The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Ii Part 90

LVI And thereat shall the Eagle be our Lord, And other Peers whose names are on record; A summons to the Cuckoo shall be sent, And judgment there be given; or that intent Failing, we finally shall make accord. 280

LVII And all this shall be done, without a nay, The morrow after Saint Valentine's day, Under a maple that is well beseen, Before the chamber-window of the Queen, At Woodstock, on the meadow green and gay. 285

LVIII She thanked them; and then her leave she took, And flew into a hawthorn by that brook; And there she sate and sung--upon that tree-- "For term of life Love shall have hold of me"-- So loudly, that I with that song awoke. 290

Unlearned Book and rude, as well I know, For beauty thou hast none, nor eloquence, Who did on thee the hardiness bestow To appear before my Lady? but a sense Thou surely hast of her benevolence, 295 Whereof her hourly bearing proof doth give; For of all good she is the best alive.

Alas, poor Book! for thy unworthiness, To show to her some pleasant meanings writ In winning words, since through her gentiless, [5] 300 Thee she accepts as for her service fit!

Oh! it repents me I have neither wit Nor leisure unto thee more worth to give; For of all good she is the best alive.

Beseech her meekly with all lowliness, 305 Though I be far from her I reverence, To think upon my truth and stedfastness, And to abridge my sorrow's violence, Caused by the wish, as knows your sapience, She of her liking proof to me would give; 310 For of all good she is the best alive.

L'ENVOY Pleasure's Aurora, Day of gladsomeness!

Luna by night, with heavenly influence Illumined! root of beauty and goodnesse, Write, and allay, by your beneficence, 315 My sighs breathed forth in silence,--comfort give!

Since of all good, you are the best alive.

EXPLICIT

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: In 1819 Wordsworth wrote the opening stanza of his version of 'The Cuckoo and the Nightingale', in the alb.u.m of Mrs. Calvert at Keswick, thus:

'The G.o.d of Love--ah, benedicite!'

How mighty and how great a Lord is He!

High can he make the heart that's low and poor, And high hearts low--through pains that they endure, And hard hearts, He can make them kind and free.

W. W., Nov. 27, 1819.]

[Variant 2:

1842.

... have heard ... 1841.]

[Variant 3:

1842

... sorrow's ... 1841.]

[Variant 4:

1842.

... gentleness ... 1841.]

[Variant 5:

1842.

... gentleness, ... 1841.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The following extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal show the date of the composition of this poem.

"Sunday, 6th December 1801. A very fine beautiful sun-s.h.i.+ny morning.

William worked a while at Chaucer; then he set forward to walk into Easdale.... In the afternoon I read Chaucer aloud."

"Monday, 7th.... William at work with Chaucer, 'The G.o.d of Love'...."

"8th November ... William worked at 'The Cuckoo and the Nightingale'

till he was tired."

"Wednesday, December 9th. I read 'Palemon and Arcite', William writing out his alterations of Chaucer's 'Cuckoo and Nightingale'."

The question as to whether 'The Cuckoo and the Nightingale' was written by Chaucer or not, may be solved either way without affecting the literary value of Wordsworth's "modernisation" of it.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: In 'The Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer Modernised'.--Ed.]

[Footnote C:

"In 'The Cuckoo and Nightingale', a poem of the third of May--a date corresponding to the mid-May, the very heart of May according to our modern reckoning--the poet after a wakeful night rises, and goes forth at dawn, and comes to a 'laund' or plain 'of white and green.'

'So feire oon had I nevere in bene, The grounde was grene, y poudred with dayse, The floures and the gras ilike al hie, Al grene and white, was nothing elles sene.'

Nothing seen but the short green gra.s.s and the white daisies,--gra.s.s and daisies being of equal height. Unfortunately in Tyrwhitt's text the description is nonsensical,

'The flowres and the greves like hie.'

The daisy flowers are as high as the _groves_! Wordsworth retained the groves, but refused to make daisies of equal height with them.