The Prelude - Book Tenth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLMENOPQORS TEUVWXBYZA2 B2C2D2E2F2G2H2I2J2K2 L2M2N2GO2ZP2 WWWBQ2WWVR2WS2T2U2WR 2WA2WV2W2L2VX2P2Y2QZ 2U2OQA3QQQQCQB3WQCWQ QWC3 D3WQQE3F3QWG3WH3I3WJ 3WWWK3TLL3WWM3TVQQN3 WL3QO3WWREK2QF3D2WVW WWP3K3K3QWQW WQQ3R3G3G2WWWS3QOEP2 QWT3Q3U3F3QB3WQV3S3K WWOQ3WQS3Q3WWD2F3Q3Q QQQQ3 QQQQLWWLLW3X3VQWWQWQ QY3WWWQ3V2Z3WWWEQWQ3 A4EWWB4N3QK3TC4QVD2L D4KE4T3G3WWQQ3WQ3WQ3 WWQWLQ3L3WF4F3Q3K2QQ 3QG2QWU3G4LQWY3H4QQW QP2Q3WQ3I4WWD2I4I4J4 WK2WK4D4U2QQWWY2 Q3WWY3I4X3Q3Q3Y3F4WW WQQ L4WP2M4Q3QQWQ3WI4K2Q 3H3Y2W QWQ3I4QK3QI4QQWWI4QN 4WQWWM2WWD2K3W Q3JX3O4D4QP4Q4WQWQQQ 3QWQK3Q3R4QTWZ3WK2Q3 K3WK3WWS3WJ4WQWS4T4K 3WWV3WM4QQ3U4Q3Q3QCW K3K3WQQWD2 Y3F3WK3V4W4S3Q2K3QQK 3Q3U2X3P2S3WQ3Q3Q WQWWWQY2QQWWD4WTQV3Q X4WF4Q3P2WWQ3QWWTQ3F 4WWWWM4WWQQ3WN4M3W WQWQK3QWX3B3Y4QWWE2W WWP2K3Q3Y3Q3WQ3WK3WV 3WQ K3Z4QQQ3K3P2QWWT4WQU 2V3WQ3WK3K3WQWQ3Q3WV 3Q3J3QK3QK3K3K3B3P3W WQ WD4WQQQWQWK3WWWV4WWW K3Q3WWK3 WWQQQWWWQWQ3V3CQK3WF 3WQQ3WK3WWC3WW

RESIDENCE IN FRANCE continued	A
	-
It was a beautiful and silent day	B
That overspread the countenance of earth	C
Then fading with unusual quietness	D
A day as beautiful as e'er was given	E
To soothe regret though deepening what it soothed	F
When by the gliding Loire I paused and cast	G
Upon his rich domains vineyard and tilth	H
Green meadow ground and many coloured woods	I
Again and yet again a farewell look	J
Then from the quiet of that scene passed on	K
Bound to the fierce Metropolis From his throne	L
The King had fallen and that invading host	M
Presumptuous cloud on whose black front was written	E
The tender mercies of the dismal wind	N
That bore it on the plains of Liberty	O
Had burst innocuous Say in bolder words	P
They who had come elate as eastern hunters	Q
Banded beneath the Great Mogul when he	O
Erewhile went forth from Agra or Lahore	R
Rajahs and Omrahs in his train intent	S
To drive their prey enclosed within a ring	T
Wide as a province but the signal given	E
Before the point of the life threatening spear	U
Narrowing itself by moments they rash men	V
Had seen the anticipated quarry turned	W
Into avengers from whose wrath they fled	X
In terror Disappointment and dismay	B
Remained for all whose fancies had run wild	Y
With evil expectations confidence	Z
And perfect triumph for the better cause	A2
	-
The State as if to stamp the final seal	B2
On her security and to the world	C2
Show what she was a high and fearless soul	D2
Exulting in defiance or heart stung	E2
By sharp resentment or belike to taunt	F2
With spiteful gratitude the baffled League	G2
That had stirred up her slackening faculties	H2
To a new transition when the King was crushed	I2
Spared not the empty throne and in proud haste	J2
Assumed the body and venerable name	K2
Of a Republic Lamentable crimes	L2
'Tis true had gone before this hour dire work	M2
Of massacre in which the senseless sword	N2
Was prayed to as a judge but these were past	G
Earth free from them for ever as was thought	O2
Ephemeral monsters to be seen but once	Z
Things that could only show themselves and die	P2
	-
Cheered with this hope to Paris I returned	W
And ranged with ardour heretofore unfelt	W
The spacious city and in progress passed	W
The prison where the unhappy Monarch lay	B
Associate with his children and his wife	Q2
In bondage and the palace lately stormed	W
With roar of cannon by a furious host	W
I crossed the square an empty area then	V
Of the Carrousel where so late had lain	R2
The dead upon the dying heaped and gazed	W
On this and other spots as doth a man	S2
Upon a volume whose contents he knows	T2
Are memorable but from him locked up	U2
Being written in a tongue he cannot read	W
So that he questions the mute leaves with pain	R2
And half upbraids their silence But that night	W
I felt most deeply in what world I was	A2
What ground I trod on and what air I breathed	W
High was my room and lonely near the roof	V2
Of a large mansion or hotel a lodge	W2
That would have pleased me in more quiet times	L2
Nor was it wholly without pleasure then	V
With unextinguished taper I kept watch	X2
Reading at intervals the fear gone by	P2
Pressed on me almost like a fear to come	Y2
I thought of those September massacres	Q
Divided from me by one little month	Z2
Saw them and touched the rest was conjured up	U2
From tragic fictions or true history	O
Remembrances and dim admonishments	Q
The horse is taught his manage and no star	A3
Of wildest course but treads back his own steps	Q
For the spent hurricane the air provides	Q
As fierce a successor the tide retreats	Q
But to return out of its hiding place	Q
In the great deep all things have second birth	C
The earthquake is not satisfied at once	Q
And in this way I wrought upon myself	B3
Until I seemed to hear a voice that cried	W
To the whole city Sleep no more The trance	Q
Fled with the voice to which it had given birth	C
But vainly comments of a calmer mind	W
Promised soft peace and sweet forgetfulness	Q
The place all hushed and silent as it was	Q
Appeared unfit for the repose of night	W
Defenceless as a wood where tigers roam	C3
	-
With early morning towards the Palace walk	D3
Of Orleans eagerly I turned as yet	W
The streets were still not so those long Arcades	Q
There 'mid a peal of ill matched sounds and cries	Q
That greeted me on entering I could hear	E3
Shrill voices from the hawkers in the throng	F3
Bawling Denunciation of the Crimes	Q
Of Maximilian Robespierre the hand	W
Prompt as the voice held forth a printed speech	G3
The same that had been recently pronounced	W
When Robespierre not ignorant for what mark	H3
Some words of indirect reproof had been	I3
Intended rose in hardihood and dared	W
The man who had an ill surmise of him	J3
To bring his charge in openness whereat	W
When a dead pause ensued and no one stirred	W
In silence of all present from his seat	W
Louvet walked single through the avenue	K3
And took his station in the Tribune saying	T
I Robespierre accuse thee Well is known	L
The inglorious issue of that charge and how	L3
He who had launched the startling thunderbolt	W
The one bold man whose voice the attack had sounded	W
Was left without a follower to discharge	M3
His perilous duty and retire lamenting	T
That Heaven's best aid is wasted upon men	V
Who to themselves are false	Q
But these are things	Q
Of which I speak only as they were storm	N3
Or sunshine to my individual mind	W
No further Let me then relate that now	L3
In some sort seeing with my proper eyes	Q
That Liberty and Life and Death would soon	O3
To the remotest corners of the land	W
Lie in the arbitrement of those who ruled	W
The capital City what was struggled for	R
And by what combatants victory must be won	E
The indecision on their part whose aim	K2
Seemed best and the straightforward path of those	Q
Who in attack or in defence were strong	F3
Through their impiety my inmost soul	D2
Was agitated yea I could almost	W
Have prayed that throughout earth upon all men	V
By patient exercise of reason made	W
Worthy of liberty all spirits filled	W
With zeal expanding in Truth's holy light	W
The gift of tongues might fall and power arrive	P3
From the four quarters of the winds to do	K3
For France what without help she could not do	K3
A work of honour think not that to this	Q
I added work of safety from all doubt	W
Or trepidation for the end of things	Q
Far was I far as angels are from guilt	W
	-
Yet did I grieve nor only grieved but thought	W
Of opposition and of remedies	Q
An insignificant stranger and obscure	Q3
And one moreover little graced with power	R3
Of eloquence even in my native speech	G3
And all unfit for tumult or intrigue	G2
Yet would I at this time with willing heart	W
Have undertaken for a cause so great	W
Service however dangerous I revolved	W
How much the destiny of Man had still	S3
Hung upon single persons that there was	Q
Transcendent to all local patrimony	O
One nature as there is one sun in heaven	E
That objects even as they are great thereby	P2
Do come within the reach of humblest eyes	Q
That Man is only weak through his mistrust	W
And want of hope where evidence divine	T3
Proclaims to him that hope should be most sure	Q3
Nor did the inexperience of my youth	U3
Preclude conviction that a spirit strong	F3
In hope and trained to noble aspirations	Q
A spirit thoroughly faithful to itself	B3
Is for Society's unreasoning herd	W
A domineering instinct serves at once	Q
For way and guide a fluent receptacle	V3
That gathers up each petty straggling rill	S3
And vein of water glad to be rolled on	K
In safe obedience that a mind whose rest	W
Is where it ought to be in self restraint	W
In circumspection and simplicity	O
Falls rarely in entire discomfiture	Q3
Below its aim or meets with from without	W
A treachery that foils it or defeats	Q
And lastly if the means on human will	S3
Frail human will dependent should betray	Q3
Him who too boldly trusted them I felt	W
That 'mid the loud distractions of the world	W
A sovereign voice subsists within the soul	D2
Arbiter undisturbed of right and wrong	F3
Of life and death in majesty severe	Q3
Enjoining as may best promote the aims	Q
Of truth and justice either sacrifice	Q
From whatsoever region of our cares	Q
Or our infirm affections Nature pleads	Q
Earnest and blind against the stern decree	Q3
	-
On the other side I called to mind those truths	Q
That are the commonplaces of the schools	Q
A theme for boys too hackneyed for their sires	Q
Yet with a revelation's liveliness	Q
In all their comprehensive bearings known	L
And visible to philosophers of old	W
Men who to business of the world untrained	W
Lived in the shade and to Harmodius known	L
And his compeer Aristogiton known	L
To Brutus that tyrannic power is weak	W3
Hath neither gratitude nor faith nor love	X3
Nor the support of good or evil men	V
To trust in that the godhead which is ours	Q
Can never utterly be charmed or stilled	W
That nothing hath a natural right to last	W
But equity and reason that all else	Q
Meets foes irreconcilable and at best	W
Lives only by variety of disease	Q
	-
Well might my wishes be intense my thoughts	Q
Strong and perturbed not doubting at that time	Y3
But that the virtue of one paramount mind	W
Would have abashed those impious crests have quelled	W
Outrage and bloody power and in despite	W
Of what the People long had been and were	Q3
Through ignorance and false teaching sadder proof	V2
Of immaturity and in the teeth	Z3
Of desperate opposition from without	W
Have cleared a passage for just government	W
And left a solid birthright to the State	W
Redeemed according to example given	E
By ancient lawgivers	Q
In this frame of mind	W
Dragged by a chain of harsh necessity	Q3
So seemed it now I thankfully acknowledge	A4
Forced by the gracious providence of Heaven	E
To England I returned else though assured	W
That I both was and must be of small weight	W
No better than a landsman on the deck	B4
Of a ship struggling with a hideous storm	N3
Doubtless I should have then made common cause	Q
With some who perished haply perished too	K3
A poor mistaken and bewildered offering	T
Should to the breast of Nature have gone back	C4
With all my resolutions all my hopes	Q
A Poet only to myself to men	V
Useless and even beloved Friend a soul	D2
To thee unknown	L
Twice had the trees let fall	D4
Their leaves as often Winter had put on	K
His hoary crown since I had seen the surge	E4
Beat against Albion's shore since ear of mine	T3
Had caught the accents of my native speech	G3
Upon our native country's sacred ground	W
A patriot of the world how could I glide	W
Into communion with her sylvan shades	Q
Erewhile my tuneful haunt It pleased me more	Q3
To abide in the great City where I found	W
The general air still busy with the stir	Q3
Of that first memorable onset made	W
By a strong levy of humanity	Q3
Upon the traffickers in Negro blood	W
Effort which though defeated had recalled	W
To notice old forgotten principles	Q
And through the nation spread a novel heat	W
Of virtuous feeling For myself I own	L
That this particular strife had wanted power	Q3
To rivet my affections nor did now	L3
Its unsuccessful issue much excite	W
My sorrow for I brought with me the faith	F4
That if France prospered good men would not long	F3
Pay fruitless worship to humanity	Q3
And this most rotten branch of human shame	K2
Object so seemed it of superfluous pains	Q
Would fall together with its parent tree	Q3
What then were my emotions when in arms	Q
Britain put forth her free born strength in league	G2
Oh pity and shame with those confederate Powers	Q
Not in my single self alone I found	W
But in the minds of all ingenuous youth	U3
Change and subversion from that hour No shock	G4
Given to my moral nature had I known	L
Down to that very moment neither lapse	Q
Nor turn of sentiment that might be named	W
A revolution save at this one time	Y3
All else was progress on the self same path	H4
On which with a diversity of pace	Q
I had been travelling this a stride at once	Q
Into another region As a light	W
And pliant harebell swinging in the breeze	Q
On some grey rock its birth place so had I	P2
Wantoned fast rooted on the ancient tower	Q3
Of my beloved country wishing not	W
A happier fortune than to wither there	Q3
Now was I from that pleasant station torn	I4
And tossed about in whirlwind I rejoiced	W
Yea afterwards truth most painful to record	W
Exulted in the triumph of my soul	D2
When Englishmen by thousands were o'erthrown	I4
Left without glory on the field or driven	I4
Brave hearts to shameful flight It was a grief	J4
Grief call it not 'twas anything but that	W
A conflict of sensations without name	K2
Of which 'he' only who may love the sight	W
Of a village steeple as I do can judge	K4
When in the congregation bending all	D4
To their great Father prayers were offered up	U2
Or praises for our country's victories	Q
And 'mid the simple worshippers perchance	Q
I only like an uninvited guest	W
Whom no one owned sate silent shall I add	W
Fed on the day of vengeance yet to come	Y2
	-
Oh much have they to account for who could tear	Q3
By violence at one decisive rent	W
From the best youth in England their dear pride	W
Their joy in England this too at a time	Y3
In which worst losses easily might wean	I4
The best of names when patriotic love	X3
Did of itself in modesty give way	Q3
Like the Precursor when the Deity	Q3
Is come Whose harbinger he was a time	Y3
In which apostasy from ancient faith	F4
Seemed but conversion to a higher creed	W
Withal a season dangerous and wild	W
A time when sage Experience would have snatched	W
Flowers out of any hedge row to compose	Q
A chaplet in contempt of his grey locks	Q
	-
When the proud fleet that bears the red cross flag	L4
In that unworthy service was prepared	W
To mingle I beheld the vessels lie	P2
A brood of gallant creatures on the deep	M4
I saw them in their rest a sojourner	Q3
Through a whole month of calm and glassy days	Q
In that delightful island which protects	Q
Their place of convocation there I heard	W
Each evening pacing by the still sea shore	Q3
A monitory sound that never failed	W
The sunset cannon While the orb went down	I4
In the tranquillity of nature came	K2
That voice ill requiem seldom heard by me	Q3
Without a spirit overcast by dark	H3
Imaginations sense of woes to come	Y2
Sorrow for human kind and pain of heart	W
	-
In France the men who for their desperate ends	Q
Had plucked up mercy by the roots were glad	W
Of this new enemy Tyrants strong before	Q3
In wicked pleas were strong as demons now	I4
And thus on every side beset with foes	Q
The goaded land waxed mad the crimes of few	K3
Spread into madness of the many blasts	Q
From hell came sanctified like airs from heaven	I4
The sternness of the just the faith of those	Q
Who doubted not that Providence had times	Q
Of vengeful retribution theirs who throned	W
The human Understanding paramount	W
And made of that their God the hopes of men	I4
Who were content to barter short lived pangs	Q
For a paradise of ages the blind rage	N4
Of insolent tempers the light vanity	W
Of intermeddlers steady purposes	Q
Of the suspicious slips of the indiscreet	W
And all the accidents of life were pressed	W
Into one service busy with one work	M2
The Senate stood aghast her prudence quenched	W
Her wisdom stifled and her justice scared	W
Her frenzy only active to extol	D2
Past outrages and shape the way for new	K3
Which no one dared to oppose or mitigate	W
	-
Domestic carnage now filled the whole year	Q3
With feast days old men from the chimney nook	J
The maiden from the bosom of her love	X3
The mother from the cradle of her babe	O4
The warrior from the field all perished all	D4
Friends enemies of all parties ages ranks	Q
Head after head and never heads enough	P4
For those that bade them fall They found their joy	Q4
They made it proudly eager as a child	W
If like desires of innocent little ones	Q
May with such heinous appetites be compared	W
Pleased in some open field to exercise	Q
A toy that mimics with revolving wings	Q
The motion of a wind mill though the air	Q3
Do of itself blow fresh and make the vanes	Q
Spin in his eyesight 'that' contents him not	W
But with the plaything at arm's length he sets	Q
His front against the blast and runs amain	K3
That it may whirl the faster	Q3
Amid the depth	R4
Of those enormities even thinking minds	Q
Forgot at seasons whence they had their being	T
Forgot that such a sound was ever heard	W
As Liberty upon earth yet all beneath	Z3
Her innocent authority was wrought	W
Nor could have been without her blessed name	K2
The illustrious wife of Roland in the hour	Q3
Of her composure felt that agony	K3
And gave it vent in her last words O Friend	W
It was a lamentable time for man	K3
Whether a hope had e'er been his or not	W
A woful time for them whose hopes survived	W
The shock most woful for those few who still	S3
Were flattered and had trust in human kind	W
They had the deepest feeling of the grief	J4
Meanwhile the Invaders fared as they deserved	W
The Herculean Commonwealth had put forth her arms	Q
And throttled with an infant godhead's might	W
The snakes about her cradle that was well	S4
And as it should be yet no cure for them	T4
Whose souls were sick with pain of what would be	K3
Hereafter brought in charge against mankind	W
Most melancholy at that time O Friend	W
Were my day thoughts my nights were miserable	V3
Through months through years long after the last beat	W
Of those atrocities the hour of sleep	M4
To me came rarely charged with natural gifts	Q
Such ghastly visions had I of despair	Q3
And tyranny and implements of death	U4
And innocent victims sinking under fear	Q3
And momentary hope and worn out prayer	Q3
Each in his separate cell or penned in crowds	Q
For sacrifice and struggling with fond mirth	C
And levity in dungeons where the dust	W
Was laid with tears Then suddenly the scene	K3
Changed and the unbroken dream entangled me	K3
In long orations which I strove to plead	W
Before unjust tribunals with a voice	Q
Labouring a brain confounded and a sense	Q
Death like of treacherous desertion felt	W
In the last place of refuge my own soul	D2
	-
When I began in youth's delightful prime	Y3
To yield myself to Nature when that strong	F3
And holy passion overcame me first	W
Nor day nor night evening or morn was free	K3
From its oppression But O Power Supreme	V4
Without Whose call this world would cease to breathe	W4
Who from the fountain of Thy grace dost fill	S3
The veins that branch through every frame of life	Q2
Making man what he is creature divine	K3
In single or in social eminence	Q
Above the rest raised infinite ascents	Q
When reason that enables him to be	K3
Is not sequestered what a change is here	Q3
How different ritual for this after worship	U2
What countenance to promote this second love	X3
The first was service paid to things which lie	P2
Guarded within the bosom of Thy will	S3
Therefore to serve was high beatitude	W
Tumult was therefore gladness and the fear	Q3
Ennobling venerable sleep secure	Q3
And waking thoughts more rich than happiest dreams	Q
	-
But as the ancient Prophets borne aloft	W
In vision yet constrained by natural laws	Q
With them to take a troubled human heart	W
Wanted not consolations nor a creed	W
Of reconcilement then when they denounced	W
On towns and cities wallowing in the abyss	Q
Of their offences punishment to come	Y2
Or saw like other men with bodily eyes	Q
Before them in some desolated place	Q
The wrath consummate and the threat fulfilled	W
So with devout humility be it said	W
So did a portion of that spirit fall	D4
On me uplifted from the vantage ground	W
Of pity and sorrow to a state of being	T
That through the time's exceeding fierceness saw	Q
Glimpses of retribution terrible	V3
And in the order of sublime behests	Q
But even if that were not amid the awe	X4
Of unintelligible chastisement	W
Not only acquiescences of faith	F4
Survived but daring sympathies with power	Q3
Motions not treacherous or profane else why	P2
Within the folds of no ungentle breast	W
Their dread vibration to this hour prolonged	W
Wild blasts of music thus could find their way	Q3
Into the midst of turbulent events	Q
So that worst tempests might be listened to	W
Then was the truth received into my heart	W
That under heaviest sorrow earth can bring	T
If from the affliction somewhere do not grow	Q3
Honour which could not else have been a faith	F4
An elevation and a sanctity	W
If new strength be not given nor old restored	W
The blame is ours not Nature's When a taunt	W
Was taken up by scoffers in their pride	W
Saying Behold the harvest that we reap	M4
From popular government and equality	W
I clearly saw that neither these nor aught	W
Of wild belief engrafted on their names	Q
By false philosophy had caused the woe	Q3
But a terrific reservoir of guilt	W
And ignorance filled up from age to age	N4
That could no longer hold its loathsome charge	M3
But burst and spread in deluge through the land	W
	-
And as the desert hath green spots the sea	W
Small islands scattered amid stormy waves	Q
So 'that' disastrous period did not want	W
Bright sprinklings of all human excellence	Q
To which the silver wands of saints in Heaven	K3
Might point with rapturous joy Yet not the less	Q
For those examples in no age surpassed	W
Of fortitude and energy and love	X3
And human nature faithful to herself	B3
Under worst trials was I driven to think	Y4
Of the glad times when first I traversed France	Q
A youthful pilgrim above all reviewed	W
That eventide when under windows bright	W
With happy faces and with garlands hung	E2
And through a rainbow arch that spanned the street	W
Triumphal pomp for liberty confirmed	W
I paced a dear companion at my side	W
The town of Arras whence with promise high	P2
Issued on delegation to sustain	K3
Humanity and right 'that' Robespierre	Q3
He who thereafter and in how short time	Y3
Wielded the sceptre of the Atheist crew	Q3
When the calamity spread far and wide	W
And this same city that did then appear	Q3
To outrun the rest in exultation groaned	W
Under the vengeance of her cruel son	K3
As Lear reproached the winds I could almost	W
Have quarrelled with that blameless spectacle	V3
For lingering yet an image in my mind	W
To mock me under such a strange reverse	Q
	-
O Friend few happier moments have been mine	K3
Than that which told the downfall of this Tribe	Z4
So dreaded so abhorred The day deserves	Q
A separate record Over the smooth sands	Q
Of Leven's ample estuary lay	Q3
My journey and beneath a genial sun	K3
With distant prospect among gleams of sky	P2
And clouds and intermingling mountain tops	Q
In one inseparable glory clad	W
Creatures of one ethereal substance met	W
In consistory like a diadem	T4
Or crown of burning seraphs as they sit	W
In the empyrean Underneath that pomp
Celestial lay unseen the pastoral vales	Q
Among whose happy fields I had grown up	U2
From childhood On the fulgent spectacle	V3
That neither passed away nor changed I gazed	W
Enrapt but brightest things are wont to draw	Q3
Sad opposites out of the inner heart	W
As even their pensive influence drew from mine	K3
How could it otherwise for not in vain	K3
That very morning had I turned aside	W
To seek the ground where 'mid a throng of graves	Q
An honoured teacher of my youth was laid	W
And on the stone were graven by his desire	Q3
Lines from the churchyard elegy of Gray	Q3
This faithful guide speaking from his deathbed	W
Added no farewell to his parting counsel	V3
But said to me My head will soon lie low	Q3
And when I saw the turf that covered him	J3
After the lapse of full eight years those words	Q
With sound of voice and countenance of the Man	K3
Came back upon me so that some few tears	Q
Fell from me in my own despite But now	K3
I thought still traversing that widespread plain	K3
With tender pleasure of the verses graven	K3
Upon his tombstone whispering to myself	B3
He loved the Poets and if now alive	P3
Would have loved me as one not destitute	W
Of promise nor belying the kind hope
That he had formed when I at his command	W
Began to spin with toil my earliest songs	Q
	-
As I advanced all that I saw or felt	W
Was gentleness and peace Upon a small	D4
And rocky island near a fragment stood	W
Itself like a sea rock the low remains	Q
With shells encrusted dark with briny weeds	Q
Of a dilapidated structure once	Q
A Romish chapel where the vested priest	W
Said matins at the hour that suited those	Q
Who crossed the sands with ebb of morning tide	W
Not far from that still ruin all the plain	K3
Lay spotted with a variegated crowd	W
Of vehicles and travellers horse and foot	W
Wading beneath the conduct of their guide	W
In loose procession through the shallow stream	V4
Of inland waters the great sea meanwhile
Heaved at safe distance far retired I paused	W
Longing for skill to paint a scene so bright	W
And cheerful but the foremost of the band	W
As he approached no salutation given	K3
In the familiar language of the day	Q3
Cried Robespierre is dead nor was a doubt	W
After strict question left within my mind	W
That he and his supporters all were fallen	K3
	-
Great was my transport deep my gratitude	W
To everlasting Justice by this fiat	W
Made manifest Come now ye golden times	Q
Said I forth pouring on those open sands	Q
A hymn of triumph as the morning comes	Q
From out the bosom of the night come ye	W
Thus far our trust is verified behold	W
They who with clumsy desperation brought	W
A river of Blood and preached that nothing else	Q
Could cleanse the Augean stable by the might	W
Of their own helper have been swept away	Q3
Their madness stands declared and visible	V3
Elsewhere will safety now be sought and earth	C
March firmly towards righteousness and peace	Q
Then schemes I framed more calmly when and how	K3
The madding factions might be tranquillised	W
And how through hardships manifold and long	F3
The glorious renovation would proceed	W
Thus interrupted by uneasy bursts	Q
Of exultation I pursued my way	Q3
Along that very shore which I had skimmed	W
In former days when spurring from the Vale
Of Nightshade and St Mary's mouldering fane	K3
And the stone abbot after circuit made	W
In wantonness of heart a joyous band	W
Of schoolboys hastening to their distant home	C3
Along the margin of the moonlight sea	W
We beat with thundering hoofs the level sand	W

William Wordsworth

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