Her titles and her honors; now believing, Now disbelieving; endlessly perplexed With impulse, motive, right and wrong, the ground 300 Of obligation, what the rule and whence The sanction; till, demanding formal proof, And seeking it in everything, I lost All feeling of conviction, and, in fine, Sick, wearied out with contrarieties, 305 Yielded up moral questions in despair. Then it wasThanks to the bounteous Giver of all good! 335 That the beloved sister1 in whose sight Those days were passed, now speaking in a voice Of sudden admonition-like a brook 340 Companion never lost through many a league Maintained for me a saving intercourse With my true self; for, though bedimmed and changed Much, as it seemed, I was no further 25 changed Than as a clouded and a waning moon: 345 She whispered still that brightness would In a calm hour to kiss the pebbly shore, Not mute, and then retire, fearing no storm; To interpose the covert of your shades, And you, ye groves, whose ministry it is Even as a sleep, between the heart of man And outward troubles, between man himself, Not seldom, and his own uneasy heart: Oh! that I had a music and a voice 30 Harmonious as your own, that I might tell What ye have done for me. The morning shines, Nor heedeth Man's perverseness; Spring returns, I saw the Spring return, and could rejoice, In common with the children of her love, 35 Piping on boughs, or sporting on fresh fields, Or boldly seeking pleasure nearer heaven On wings that navigate cerulean skies. So neither were complacency, nor peace, Nor tender yearnings, wanting for my good 40 Through these distracted times; in Nature still Glorying, I found a counterpoise in her, Which, when the spirit of evil reached its height, Maintained for me a secret happiness. Before I was called forth 175 From the retirement of my native hills, I loved whate'er I saw: nor lightly loved, But most intensely; never dreamt of aught More grand, more fair, more exquisitely framed Than those few nooks to which my happy feet 180 Were limited. I had not at that time Lived long enough, nor in the least survived 185 As piety ordained; could I submit To measured admiration, or to aught Yea, never thought of judging; with the 190 Of all this glory filled and satisfied. And afterwards, when through the gorgeous Alps Roaming, I carried with me the same heart: In which the little oft outweighs the great; 200 The milder minstrelsies of rural scenes For this to last: I shook the habit off 205 Entirely and forever, and again In Nature's presence stood, as now I stand, BOOK XIII. IMAGINATION AND TASTE, HOW IMPAIRED AND RESTORED(Concluded) From Nature doth emotion come; and moods Of calmness equally are Nature's gift: 5 Hence Genius, born to thrive by interchange Of peace and excitation, finds in her His best and purest friend; from her receives That energy by which he seeks the truth, From her that happy stillness of the mind 10 Which fits him to receive it when unsought. Such benefit the humblest intellects Partake of, each in their degree; 'tis mine To speak what I myself have known and felt; Smooth task! for words find easy way, inspired 15 By gratitude, and confidence in truth. Long time in search of knowledge did I range The field of human life, in heart and mind Benighted; but, the dawn beginning now To reappear, 'twas proved that not in vain 20 I had been taught to reverence a Power That is the visible quality and shape And image of right reason; that matures Her processes by steadfast laws; gives birth To no impatient or fallacious hopes, 25 No heat of passion or excessive zeal, No vain conceits; provokes to no quick 30 turns Of self-applauding intellect; but trains On throwing off incumbrances, to seek 35 In man, and in the frame of social life, Whate'er there is desirable and good Of kindred permanence, unchanged in form And function, or, through strict vicissitude Of life and death, revolving. Above all 40 Were re-established now those watch ful thoughts By bodily toil, labor exceeding far Their due proportion, under all the weight Of that injustice which upon ourselves 100 Ourselves entail." Such estimate to frame I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?) 105 As Rulers of the world; to see in these, Even when the public welfare is their aim, 110 70 Plans without thought, or built on theories Vague and unsound; and having brought the books Of modern statists to their proper test, 75 Mortal, or those beyond the reach of Among the natural abodes of men, My earliest notices; with these compared And the world's tumult unto me could Full measure of content; but still I craved From the great City, else it must have 115 To me a heart-depressing wilderness; But much was wanting: therefore did I 140 With long long ways before, by cottage bench, Or well-spring where the weary traveller rests. Who doth not love to follow with his eye The windings of a public way? the sight, Familiar object as it is, hath wrought 145 On my imagination since the morn Of childhood, when a disappearing line, One daily present to my eyes, that crossed The naked summit of a far-off hill Beyond the limits that my feet had trod, 150 Was like an invitation into space Boundless, or guide into eternity. Yes, something of the grandeur which invests The mariner who sails the roaring sea Through storm and darkness, early in my mind 155 Surrounded, too, the wanderers of the earth; From mouths of men obscure and lowly, truths Replete with honor; sounds in unison. 185 With loftiest promises of good and fair. There are who think that strong affection, love Known by whatever name, is falsely deemed A gift, to use a term which they would use, Of vulgar nature; that its growth requires 190 Retirement, leisure, language purified 195 By manners studied and elaborate; That whoso feels such passion in its strength Must live within the very light and air death Salutes the being at his birth, where grace ease Among the close and overcrowded haunts Of cities, where the human heart is sick, And the eye feeds it not, and cannot feed. -Yes, in those wanderings deeply did I feel How we mislead each other; above all, How books mislead us, seeking their reward From judgments of the wealthy Few, who see By artificial lights; how they debase To certain general notions, for the sake Of being understood at once, or else 215 Through want of better knowledge in the heads 175 If man's estate, by doom of Nature yoked With toil, be therefore yoked with igno- 220 rance; If virtue be indeed so hard to rear, 180 Hope to my hope, and to my pleasure peace And steadiness, and healing and repose A youthful traveller, and see daily now In the familiar circuit of my home, Here might I pause, and bend in reverence 225 To Nature, and the power of human minds, To men as they are men within themselves. How oft high service is performed within, When all the external man is rude in Not like a temple rich with pomp and gold, 270 230 But a mere mountain chapel, that protects Its simple worshippers from sun and shower. Of these, said I, shall be my song; of these, If future years mature me for the task, Will I record the praises, making verse 235 Deal boldly with substantial things; in truth And sanctity of passion, speak of these, No other than the very heart of man, Not unexalted by religious faith, Nor uninformed by books, good books, though few Meek men, whose very souls perhaps would sink Beneath them, summoned to such inter course: Theirs is the language of the heavens, the The thought, the image, and the silent joy: 275 They do not breathe among them: this I speak 280 245 In Nature's presence: thence may I 285 select Sorrow, that is not sorrow, but delight; are. 250 Be mine to follow with no timid step Where knowledge leads me: it shall be my pride That I have dared to tread this holy ground, Speaking no dream, but things oracular; Matter not lightly to be heard by those 255 Who to the letter of the outward promise Do read the invisible soul; by men adroit In speech, and for communion with the world Accomplished; minds whose faculties are then Most active when they are most eloquent, 260 And elevated most when most admired. Men may be found of other mould than these, Who are their own upholders, to themselves Encouragement, and energy, and will, Expressing liveliest thoughts in lively words 265 As native passion dictates. Others, too, There are among the walks of homely life Still higher, men for contemplation framed, Shy, and unpractised in the strife of phrase; In gratitude to God, Who feeds our hearts Also, about this time did I receive Convictions still more strong than heretofore, Not only that the inner frame is good, Grandeur upon the very humblest face Of human life. I felt that the array Of act and circumstance, and visible form, Is mainly to the pleasure of the mind 290 What passion makes them; that meanwhile the forms Of Nature have a passion in themselves, Be mean, have nothing lofty of their own; 295 And that the Genius of the poet hence May boldly take his way among mankind 300 If thou partake the animating faith 305 310 Connected in a mighty scheme of truth, Have each his own peculiar faculty, Heaven's gift, a sense that fits him to perceive Objects unseen before, thou wilt not blame |