VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1807. ... this ... 1803.] [Variant 2: 1827. ... Another time That was, when I was here twelve years ago. 1803. ... long years ago: 1807. ... Far different time That was, which here I witnessed, long ago; 1820.] * * * * * FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: It had appeared in 'The Morning Post', February 26, 1803, under the initials W. L. D.--Ed.] * * * * * "IT IS A BEAUTEOUS EVENING, CALM AND FREE" Composed August, 1802.--Published 1807 [This was composed on the beach near Calais, in the autumn of 1802.--I. F.] One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets." In 1807 it was No. 19 of that series.--Ed. It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, [1] The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea: [2] 5 Listen! [3] the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder--everlastingly. Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, [A] If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, [4] 10 Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not. [B] * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1807. Air sleeps,--from strife or stir the clouds are free; 1837. A fairer face of evening cannot be; 1840. The text of 1845 returns to that of 1807.] [Variant 2: 1837. ... is on the Sea: 1807.] [Variant 3: 1807. But list! ... 1837. The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.] [Variant 4: 1845. Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear'st untouch'd by solemn thought, 1807. Dear Child! dear happy Girl! if thou appear Heedless--untouched with awe or serious thought, 1837. Heedless-unawed, untouched with serious thought, 1838. The text of 1840 returns to that of 1807.] * * * * * FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: I thought, for some time, that the "girl" referred to was Dorothy Wordsworth. Her brother used to speak, and to write, of her under many names, "Emily," "Louisa," etc.; and to call her a "child" in 1802--a "child of Nature" she was to the end of her days--or a "girl," seemed quite natural. However, a more probable suggestion was made by Mr. T. Hutchinson to Professor Dowden, that it refers to the girl Caroline mentioned in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal.