Wordsworth_Intimations and Tintern Abbey

8/11/2019 Wordsworth_Intimations and Tintern Abbey

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William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early hildhood (1807)

The child is father of the man;And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.(Wordsworth, "My eart !eaps p"#

$There was a time when meadow, %ro&e, and stream, ' The earth, and e&ery common si%ht, To me did seem ) Apparelled in celestial li%ht, * The %lory and the freshness of a dream. +It is not now as it hath been of yore; - Turn wheresoeer I may,

/ By ni%ht or day. 0The thin%s which I ha&e seen I now can see no more.

$1 The 2ainbow comes and %oes, $$ And lo&ely is the 2ose, $' The Moon doth with deli%ht $ !oo3 round her when the hea&ens are bare, $) Waters on a starry ni%ht $* Are beautiful and fair; $+ The sunshine is a %lorious birth; $- But yet I 3now, whereer I %o, $/That there hath past away a %lory from the earth.

$04ow, while the birds thus sin% a 5oyous son%, '1 And while the youn% lambs bound '$ As to the tabors sound, ''To me alone there came a thou%ht of %rief6 'A timely utterance %a&e that thou%ht relief, ') And I a%ain am stron%6 '*The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; '+4o more shall %rief of mine the season wron%;

'-I hear the 7choes throu%h the mountains thron%, '/ The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep, '0 And all the earth is %ay; 1 !and and sea $ 8i&e themsel&es up to 5ollity, ' And with the heart of May 9oth e&ery Beast 3eep holiday; ) Thou :hild of oy, *


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*/?ur birth is but a sleep and a for%ettin%6 *0The


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$'What was so fu%iti&e@ $The thou%ht of our past years in me doth breed $)erpetual benediction6 not indeed $*or that which is most worthy to be blest; $+9eli%ht and liberty, the simple creed $-?f :hildhood, whether busy or at rest,

$/With newfled%ed hope still flutterin% in his breast6 $0 4ot for these I raise $)1 The son% of than3s and praise $)$ But for those obstinate uestionin%s $)' ?f sense and outward thin%s, $) allin%s from us, &anishin%s; $)) Blan3 mis%i&in%s of a :reature $)*Mo&in% about in worlds not realised, $)+i%h instincts before which our mortal 4ature $)-9id tremble li3e a %uilty thin% surprised6 $)/ But for those first affections, $)0 Those shadowy recollections,

$*1 Which, be they what they may $*$Are yet the fountainli%ht of all our day, $*'Are yet a masterli%ht of all our seein%; $* phold us, cherish, and ha&e power to ma3e $*)?ur noisy years seem moments in the bein% $**?f the eternal


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!ines om"osed a #ew $iles a%o&e 'intern %%ey On Re&isitin* the +an,s of the Wye drin* a 'or. /ly 1 178

$i&e years ha&e past; fi&e summers, with the len%th '?f fi&e lon% winters@ and a%ain I hear These waters, rollin% from their mountainsprin%s

)With a soft inland murmur.?nce a%ain *9o I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, +That on a wild secluded scene impress -Thou%hts of more deep seclusion; and connect /The landscape with the uiet of the s3y. 0The day is come when I a%ain repose $1ere, under this dar3 sycamore, and &iew $$These plots of cotta%e%round, these orchardtufts, $'Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, $Are clad in one %reen hue, and lose themsel&es $)Mid %ro&es and copses. ?nce a%ain I see $*These hed%erows, hardly hed%erows, little lines

$+?f sporti&e wood run wild6 these pastoral farms, $-8reen to the &ery door; and wreaths of smo3e $/


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+/I bounded oer the mountains, by the sides +0?f the deep ri&ers, and the lonely streams, -1Where&er nature led6 more li3e a man -$lyin% from somethin% that he dreads, than one -'Who sou%ht the thin% he lo&ed. or nature then -(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days

-)And their %lad animal mo&ements all %one by# -*To me was all in all.I cannot paint -+What then I was. The soundin% cataract --aunted me li3e a passion6 the tall roc3, -/The mountain, and the deep and %loomy wood, -0Their colours and their forms, were then to me /1An appetite; a feelin% and a lo&e, /$That had no need of a remoter charm, /'By thou%ht supplied, not any interest /nborrowed from the eye.That time is past, /)And all its achin% 5oys are now no more, /*And all its diEEy raptures. 4ot for this

/+aint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other %ifts /-a&e followed; for such loss, I would belie&e, //Abundant recompense. or I ha&e learned /0To loo3 on nature, not as in the hour 01?f thou%htless youth; but hearin% oftentimes 0$The still sad music of humanity, 0'4or harsh nor %ratin%, thou%h of ample power 0To chasten and subdue.And I ha&e felt 0)A presence that disturbs me with the 5oy 0*?f ele&ated thou%hts; a sense sublime 0+?f somethin% far more deeply interfused, 0-Whose dwellin% is the li%ht of settin% suns,

0/And the round ocean and the li&in% air, 00And the blue s3y, and in the mind of man6 $11A motion and a spirit, that impels $1$All thin3in% thin%s, all ob5ects of all thou%ht, $1'And rolls throu%h all thin%s. Therefore am I still $1A lo&er of the meadows and the woods $1)And mountains; and of all that we behold $1*rom this %reen earth; of all the mi%hty world $1+?f eye, and ear,both what they half create,

$1-And what percei&e; well pleased to reco%nise $1/In nature and the lan%ua%e of the sense $10The anchor of my purest thou%hts, the nurse, $$1The %uide, the %uardian of my heart, and soul $$$?f all my moral bein%.

$$$ 4or perchance, $$'If I were not thus tau%ht, should I the more $$


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Wordsworth_Intimations and Tintern Abbey