William Wordsworth

""Woe to you, Prelates! rioting in ease "And cumbrous wealth the shame of your estate; "You, on whose progress dazzling trains await "Of pompous"

"Is 'Death', when evil against good has fought With such fell mastery that a man may dare By deeds the blackest purpose to lay bare? Is Death, f"

"From Bolton's old monastic tower The bells ring loud with gladsome power; The sun shines bright; the fields are gay With people in their best array"

"'Tis gone, with old belief and dream That round it clung, and tempting scheme Released from fear and doubt; And the bright landscape too must l"

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

"Wouldst thou be taught, when sleep has taken flight, By a sure voice that can most sweetly tell, How far off yet a glimpse of morning light, An"

"There are no colours in the fairest sky So fair as these. The feather, whence the pen Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men, Dropp"

"It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquili"

"Fallen, and diffused into a shapeless heap, Or quietly self-buried in earth's mould, Is that embattled House, whose massy Keep, Flung from yon"

"What strong allurement draws, what spirit guides, Thee, Vesper! brightening still, as if the nearer Thou com'st to man's abode the spot grew dear"

"Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes To pace the ground, if path be there or none, While a fair region round the traveler lies Which he forbears a"

"OCTOBER 1803 Vanguard of Liberty, ye men of Kent, Ye children of a Soil that doth advance Her haughty brow against the coast of France, Now is th"

"Beneath yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound, Rugged and high, of Charnwood's forest ground Stand yet, but, Stranger! hidden from thy view, The ivie"

"RESIDENCE IN FRANCE (continued) It was a beautiful and silent day That overspread the countenance of earth, Then fading with unusual quietness, A"

"I know an aged Man constrained to dwell In a large house of public charity, Where he abides, as in a Prisoner's cell, With numbers near, alas!"

"High is our calling, Friend! Creative Art (Whether the instrument of words she use, Or pencil pregnant with ethereal hues,) Demands the service of"

"FROM CHAUCER "Call up him who left half told The story of Cambuscan bold." I "O Lord, our Lord! how wondrously," (quoth she) "Thy name in this"

"IMAGINATION AND TASTE, HOW IMPAIRED AND RESTORED Long time have human ignorance and guilt Detained us, on what spectacles of woe Compelled to look"

"Hail, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Triumphant, snatched from many a treacherous wile! All hail, sage Lady, whom a grateful Isle Hath"

"Army of Clouds! ye winged Hosts in troops Ascending from behind the motionless brow Of that tall rock, as from a hidden world, Oh whither with"

"The Shepherd, looking eastward, softly said "Bright is thy veil, O Moon, as thou art bright!" Forthwith, that little cloud, in ether spread And pen"

"Brook! whose society the Poet seeks, Intent his wasted spirits to renew; And whom the curious Painter doth pursue Through rocky passes, among flowe"

"Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower Of beauty is thy earthly dower! Twice seven consenting years have shed Their utmost bounty on thy head: An"

"How profitless the relics that we cull, Troubling the last holds of ambitious Rome, Unless they chasten fancies that presume Too high, or idle"

"Yes, though He well may tremble at the sound Of his own voice, who from the judgment-seat Sends the pale Convict to his last retreat In death;"

"'Mid crowded obelisks and urns I sought the untimely grave of Burns; Sons of the Bard, my heart still mourns With sorrow true; And more would"

"Yet many a Novice of the cloistral shade, And many chained by vows, with eager glee The warrant hail, exulting to be free; Like ships before wh"

"Complacent Fictions were they, yet the same Involved a history of no doubtful sense, History that proves by inward evidence From what a preciou"

"A Pilgrim, when the summer day Had closed upon his weary way, A lodging begged beneath a castle's roof; But him the haughty Warder spurned; A"

"The captive Bird was gone; to cliff or moor Perchance had flown, delivered by the storm; Or he had pined, and sunk to feed the worm: Him found"

"It is no Spirit who from heaven hath flown, And is descending on his embassy; Nor Traveller gone from earth the heavens to espy! 'Tis Hesperus, the"

"Dear Child of Nature, let them rail! There is a nest in a green dale, A harbour and a hold; Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see Thy own heart"

"Ere the Brothers through the gateway Issued forth with old and young, To the Horn Sir Eustace pointed Which for ages there had hung. Horn it was w"

"Said Secrecy to Cowardice and Fraud, Falsehood and Treachery, in close council met, Deep under ground, in Pluto's cabinet, "The frost of Englan"

"Ranging the heights of Scawfell or Blackcomb, In his lone course the Shepherd oft will pause, And strive to fathom the mysterious laws By which"

"The Knight had ridden down from Wensley Moor With the slow motion of a summer's cloud, And now, as he approached a vassal's door, "Bring forth anot"

"While poring Antiquarians search the ground Upturned with curious pains, the Bard, a Seer, Takes fire: The men that have been reappear; Romans"

"Bard of the Fleece, whose skilful genius made That work a living landscape fair and bright; Nor hallowed less with musical delight Than those soft"

"Hope smiled when your nativity was cast, Children of Summer! Ye fresh Flowers that brave What Summer here escapes not, the fierce wave, And who"

"Oh! gather whencesoe'er ye safely may The help which slackening Pity requires; Nor deem that he perforce must go astray Who treads upon the foo"

"Dread hour! when, upheaved by war's sulphurous blast, This sweet-visaged Cherub of Parian stone So far from the holy enclosure was cast, To cou"

"Homeward we turn. Isle of Columba's Cell, Where Christian piety's soul-cheering spark (Kindled from Heaven between the light and dark Of time)"

"Not seldom, clad in radiant vest, Deceitfully goes forth the Morn; Not seldom Evening in the west Sinks smilingly forsworn. The smoothest se"

""Who but hails the sight with pleasure When the wings of genius rise, Their ability to measure With great enterprise; But in man was ne'er such da"

"Is then the final page before me spread, Nor further outlet left to mind or heart? Presumptuous Book! too forward to be read, How can I give th"

"Great men have been among us; hands that penned And tongues that uttered wisdom, better none: The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington, Young Vane, and"

"Seen From The Lake Of Lugano Thou sacred Pile! whose turrets rise From yon steep mountain's loftiest stage, Guarded by lone San Salvador; Si"

"Farewell, thou little Nook of mountain-ground, Thou rocky corner in the lowest stair Of that magnificent temple which doth bound One side of our wh"

"Not a breath of air Ruffles the bosom of this leafy glen. From the brook's margin, wide around, the trees Are steadfast as the rocks; the brook"

""Farewell, deep Valley, with thy one rude House, And its small lot of life-supporting fields, And guardian rocks! Farewell, attractive seat! To"

"Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be? It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real"

"Calm is the fragrant air, and loth to lose Day's grateful warmth, tho' moist with falling dews. Look for the stars, you'll say that there are non"

"Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed Their snow-white blossoms on my head, With brightest sunshine round me spread Of springs unclouded weath"

"Deplorable his lot who tills the ground, His whole life long tills it, with heartless toil Of villain-service, passing with the soil To each ne"

"Oak of Guernica! Tree of holier power Than that which in Dodona did enshrine (So faith too fondly deemed) a voice divine Heard from the depths of i"

"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'"

"She wept. Life's purple tide began to flow In languid streams through every thrilling vein; Dim were my swimming eyes, my pulse beat slow, And my f"

"Dark and more dark the shades of evening fell; The wished-for point was reached, but at an hour When little could be gained from that rich dower Of"

""Hign bliss is only for a higher state," But, surely, if severe afflictions borne With patience merit the reward of peace, Peace ye deserve; an"

"I heard (alas! 'twas only in a dream) Strains, which, as sage Antiquity believed, By waking ears have sometimes been received Wafted adown the"