William Wordsworth

"RESIDENCE IN LONDON Six changeful years have vanished since I first Poured out (saluted by that quickening breeze Which met me issuing from the Ci"

"By their floating mill, That lies dead and still, Behold yon Prisoners three, The Miller with two Dames, on the breast of the Thames! The platform"

"Reluctant call it was; the rite delayed; And in the Senate some there were who doffed The last of their humanity, and scoffed At providential j"

"Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy"

""Son of my buried Son, while thus thy hand" "Is clasping mine, it saddens me to think" "How Want may press thee down, and with thee sink" "Thy"

"ACT I. SCENE Road in a Wood. WALLACE and LACY. LACY. The troop will be impatient; let us hie Back to our post, and strip the Scottish Foray Of"

"And what is Penance with her knotted thong; Mortification with the shirt of hair, Wan cheek, and knees indurated with prayer, Vigils, and fasti"

"A sudden conflict rises from the swell Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained In Liberty's behalf. Fears, true or feigned, Spread through al"

"Where be the noisy followers of the game Which faction breeds; the turmoil where? that passed Through Europe, echoing from the newsman's blast,"

"My frame hath often trembled with delight When hope presented some far-distant good, That seemed from heaven descending, like the flood Of yon"

"Hast thou then survived Mild Offspring of infirm humanity, Meek Infant! among all forlornest things The most forlor, none life of that bright star,"

"So fair, so sweet, withal so sensitive, Would that the little Flowers were born to live, Conscious of half the pleasure which they give; That"

"This Spot, at once unfolding sight so fair Of sea and land, with yon grey towers that still Rise up as if to lord it over air Might soothe in h"

"While Anna's peers and early playmates tread, In freedom, mountain-turf and river's marge; Or float with music in the festal barge; Rein the pr"

"Five years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters! and again I hear These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs With a"

"Why art thou silent! Is thy love a plant Of such weak fibre that the treacherous air Of absence withers what was once so fair? Is there no debt"

"Not so that Pair whose youthful spirits dance With prompt emotion, urging them to pass; A sweet confusion checks the Shepherd-lass; Blushing sh"

"Presentiments! they judge not right Who deem that ye from open light Retire in fear of shame; All 'heaven-born' Instincts shun the touch Of vu"

"If thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven, Then, to the measure of that heaven-born light, Shine, Poet! in thy place, and be content: The sta"

"But whence came they who for the Saviour Lord Have long borne witness as the Scriptures teach? Ages ere Valdo raised his voice to preach In Gal"

"Oft is the medal faithful to its trust When temples, columns, towers, are laid in dust; And 'tis a common ordinance of fate That things obscure"

"Ambition, following down this far-famed slope Her Pioneer, the snow-dissolving Sun, While clarions prate of kingdoms to be won Perchance, in fu"

"With copious eulogy in prose or rhyme Graven on the tomb we struggle against Time, Alas, how feebly! but our feelings rise And still we struggl"

"I The Sheep-boy whistled loud, and lo! That instant, startled by the shock, The Buzzard mounted from the rock Deliberate and slow: Lord of the a"

"I How beautiful when up a lofty height Honour ascends among the humblest poor, And feeling sinks as deep! See there the door Of One, a Widow,"

"In due observance of an ancient rite, The rude Biscayans, when their children lie Dead in the sinless time of infancy, Attire the peaceful corse in"

"I marvel how Nature could ever find space For so many strange contrasts in one human face: There's thought and no thought, and there's paleness and"

"For gentlest uses, oft-times Nature takes The work of Fancy from her willing hands; And such a beautiful creation makes As renders needless spe"

"Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray, And when I cross'd the Wild, I chanc'd to see at break of day The solitary Child. No Mate, no comrade Lucy knew; S"

"O Nightingale! thou surely art A creature of a "fiery heart": These notes of thine, they pierce and pierce; Tumultuous harmony and fierce! Thou si"

"Up with me! up with me into the clouds! For thy song, Lark, is strong; Up with me, up with me into the clouds! Singing, singing, With clouds and s"

"Not, like his great Compeers, indignantly Doth Danube spring to life! The wandering Stream (Who loves the Cross, yet to the Crescent's gleam Un"

"Thus all things lead to Charity secured By them who blessed the soft and happy gale That landward urged the great Deliverer's sail, Till in the"

"I Beneath the concave of an April sky, When all the fields with freshest green were dight, Appeared, in presence of the spiritual eye That aids o"

"Who weeps for strangers? Many wept For George and Sarah Green; Wept for that pair's unhappy fate, Whose grave may here be seen. By night, upon th"

"What lovelier home could gentle Fancy choose? Is this the stream, whose cities, heights, and plains, War's favourite playground, are with crimson"

""What, you are stepping westward?" "Yea." 'Twould be a 'wildish' destiny, If we, who thus together roam In a strange Land, and far from home,"

"Forth rushed from Envy sprung and Self-conceit, A Power misnamed the spirit of reform, And through the astonished Island swept in storm, Threat"

"Say, ye far-traveled clouds, far-seeing hills Among the happiest-looking homes of men Scattered all Britain over, through deep glen, On airy up"

"Thanks for the lessons of this Spot fit school For the presumptuous thoughts that would assign Mechanic laws to agency divine; And, measuring h"

"The valley rings with mirth and joy; Among the hills the echoes play A never never ending song, To welcome in the May. The magpie chatters with de"

"As, when a storm hath ceased, the birds regain Their cheerfulness, and busily retrim Their nests, or chant a gratulating hymn To the blue ether"

"PART FIRST ALL by the moonlight river side Groaned the poor Beast alas! in vain; The staff was raised to loftier height, And the blows fel"

"When haughty expectations prostrate lie, And grandeur crouches like a guilty thing, Oft shall the lowly weak, till nature bring Mature release,"

"When first, descending from the moorlands, I saw the Stream of Yarrow glide Along a bare and open valley, The Ettrick Shepherd was my guide."

"Who fancied what a pretty sight This Rock would be if edged around With living snow-drops? circlet bright! How glorious to this orchard-ground! Wh"

"What beast of chase hath broken from the cover? Stern Gemmi listens to as full a cry, As multitudinous a harmony Of sounds as rang the heights"

"It is not to be thought of that the Flood Of British freedom, which, to the open sea Of the world's praise, from dark antiquity Hath flowed, "with"

"Those had given earliest notice, as the lark Springs from the ground the morn to gratulate; Or rather rose the day to antedate, By striking out"

""Change me, some God, into that breathing rose!" The love-sick Stripling fancifully sighs, The envied flower beholding, as it lies On Laura's b"

"The Lovers took within this ancient grove Their last embrace; beside those crystal springs The Hermit saw the Angel spread his wings For instan"

"As leaves are to the tree whereon they grow And wither, every human generation Is, to the Being of a mighty nation, Locked in our world's embra"

"You call it, "Love lies bleeding," so you may, Though the red Flower, not prostrate, only droops, As we have seen it here from day to day, From"

"In days of yore how fortunately fared The Minstrel! wandering on from hall to hall, Baronial court or royal; cheered with gifts Munificent, and"

"Pastor and Patriot! at whose bidding rise These modest walls, amid a flock that need, For one who comes to watch them and to feed, A fixed Abod"

"Tranquility! the sovereign aim wert thou In heathen schools of philosophic lore; Heart-stricken by stern destiny of yore The Tragic Muse thee s"

"A barking sound the Shepherd hears, A cry as of a dog or fox; He halts and searches with his eyes Among the scattered rocks: And now at distance c"

"O Friend! I know not which way I must look For comfort, being, as I am, opprest, To think that now our life is only drest For show; mean handy-work"

"Woe to the Crown that doth the Cowl obey! Dissension, checking arms that would restrain The incessant Rovers of the northern main, Helps to res"

"Right gladly had the horses stirred, When they the wished-for greeting heard, The whip's loud notice from the door, That they were free to move onc"