by my husband had been sent	B
With the sad news that he had joined a troop	E4
Of soldiers going to a distant land	B
He left me thus he could not gather heart	B
To take a farewell of me for he feared	B
That I should follow with my babes and sink	T
Beneath the misery of that wandering life '	-
	-
This tale did Margaret tell with many tears	C3
And when she ended I had little power	H2
To give her comfort and was glad to take	T
Such words of hope from her own mouth as served	B
To cheer us both But long we had not talked	B
Ere we built up a pile of better thoughts	C3
And with a brighter eye she looked around	B
As if she had been shedding tears of joy	O
We parted 'Twas the time of early spring	T
I left her busy with her garden tools	C3
And well remember o'er that fence she looked	B
And while I paced along the foot way path	Z4
Called out and sent a blessing after me	B
With tender cheerfulness and with a voice	C3
That seemed the very sound of happy thoughts	C3
	-
I roved o'er many a hill and many a dale	B
With my accustomed load in heat and cold	B
Through many a wood and many an open ground	B
In sunshine and in shade in wet and fair	H2
Drooping or blithe of heart as might befall	B
My best companions now the driving winds	C3
And now the 'trotting brooks' and whispering trees	C3
And now the music of my own sad steps	C3
With many a short lived thought that passed between	G3
And disappeared	B
I journeyed back this way	B
When in the warmth of midsummer the wheat	B
Was yellow and the soft and bladed grass	C3
Springing afresh had o'er the hay field spread	B
Its tender verdure At the door arrived	B
I found that she was absent In the shade	B
Where now we sit I waited her return	G3
Her cottage then a cheerful object wore	H2
Its customary look only it seemed	B
The honeysuckle crowding round the porch
Hung down in heavier tufts and that bright weed	B
The yellow stone crop suffered to take root	B
Along the window's edge profusely grew	B
Blinding the lower panes I turned aside	B
And strolled into her garden It appeared	B
To lag behind the season and had lost	B
Its pride of neatness Daisy flowers and thrift	B
Had broken their trim border lines and straggled	B
O'er paths they used to deck carnations once	C3
Prized for surpassing beauty and no less	C3
For the peculiar pains they had required	B
Declined their languid heads wanting support	B
The cumbrous bind weed with its wreaths and bells	C3
Had twined about her two small rows of peas	C3
And dragged them to the earth	X3
Ere this an hour	H2
Was wasted Back I turned my restless steps	C3
A stranger passed and guessing whom I sought	B
He said that she was used to ramble far	H2
The sun was sinking in the west and now	G3
I sate with sad impatience From within	G3
Her solitary infant cried aloud	B
Then like a blast that dies away self stilled	B
The voice was silent From the bench I rose	C3
But neither could divert nor soothe my thoughts	C3
The spot though fair was very desolate	B
The longer I remained more desolate	B
And looking round me now I first observed	B
The corner stones on either side the porch
With dull red stains discoloured and stuck o'er	H2
With tufts and hairs of wool as if the sheep	E4
That fed upon the Common thither came	X2
Familiarly and found a couching place	C3
Even at her threshold Deeper shadows fell	B
From these tall elms the cottage clock struck eight	B
I turned and saw her distant a few steps	C3
Her face was pale and thin her figure too	B
Was changed As she unlocked the door she said	B
'It grieves me you have waited here so long	T
But in good truth I've wandered much of late	B
And sometimes to my shame I speak have need	B
Of my best prayers to bring me back again	G3
While on the board she spread our evening meal	B
She told me interrupting not the work	T
Which gave employment to her listless hands	C3
That she had parted with her elder child	B
To a kind master on a distant farm	H3
Now happily apprenticed 'I perceive	V3
You look at me and you have cause today	B
I have been travelling far and many days	C3
About the fields I wander knowing this	C3
Only that what I seek I cannot find	B
And so I waste my time for I am changed	B
And to myself ' said she 'have done much wrong	T
And to this helpless infant I have slept	B
Weeping and weeping have I waked my tears	C3
Have flowed as if my body were not such
As others are and I could never die	B
But I am now in mind and in my heart	B
More easy and I hope ' said she 'that God	B
Will give me patience to endure the things	C3
Which I behold at home '	-
It would have grieved	B
Your very soul to see her Sir I feel	B
The story linger in my heart I fear	H2
'Tis long and tedious but my spirit clings	C3
To that poor Woman so familiarly	B
Do I perceive her manner and her look	T
And presence and so deeply do I feel	B
Her goodness that not seldom in my walks	C3
A momentary trance comes over me	B
And to myself I seem to muse on One	G3
By sorrow laid asleep or borne away	B
A human being destined to awake	T
To human life or something very near	H2
To human life when he shall come again	G3
For whom she suffered Yes it would have grieved	B
Your very soul to see her evermore	H2
Her eyelids drooped her eyes downward were cast	B
And when she at her table gave me food	B
She did not look at me Her voice was low	B
Her body was subdued In every act	B
Pertaining to her house affairs appeared	B
The careless stillness of a thinking mind	B
Self occupied to which all outward things	C3
Are like an idle matter Still she sighed	B
But yet no motion of the breast was seen	G3
No heaving of the heart While by the fire	H2
We sate together sighs came on my ear	H2
I knew not how and hardly whence they came	X2
	-
Ere my departure to her care I gave	J3
For her son's use some tokens of regard	B
Which with a look of welcome she received	B
And I exhorted her to place her trust	B
In God's good love and seek his help by prayer	H2
I took my staff and when I kissed her babe
The tears stood in her eyes I left her then	G3
With the best hope and comfort I could give
She thanked me for my wish but for my hope	E4
It seemed she did not thank me	B
I returned	B
And took my rounds along this road again	G3
When on its sunny bank the primrose flower	H2
Peeped forth to give an earnest of the Spring	T
I found her sad and drooping she had learned	B
No tidings of her husband if he lived	B
She knew not that he lived if he were dead	B
She knew not he was dead She seemed the same	X2
In person and appearance but her house	C3
Bespake a sleepy hand of negligence	C3
The floor was neither dry nor neat the hearth
Was comfortless and her small lot of books	C3
Which in the cottage window heretofore	H2
Had been piled up against the corner panes	C3
In seemly order now with straggling leaves	C3
Lay scattered here and there open or shut	B
As they had chanced to fall Her infant Babe
Had from his Mother caught the trick of grief	I4
And sighed among its playthings I withdrew	B
And once again entering the garden saw	C3
More plainly still that poverty and grief	I4
Were now come nearer to her weeds defaced	B
The hardened soil and knots of withered grass	C3
No ridges there appeared of clear black mould	B
No winter greenness of her herbs and flowers	C3
It seemed the better part was gnawed away	B
Or trampled into earth a chain of straw	C3
Which had been twined about the slender stem	W4
Of a young apple tree lay at its root	B
The bark was nibbled round by truant sheep	E4
Margaret stood near her infant in her arms	C3
And noting that my eye was on the tree	B
She said 'I fear it will be dead and gone	G3
	-
Ere Robert come again ' When to the House	C3
We had returned together she enquired	B
If I had any hope but for her babe
And for her little orphan boy she said	B
She had no wish to live that she must die	B
Of sorrow Yet I saw the idle loom	V
Still in its place his Sunday garments hung	T
Upon the self same nail his very staff	B2
Stood undisturbed behind the door	H2
And when	G3
In bleak December I retraced this way	B
She told me that her little babe was dead	B
And she was left alone She now released	B
From her maternal cares had taken up	E4
The employment common through these wilds and gained	B
By spinning hemp a pittance for herself	J4
And for this end had hired a neighbour's boy	O
To give her needful help That very time	L2
Most willingly she put her work aside	B
And walked with me along the miry road	B
Heedless how far and in such piteous sort	B
That any heart had ached to hear her begged	B
That wheresoe'er I went I still would ask	T
For him whom she had lost We parted then	G3
Our final parting for from that time forth	Y4
Did many seasons pass ere I returned	B
Into this tract again	G3
Nine tedious years	C3
From their first separation nine long years	C3
She lingered in unquiet widowhood	B
A Wife and Widow Needs must it have been	G3
A sore heart wasting I have heard my Friend	B
That in yon arbour oftentimes she sate	B
Alone through half the vacant sabbath day	B
And if a dog passed by she still would quit	B
The shade and look abroad On this old bench	Z
For hours she sate and evermore her eye	B
Was busy in the distance shaping things	C3
That made her heart beat quick You see that path	Z4
Now faint the grass has crept o'er its grey line	G3
There to and fro she paced through many a day	B
Of the warm summer from a belt of hemp	E4
That girt her waist spinning the long drawn thread	B
With backward steps Yet ever as there passed	B
A man whose garments showed the soldier's red	B
Or crippled mendicant in sailor's garb	Q4
The little child who sate to turn the wheel	B
Ceased from his task and she with faltering voice	C3
Made many a fond enquiry and when they	B
Whose presence gave no comfort were gone by	B
Her heart was still more sad And by yon gate	B
That bars the traveller's road she often stood	B
And when a stranger horseman came the latch	X4
Would lift and in his face look wistfully	B
Most happy if from aught discovered there	H2
Of tender feeling she might dare repeat	B
The same sad question Meanwhile her poor Hut	B
Sank to decay for he was gone whose hand	B
At the first nipping of October frost	B
Closed up each chink and with fresh bands of straw	C3
Chequered the green grown thatch And so she lived	B
Through the long winter reckless and alone	G3
Until her house by frost and thaw and rain	G3
Was sapped and while she slept the nightly damps	C3
Did chill her breast and in the stormy day	B
Her tattered clothes were ruffled by the wind	B
Even at the side of her own fire Yet still	B
She loved this wretched spot nor would for worlds	C3
Have parted hence and still that length of road	B
And this rude bench one torturing hope endeared	B
Fast rooted at her heart and here my Friend	B
In sickness she remained and here she died	B
Last human tenant of these ruined walls	C3
	-
The old Man ceased he saw that I was moved	B
From that low bench rising instinctively	B
I turned aside in weakness nor had power	H2
To thank him for the tale which he had told	B
I stood and leaning o'er the garden wall	B
Reviewed that Woman's sufferings and it seemed	B
To comfort me while with a brother's love	U3
I blessed her in the impotence of grief	I4
Then towards the cottage I returned and traced	B
Fondly though with an interest more mild	B
That secret spirit of humanity	B
Which 'mid the calm oblivious tendencies	C3
Of nature 'mid her plants and weeds and flowers	C3
And silent overgrowings still survived	B
The old Man noting this resumed and said	B
My Friend enough to sorrow you have given	G3
The purposes of wisdom ask no more	H2
Nor more would she have craved as due to One	G3
Who in her worst distress had ofttimes felt	B
The unbounded might of prayer and learned with soul	B
Fixed on the Cross that consolation springs	C3
From sources deeper far than deepest pain	G3
For the meek Sufferer Why then should we read	B
The forms of things with an unworthy eye	B
She sleeps in the calm earth and peace is here	H2
I well remember that those very plumes	C3
Those weeds and the high spear grass on that wall	B
By mist and silent rain drops silvered o'er	H2
As once I passed into my heart conveyed	B
So still an image of tranquillity	B
So calm and still and looked so beautiful	B
Amid the uneasy thoughts which filled my mind	B
That what we feel of sorrow and despair	H2
From ruin and from change and all the grief	I4
That passing shows of Being leave behind	B
Appeared an idle dream that could maintain	G3
Nowhere dominion o'er the enlightened spirit	B
Whose meditative sympathies repose	C3
Upon the breast of Faith I turned away	B
And walked along my road in happiness	C3
	-
He ceased Ere long the sun declining shot	B
A slant and mellow radiance which began	G3
To fall upon us while beneath the trees	C3
We sate on that low bench and now we felt	B
Admonished thus the sweet hour coming on	G3
A linnet warbled from those lofty elms	C3
A thrush sang loud and other melodies	C3
At distance heard peopled the milder air	H2
The old Man rose and with a sprightly mien	G3
Of hopeful preparation grasped his staff	B2
Together casting then a farewell look	T
Upon those silent walls we left the shade	B
And ere the stars were visible had reached	B
A village inn our evening resting place	C3

William Wordsworth

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