The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8)

Name: The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8)
Author: Wordsworth, William

Wordsworth, William

English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century

"A mild morning. William worked at the Cuckoo poem.... At the closing
  in of day, went to sit in the orchard. William came to me, and walked
  backwards and forwards. W. repeated the poem to me. I left him there;
  and in 20 minutes he came in, rather tired with attempting to write."

  "Friday (March 25).--A beautiful morning. William worked at 'The
  Cuckoo'."

It is therefore evident that it belongs to the year 1802; although it
may have been altered and readjusted in 1804. The connection of the
seventh stanza of this poem with the first of that which follows it, "My
heart leaps up," etc., and of both with the 'Ode, Intimations of
Immortality' (vol. viii.), is obvious.--Ed.

       *       *       *       *       *

"MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD"

Composed March 26, 1802.--Published 1807

[Written at Town-end, Grasmere.--I.F.]

One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood." In 1807 it was
No. 4 of the series called "Moods of my own Mind."--Ed.

  My heart leaps up when I behold
    A rainbow in the sky:
  So was it when my life began;
  So is it now I am a man;
  So be it when I shall grow old,                        5
    Or let me die!
  The Child is father of the Man; [A]
  And I could wish my days to be
  Bound each to each by natural piety.

       *       *       *       *       *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Compare Milton's phrase in 'Paradise Regained' (book iv. l.
220):

      'The childhood shews the man,
  As morning shews the day.'

Dryden's 'All for Love', act IV. scene I:

  'Men are but children of a larger growth.'

And Pope's 'Essay on Man', Ep. iv. l. 175:

  'The boy and man an individual makes.'

Also Chatterton's 'Fragment' (Aldine edition, vol. 1. p. 132):

  'Nature in the infant marked the man.'

Ed.]

  "March 26, 1802.--While I was getting into bed he" (W.) "wrote 'The
  Rainbow.'"

  "May 14th.--... William very nervous. After he was in bed, haunted
  with altering 'The Rainbow.'"

(Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal.) This poem was known familiarly
in the household as "The Rainbow," although not printed under that
title. The text was never changed.

In 'The Friend', vol. i. p. 58 (ed. 1818), Coleridge writes:

  "Men laugh at the falsehoods imposed on them during their childhood,
  because they are not good and wise enough to contemplate the past in
  the present, and so to produce that continuity in their
  self-consciousness, which Nature has made the law of their animal
  life. Men are ungrateful to others, only when they have ceased to look
  back on their former selves with joy and tenderness. They exist in
  fragments."

He then quotes the above poem, and adds:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8)Wordsworth, William

General

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8)

Wordsworth, William

English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century

"A mild morning. William worked at the Cuckoo poem.... At the closing
  in of day, went to sit in the orchard. William came to me, and walked
  backwards and forwards. W. repeated the poem to me. I left him there;
  and in 20 minutes he came in, rather tired with attempting to write."

  "Friday (March 25).--A beautiful morning. William worked at 'The
  Cuckoo'."

It is therefore evident that it belongs to the year 1802; although it
may have been altered and readjusted in 1804. The connection of the
seventh stanza of this poem with the first of that which follows it, "My
heart leaps up," etc., and of both with the 'Ode, Intimations of
Immortality' (vol. viii.), is obvious.--Ed.

       *       *       *       *       *

"MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD"

Composed March 26, 1802.--Published 1807

[Written at Town-end, Grasmere.--I.F.]

One of the "Poems referring to the Period of Childhood." In 1807 it was
No. 4 of the series called "Moods of my own Mind."--Ed.

  My heart leaps up when I behold
    A rainbow in the sky:
  So was it when my life began;
  So is it now I am a man;
  So be it when I shall grow old,                        5
    Or let me die!
  The Child is father of the Man; [A]
  And I could wish my days to be
  Bound each to each by natural piety.

       *       *       *       *       *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Compare Milton's phrase in 'Paradise Regained' (book iv. l.
220):

      'The childhood shews the man,
  As morning shews the day.'

Dryden's 'All for Love', act IV. scene I:

  'Men are but children of a larger growth.'

And Pope's 'Essay on Man', Ep. iv. l. 175:

  'The boy and man an individual makes.'

Also Chatterton's 'Fragment' (Aldine edition, vol. 1. p. 132):

  'Nature in the infant marked the man.'

Ed.]

  "March 26, 1802.--While I was getting into bed he" (W.) "wrote 'The
  Rainbow.'"

  "May 14th.--... William very nervous. After he was in bed, haunted
  with altering 'The Rainbow.'"

(Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal.) This poem was known familiarly
in the household as "The Rainbow," although not printed under that
title. The text was never changed.

In 'The Friend', vol. i. p. 58 (ed. 1818), Coleridge writes:

  "Men laugh at the falsehoods imposed on them during their childhood,
  because they are not good and wise enough to contemplate the past in
  the present, and so to produce that continuity in their
  self-consciousness, which Nature has made the law of their animal
  life. Men are ungrateful to others, only when they have ceased to look
  back on their former selves with joy and tenderness. They exist in
  fragments."

He then quotes the above poem, and adds:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8)

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8)

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