The Prelude - Book Seventh Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU VWXYIZA2B2C2D2E2HF2G 2H2I2J2K2L2M2N2O2 P2Q2R2FS2T2U2V2W2 X2Y2M2Z2A3C2 B3C3D3E3U2E3E3S2F3E3 E3E3C2E3E3G3E3M2H3 E3E3I3G3J3K3L3E3E3M3 E3E3UN3O3E3E3E3IP3E3 Q3R3E3S3T3R3U3E3V3K2 E3E3M2E3AW3E3E3E3X3Y 3 IO2E3Z3FA4B4E3C4E3D4 E4F4G4H4I4A2M2RJ4N2E 3E3D3E3H2K4E3L4E3 M3M4T3N4O4O3TP4A2Q4E 3R4M4S4T4LC2E3R IG2U4E3E3V4I2E3W4B4E 3S2X4Y4U4Z4A2E3K3H2 CY2B4DS3E3E3E3O3U4B4 E3P3E3I2K2Y3 B4E3B4E3U4 E3E3H4P4IE3C RE3J4C2E3M4E3M3X3TM2 FE3IN2E3RT3Y3K2DL3C2 E3B4 X3LVC2E3S2D3IE3E3E3E 3H2M4R4S3I3E3E3E3 D3E3LE3E3Y3E3B3Y3E3Y 3TH2M4E3E3E3M4 JRLE3M4IM4IU4IW3E3M4 U4E3M4E3E3TE3E3E3U4E 3E3M4RE3E3O2E3E3U4E3 E3B3M4Y3E3E3I U4B3E3E3E3E3E3Y3E3E3 U4M4M4M4M4M4U4M4M4M4 RM4M4D3U4M4 JB3M4U4M4M4IM4M4M4IM 4R4M4 M4M4R4M4M4M4M4M4M4U4 M4M4 M4M4M4U4I3R4M4O4ID3M 4M4I3U4M4M4M4M4M4 M4M4M4M4M4M4IM4M4M4M 4M4JIM4M4U4 M4D4M4M4M4M4M4M4M4M4 M4 M4L3IM4M4Y3M4M4M4M4M 4Q3M4U4M4 D4M4M4M4M4M4M4Y3M4M4 M4M4M4M4M4 M4M4M4M4I3IM4M4M4M4D 3M4M4L3M4U4D3M4U4O2M 4D3M4U4M4M4M4 D3K2M4M4M4D3M4M4M4M4 M4M4M4M4M4B3M4M4M4M4 U4M4D3B3M4D3

RESIDENCE IN LONDON	A
	-
Six changeful years have vanished since I first	B
Poured out saluted by that quickening breeze	C
Which met me issuing from the City's walls	D
A glad preamble to this Verse I sang	E
Aloud with fervour irresistible	F
Of short lived transport like a torrent bursting	G
From a black thunder cloud down Scafell's side	H
To rush and disappear But soon broke forth	I
So willed the Muse a less impetuous stream	J
That flowed awhile with unabating strength	K
Then stopped for years not audible again	L
Before last primrose time Beloved Friend	M
The assurance which then cheered some heavy thoughts	N
On thy departure to a foreign land	O
Has failed too slowly moves the promised work	P
Through the whole summer have I been at rest	Q
Partly from voluntary holiday	R
And part through outward hindrance But I heard	S
After the hour of sunset yester even	T
Sitting within doors between light and dark	U
A choir of redbreasts gathered somewhere near	V
My threshold minstrels from the distant woods	W
Sent in on Winter's service to announce	X
With preparation artful and benign	Y
That the rough lord had left the surly North	I
On his accustomed journey The delight	Z
Due to this timely notice unawares	A2
Smote me and listening I in whispers said	B2
Ye heartsome Choristers ye and I will be	C2
Associates and unscared by blustering winds	D2
Will chant together Thereafter as the shades	E2
Of twilight deepened going forth I spied	H
A glow worm underneath a dusky plume	F2
Or canopy of yet unwithered fern	G2
Clear shining like a hermit's taper seen	H2
Through a thick forest Silence touched me here	I2
No less than sound had done before the child	J2
Of Summer lingering shining by herself	K2
The voiceless worm on the unfrequented hills	L2
Seemed sent on the same errand with the choir	M2
Of Winter that had warbled at my door	N2
And the whole year breathed tenderness and love	O2
	-
The last night's genial feeling overflowed	P2
Upon this morning and my favourite grove	Q2
Tossing in sunshine its dark boughs aloft	R2
As if to make the strong wind visible	F
Wakes in me agitations like its own	S2
A spirit friendly to the Poet's task	T2
Which we will now resume with lively hope	U2
Nor checked by aught of tamer argument	V2
That lies before us needful to be told	W2
	-
Returned from that excursion soon I bade	X2
Farewell for ever to the sheltered seats	Y2
Of gowned students quitted hall and bower	M2
And every comfort of that privileged ground	Z2
Well pleased to pitch a vagrant tent among	A3
The unfenced regions of society	C2
	-
Yet undetermined to what course of life	B3
I should adhere and seeming to possess	C3
A little space of intermediate time	D3
At full command to London first I turned	E3
In no disturbance of excessive hope	U2
By personal ambition unenslaved	E3
Frugal as there was need and though self willed	E3
From dangerous passions free Three years had flown	S2
Since I had felt in heart and soul the shock	F3
Of the huge town's first presence and had paced	E3
Her endless streets a transient visitant	E3
Now fixed amid that concourse of mankind	E3
Where Pleasure whirls about incessantly	C2
And life and labour seem but one I filled	E3
An idler's place an idler well content	E3
To have a house what matter for a home	G3
That owned him living cheerfully abroad	E3
With unchecked fancy ever on the stir	M2
And all my young affections out of doors	H3
	-
There was a time when whatsoe'er is feigned	E3
Of airy palaces and gardens built	E3
By Genii of romance or hath in grave	I3
Authentic history been set forth of Rome	G3
Alcairo Babylon or Persepolis	J3
Or given upon report by pilgrim friars	K3
Of golden cities ten months' journey deep	L3
Among Tartarian wilds fell short far short	E3
Of what my fond simplicity believed	E3
And thought of London held me by a chain	M3
Less strong of wonder and obscure delight	E3
Whether the bolt of childhood's Fancy shot	E3
For me beyond its ordinary mark	U
'Twere vain to ask but in our flock of boys	N3
Was One a cripple from his birth whom chance	O3
Summoned from school to London fortunate	E3
And envied traveller When the Boy returned	E3
After short absence curiously I scanned	E3
His mien and person nor was free in sooth	I
From disappointment not to find some change	P3
In look and air from that new region brought	E3
As if from Fairy land Much I questioned him	Q3
And every word he uttered on my ears	R3
Fell flatter than a caged parrot's note	E3
That answers unexpectedly awry	S3
And mocks the prompter's listening Marvellous things	T3
Had vanity quick Spirit that appears	R3
Almost as deeply seated and as strong	U3
In a Child's heart as fear itself conceived	E3
For my enjoyment Would that I could now	V3
Recall what then I pictured to myself	K2
Of mitred Prelates Lords in ermine clad	E3
The King and the King's Palace and not last	E3
Nor least Heaven bless him the renowned Lord Mayor	M2
Dreams not unlike to those which once begat	E3
A change of purpose in young Whittington	A
When he a friendless and a drooping boy	W3
Sate on a stone and heard the bells speak out	E3
Articulate music Above all one thought	E3
Baffled my understanding how men lived	E3
Even next door neighbours as we say yet still	X3
Strangers not knowing each the other's name	Y3
	-
Oh wondrous power of words by simple faith	I
Licensed to take the meaning that we love	O2
Vauxhall and Ranelagh I then had heard	E3
Of your green groves and wilderness of lamps	Z3
Dimming the stars and fireworks magical	F
And gorgeous ladies under splendid domes	A4
Floating in dance or warbling high in air	B4
The songs of spirits Nor had Fancy fed	E3
With less delight upon that other class	C4
Of marvels broad day wonders permanent	E3
The River proudly bridged the dizzy top	D4
And Whispering Gallery of St Paul's the tombs	E4
Of Westminster the Giants of Guildhall	F4
Bedlam and those carved maniacs at the gates	G4
Perpetually recumbent Statues man	H4
And the horse under him in gilded pomp	I4
Adorning flowery gardens 'mid vast squares	A2
The Monument and that Chamber of the Tower	M2
Where England's sovereigns sit in long array	R
Their steeds bestriding every mimic shape	J4
Cased in the gleaming mail the monarch wore	N2
Whether for gorgeous tournament addressed	E3
Or life or death upon the battle field	E3
Those bold imaginations in due time	D3
Had vanished leaving others in their stead	E3
And now I looked upon the living scene	H2
Familiarly perused it oftentimes	K4
In spite of strongest disappointment pleased	E3
Through courteous self submission as a tax	L4
Paid to the object by prescriptive right	E3
	-
Rise up thou monstrous ant hill on the plain	M3
Of a too busy world Before me flow	M4
Thou endless stream of men and moving things	T3
Thy every day appearance as it strikes	N4
With wonder heightened or sublimed by awe	O4
On strangers of all ages the quick dance	O3
Of colours lights and forms the deafening din	T
The comers and the goers face to face	P4
Face after face the string of dazzling wares	A2
Shop after shop with symbols blazoned names	Q4
And all the tradesman's honours overhead	E3
Here fronts of houses like a title page	R4
With letters huge inscribed from top to toe	M4
Stationed above the door like guardian saints	S4
There allegoric shapes female or male	T4
Or physiognomies of real men	L
Land warriors kings or admirals of the sea	C2
Boyle Shakspeare Newton or the attractive head	E3
Of some quack doctor famous in his day	R
	-
Meanwhile the roar continues till at length	I
Escaped as from an enemy we turn	G2
Abruptly into some sequestered nook	U4
Still as a sheltered place when winds blow loud	E3
At leisure thence through tracts of thin resort	E3
And sights and sounds that come at intervals	V4
We take our way A raree show is here	I2
With children gathered round another street	E3
Presents a company of dancing dogs	W4
Or dromedary with an antic pair	B4
Of monkeys on his back a minstrel band	E3
Of Savoyards or single and alone	S2
An English ballad singer Private courts	X4
Gloomy as coffins and unsightly lanes	Y4
Thrilled by some female vendor's scream belike	U4
The very shrillest of all London cries	Z4
May then entangle our impatient steps
Conducted through those labyrinths unawares	A2
To privileged regions and inviolate	E3
Where from their airy lodges studious lawyers	K3
Look out on waters walks and gardens green	H2
	-
Thence back into the throng until we reach
Following the tide that slackens by degrees	C
Some half frequented scene where wider streets	Y2
Bring straggling breezes of suburban air	B4
Here files of ballads dangle from dead walls	D
Advertisements of giant size from high	S3
Press forward in all colours on the sight	E3
These bold in conscious merit lower down
'That' fronted with a most imposing word	E3
Is peradventure one in masquerade	E3
As on the broadening causeway we advance	O3
Behold turned upwards a face hard and strong	U4
In lineaments and red with over toil
'Tis one encountered here and everywhere	B4
A travelling cripple by the trunk cut short	E3
And stumping on his arms In sailor's garb
Another lies at length beside a range	P3
Of well formed characters with chalk inscribed	E3
Upon the smooth flint stones the Nurse is here	I2
The Bachelor that loves to sun himself	K2
The military Idler and the Dame	Y3
That field ward takes her walk with decent steps
	-
Now homeward through the thickening hubbub where	B4
See among less distinguishable shapes
The begging scavenger with hat in hand	E3
The Italian as he thrids his way with care	B4
Steadying far seen a frame of images
Upon his head with basket at his breast	E3
The Jew the stately and slow moving Turk	U4
With freight of slippers piled beneath his arm
	-
Enough the mighty concourse I surveyed	E3
With no unthinking mind well pleased to note	E3
Among the crowd all specimens of man	H4
Through all the colours which the sun bestows
And every character of form and face	P4
The Swede the Russian from the genial south	I
The Frenchman and the Spaniard from remote	E3
America the Hunter Indian Moors
Malays Lascars the Tartar the Chinese	C
And Negro Ladies in white muslin gowns
	-
At leisure then I viewed from day to day	R
The spectacles within doors birds and beasts
Of every nature and strange plants convened	E3
From every clime and next those sights that ape	J4
The absolute presence of reality	C2
Expressing as in mirror sea and land	E3
And what earth is and what she has to show	M4
I do not here allude to subtlest craft	E3
By means refined attaining purest ends
But imitations fondly made in plain	M3
Confession of man's weakness and his loves
Whether the Painter whose ambitious skill	X3
Submits to nothing less than taking in	T
A whole horizon's circuit do with power	M2
Like that of angels or commissioned spirits
Fix us upon some lofty pinnacle	F
Or in a ship on waters with a world	E3
Of life and life like mockery beneath	I
Above behind far stretching and before	N2
Or more mechanic artist represent	E3
By scale exact in model wood or clay	R
From blended colours also borrowing help
Some miniature of famous spots or things	T3
St Peter's Church or more aspiring aim	Y3
In microscopic vision Rome herself	K2
Or haply some choice rural haunt the Falls	D
Of Tivoli and high upon that steep	L3
The Sibyl's mouldering Temple every tree	C2
Villa or cottage lurking among rocks
Throughout the landscape tuft stone scratch minute	E3
All that the traveller sees when he is there	B4
	-
Add to these exhibitions mute and still	X3
Others of wider scope where living men	L
Music and shifting pantomimic scenes
Diversified the allurement Need I fear	V
To mention by its name as in degree	C2
Lowest of these and humblest in attempt	E3
Yet richly graced with honours of her own	S2
Half rural Sadler's Wells Though at that time	D3
Intolerant as is the way of youth	I
Unless itself be pleased here more than once
Taking my seat I saw nor blush to add	E3
With ample recompense giants and dwarfs
Clowns conjurors posture masters harlequins
Amid the uproar of the rabblement	E3
Perform their feats Nor was it mean delight	E3
To watch crude Nature work in untaught minds
To note the laws and progress of belief
Though obstinate on this way yet on that	E3
How willingly we travel and how far
To have for instance brought upon the scene	H2
The champion Jack the Giant killer Lo	M4
He dons his coat of darkness on the stage	R4
Walks and achieves his wonders from the eye	S3
Of living Mortal covert as the moon
Hid in her vacant interlunar cave	I3
Delusion bold and how can it be wrought	E3
The garb he wears is black as death the word	E3
Invisible flames forth upon his chest	E3
	-
Here too were forms and pressures of the time	D3
Rough bold as Grecian comedy displayed	E3
When Art was young dramas of living men	L
And recent things yet warm with life a sea fight	E3
Shipwreck or some domestic incident	E3
Divulged by Truth and magnified by Fame	Y3
Such as the daring brotherhood of late	E3
Set forth too serious theme for that light place
I mean O distant Friend a story drawn
From our own ground the Maid of Buttermere
And how unfaithful to a virtuous wife	B3
Deserted and deceived the Spoiler came	Y3
And wooed the artless daughter of the hills
And wedded her in cruel mockery
Of love and marriage bonds These words to thee
Must needs bring back the moment when we first	E3
Ere the broad world rang with the maiden's name	Y3
Beheld her serving at the cottage inn	T
Both stricken as she entered or withdrew
With admiration of her modest mien	H2
And carriage marked by unexampled grace
We since that time not unfamiliarly	M4
Have seen her her discretion have observed	E3
Her just opinions delicate reserve
Her patience and humility of mind	E3
Unspoiled by commendation and the excess
Of public notice an offensive light	E3
To a meek spirit suffering inwardly	M4
	-
From this memorial tribute to my theme	J
I was returning when with sundry forms
Commingled shapes which met me in the way	R
That we must tread thy image rose again	L
Maiden of Buttermere She lives in peace
Upon the spot where she was born and reared	E3
Without contamination doth she live
In quietness without anxiety	M4
Beside the mountain chapel sleeps in earth	I
Her new born infant fearless as a lamb
That thither driven from some unsheltered place
Rests underneath the little rock like pile	M4
When storms are raging Happy are they both	I
Mother and child These feelings in themselves
Trite do yet scarcely seem so when I think	U4
On those ingenuous moments of our youth	I
Ere we have learnt by use to slight the crimes
And sorrows of the world Those simple days
Are now my theme and foremost of the scenes
Which yet survive in memory appears
One at whose centre sate a lovely Boy	W3
A sportive infant who for six months' space
Not more had been of age to deal about	E3
Articulate prattle Child as beautiful	M4
As ever clung around a mother's neck	U4
Or father fondly gazed upon with pride	E3
There too conspicuous for stature tall	M4
And large dark eyes beside her infant stood	E3
The mother but upon her cheeks diffused	E3
False tints too well accorded with the glare
From play house lustres thrown without reserve
On every object near The Boy had been	T
The pride and pleasure of all lookers on
In whatsoever place but seemed in this
A sort of alien scattered from the clouds
Of lusty vigour more than infantine
He was in limb in cheek a summer rose
Just three parts blown a cottage child if e'er
By cottage door on breezy mountain side	E3
Or in some sheltering vale was seen a babe
By Nature's gifts so favoured Upon a board	E3
Decked with refreshments had this child been placed	E3
'His' little stage in the vast theatre
And there he sate surrounded with a throng	U4
Of chance spectators chiefly dissolute men
And shameless women treated and caressed	E3
Ate drank and with the fruit and glasses played	E3
While oaths and laughter and indecent speech
Were rife about him as the songs of birds
Contending after showers The mother now
Is fading out of memory but I see	M4
The lovely Boy as I beheld him then
Among the wretched and the falsely gay	R
Like one of those who walked with hair unsinged	E3
Amid the fiery furnace Charms and spells
Muttered on black and spiteful instigation
Have stopped as some believe the kindliest growths
Ah with how different spirit might a prayer
Have been preferred that this fair creature checked	E3
By special privilege of Nature's love	O2
Should in his childhood be detained for ever
But with its universal freight the tide	E3
Hath rolled along and this bright innocent	E3
Mary may now have lived till he could look	U4
With envy on thy nameless babe that sleeps
Beside the mountain chapel undisturbed	E3
	-
Four rapid years had scarcely then been told	E3
Since travelling southward from our pastoral hills
I heard and for the first time in my life	B3
The voice of woman utter blasphemy	M4
Saw woman as she is to open shame	Y3
Abandoned and the pride of public vice
I shuddered for a barrier seemed at once
Thrown in that from humanity divorced	E3
Humanity splitting the race of man
In twain yet leaving the same outward form
Distress of mind ensued upon the sight	E3
And ardent meditation Later years
Brought to such spectacle a milder sadness
Feelings of pure commiseration grief
For the individual and the overthrow
Of her soul's beauty farther I was then
But seldom led or wished to go in truth	I
The sorrow of the passion stopped me there
	-
But let me now less moved in order take	U4
Our argument Enough is said to show
How casual incidents of real life	B3
Observed where pastime only had been sought	E3
Outweighed or put to flight the set events
And measured passions of the stage albeit	E3
By Siddons trod in the fulness of her power
Yet was the theatre my dear delight	E3
The very gilding lamps and painted scrolls
And all the mean upholstery of the place
Wanted not animation when the tide	E3
Of pleasure ebbed but to return as fast	E3
With the ever shifting figures of the scene
Solemn or gay whether some beauteous dame	Y3
Advanced in radiance through a deep recess
Of thick entangled forest like the moon
Opening the clouds or sovereign king announced	E3
With flourishing trumpet came in full blown state	E3
Of the world's greatness winding round with train
Of courtiers banners and a length of guards
Or captive led in abject weeds and jingling	U4
His slender manacles or romping girl	M4
Bounced leapt and pawed the air or mumbling sire
A scare crow pattern of old age dressed up
In all the tatters of infirmity	M4
All loosely put together hobbled in
Stumping upon a cane with which he smites
From time to time the solid boards and makes them
Prate somewhat loudly of the whereabout	M4
Of one so overloaded with his years
But what of this the laugh the grin grimace
The antics striving to outstrip each other
Were all received the least of them not lost	M4
With an unmeasured welcome Through the night	M4
Between the show and many headed mass
Of the spectators and each several nook	U4
Filled with its fray or brawl how eagerly	M4
And with what flashes as it were the mind	M4
Turned this way that way sportive and alert	M4
And watchful as a kitten when at play	R
While winds are eddying round her among straws
And rustling leaves Enchanting age and sweet	M4
Romantic almost looked at through a space
How small of intervening years For then
Though surely no mean progress had been made	M4
In meditations holy and sublime	D3
Yet something of a girlish child like gloss
Of novelty survived for scenes like these
Enjoyment haply handed down from times
When at a country playhouse some rude barn
Tricked out for that proud use if I perchance
Caught on a summer evening through a chink	U4
In the old wall an unexpected glimpse
Of daylight the bare thought of where I was
Gladdened me more than if I had been led	M4
Into a dazzling cavern of romance
Crowded with Genii busy among works
Not to be looked at by the common sun
	-
The matter that detains us now may seem	J
To many neither dignified enough
Nor arduous yet will not be scorned by them
Who looking inward have observed the ties
That bind the perishable hours of life	B3
Each to the other and the curious props
By which the world of memory and thought	M4
Exists and is sustained More lofty themes
Such as at least do wear a prouder face
Solicit our regard but when I think	U4
Of these I feel the imaginative power
Languish within me even then it slept	M4
When pressed by tragic sufferings the heart	M4
Was more than full amid my sobs and tears
It slept even in the pregnant season of youth	I
For though I was most passionately moved	M4
And yielded to all changes of the scene
With an obsequious promptness yet the storm
Passed not beyond the suburbs of the mind	M4
Save when realities of act and mien
The incarnation of the spirits that move
In harmony amid the Poet's world	M4
Rose to ideal grandeur or called forth	I
By power of contrast made me recognise
As at a glance the things which I had shaped	M4
And yet not shaped had seen and scarcely seen
When having closed the mighty Shakspeare's page	R4
I mused and thought and felt in solitude	M4
	-
Pass we from entertainments that are such
Professedly to others titled higher
Yet in the estimate of youth at least	M4
More near akin to those than names imply	M4
I mean the brawls of lawyers in their courts
Before the ermined judge or that great stage	R4
Where senators tongue favoured men perform
Admired and envied Oh the beating heart	M4
When one among the prime of these rose up
One of whose name from childhood we had heard	M4
Familiarly a household term like those
The Bedfords Glosters Salsburys of old	M4
Whom the fifth Harry talks of Silence hush
This is no trifler no short flighted wit	M4
No stammerer of a minute painfully	M4
Delivered No the Orator hath yoked	M4
The Hours like young Aurora to his car
Thrice welcome Presence how can patience e'er
Grow weary of attending on a track	U4
That kindles with such glory All are charmed	M4
Astonished like a hero in romance
He winds away his never ending horn
Words follow words sense seems to follow sense
What memory and what logic till the strain
Transcendent superhuman as it seemed	M4
Grows tedious even in a young man's ear
	-
Genius of Burke forgive the pen seduced	M4
By specious wonders and too slow to tell	M4
Of what the ingenuous what bewildered men
Beginning to mistrust their boastful guides
And wise men willing to grow wiser caught	M4
Rapt auditors from thy most eloquent tongue	U4
Now mute for ever mute in the cold grave	I3
I see him old but vigorous in age	R4
Stand like an oak whose stag horn branches start	M4
Out of its leafy brow the more to awe	O4
The younger brethren of the grove But some
While he forewarns denounces launches forth	I
Against all systems built on abstract rights
Keen ridicule the majesty proclaims
Of Institutes and Laws hallowed by time	D3
Declares the vital power of social ties
Endeared by Custom and with high disdain
Exploding upstart Theory insists
Upon the allegiance to which men are born
Some say at once a froward multitude	M4
Murmur for truth is hated where not loved	M4
As the winds fret within the Aeolian cave	I3
Galled by their monarch's chain The times were big	U4
With ominous change which night by night provoked	M4
Keen struggles and black clouds of passion raised	M4
But memorable moments intervened	M4
When Wisdom like the Goddess from Jove's brain
Broke forth in armour of resplendent words
Startling the Synod Could a youth and one
In ancient story versed whose breast had heaved	M4
Under the weight of classic eloquence
Sit see and hear unthankful uninspired	M4
	-
Nor did the Pulpit's oratory fail	M4
To achieve its higher triumph Not unfelt	M4
Were its admonishments nor lightly heard	M4
The awful truths delivered thence by tongues
Endowed with various power to search the soul	M4
Yet ostentation domineering oft	M4
Poured forth harangues how sadly out of place
There have I seen a comely bachelor
Fresh from a toilette of two hours ascend	M4
His rostrum with seraphic glance look up
And in a tone elaborately low
Beginning lead his voice through many a maze
A minuet course and winding up his mouth	I
From time to time into an orifice
Most delicate a lurking eyelet small	M4
And only not invisible again
Open it out diffusing thence a smile	M4
Of rapt irradiation exquisite	M4
Meanwhile the Evangelists Isaiah Job
Moses and he who penned the other day	M4
The Death of Abel Shakspeare and the Bard	M4
Whose genius spangled o'er a gloomy theme	J
With fancies thick as his inspiring stars
And Ossian doubt not 'tis the naked truth	I
Summoned from streamy Morven each and all	M4
Would in their turns lend ornaments and flowers
To entwine the crook of eloquence that helped	M4
This pretty Shepherd pride of all the plains
To rule and guide his captivated flock	U4
	-
I glance but at a few conspicuous marks
Leaving a thousand others that in hall	M4
Court theatre conventicle or shop	D4
In public room or private park or street	M4
Each fondly reared on his own pedestal	M4
Looked out for admiration Folly vice
Extravagance in gesture mien and dress
And all the strife of singularity	M4
Lies to the ear and lies to every sense
Of these and of the living shapes they wear
There is no end Such candidates for regard	M4
Although well pleased to be where they were found	M4
I did not hunt after nor greatly prize
Nor made unto myself a secret boast	M4
Of reading them with quick and curious eye	M4
But as a common produce things that are
To day to morrow will be took of them
Such willing note as on some errand bound	M4
That asks not speed a traveller might bestow	M4
On sea shells that bestrew the sandy beach
Or daisies swarming through the fields of June
	-
But foolishness and madness in parade	M4
Though most at home in this their dear domain
Are scattered everywhere no rarities
Even to the rudest novice of the Schools
Me rather it employed to note and keep	L3
In memory those individual sights
Of courage or integrity or truth	I
Or tenderness which there set off by foil	M4
Appeared more touching One will I select	M4
A Father for he bore that sacred name	Y3
Him saw I sitting in an open square
Upon a corner stone of that low wall	M4
Wherein were fixed the iron pales that fenced	M4
A spacious grass plot there in silence sate	M4
This One Man with a sickly babe outstretched	M4
Upon his knee whom he had thither brought	M4
For sunshine and to breathe the fresher air
Of those who passed and me who looked at him	Q3
He took no heed but in his brawny arms
The Artificer was to the elbow bare
And from his work this moment had been stolen
He held the child and bending over it	M4
As if he were afraid both of the sun
And of the air which he had come to seek	U4
Eyed the poor babe with love unutterable	M4
	-
As the black storm upon the mountain top	D4
Sets off the sunbeam in the valley so	M4
That huge fermenting mass of human kind	M4
Serves as a solemn back ground or relief
To single forms and objects whence they draw
For feeling and contemplative regard	M4
More than inherent liveliness and power
How oft amid those overflowing streets
Have I gone forward with the crowd and said	M4
Unto myself The face of every one
That passes by me is a mystery	M4
Thus have I looked nor ceased to look oppressed	M4
By thoughts of what and whither when and how
Until the shapes before my eyes became	Y3
A second sight procession such as glides
Over still mountains or appears in dreams
And once far travelled in such mood beyond	M4
The reach of common indication lost	M4
Amid the moving pageant I was smitten
Abruptly with the view a sight not rare
Of a blind Beggar who with upright face
Stood propped against a wall upon his chest	M4
Wearing a written paper to explain
His story whence he came and who he was
Caught by the spectacle my mind turned round	M4
As with the might of waters and apt type
This label seemed of the utmost we can know	M4
Both of ourselves and of the universe
And on the shape of that unmoving man
His steadfast face and sightless eyes I gazed	M4
As if admonished from another world	M4
	-
Though reared upon the base of outward things
Structures like these the excited spirit mainly	M4
Builds for herself scenes different there are
Full formed that take with small internal help
Possession of the faculties the peace
That comes with night the deep solemnity	M4
Of nature's intermediate hours of rest	M4
When the great tide of human life stands still	M4
The business of the day to come unborn
Of that gone by locked up as in the grave	I3
The blended calmness of the heavens and earth	I
Moonlight and stars and empty streets and sounds
Unfrequent as in deserts at late hours
Of winter evenings when unwholesome rains
Are falling hard with people yet astir
The feeble salutation from the voice
Of some unhappy woman now and then
Heard as we pass when no one looks about	M4
Nothing is listened to But these I fear
Are falsely catalogued things that are are not	M4
As the mind answers to them or the heart	M4
Is prompt or slow to feel What say you then
To times when half the city shall break out	M4
Full of one passion vengeance rage or fear
To executions to a street on fire
Mobs riots or rejoicings From these sights
Take one that ancient festival the Fair
Holden where martyrs suffered in past time	D3
And named of St Bartholomew there see	M4
A work completed to our hands that lays
If any spectacle on earth can do	M4
The whole creative powers of man asleep	L3
For once the Muse's help will we implore
And she shall lodge us wafted on her wings
Above the press and danger of the crowd	M4
Upon some showman's platform What a shock	U4
For eyes and ears what anarchy and din
Barbarian and infernal a phantasma	D3
Monstrous in colour motion shape sight sound	M4
Below the open space through every nook	U4
Of the wide area twinkles is alive
With heads the midway region and above	O2
Is thronged with staring pictures and huge scrolls
Dumb proclamations of the Prodigies
With chattering monkeys dangling from their poles
And children whirling in their roundabouts
With those that stretch the neck and strain the eyes
And crack the voice in rivalship the crowd	M4
Inviting with buffoons against buffoons
Grimacing writhing screaming him who grinds
The hurdy gurdy at the fiddle weaves
Rattles the salt box thumps the kettle drum	D3
And him who at the trumpet puffs his cheeks
The silver collared Negro with his timbrel	M4
Equestrians tumblers women girls and boys
Blue breeched pink vested with high towering plumes
All moveables of wonder from all parts
Are here Albinos painted Indians Dwarfs
The Horse of knowledge and the learned Pig	U4
The Stone eater the man that swallows fire
Giants Ventriloquists the Invisible Girl	M4
The Bust that speaks and moves its goggling eyes
The Wax work Clock work all the marvellous craft	M4
Of modern Merlins Wild Beasts Puppet shows
All out o' the way far fetched perverted things
All freaks of nature all Promethean thoughts
Of man his dulness madness and their feats
All jumbled up together to compose
A Parliament of Monsters Tents and Booths
Meanwhile as if the whole were one vast mill	M4
Are vomiting receiving on all sides
Men Women three years' Children Babes in arms
	-
Oh blank confusion true epitome	D3
Of what the mighty City is herself	K2
To thousands upon thousands of her sons
Living amid the same perpetual whirl	M4
Of trivial objects melted and reduced	M4
To one identity by differences
That have no law no meaning and no end	M4
Oppression under which even highest minds
Must labour whence the strongest are not free	D3
But though the picture weary out the eye	M4
By nature an unmanageable sight	M4
It is not wholly so to him who looks
In steadiness who hath among least things
An under sense of greatest sees the parts
As parts but with a feeling of the whole	M4
This of all acquisitions first awaits
On sundry and most widely different modes
Of education nor with least delight	M4
On that through which I passed Attention springs
And comprehensiveness and memory flow	M4
From early converse with the works of God	M4
Among all regions chiefly where appear
Most obviously simplicity and power
Think how the everlasting streams and woods
Stretched and still stretching far and wide exalt	M4
The roving Indian on his desert sands
What grandeur not unfelt what pregnant show	M4
Of beauty meets the sun burnt Arab's eye	M4
And as the sea propels from zone to zone
Its currents magnifies its shoals of life	B3
Beyond all compass spreads and sends aloft	M4
Armies of clouds even so its powers and aspects
Shape for mankind by principles as fixed	M4
The views and aspirations of the soul	M4
To majesty Like virtue have the forms
Perennial of the ancient hills nor less
The changeful language of their countenances
Quickens the slumbering mind and aids the thoughts
However multitudinous to move
With order and relation This if still	M4
As hitherto in freedom I may speak	U4
Not violating any just restraint	M4
As may be hoped of real modesty	D3
This did I feel in London's vast domain
The Spirit of Nature was upon me there
The soul of Beauty and enduring Life	B3
Vouchsafed her inspiration and diffused	M4
Through meagre lines and colours and the press
Of self destroying transitory things
Composure and ennobling Harmony	D3

William Wordsworth

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