The Prelude ; Or, Growth of a Poet's Mind: An Autobiographical PoemLondon, 1850 - 304 pages |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 38
Page v
... for such an employment . As subsidiary to this preparation , he undertook to record , in verse , the origin and progress of his own powers , as far as he was acquainted with them . " That work , addressed to a dear friend ,
... for such an employment . As subsidiary to this preparation , he undertook to record , in verse , the origin and progress of his own powers , as far as he was acquainted with them . " That work , addressed to a dear friend ,
Page vi
An Autobiographical Poem William Wordsworth. " That work , addressed to a dear friend , most distinguished for his knowledge and genius , and to whom the author's intellect is deeply indebted , has been long finished ; and the result of ...
An Autobiographical Poem William Wordsworth. " That work , addressed to a dear friend , most distinguished for his knowledge and genius , and to whom the author's intellect is deeply indebted , has been long finished ; and the result of ...
Page 4
... Dear Liberty ! Yet what would it avail But for a gift that consecrates the joy ? For I , methought , while the sweet breath of heaven Was blowing on my body , felt within A correspondent breeze , that gently moved With quickening virtue ...
... Dear Liberty ! Yet what would it avail But for a gift that consecrates the joy ? For I , methought , while the sweet breath of heaven Was blowing on my body , felt within A correspondent breeze , that gently moved With quickening virtue ...
Page 8
... lofty hopes awhile , for present gifts Of humbler industry . But , oh , dear Friend ! The Poet , gentle creature as he is , Hath , like the Lover , his unruly times ; His fits when he is neither sick nor well , 8 [ BOOK I. INTRODUCTION .
... lofty hopes awhile , for present gifts Of humbler industry . But , oh , dear Friend ! The Poet , gentle creature as he is , Hath , like the Lover , his unruly times ; His fits when he is neither sick nor well , 8 [ BOOK I. INTRODUCTION .
Page 12
... dear Country ; left the deeds Of Wallace , like a family of Ghosts , To people the steep rocks and river banks , Her natural sanctuaries , with a local soul Of independence and stern liberty . Sometimes it suits me better to invent A ...
... dear Country ; left the deeds Of Wallace , like a family of Ghosts , To people the steep rocks and river banks , Her natural sanctuaries , with a local soul Of independence and stern liberty . Sometimes it suits me better to invent A ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acknowledged law Alps amid Babes in arms beauty beheld beneath BOOK breathe Buttermere calm clouds cottage dark day of vengeance dear delight doth dream earth EDWARD MOXON eyes faith fancy fear feel felt flowers flowery field France Friend gleam glory Goslar groves happiness hath haunts heard heart heaven Helvellyn hills honour hope hour human immortal verse Jack the Giant-killer kindred labour less Liberty light living living mind look mighty mind mountain Nature Nature's night o'er objects once pain passion peace plain pleased pleasure reason Robespierre rocks rose round sate scene seemed sense shade shape side sight silent solitude song sorrow soul sound speak spirit stars stood stream strong sublime summer sweet thee things thou thoughts trees truth turned Twas Vale verse voice walks whence wild WILLIAM WORDSWORTH wind Windermere woods words youth
Popular passages
Page 20 - Wisdom and Spirit of the universe ! Thou Soul that art the eternity of thought, That givest to forms and images a breath And everlasting motion, not in vain By day or star-light thus from my first dawn Of childhood didst thou intertwine for me The passions that build up our human soul ; Not with the mean and vulgar works of man, But with high objects, with enduring things — With life and nature — purifying thus The elements of feeling and of thought, And sanctifying, by such discipline, Both...
Page 21 - And not a voice was idle : with the din Smitten, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron; while the distant hills Into the tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy, not unnoticed while the stars, Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west The orange sky of evening died away.
Page 122 - There was a Boy : ye knew him well, ye cliffs And islands of Winander !—many a time At evening, when the earliest stars began To move along the edges of the hills, Rising or setting, would he stand alone Beneath the trees or by the glimmering lake. And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands Pressed closely palm to palm, and to his mouth Uplifted, he, as through an instrument, Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, That they might answer him...
Page 14 - Was it for this That one, the fairest of all rivers, loved To blend his murmurs with my nurse's song, And, from his alder shades and rocky falls, And from his fords and shallows, sent a voice That flowed along my dreams? For this, didst thou, O Derwent ! winding among grassy holms Where I was looking on, a babe in arms, Make ceaseless music that composed my thoughts To more than infant softness, giving me Amid the fretful dwellings of mankind A foretaste, a dim earnest, of the calm That Nature breathes...
Page 18 - I dipped my oars into the silent lake, And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat Went heaving through the water like a swan ; When, from behind that craggy steep till then The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge, As if with voluntary power instinct, Upreared its head.
Page 339 - The Moon hung naked in a firmament Of azure without cloud, and at my feet Rested a silent sea of hoary mist. A hundred hills their dusky backs upheaved All over this still ocean...
Page 345 - This spiritual Love acts not nor can exist Without Imagination, which, in truth, Is but another name for absolute power And clearest insight, amplitude of mind, And Reason in her most exalted mood.
Page 98 - And in the meadows and the lower grounds Was all the sweetness of a common dawn — Dews, vapors, and the melody of birds, And laborers going forth to till the fields. Ah ! need I say, dear Friend...
Page 60 - To every natural form, rock, fruit or flower, Even the loose stones that cover the high-way, I gave a moral life : I saw them feel, Or linked them to some feeling : the great mass Lay bedded in a quickening soul, and all That I beheld respired with inward meaning.
Page 297 - Did both find helpers to their hearts' desire, And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish, — Were called upon to exercise their skill, Not in Utopia, — subterranean fields, — Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where ! But in the very world, which is the world Of all of us, — the place where, in the end, We find our happiness, or not at all...