The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Iii Part 63

Depressed, bewildered thus, I did not walk With scoffers, seeking light and gay revenge From indiscriminate laughter, nor sate down In reconcilement with an utter waste Of intellect; such sloth I could not brook, 325 (Too well I loved, in that my spring of life, Pains-taking thoughts, and truth, their dear reward) But turned to abstract science, and there sought Work for the reasoning faculty enthroned Where the disturbances of s.p.a.ce and time--330 Whether in matters various, properties Inherent, or from human will and power Derived--find no admission. [G] Then it was-- Thanks to the bounteous Giver of all good!-- That the beloved Sister in whose sight 335 Those days were pa.s.sed, [H] now speaking in a voice Of sudden admonition--like a brook [I]

That did but _cross_ a lonely road, and now Is seen, heard, felt, and caught at every turn, Companion never lost through many a league--340 Maintained for me a saving intercourse With my true self; for, though bedimmed and changed Much, as it seemed, I was no further changed Than as a clouded and a waning moon: She whispered still that brightness would return, 345 She, in the midst of all, preserved me still A Poet, made me seek beneath that name, And that alone, my office upon earth; And, lastly, as hereafter will be shown, If willing audience fail not, Nature's self, 350 By all varieties of human love a.s.sisted, led me back through opening day To those sweet counsels between head and heart Whence grew that genuine knowledge, fraught with peace, Which, through the later sinkings of this cause, 355 Hath still upheld me, and upholds me now In the catastrophe (for so they dream, And nothing less), when, finally to close And seal up all the gains of France, a Pope Is summoned in, to crown an Emperor--[K] 360 This last opprobrium, when we see a people, That once looked up in faith, as if to Heaven For manna, take a lesson from the dog Returning to his vomit; when the sun That rose in splendour, was alive, and moved 365 In exultation with a living pomp Of clouds--his glory's natural retinue-- Hath dropped all functions by the G.o.ds bestowed, And, turned into a gewgaw, a machine, Sets like an Opera phantom.

Thus, O Friend! 370 Through times of honour and through times of shame Descending, have I faithfully retraced The perturbations of a youthful mind Under a long-lived storm of great events-- A story destined for thy ear, who now, 375 Among the fallen of nations, dost abide Where Etna, over hill and valley, casts His shadow stretching towards Syracuse, [L]

The city of Timoleon! [M] Righteous Heaven!

How are the mighty prostrated! They first, 380 They first of all that breathe should have awaked When the great voice was heard from out the tombs Of ancient heroes. If I suffered grief For ill-requited France, by many deemed A trifler only in her proudest day; 385 Have been distressed to think of what she once Promised, now is; a far more sober cause Thine eyes must see of sorrow in a land.

To the reanimating influence lost Of memory, to virtue lost and hope, 390 Though with the wreck of loftier years bestrewn.

But indignation works where hope is not, And thou, O Friend! wilt be refreshed. There is One great society alone on earth: The n.o.ble Living and the n.o.ble Dead. 395

Thine be such converse strong and sanative, A ladder for thy spirit to reascend To health and joy and pure contentedness; To me the grief confined, that thou art gone From this last spot of earth, where Freedom now 400 Stands single in her only sanctuary; A lonely wanderer art gone, by pain Compelled and sickness, [N] at this latter day, This sorrowful reverse for all mankind.

I feel for thee, must utter what I feel: 405 The sympathies erewhile in part discharged, Gather afresh, and will have vent again: My own delights do scarcely seem to me My own delights; the lordly Alps themselves, Those rosy peaks, from which the Morning looks 410 Abroad on many nations, are no more For me that image of pure gladsomeness Which they were wont to be. Through kindred scenes, For purpose, at a time, how different!

Thou tak'st thy way, carrying the heart and soul 415 That Nature gives to Poets, now by thought Matured, and in the summer of their strength.

Oh! wrap him in your shades, ye giant woods, On Etna's side; and thou, O flowery field Of Enna! [O] is there not some nook of thine, 420 From the first play-time of the infant world Kept sacred to restorative delight, When from afar invoked by anxious love?

Child of the mountains, among shepherds reared, Ere yet familiar with the cla.s.sic page, 425 I learnt to dream of Sicily; and lo, The gloom, that, but a moment past, was deepened At thy command, at her command gives way; A pleasant promise, wafted from her sh.o.r.es, Comes o'er my heart: in fancy I behold 430 Her seas yet smiling, her once happy vales; Nor can my tongue give utterance to a name Of note belonging to that honoured isle, Philosopher or Bard, Empedocles, [P]

Or Archimedes, [Q] pure abstracted soul! 435 That doth not yield a solace to my grief: And, O Theocritus, [R] so far have some Prevailed among the powers of heaven and earth, By their endowments, good or great, that they Have had, as thou reportest, miracles 440 Wrought for them in old time: yea, not unmoved, When thinking on my own beloved friend, I hear thee tell how bees with honey fed Divine Comates, [S] by his impious lord Within a chest imprisoned; how they came 445 Laden from blooming grove or flowery field, And fed him there, alive, month after month, Because the goatherd, blessed man! had lips Wet with the Muses' nectar.

Thus I soothe The pensive moments by this calm fire-side, 450 And find a thousand bounteous images To cheer the thoughts of those I love, and mine.

Our prayers have been accepted; thou wilt stand On Etna's summit, above earth and sea, Triumphant, winning from the invaded heavens 455 Thoughts without bound, magnificent designs, Worthy of poets who attuned their harps In wood or echoing cave, for discipline Of heroes; or, in reverence to the G.o.ds, 'Mid temples, served by sapient priests, and choirs 460 Of virgins crowned with roses. Not in vain Those temples, where they in their ruins yet Survive for inspiration, shall attract Thy solitary steps: and on the brink Thou wilt recline of pastoral Arethuse; 465 Or, if that fountain be in truth no more, Then, near some other spring--which, by the name Thou gratulatest, willingly deceived-- I see thee linger a glad votary, And not a captive pining for his home. 470

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: In the editions of 1850 and 1857, the punctuation is as follows, but is evidently wrong:

in the People was my trust: And, in the virtues which mine eyes had seen, I knew ...

Ed.]

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The Reign of Terror ended with the downfall of Robespierre and his "Tribe."--Ed.]

[Footnote B: He refers doubtless to the effect, upon the Government of the day, of the dread of Revolution in England. There were a few partisans of France and of the Revolution in England; and the panic which followed, though irrational, was widespread. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, a Bill was pa.s.sed against seditious a.s.semblies, the Press was prosecuted, some Scottish Whigs who clamoured for reform were sentenced to transportation, while one Judge expressed regret that the practice of torture for sedition had fallen into disuse.--Ed.] TWO

[Footnote C: See p. 35 ['French Revolution'].--Ed.]

[Footnote D: Compare 'Ruth', in vol. ii. p. 112:

'Before me shone a glorious world-- Fresh as a banner bright, unfurled To music suddenly: I looked upon those hills and plains, And seemed as if let loose from chains, To live at liberty.'

Ed.]

[Footnote E: In 1795.--Ed.]

[Footnote F: Referring probably to Napoleon's Italian campaign in 1796.--Ed.]

[Footnote G: In 1794 he returned, with intermittent ardour, to the study of mathematics and physics.--Ed.]

[Footnote H: In the winter of 1794 he went to Halifax, and there joined his sister, whom he accompanied in the same winter to Kendal, Grasmere, and Keswick. They stayed for several weeks at Windybrow farm-house, near Keswick. The brother and sister had not met since the Christmas of 1791.

It is to those "days," in 1794, that he refers.--Ed.]

[Footnote I: Compare in the first book of 'The Recluse', l. 91:

Her voice was like a hidden Bird that sang; The thought of her was like a flash of light, Or an unseen companions.h.i.+p.

Ed.]

[Footnote K: In 1804 Bonaparte sent for the Pope to anoint him as 'Empereur des Francais'. Napoleon wished the t.i.tle to be as remote as possible from "King of France."--Ed.]

[Footnote L: Coleridge was then living in Sicily, whither he had gone from Malta. He ascended Etna. See Cottles' 'Early Recollections, chiefly relating to the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge' (vol. ii. p. 77), and also compare note [Book 6, Footnote U], p. 230 of this volume.--Ed.]

[Footnote M: Timoleon, one of the greatest of the Greeks, was sent in command of an expedition to reduce Sicily to order; and was afterwards the Master, but not the Tyrant, of Syracuse. He colonised it afresh from Corinth, and from the rest of Sicily; and enacted new laws of a democratic character, being ultimately the ruler of the whole island; although he refused office and declined t.i.tles, remaining a private citizen to the end. (See Plutarch's Life of him.)--Ed.]

[Footnote N: See book vi. l. 240.--Ed.]

[Footnote O: Compare 'Paradise Lost', book iv. l. 269.--Ed.]

[Footnote P: Empedpocles, the philosopher of Agrigentum, physicist, metaphysician, poet, musician, and hierophant.--Ed.]

[Footnote Q: The geometrician of Syracuse.--Ed.]

[Footnote R: The pastoral poet of Syracuse.--Ed.]

[Footnote S: Theocrit. Idyll vii. 78. (Mr. Carter, 1850.)]