William Wordsworth

"I Seek who will delight in fable I shall tell you truth. A Lamb Leapt from this steep bank to follow 'Cross the brook its thoughtless dam."

"Grant, that by this unsparing hurricane Green leaves with yellow mixed are torn away, And goodly fruitage with the mother spray; 'Twere madness"

"The Danish Conqueror, on his royal chair, Mustering a face of haughty sovereignty, To aid a covert purpose, cried "O ye Approaching Waters of the d"

"Though the bold wings of Poesy affect The clouds, and wheel around the mountain tops Rejoicing, from her loftiest height she drops Well pleased"

""Late, late yestreen I saw the new moone Wi' the auld moone in hir arme." 'Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence, Percy's Reliques.' Once I could hail (h"

"I Enough of rose-bud lips, and eyes Like harebells bathed in dew, Of cheek that with carnation vies, And veins of violet hue; Earth wants not be"

"Fair Prime of life! were it enough to gild With ready sunbeams every straggling shower; And, if an unexpected cloud should lower, Swiftly there"

"Mark how the feathered tenants of the flood, With grace of motion that might scarcely seem Inferior to angelical, prolong Their curious pastime! sh"

"Those silver clouds collected round the sun His mid-day warmth abate not, seeming less To overshade than multiply his beams By soft reflection,"

"Be this the chosen site; the virgin sod, Moistened from age to age by dewy eve, Shall disappear, and grateful earth receive The corner-stone fr"

"The gentlest Poet, with free thoughts endowed, And a true master of the glowing strain, Might scan the narrow province with disdain That to the"

"We walked along, while bright and red Uprose the morning sun; And Matthew stopped, he looked, and said `The will of God be done!' A village schoo"

"Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass! Alone she cuts and bi"

"If there be prophets on whose spirits rest Past things, revealed like future, they can tell What Powers, presiding o'er the sacred well Of Chri"

"'Night Speaks' Grateful is Sleep, my life in stone bound fast; More grateful still: while wrong and shame shall last, On me can Time no happier st"

"Destined to war from very infancy Was I, Roberto Dati, and I took In Malta the white symbol of the Cross: Nor in life's vigorous season did I s"

"What's in a 'Name'? . . . . . Brutus will start a Spirit as soon as Caesar! PROLOGUE There's something in a flying horse, There's somethi"

"Behold, within the leafy shade, Those bright blue eggs together laid! On me the chance-discovered sight Gleamed like a vision of delight. I starte"

"Immured in Bothwell's Towers, at times the Brave (So beautiful is the Clyde) forgot to mourn The liberty they lost at Bannockburn. Once on those st"

"Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the hero"

"Well may'st thou halt and gaze with brightening eye! The lovely Cottage in the guardian nook Hath stirred thee deeply; with its own dear brook, Its"

"The little hedgerow birds, That peck along the roads, regard him not. He travels on, and in his face, his step, His gait, is one expression: eve"

"Where be the temples which, in Britain's Isle, For his paternal Gods, the Trojan raised? Gone like a morning dream, or like a pile Of clouds that i"

"Unless to Peter's Chair the viewless wind Must come and ask permission when to blow, What further empire would it have? for now A ghostly Domin"

"Say, what is Honour? 'Tis the finest sense Of 'justice' which the human mind can frame, Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim, And guard the way"

"Here closed the Tenant of that lonely vale His mournful narrative commenced in pain, In pain commenced, and ended without peace: Yet tempered,"

"I Weep not, beloved Friends! nor let the air For me with sighs be troubled. Not from life Have I been taken; this is genuine life And this alone"

"There never breathed a man who, when his life Was closing, might not of that life relate Toils long and hard. The warrior will report Of wounds"

"Discourse was deemed Man's noblest attribute, And written words the glory of his hand; Then followed Printing with enlarged command For thought"

"The soaring lark is blest as proud When at heaven's gate she sings; The roving bee proclaims aloud Her flight by vocal wings; While Ye, in la"

"Let thy wheel-barrow alone Wherefore, Sexton, piling still In thy bone-house bone on bone? 'Tis already like a hill In a field of battle made, Wh"

"Stretched on the dying Mother's lap, lies dead Her new-born Babe; dire ending of bright hope! But Sculpture here, with the divinest scope Of lu"

"Wild Redbreast! hadst thou at Jemima's lip Pecked, as at mine, thus boldly, Love might say, A half-blown rose had tempted thee to sip Its glist"

"When human touch (as monkish books attest) Nor was applied nor could be, Ledbury bells Broke forth in concert flung adown the dells, And upward"

"What way does the wind come? What way does he go? He rides over the water, and over the snow, Through wood, and through vale; and, o'er rocky height"

"Small service is true service while it lasts: Of humblest Friends, bright Creature! scorn not one: The Daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Prot"

"A month, sweet Little-ones, is past Since your dear Mother went away,, And she tomorrow will return; Tomorrow is the happy day. O blessed tiding"

"Ye Trees! whose slender roots entwine Altars that piety neglects; Whose infant arms enclasp the shrine Which no devotion now respects; If not"

"Enlightened Teacher, gladly from thy hand Have I received this proof of pains bestowed By Thee to guide thy Pupils on the road That, in our nat"

"When I have borne in memory what has tamed Great Nations, how ennobling thoughts depart When men change swords for ledgers, and desert The student"

"Chatsworth! thy stately mansion, and the pride Of thy domain, strange contrast do present To house and home in many a craggy rent Of the wild P"

"Holy and heavenly Spirits as they are, Spotless in life, and eloquent as wise, With what entire affection do they prize Their Church reformed!"

"And what melodious sounds at times prevail! And, ever and anon, how bright a gleam Pours on the surface of the turbid Stream! What heartfelt fr"

"Under the shadow of a stately Pile, The dome of Florence, pensive and alone, Nor giving heed to aught that passed the while, I stood, and gazed"

"Soon did he Almighty Giver of all rest Take those dear young Ones to a fearless nest; And in Death's arms has long reposed the Friend For whom this"

"The struggling Rill insensibly is grown Into a Brook of loud and stately march, Crossed ever and anon by plank or arch; And, for like use, lo!"

"Men, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy, Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split With morbid restlessness; the ecstatic fit Spr"

"Ye vales and hills whose beauty hither drew The poet's steps, and fixed him here, on you His eyes have closed! And ye, loved books, no more Sha"

"Fair Land! Thee all men greet with joy; how few, Whose souls take pride in freedom, virtue, fame, Part from thee without pity dyed in shame: I"

"Hopes what are they? Beads of morning Strung on slender blades of grass; Or a spider's web adorning In a strait and treacherous pass. What a"

"Hast thou seen, with flash incessant, Bubbles gliding under ice, Bodied forth and evanescent, No one knows by what device? Such are thoughts"

"Long has the dew been dried on tree and lawn: O'er man and beast a not unwelcome boon Is shed, the languor of approaching noon; To shady rest w"

"Not in the mines beyond the western main, You say, Cordelia, was the metal sought, Which a fine skill, of Indian growth, has wrought Into this"

"Ungrateful Country, if thou e'er forget The sons who for thy civil rights have bled! How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head, And Russel's mil"

"If this great world of joy and pain Revolve in one sure track; If freedom, set, will rise again, And virtue, flown, come back; Woe to the pur"

"Yet, yet, Biscayans! we must meet our Foes With firmer soul, yet labour to regain Our ancient freedom; else 'twere worse than vain To gather round"

"The pensive Sceptic of the lonely vale To those acknowledgments subscribed his own, With a sedate compliance, which the Priest Failed not to no"

"How rich that forehead's calm expanse! How bright that heaven-directed glance! Waft her to glory, winged Powers, Ere sorrow be renewed, And i"

""Tum porro puer, ut saevis projectus ab undis Navita, nudus humi jacet, etc." Lucretius. Like a shipwrecked Sailor tost By rough waves on a pe"

"Oh what a Wreck! how changed in mien and speech! Yet, though dread Powers, that work in mystery, spin Entanglings of the brain; though shadows st"