The Prelude - Book Eleventh Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU VWXYZA2B2C2D2E2F2G2H 2I2J2I2I2KH2H2I2K2H2 L2M2N2E2O2E2I2H2P2N2 I2Q2I2H2H2H2I2VH2R2F 2H2I2H2H2I2I2I2S2T2H 2 U2I2I2H2R2I2I2I2H2V2 KH2I2I2I2U2I2W2I2RI2 X2I2I2V2Y2H2TH2H2I2 Z2I2A3B3H2H2H2H2H2C3 D3PE3H2I2C3F3NI2I2H2 I2G3I2H2H3I2I2H2I2H2 I2KI3VH2H3I2I2J3 F2S2S2UI2H2H2M2 I2H2I2I2I2J3F2I2H2D3 I2J3F2K3I2I2KI2I2L3 I2W2H2A3H2I2I2H2H2H2 I2H2M3N3O3R2I2I2I2I2 I2W2H2H2W2H2I2H2JI2I 2H2P3H3 U2H2J3Q3S2R3W2PH2H2I 2S3I2I2I2W2J3 I2H2V2T3I2I2C3D3H2Q2 I2C3I2J3I2U3H2I2H2H2 I2I2V3W2I2I2W3I2V2I2 I2I2J3H2H2H2 H2H2S2H2J3H2H2X3T3V2 I2Y3H2H2X3A3U2V2H2I2 I2X2I2I3H2H2T3T3I2H2 Z3I2H2W2I2H2I2I2GI2I 2H2X2I2T2H2H3 H2I2H2H2I2GI2M2S2I2J 2H2J3H2R2 A4B4C4I2O2X2I2I2I2R2 H2KH2I2I2H2O2Q3U2D4H 2I2I2E4U2J3PT3F3X2X2 I2I2H2H2Q3Q2H2V3KJ3S 2F4S2I2G4I2I2MH4I2PI 2I2H2Q3I2H2H2S2I2I2H 2X2I2I2H2H2I2I2V3S2 I2H2T3I2 X2I2H2S2S2I2S2I2I2J3 I2S2I2H2H2W2H2H2I2J3 I2T3H2I2S2I2I2X2 I2N3J3I2I2H2I2H2PJ3H 2J3X2H4T3I2H2I2I2I2I 2PI2T3H2KT3I2H2S2I2H 2H2H2H2S2H2H2S2I2I2I 4H2W2PI2W2U

FRANCE concluded	A
	-
From that time forth Authority in France	B
Put on a milder face Terror had ceased	C
Yet everything was wanting that might give	D
Courage to them who looked for good by light	E
Of rational Experience for the shoots	F
And hopeful blossoms of a second spring	G
Yet in me confidence was unimpaired	H
The Senate's language and the public acts	I
And measures of the Government though both	J
Weak and of heartless omen had not power	K
To daunt me in the People was my trust	L
And in the virtues which mine eyes had seen	M
I knew that wound external could not take	N
Life from the young Republic that new foes	O
Would only follow in the path of shame	P
Their brethren and her triumphs be in the end	Q
Great universal irresistible	R
This intuition led me to confound	S
One victory with another higher far	T
Triumphs of unambitious peace at home	U
And noiseless fortitude Beholding still	V
Resistance strong as heretofore I thought	W
That what was in degree the same was likewise	X
The same in quality that as the worse	Y
Of the two spirits then at strife remained	Z
Untired the better surely would preserve	A2
The heart that first had roused him Youth maintains	B2
In all conditions of society	C2
Communion more direct and intimate	D2
With Nature hence ofttimes with reason too	E2
Than age or manhood even To Nature then	F2
Power had reverted habit custom law	G2
Had left an interregnum's open space	H2
For 'her' to move about in uncontrolled	I2
Hence could I see how Babel like their task	J2
Who by the recent deluge stupified	I2
With their whole souls went culling from the day	I2
Its petty promises to build a tower	K
For their own safety laughed with my compeers	H2
At gravest heads by enmity to France	H2
Distempered till they found in every blast	I2
Forced from the street disturbing newsman's horn	K2
For her great cause record or prophecy	H2
Of utter ruin How might we believe	L2
That wisdom could in any shape come near	M2
Men clinging to delusions so insane	N2
And thus experience proving that no few	E2
Of our opinions had been just we took	O2
Like credit to ourselves where less was due	E2
And thought that other notions were as sound	I2
Yea could not but be right because we saw	H2
That foolish men opposed them	P2
To a strain	N2
More animated I might here give way	I2
And tell since juvenile errors are my theme	Q2
What in those days through Britain was performed	I2
To turn 'all' judgments out of their right course	H2
But this is passion over near ourselves	H2
Reality too close and too intense	H2
And intermixed with something in my mind	I2
Of scorn and condemnation personal	V
That would profane the sanctity of verse	H2
Our Shepherds this say merely at that time	R2
Acted or seemed at least to act like men	F2
Thirsting to make the guardian crook of law	H2
A tool of murder they who ruled the State	I2
Though with such awful proof before their eyes	H2
That he who would sow death reaps death or worse	H2
And can reap nothing better child like longed	I2
To imitate not wise enough to avoid	I2
Or left by mere timidity betrayed	I2
The plain straight road for one no better chosen	S2
Than if their wish had been to undermine	T2
Justice and make an end of Liberty	H2
	-
But from these bitter truths I must return	U2
To my own history It hath been told	I2
That I was led to take an eager part	I2
In arguments of civil polity	H2
Abruptly and indeed before my time	R2
I had approached like other youths the shield	I2
Of human nature from the golden side	I2
And would have fought even to the death to attest	I2
The quality of the metal which I saw	H2
What there is best in individual man	V2
Of wise in passion and sublime in power	K
Benevolent in small societies	H2
And great in large ones I had oft revolved	I2
Felt deeply but not thoroughly understood	I2
By reason nay far from it they were yet	I2
As cause was given me afterwards to learn	U2
Not proof against the injuries of the day	I2
Lodged only at the sanctuary's door	W2
Not safe within its bosom Thus prepared	I2
And with such general insight into evil	R
And of the bounds which sever it from good	I2
As books and common intercourse with life	X2
Must needs have given to the inexperienced mind	I2
When the world travels in a beaten road	I2
Guide faithful as is needed I began	V2
To meditate with ardour on the rule	Y2
And management of nations what it is	H2
And ought to be and strove to learn how far	T
Their power or weakness wealth or poverty	H2
Their happiness or misery depends	H2
Upon their laws and fashion of the State	I2
	-
O pleasant exercise of hope and joy	Z2
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood	I2
Upon our side us who were strong in love	A3
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive	B3
But to be young was very Heaven O times	H2
In which the meagre stale forbidding ways	H2
Of custom law and statute took at once	H2
The attraction of a country in romance	H2
When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights	H2
When most intent on making of herself	C3
A prime enchantress to assist the work	D3
Which then was going forward in her name	P
Not favoured spots alone but the whole Earth	E3
The beauty wore of promise that which sets	H2
As at some moments might not be unfelt	I2
Among the bowers of Paradise itself	C3
The budding rose above the rose full blown	F3
What temper at the prospect did not wake	N
To happiness unthought of The inert	I2
Were roused and lively natures rapt away	I2
They who had fed their childhood upon dreams	H2
The play fellows of fancy who had made	I2
All powers of swiftness subtilty and strength	G3
Their ministers who in lordly wise had stirred	I2
Among the grandest objects of the sense	H2
And dealt with whatsoever they found there	H3
As if they had within some lurking right	I2
To wield it they too who of gentle mood	I2
Had watched all gentle motions and to these	H2
Had fitted their own thoughts schemers more mild	I2
And in the region of their peaceful selves	H2
Now was it that 'both' found the meek and lofty	I2
Did both find helpers to their hearts' desire	K
And stuff at hand plastic as they could wish	I3
Were called upon to exercise their skill	V
Not in Utopia subterranean fields	H2
Or some secreted island Heaven knows where	H3
But in the very world which is the world	I2
Of all of us the place where in the end	I2
We find our happiness or not at all	J3
	-
Why should I not confess that Earth was then	F2
To me what an inheritance new fallen	S2
Seems when the first time visited to one	S2
Who thither comes to find in it his home	U
He walks about and looks upon the spot	I2
With cordial transport moulds it and remoulds	H2
And is half pleased with things that are amiss	H2
'Twill be such joy to see them disappear	M2
	-
An active partisan I thus convoked	I2
From every object pleasant circumstance	H2
To suit my ends I moved among mankind	I2
With genial feelings still predominant	I2
When erring erring on the better part	I2
And in the kinder spirit placable	J3
Indulgent as not uninformed that men	F2
See as they have been taught Antiquity	I2
Gives rights to error and aware no less	H2
That throwing off oppression must be work	D3
As well of License as of Liberty	I2
And above all for this was more than all	J3
Not caring if the wind did now and then	F2
Blow keen upon an eminence that gave	K3
Prospect so large into futurity	I2
In brief a child of Nature as at first	I2
Diffusing only those affections wider	K
That from the cradle had grown up with me	I2
And losing in no other way than light	I2
Is lost in light the weak in the more strong	L3
	-
In the main outline such it might be said	I2
Was my condition till with open war	W2
Britain opposed the liberties of France	H2
This threw me first out of the pale of love	A3
Soured and corrupted upwards to the source	H2
My sentiments was not as hitherto	I2
A swallowing up of lesser things in great	I2
But change of them into their contraries	H2
And thus a way was opened for mistakes	H2
And false conclusions in degree as gross	H2
In kind more dangerous What had been a pride	I2
Was now a shame my likings and my loves	H2
Ran in new channels leaving old ones dry	M3
And hence a blow that in maturer age	N3
Would but have touched the judgment struck more deep	O3
Into sensations near the heart meantime	R2
As from the first wild theories were afloat	I2
To whose pretensions sedulously urged	I2
I had but lent a careless ear assured	I2
That time was ready to set all things right	I2
And that the multitude so long oppressed	I2
Would be oppressed no more	W2
But when events	H2
Brought less encouragement and unto these	H2
The immediate proof of principles no more	W2
Could be entrusted while the events themselves	H2
Worn out in greatness stripped of novelty	I2
Less occupied the mind and sentiments	H2
Could through my understanding's natural growth	J
No longer keep their ground by faith maintained	I2
Of inward consciousness and hope that laid	I2
Her hand upon her object evidence	H2
Safer of universal application such	P3
As could not be impeached was sought elsewhere	H3
	-
But now become oppressors in their turn	U2
Frenchmen had changed a war of self defence	H2
For one of conquest losing sight of all	J3
Which they had struggled for up mounted now	Q3
Openly in the eye of earth and heaven	S2
The scale of liberty I read her doom	R3
With anger vexed with disappointment sore	W2
But not dismayed nor taking to the shame	P
Of a false prophet While resentment rose	H2
Striving to hide what nought could heal the wounds	H2
Of mortified presumption I adhered	I2
More firmly to old tenets and to prove	S3
Their temper strained them more and thus in heat	I2
Of contest did opinions every day	I2
Grow into consequence till round my mind	I2
They clung as if they were its life nay more	W2
The very being of the immortal soul	J3
	-
This was the time when all things tending fast	I2
To depravation speculative schemes	H2
That promised to abstract the hopes of Man	V2
Out of his feelings to be fixed thenceforth	T3
For ever in a purer element	I2
Found ready welcome Tempting region 'that'	I2
For Zeal to enter and refresh herself	C3
Where passions had the privilege to work	D3
And never hear the sound of their own names	H2
But speaking more in charity the dream	Q2
Flattered the young pleased with extremes nor least	I2
With that which makes our Reason's naked self	C3
The object of its fervour What delight	I2
How glorious in self knowledge and self rule	J3
To look through all the frailties of the world	I2
And with a resolute mastery shaking off	U3
Infirmities of nature time and place	H2
Build social upon personal Liberty	I2
Which to the blind restraints of general laws	H2
Superior magisterially adopts	H2
One guide the light of circumstances flashed	I2
Upon an independent intellect	I2
Thus expectation rose again thus hope	V3
From her first ground expelled grew proud once more	W2
Oft as my thoughts were turned to human kind	I2
I scorned indifference but inflamed with thirst	I2
Of a secure intelligence and sick	W3
Of other longing I pursued what seemed	I2
A more exalted nature wished that Man	V2
Should start out of his earthy worm like state	I2
And spread abroad the wings of Liberty	I2
Lord of himself in undisturbed delight	I2
A noble aspiration 'yet' I feel	J3
Sustained by worthier as by wiser thoughts	H2
The aspiration nor shall ever cease	H2
To feel it but return we to our course	H2
	-
Enough 'tis true could such a plea excuse	H2
Those aberrations had the clamorous friends	H2
Of ancient Institutions said and done	S2
To bring disgrace upon their very names	H2
Disgrace of which custom and written law	J3
And sundry moral sentiments as props	H2
Or emanations of those institutes	H2
Too justly bore a part A veil had been	X3
Uplifted why deceive ourselves in sooth	T3
'Twas even so and sorrow for the man	V2
Who either had not eyes wherewith to see	I2
Or seeing had forgotten A strong shock	Y3
Was given to old opinions all men's minds	H2
Had felt its power and mine was both let loose	H2
Let loose and goaded After what hath been	X3
Already said of patriotic love	A3
Suffice it here to add that somewhat stern	U2
In temperament withal a happy man	V2
And therefore bold to look on painful things	H2
Free likewise of the world and thence more bold	I2
I summoned my best skill and toiled intent	I2
To anatomise the frame of social life	X2
Yea the whole body of society	I2
Searched to its heart Share with me Friend the wish	I3
That some dramatic tale endued with shapes	H2
Livelier and flinging out less guarded words	H2
Than suit the work we fashion might set forth	T3
What then I learned or think I learned of truth	T3
And the errors into which I fell betrayed	I2
By present objects and by reasonings false	H2
From their beginnings inasmuch as drawn	Z3
Out of a heart that had been turned aside	I2
From Nature's way by outward accidents	H2
And which was thus confounded more and more	W2
Misguided and misguiding So I fared	I2
Dragging all precepts judgments maxims creeds	H2
Like culprits to the bar calling the mind	I2
Suspiciously to establish in plain day	I2
Her titles and her honours now believing	G
Now disbelieving endlessly perplexed	I2
With impulse motive right and wrong the ground	I2
Of obligation what the rule and whence	H2
The sanction till demanding formal 'proof'	X2
And seeking it in every thing I lost	I2
All feeling of conviction and in fine	T2
Sick wearied out with contrarieties	H2
Yielded up moral questions in despair	H3
	-
This was the crisis of that strong disease	H2
This the soul's last and lowest ebb I drooped	I2
Deeming our blessed reason of least use	H2
Where wanted most The lordly attributes	H2
Of will and choice I bitterly exclaimed	I2
What are they but a mockery of a Being	G
Who hath in no concerns of his a test	I2
Of good and evil knows not what to fear	M2
Or hope for what to covet or to shun	S2
And who if those could be discerned would yet	I2
Be little profited would see and ask	J2
Where is the obligation to enforce	H2
And to acknowledged law rebellious still	J3
As selfish passion urged would act amiss	H2
The dupe of folly or the slave of crime	R2
	-
Depressed bewildered thus I did not walk	A4
With scoffers seeking light and gay revenge	B4
From indiscriminate laughter nor sate down	C4
In reconcilement with an utter waste	I2
Of intellect such sloth I could not brook	O2
Too well I loved in that my spring of life	X2
Pains taking thoughts and truth their dear reward	I2
But turned to abstract science and there sought	I2
Work for the reasoning faculty enthroned	I2
Where the disturbances of space and time	R2
Whether in matters various properties	H2
Inherent or from human will and power	K
Derived find no admission Then it was	H2
Thanks to the bounteous Giver of all good	I2
That the beloved Sister in whose sight	I2
Those days were passed now speaking in a voice	H2
Of sudden admonition like a brook	O2
That did but 'cross' a lonely road and now	Q3
Is seen heard felt and caught at every turn	U2
Companion never lost through many a league	D4
Maintained for me a saving intercourse	H2
With my true self for though bedimmed and changed	I2
Much as it seemed I was no further changed	I2
Than as a clouded and a waning moon	E4
She whispered still that brightness would return	U2
She in the midst of all preserved me still	J3
A Poet made me seek beneath that name	P
And that alone my office upon earth	T3
And lastly as hereafter will be shown	F3
If willing audience fail not Nature's self	X2
By all varieties of human love	X2
Assisted led me back through opening day	I2
To those sweet counsels between head and heart	I2
Whence grew that genuine knowledge fraught with peace	H2
Which through the later sinkings of this cause	H2
Hath still upheld me and upholds me now	Q3
In the catastrophe for so they dream	Q2
And nothing less when finally to close	H2
And seal up all the gains of France a Pope	V3
Is summoned in to crown an Emperor	K
This last opprobrium when we see a people	J3
That once looked up in faith as if to Heaven	S2
For manna take a lesson from the dog	F4
Returning to his vomit when the sun	S2
That rose in splendour was alive and moved	I2
In exultation with a living pomp	G4
Of clouds his glory's natural retinue	I2
Hath dropped all functions by the gods bestowed	I2
And turned into a gewgaw a machine	M
Sets like an Opera phantom	H4
Thus O Friend	I2
Through times of honour and through times of shame	P
Descending have I faithfully retraced	I2
The perturbations of a youthful mind	I2
Under a long lived storm of great events	H2
A story destined for thy ear who now	Q3
Among the fallen of nations dost abide	I2
Where Etna over hill and valley casts	H2
His shadow stretching towards Syracuse	H2
The city of Timoleon Righteous Heaven	S2
How are the mighty prostrated They first	I2
They first of all that breathe should have awaked	I2
When the great voice was heard from out the tombs	H2
Of ancient heroes If I suffered grief	X2
For ill requited France by many deemed	I2
A trifler only in her proudest day	I2
Have been distressed to think of what she once	H2
Promised now is a far more sober cause	H2
Thine eyes must see of sorrow in a land	I2
To the reanimating influence lost	I2
Of memory to virtue lost and hope	V3
Though with the wreck of loftier years bestrewn	S2
	-
But indignation works where hope is not	I2
And thou O Friend wilt be refreshed There is	H2
One great society alone on earth	T3
The noble Living and the noble Dead	I2
	-
Thine be such converse strong and sanative	X2
A ladder for thy spirit to reascend	I2
To health and joy and pure contentedness	H2
To me the grief confined that thou art gone	S2
From this last spot of earth where Freedom now	S2
Stands single in her only sanctuary	I2
A lonely wanderer art gone by pain	S2
Compelled and sickness at this latter day	I2
This sorrowful reverse for all mankind	I2
I feel for thee must utter what I feel	J3
The sympathies erewhile in part discharged	I2
Gather afresh and will have vent again	S2
My own delights do scarcely seem to me	I2
My own delights the lordly Alps themselves	H2
Those rosy peaks from which the Morning looks	H2
Abroad on many nations are no more	W2
For me that image of pure gladsomeness	H2
Which they were wont to be Through kindred scenes	H2
For purpose at a time how different	I2
Thou tak'st thy way carrying the heart and soul	J3
That Nature gives to Poets now by thought	I2
Matured and in the summer of their strength	T3
Oh wrap him in your shades ye giant woods	H2
On Etna's side and thou O flowery field	I2
Of Enna is there not some nook of thine	S2
From the first play time of the infant world	I2
Kept sacred to restorative delight	I2
When from afar invoked by anxious love	X2
	-
Child of the mountains among shepherds reared	I2
Ere yet familiar with the classic page	N3
I learnt to dream of Sicily and lo	J3
The gloom that but a moment past was deepened	I2
At thy command at her command gives way	I2
A pleasant promise wafted from her shores	H2
Comes o'er my heart in fancy I behold	I2
Her seas yet smiling her once happy vales	H2
Nor can my tongue give utterance to a name	P
Of note belonging to that honoured isle	J3
Philosopher or Bard Empedocles	H2
Or Archimedes pure abstracted soul	J3
That doth not yield a solace to my grief	X2
And O Theocritus so far have some	H4
Prevailed among the powers of heaven and earth	T3
By their endowments good or great that they	I2
Have had as thou reportest miracles	H2
Wrought for them in old time yea not unmoved	I2
When thinking on my own beloved friend	I2
I hear thee tell how bees with honey fed	I2
Divine Comates by his impious lord	I2
Within a chest imprisoned how they came	P
Laden from blooming grove or flowery field	I2
And fed him there alive month after month	T3
Because the goatherd blessed man had lips	H2
Wet with the Muses' nectar	K
Thus I soothe	T3
The pensive moments by this calm fire side	I2
And find a thousand bounteous images	H2
To cheer the thoughts of those I love and mine	S2
Our prayers have been accepted thou wilt stand	I2
On Etna's summit above earth and sea	H2
Triumphant winning from the invaded heavens	H2
Thoughts without bound magnificent designs	H2
Worthy of poets who attuned their harps	H2
In wood or echoing cave for discipline	S2
Of heroes or in reverence to the gods	H2
'Mid temples served by sapient priests and choirs	H2
Of virgins crowned with roses Not in vain	S2
Those temples where they in their ruins yet	I2
Survive for inspiration shall attract	I2
Thy solitary steps and on the brink	I4
Thou wilt recline of pastoral Arethuse	H2
Or if that fountain be in truth no more	W2
Then near some other spring which by the name	P
Thou gratulatest willingly deceived	I2
I see thee linger a glad votary	W2
And not a captive pining for his home	U

William Wordsworth

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

<< The Prelude - Book Fourteenth Poem The Prelude - Book Third Poem>>

Write your comment about The Prelude - Book Eleventh poem by William Wordsworth

Best Poems of William Wordsworth

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 79 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)